Its paywalled. Are you able to dish out a general gist? Awesome that Full Bloom got a shout out!
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HOLD UP: This MFer is calling North Carolina one of America’s most “seductive” and “scariest” states…? LMAO
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Bruni’s always dramatic. Made him a fun food writer, but kind of a stuffed shirt when he looks at serious topics.
The idea is that so many people are moving here (seductive), but the state’s politics in a precarious position with the gerrymandered districts etc etc (scary).
There’s also plenty of “omg I moved to the South and I still got a craft beer and a fancy coffee and then I saw a Trump sign” sorts of interludes, but it’s the NYT, what do you expect?
(EDIT: Also he talks about wanting to live in a politically mixed city and ends up in… Carrboro.)
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@OakFolk here’s a gift link that should work: One of America’s Most Seductive States Is Also One of Its Scariest
I just read Blood Done Sign My Name (nonfiction about a racially motivated murder in Oxford in 1970) and NC has some real ugly history. Vestiges of they history still remain in some areas, though we are fairly insulated from it in the Triangle.
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At least he named Raleigh and Durham as two distinct cities, unlike most journalists writing for major newspapers.
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Given that he went to UNC, works at Duke, and now lives in Carrboro, I would hope so!
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Same, but there are still a lot of people who live here and insist on referring to the region as “RDU.”
I mean, yeah… but let’s be real. EVERY state has ugly history. The entire country was founded and built on ugly history. But “Scariest State” undoubtedly goes to Florida: alligators, crocodiles, gigantic snakes, venomous spiders, etc
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Also… I’ll let out a disgusted blechh toward articles like this. We are such a fear based society, headlines like this just piss me off these days. I saw a European guy on twitter say yesterday [paraphrased] “I’m scared to visit the US with all the gun violence and civil unrest. I felt safe in Latin America, but I don’t think the US would be worth a visit with the risk.” So much entitlement and coddling going on. I wish everyone was forced to visit Africa or India and take some LSD or something, maybe crawl out from under that rock.
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It use to be “if it bleeds, it leads” with the newspapers’ front pages.
Now that is replaced by “click bait.”
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Having a cavalier attitude about the stability of US democracy is just as entitled a take as saying the US is more dangerous to visit than Latin America, in my opinion.
The article’s language is a bit hyperbolic but the central point is right.
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In the 80s my mom worked with the son’s wife over at the old ITT building off Old Wake Forest (Wegman’s area). She said the husband was intense the couple times she had met him, but she had no idea of the backstory until decades later when she read the book.
Places change, but the living memory past is still there below the surface if you know where to look. That doesn’t mean NC is inherently scary or anything, but the reach of regrettable history touches us all, even in the Triangle (of which Oxford is technically a part of now).
WakeMed wants to build their fourth acute care hospital near Timber Dr/White Oak Rd in Garner, which would have 45 acute care beds, two operating rooms, and a full service emergency department with 24 beds. They are also proposing a 150-bed mental health hospital somewhere in the county at an undetermined site. Both projects are targeting 2024 construction and 2027 opening.
This is in addition to the existing emergency department in Garner, which would move to the new site, and a new Duke Health medical office facility under construction now.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article264521686.html#storylink=mainstage_card5
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That’s good news, that part of the county needs a larger hospital facility. The entire length of White Oak between Timber Dr and 70 is a single very large piece of property, so hopefully there will be entrances from 70, and enough land for additional medical office space. That being said, the county and city of Garner really need to figure out how to fix the traffic situation on Jones Sausage from 70 up to Garner Rd. This will only compound the issues there.
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That’ll clear up when they’re done with 40 next year. That problem is mostly people bailing from 40 when it’s clogged.
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You can also throw in the new VA hospital they’re planning on building out in Garner too in your list here.
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There is a plan to reroute Jones Sausage with a grade separated crossing of the railroad tracks west of the current location where it makes a sharp turn.
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Lots of stuff happening in Garner lately! A few highlights:
• Duke Health is constructing a medical office building at the southeast corner of Timber Dr and New Rand Rd. There are renderings posted on the construction fence but I can’t find one online. It’s designed by Little.
• Signage is finally up for the Lidl going into Garner Towne Square where the Kroger used to be.
and the big news from this week—
• Land clearing has begun for the VA clinic at NC-50 and Rand Rd (more on that up here)
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There are also 318 townhouses being built on Old Stage Rd. The land has been cleared, and my daughter asked me what they were building, and because my five-year-old has what amounts to a professional research team at her disposal, I looked into it, and they are building 318 townhouses on 64 acres, which is … five townhouses per acre. 
Five townhouses per acre! I mean, why even bother. Every time we drive by, I tell my daughter that it should be at least 600 townhouses, and I assume she goes to kindergarten and tells all the other kids about how weird her dad is, but I say that it’s never too early to teach your kids about putting land to its highest and best use.
The town desperately needs to extend Vandora Springs to 401 and approve the construction of a lot more housing in this wedge of land.
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Looks like you can add a new public safety station to your list. Looks like it’ll be out there in the 401/Ten-Ten corridor. Wake County Commissioners approved $10 million for it too.
Garner Town Council approves new public safety station plans | CBS 17
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