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This is a confusion I've have since I move here from Atlanta. In Atlanta, an upscale neighborhood is an upscale neighborhood, a bad neighborhood is a bad neighborhood, a middle class neighborhood is just that. The only exception would be when one side of a given area is more desirable than the other, or, an obvious gentrification is happening. In Atlanta, if you're in an upscale neighborhood, THERE'S NO DOUBT, because not only are the homes beautiful, but everything in the surrounding area is too. The streets are clean, the shopping and dining are pristine, the neighborhood is safe, and the schools are excellent.
When I moved here, it was due to the encouragement of a friend who once lived in Atlanta too. I answered an add on craigslist for a roommate situation and ended up staying a year until I could figure out the area. Once I left my job at the VA hospital, I moved.
While living on Roxboro road near downtown Durham, I kept trying to figure out, where are all the nice neighborhoods in Durham proper?? The intersection of Roxboro Rd and Club Blvd. on down to Northgate Mall was unimpressive, and didn't seem safe; then low and behold, Rental properties with Duke students everywhere. Downtown were expensive remolded homes for 3 blocks and three streets over, and then BOOM! Crack heads. From Whole Foods on Broad St. going towards Duke Hospital was a mixed bag; then suddenly past the VA Hospital a new plaza of restaurants and apartments that charge you $1,000 and up per month for a one bedroom unit. If I took Club Blvd. past all the crappy houses, up to the school of math and science and beyond, suddenly I'm in a neighborhood I couldn't afford. Huh??! If I take Hillsborough Rd. from Broad St. all the way to 15/501, that area is sketchy until Hillsborough changes and becomes rural, and again, a different story.
I guess what I'm saying is I find no continuity of demographics in Durham proper, which leaves me confused. Everything seems to be in pockets. A pocket of nice homes here, a pocket of nice homes there, but turn out of your subdivision, and it's a different world completely. The only time I saw neighborhood consistently is when I moved into a subdivision called Chancellor's Ridge near Southpoint. Now THAT'S a neighborhood. Everything matches; every grocer, gas station and restaurant LOOKED like it belonged there. The people in the area were mostly working professionals, either single or married, with or without children. There were never any surprises after turning out of my neighborhood in either direction. The area was coagulate, uniformed, consistent. I felt safe all the time.
What am I missing? Do I just not understand Durham proper, or is there some truth to what I'm saying? Your input is appreciated...
It's just the gentrification process. It doesn't happen in a uniform manner. I'm not all that familiar with Atlanta, but didn't the areas East of downtown like Grant Park go through the same kind of transition?
It's just the gentrification process. It doesn't happen in a uniform manner. I'm not all that familiar with Atlanta, but didn't the areas East of downtown like Grant Park go through the same kind of transition?
Yeah, it did. But I did say that was one of the exceptions. So that's the story huh? Gentrification?
I think also you are comparing the new build areas of Durham to the older, original parts of Durham. Southpoint looks like a nice planned community. The other areas you mentioned are closer to or in the city center area. As with any city, it grew outward and at different paces, so you get the pockets of nice and not so nice. Raleigh is the same.
Yeah, it did. But I did say that was one of the exceptions. So that's the story huh? Gentrification?
For the most part. The gradual decline in manufacturing after WWII really hurt Durham, combined with people moving further out to suburbs. Durham was actually larger than Raleigh from the 1920's through the 1950's.
When people left the older neighborhoods, slumlords filled the void, which is still a problem. Many of those areas were further eroded by the drug epidemic. Others can add more detail, but gentrification is changing things at a rapid pace now.
IN MY OPINION Durham is no different than Jamaica. Place is fantastic as long as you stay on the resort. But once you leave the resort you quickly learn you are surrounded by slums.
Again, that's just my opinion that I've learned on my own after living in this area for 3 and a half decades.
Durham is a very diverse city and it's not a big one - so a lot can change street by street. It's also not extremely segregated like many cities so trying to find a 'continuity of demographics', as you put it, is pretty difficult.
But I disagree very, very strongly with your entire outlook on what constitutes a neighborhood & city and I have a different definition of what is comfortable or safe. It sounds like Durham is not for you. And that's okay - Lord knows there are plenty of HOA developments in the Triangle with cookie-cutter uniformity and where everyone and everything 'looks like it belongs'. I personally don't want to live in a city where the undesirables are swept underneath the rug and conveniently ignored. Or where there is an all too clear line between the have's and the have-not's. Maybe it's because I would be getting swept under the rug? I don't know. I've seen people on this message board suggest that you need a minimum individual salary of $60k to happily move & live in the Triangle. That's an absurd idea to me but maybe for some that's their reality.
Everyone is different. I don't really consider that subdivision you listed to be a part of Durham and think it's awful you want to elevate it as some sort of ideal neighborhood. But there are some people who'd be all too happy to annex certain portions of Cary into Durham now that there's a low-income apartment complex and a slight uptick in crime. If they could build a wall between the two cities a la Berlin, I'm sure they would.
There are definitely pockets but it's also subjective. The southpoint area isn't appealing to me personally, though it is to many. I don't want a uniform look and I like older homes for the most part. I'm also not a fan of Roxboro near Club (and you're right, it's an area that's less safe than others).
In contract, just last weekend I went on a tour of modernist homes in the Duke Forest neighborhood - it was AMAZING - these are luxury homes I could never afford without a lottery win. There are neighborhoods that have always been nice, you just haven't run across them yet - and then others that have become really desirable due to gentrification. My neighborhood is a development built in the early 80s - usually I'd stay away from that, but it's very wooded and quite lovely, if a little too uniform for me!
But yup you're right, Durham is about pockets, which I kinda like to be honest.
I am a RE agent that focuses on durham only. Durham is such an awesome town for the exact reasons that I think the original poster doesn't like about it. That attitude carries over to the appraisers I see coming here from Raleigh or chapel hill saying they "know" durham. They have no idea. You have to live and work in durham daily to know durham.
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