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I had tickets and then decided not to go at the last minute when I heard over 1000 people were going to be at the Embassy Suites and what I perceived to be a heavy agenda.
Did anyone else go? What did you think?
The agenda was pretty straightforward. Cary is running out of land to develop and needs walkable, urban areas to attract young professionals who will pay a premium for lofts, condos, townhomes, and houses in areas where they can walk to good restaurants, fun taverns, grocery stores, shops, etc. This will increase tax revenues.
Walkable urban swung to suburban over the past several decades and the pendulum is swinging back to a mixture. Young professionals don't want to spend 25% of their income on automobile transportation. They want public transportation. Brief mention of the light rail connecting Cary to Durham, Chapel Hill, Raleigh...
50% of households used to have children several decades ago. Now only 25% do.
In between the sales pitch for walkable urban areas complete with quick clips of Back to the Future and no end of graphs and charts, they would ask the audience to respond to questions via small electronic keypads. Then they'd show the results on the screen. Though there were supposed to be over 900 people, only about 600 some votes ever showed up.
It was a pleasant sales pitch for using the 14 acre site the TOC has been buying up for "walkable urban" development rather than a park. Restaurants, taverns, shops on the ground floor. Condos and offices upstairs. Though using this land was never actually mentioned, just downtown being developed into walkable urban.
Ran way too long. Scheduled for 6 to 8:30, which was at least a half hour too long to start out with. They were still going at 9.
I think they're probably right on the money about the walkable urban.
But this was a sales job not a brainstorming session to Imagine Cary. That appears to have happened in smaller meetings.
No problem with parking. Getting in and out was smooth.
The goal was to get folks on board with the walkable urban idea. Photos of several other cities that have been successful with this. Not sure where they can go with this in future meetings. Probably something along the lines of, "Based on your response at our last meeting."
Though I thought it was at least an hour too long, could have been more focused with fewer confusing charts and graphs, and could have used coffee and tea and better snacks (so-so cookies and small sacks of chips), I still thought it was worthwhile evening. Met some neighbors. Saw some friends. Got a clearer idea where Cary was headed.
I like the walkable urban concept. Always seems to be someone asking on C-D where they can find such an area to move to around here.
Plus, I like the idea of clustering good restaurants in one area.
New to the area but I agree that Cary needs to do something unique with its downtown. A park is great but the area already has a LOT of parks and the heavily forested nature of the area makes everywhere seem like a park (which I love btw). I'm not sure a small downtown park provides much marginal benefit.
Frankly, I'm amazed that Cary has grown to the size of a small city before the government has shown leadership on this issue. I have lived in several cities and towns with these types of walkable downtown commercial districts (with residential added as it grows). They are a big draw for young professionals as someone stated, but also for families, retirees, or anyone who wants to take an afternoon stroll for lunch and ice cream. It is a place for people to feel like a part of a larger community and not just a cloistered suburb where you only bump into other people at the local grocery. There are a lot of people living in Cary that I think would be happy to drive 10 minutes downtown instead of 20-30 minutes to Durham or Raleigh and their tax money could come with them.
There is no question Cary needs a more exciting, accessible, fun downtown area. They should start by bringing in consultants to help the current businesses drive more activity, plus create a marketing campaign around downtown. Combine that with a few fresh and popular additions, and it will take off. THEN at least the expansion won't come with a sacrifice from current business owners who took the plunge early.
Did they mention how successful it has been in Durham?
No. Has it been successful?
The examples shown were all other cities. Apex was mentioned I believe.
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