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Everyone join in - the difference in perspectives should give many different lists...Rank your top five biggest misconceptions about the triangle (and below list why they are not true):
sneezecake's observed misconceptions
1. Durham is an unsafe city
2. ALL housing is expensive in Cary
3. You should move to Wake County to have your kids attend an excellent school
4. Either TRAFFIC IS AWFUL or....THERE IS NO TRAFFIC!
5. CityData can give you all the answers on where to live
sneezecake's observed realities
1a - Durham is largely safe - there are areas, like any other large city (including Raleigh) that should be avoided but the majority of Durham is a great place to live, visit, shop, or drive.
2a - There are some great affordable older communities in Cary - any good agent should be able to point you at them. It's probably still going to be more than a comparable community in Raleigh or Durham, but if you're set on Cary at all costs and only have 275k to spend, you're not out of luck
3a - You should move to Wake County because you like Wake County or the neighborhood, but not to attend a specific school. This is true in most counties, but Wake has had the largest amount of students redistricted with all the growth. People have bought homes in district A because they've heard wonderful things and ended up with kids assigned to district B.
4a - This one kills me - it's ALL A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE. If you live in Cary and commute to RTP along 54, or live in Wake Forest and commute down Capitol Blvd into Downtown Raleigh, there will be congestion. If you are comparing this to Billings, Montana it's probably going to bug the heck out of you, and if you are comparing this to the Long Island Expressway, you're going to tell all your friends that you've found heaven. Either way, traffic judgments are a matter of perspective exclusively. I am from LA and for my dollar, the "traffic" here is comically low.
5a - CityData is a GREAT place - wonderful information, great members, lots of knowledge, but at the end of the day YOU are the person who must decide what you think. All our opinions are colored by our personal decisions and experiences. There was a thread a while back with a poll that simply said "Where should we live?" and gave 8 or so options to answer. How ridiculous is that? The people who live in Cary will answer Cary, the people who live in Durham will answer Durham, the people who live in Sanford will say Sanford.
Use CityData as a place to get suggestions but for heaven's sake, if you are deciding where to relocate and limiting yourself to the suggestions of CDF members, god help you! Drive around, take some time, get an agent to help out (and even take THEIR opinions with a grain of salt - a Wake Forest/N. Raleigh realtor will likely steer you away from Durham or Hillsborough, or at least toward neighborhoods in their focus area).
Visit, drive around, observe, try things on for size, and make a decision without worrying too much about the opinions of the rest of all of us talking heads!!
Okay...below are some misconceptions that I'd like to dispell.
1. Downtown Raleigh is dead
2. The Triangle is only good for married families with children
3. All progressive and liberal people live in Chapel Hill/Carrboro and Durham
4. "I can't live inside the beltline or downtown because I can't afford it"
5. There's no "walkable" locations in the Triangle
1. Downtown Raleigh is not dead and those that would suggest otherwise have either not been there recently or never go. While DTR does not yet rival the activity of major cities like NY, it does offer many things to do. The bars, clubs and restaurants in the Warehouse & Glenwood South districts are hopping each and every weekend. The Moore Sq. District anchors its own lively scene and is site to many festivals through the year. The performing arts center hosts theatre and musical productions as well as headliner comedians, etc. Housing is under contruction in each of the 5 downtown districts with the majority of it located in Glenwood South and the Warehouse districts.
2. See Above.... :-) While the Triangle is a wonderful place for families, it's also a terrific place for singles too. The singles in the Triangle are often highly educated, worldly and well travelled. They are the heartbeat of the area's growing urban renewal.
3. While Chapel Hill and Durham are often cited as places for liberals to settle, ITB and downtown Raleigh are decidely progressive, especially when compared to the rest of the city and the county. As Raleigh grows, its identity is becoming more complex. While downtown has identified specific districts, Raleigh is moving towards more and more localized identities that offer different experiences to its residents. Many of these neighborhoods are decidely liberal: 5 Points, Oakwood, Boylan Heights, Cameron Village immediately come to mind.
4. Housing in the more urban areas of Raleigh can be had for good prices. Older and affordable apartments abound in or near some of the area's most desired locations. But, to live in these locations for cheaper prices comes with some tradeoffs. If you expect to exactly duplicate an amenity rich new apt. complex in the burbs for the same price, you will be sadly disappointed. Older apartments are available along Hillsborough St. west of downtown, between Cameron Village and Glenwood South and are dotted/hidden in many older desirable neighborhoods north of Wade Ave. If you look and re-align what's important to you, you can live ITB and near downtown on a much smaller budget than you might expect.
