Explain Charlotte then with Honeywell, Lowes new Tech Center, Deloitte,Moody’s, US Bank, Microsoft and the list keeps going. Yes, Charlotte lost Paypal, but it really didn’t stop anyone else.
3 Likes
That’s a great attitude to render yourself completely obsolete within a decade, whether it be in business, government, or anything else.
1 Like
Except we are not even remotely obsolete by any standards that you might measure that by. Forbes has NC ranked as the the #1 state for “Best States For Business” in Nov 2018. I believe that will go a long way to attract business here to our great state.
2 Likes
The reality in Austin is that it’s mostly sprawl. How they seem to get a pass compared to other cities is beyond me. I seem to remember reading somewhere that greater Austin was actually becoming less dense as it grew.
FWIW, that campus in Austin is exactly like what these Silicon Valley companies build at their HQs: low slung, car oriented suburban campuses, not that much unlike RTP. The only big difference is the amount of (or lack of) tree buffer.
4 Likes
I agree. Just visited Austin. Was unimpressed. Some cool local restaurants, but disjointed and sprawly. The more I travel the US, I am realizing the great potential of Raleigh. Hope the right decisions are made. An urban DCish core is what I envision.
10 Likes
I’m with you! I would rather have a small, dense urban experience in DT Raleigh than several large towers dotting a car oriented core & surrounded by uncontrolled sprawl.
3 Likes
Unsure if it’s been posted here yet or not, but RTP was the centerpiece of this NYTimes article about Suburban office parks reinventing themselves.
I did not realize RTP was planning mixed use redevelopments, like Boxyard and The Hub.
5 Likes
RTP is what it is. Never going to be urban at all. But it does fill the need of companies to establish operations that are less expensive than downtown locations. I just want the educated workforce that RTP employees to spend their money downtown. Be great if they would live downtown also. Need a magic carpet ride to RTP because that commute sucks.
2 Likes
I agree whole heartedly - but at least glad to hear that RTP is going to add some residences for the first time in 50 years lol
1 Like
Those residents won’t include me!!!
5 Likes
My own scorchingly hot take on this was that HB2 was and remains a terrible law on the merits, and because it is and was so terrible on the merits, it was very good that parts of the law were repealed, and it would be vastly better still if the whole thing were repealed, and this would be the case regardless of whether HB2 did or did not cost us any jobs or business, because human rights are inherently worth protecting regardless of whether we get any sort of financial benefit out of protecting them.
As for businesses trying to use their leverage to influence North Carolina’s policy choices, businesses are free to set up shop, or not, wherever they want and are totally free under the 1st Amendment to try to lobby state governments to pursue specific policy choices, and do so all the time. Like any normal, rational person, my very principled position is that these pressure tactics are good when they lead to policy outcomes I like, and bad when they lead to policy outcomes I don’t like.
On balance, an Apple campus in RTP would have been nice, I guess, but the impact on Raleigh specifically probably wouldn’t have been that huge of a deal, and I totally agree with @dtraleigh that local government needs to focus on nurturing the businesses that already exist here rather than trying to lure in businesses from other places. Finally, I’m a little skeptical that fear of a regressive Republican legislature with hostile views toward LGBT rights was the deciding factor that drove Apple change its mind and build its new campus in … [checks notes] … Texas. 
5 Likes
David, well-written response and I agree with you on HB2.
However to say that an Apple campus while in RTP would not have a ripple effect going forward on Raleigh and more specifically downtown is shortsighted IMO
• Apple would have changed the perception as people around the country in how they see the area
• Ripple effects through additional relocation
• Many of the thousands of employees would come into downtown at least on the weekend
• Some might actually choose to live in downtown and reverse commute (Several of my friends that work at SAS or RTP do this presently)
Best case in point is Austin again. What was the situation there before Apple set up shop in 1993 and the development since? Is that correlated or coincidence
On your last point about regressive Republican legislature - this one can also be answered with perception. Why would Apple choose one conservative state over another? Because one presents itself better than another does. Because one appears to be heading in the right direction and is relatively stable while the other one appears in turmoil and unstable politically while you do your due diligence on the relocation
Austin and Nashville are cool. Raleigh is unknown. Sometimes that fact is the decision breaker.
5 Likes
Interesting that being principled and rational are linked with making subjective assessments of values (good vs bad) as it relates to emotions (like vs dislike) in your hot take. Did you forget your sarcasm font…?
1 Like
Maybe Cook and co. simply polled their employees and found that, although they as executives have ties to this area, the average American Apple employee would rather relocate to Austin than Raleigh…
1 Like
I don’t think there was going to be much relocation of employees. This was 95% new jobs.
Raleigh has the quality of life that people are looking for but I’ve been telling people for years that we have a bad (maybe boring) first impression. You have to get to know what it’s like living in Raleigh by being forced here by a job, spouse, family member and I think most people then get it.
We need marketing. We need people that actually have taste to do some real marketing for us.
11 Likes
I hear that Charlotte’s got a lot, and Virginia is for Lovers 
And also everything happened yesterday at Biltmore. 
Raleigh, where the heck is that? 
5 Likes
Oh, gosh, is the sarcasm font even enabled on this thing? Using a sarcasm font is like putting bumper guards in the gutters of bowling lanes.
But, anyway, yes, I ascribe to a deeply and sincerely held principle that good stuff is good, and bad stuff is bad, and the original post was totally, definitely not sarcasm in the same way that this post is totally, definitely not sarcasm and absolutely intended to be taken one hundred percent at face value.
I watched a lot of Raleigh Major videos. A lot of non-Americans were like that but I think the city worked with the organizers to ‘display’ the city during the competition. I think it really helped sort some of that out.