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See, I disagree with that. It feels like a town to me. Of course, I grew up in a town of 115,000, so maybe that skews my way of thinking, but I think of cities as being the focal point of a region’s economy with a dense downtown core.
I guess the definition varies from place to place....I grew up in a "town" of 250K but the "town" encompassed smaller "hamlets" and "villages". Cary is one entity...to me it feels like a "town" but I think of cities as URBAN - current plans for Cary's downtown notwithstanding, it will never be a "city" in that respect as far as I'm concerned.
Even today, Cary is somehow still considered a "town", even with over 160,000 residents, LMAO. I wonder what it would take for Cary to finally be considered a city by Cary's government.
The Cary PD clearly calls Cary a town. I attended some training at the Police Department a couple of years back, and an officer who called it a city to the group was quickly corrected.
The charter designates whether a municipality will be known as a city, a town or a village. There is no legal difference in the designations. It is a matter of the preferences of the residents. There are cities of 1,000 residents, and towns with populations greater than 100,000.
Most Southeastern states don't seem to legally distinguish between towns and cities. Virginia and Alabama are the two exceptions I know of.
Cary is actually currently going through a branding and marketing strategic plan that deals with this in some ways. They’re trying to walk the line of still presenting a neighborly “town” feel to residents while making it clear in broader business dealings that Cary is not just a bedroom community.
Cary Downtown needs a major upgrade in my opinion. First i visited there, i was totally shocked to see "Cary Downtown". I only saw few auto repair shops and some international grocery stores, that's pretty much it. It needs some new tall (not that tall) buildings, condos etc so we can actually call it a "downtown".
Cary Downtown needs a major upgrade in my opinion. First i visited there, i was totally shocked to see "Cary Downtown". I only saw few auto repair shops and some international grocery stores, that's pretty much it. It needs some new tall (not that tall) buildings, condos etc so we can actually call it a "downtown".
Not sure when you were there last but it's probably changed. And it will change a lot more in the coming years.
Am I the only to see the title of this thread as a bit humorous? Anyway this is great news for developers I am sure. Possibly many residents may be stuck here that would prefer to be in a larger city. 25 years ago I moved to Cary to get away from a large city. Unfortunately downtown Apex became what I hoped Cary would. What they say may happen but I think the more logical development around CTC will suck the wind out of it.
Cary Downtown needs a major upgrade in my opinion. First i visited there, i was totally shocked to see "Cary Downtown". I only saw few auto repair shops and some international grocery stores, that's pretty much it. It needs some new tall (not that tall) buildings, condos etc so we can actually call it a "downtown".
But Cary is a suburb, it isn't a city. It goes back to the same point others have made but it doesn't have a developed downtown because its appeal was that it was a nice, convenient bedroom community.
Cary is a town by my definition. Raleigh is a city. However, Cary technically has about the same population of the "city" near my small town where I am at presently. I guess the only reason we call that "city" a city is because there is nothing larger for another 6 hours in every direction.
I remember when I moved to Cary in 1984 (population ~40k) and went to Town Hall to sign up for water service. I asked the clerk if I should make the check payable to "City of Cary" and was quickly corrected that it is the Town of Cary. The latest estimate I saw was that the population is now ~160k. Hardly still a Town in my view.
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