5. While the Triangle is certainly not Manhattan, there are areas where you can live and not drive to everything you need. Areas around the 3 major Triangle universities as well as Cameron Village, 5 points, Glenwood South in Raleigh offer a real choice to walk to many shops, services, activities, etc. As downtown Raleigh matures in its neighborhoods, I expect a connected walkable environment to fully emerge from the central business district all the way to Cameron Village. If the national economy doesn't stifle it, I think that's just a few years from away from reality.
6. That there is an actual triangle, analogous to the Four Corners in Utah/New Mexico etc. There is no such triangle. Nor is there a tetrahedron, or a trapezoid. There is a Five Points, however, and the four corners strategy in basketball was developed here.
6. That there is an actual triangle, analogous to the Four Corners in Utah/New Mexico etc. There is no such triangle. Nor is there a tetrahedron, or a trapezoid. There is a Five Points, however, and the four corners strategy in basketball was developed here.
There WAS a Six Forks. Development of the area on Strickland @ Six Forks Rd. has all but made the true "six forks" unrecognizable.
That said, 5 Points actually has 6 points and 4 roads. The roads are Glenwood Ave., Fairview Rd., Glenn Ave. and Whitaker Mill Rd. A 5th road (White Oak) meets Glenwood close by on the other side of Hayes Barton Baptist Church but it doesn't meet at the main intersection. For the life of me, I have never been able to figure out where the "5" comes from.
Okay...below are some misconceptions that I'd like to dispell.
1. Downtown Raleigh is dead
2. The Triangle is only good for married families with children
3. All progressive and liberal people live in Chapel Hill/Carrboro and Durham
4. "I can't live inside the beltline or downtown because I can't afford it"
5. There's no "walkable" locations in the Triangle
1. Downtown Raleigh is not dead and those that would suggest otherwise have either not been there recently or never go. While DTR does not yet rival the activity of major cities like NY, it does offer many things to do. The bars, clubs and restaurants in the Warehouse Glenwood South districts are hopping each and every weekend. The Moore Sq. District anchors its own lively scene and is site to many festivals through the year. The performing arts center hosts theatre and musical productions as well as headliner comedians, etc. Housing is under contruction in each of the 5 downtown districts with the majority of it located in Glenwood South and the Warehouse districts.
2. See Above.... :-) While the Triangle is a wonderful place for families, it's also a terrific place for singles too. The singles in the Triangle are often highly educated, worldly and well travelled. They are the heartbeat of the area's growing urban renewal.
3. While Chapel Hill and Durham are often cited as places for liberals to settle, ITB and downtown Raleigh are decidely progressive, especially when compared to the rest of the city and the county. As Raleigh grows, its identity is becoming more complex. While downtown has identified specific districts, Raleigh is moving towards more and more localized identities that offer different experiences to its residents. Many of these neighborhoods are decidely liberal: 5 Points, Oakwood, Boylan Heights, Cameron Village immediately come to mind.
4. Housing in the more urban areas of Raleigh can be had for good prices. Older and affordable apartments abound in or near some of the areas most desired locations. But, to live in these locations for cheaper prices comes with some tradeoffs. If you expect to exactly duplicate an amenity rich new apt. complex in the burbs for the same price, you will be sadly disappointed. Older apartments are available along Hillsborough St. west of downtown, between Cameron Village and Glenwood South and dotted in older desirable neighborhoods north of Wade Ave. If you look and re-align what's important to you, you can live ITB and near downtown on a tigher budget than you might expect.
5. While the Triangle is certainly no Manhattan, there are areas where you can live and not drive to everything you need. Areas around the 3 major Triangle universities as well as Cameron Village, 5 points, Glenwood South in Raleigh offer a real choice to walk to many shops, services, activities, etc. As downtown Raleigh matures in its neighborhoods, I expect a connected walkable environment to fully emerge from the central business district all the way to Cameron Village. If the national economy doesn't stifle it, I think that's just a few years from away from reality.
[Sheds a tear]
Wow. I live right here in the heart of downtown, your comments are 100% spot on!!!
I struggle constantly trying to convince people with those exact sentiments... It frustrates my wife and I constantly. Downtown has really changed our lives for the better.
6. That there is an actual triangle, analogous to the Four Corners in Utah/New Mexico etc. There is no such triangle. Nor is there a tetrahedron, or a trapezoid. There is a Five Points, however, and the four corners strategy in basketball was developed here.
There are 2 Five Points. No, that doesn't mean there are 10 Points. One set of 5 in Raleigh, another in Durham.
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