What the…color me extremely confused…? Someone help me out hear, please!
I truly do not like having to “read-between-the-lines”…
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“In the heart of the Triangle will emerge a new kind of place, one Alive With Possibility. A magnetic epicenter that draws both the young and young at heart to work, live, and recharge the soul. Located in Cary, North Carolina, FENTON is a 92-acre development that brings the area’s rich past and dynamic future together to create a vibrant present: A walkable district with a cosmopolitan mix of shopping, dining and entertainment experiences—seamlessly connected to a community of residences and businesses. A place where the pride of Cary and the innovative energy of the Triangle intersect, mix and mingle to create a can’t-be-missed, urban-inspired experience like none other.”
This made me laugh.
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Well it is a sales pitch… I imagine you can find something similar for every new development.
It’s literally none of the things it claims to be but par for the course in Cary. I’ll do my best to avoid.
Have to laugh at the “rich history of cary” part.
I think Fenton might be the most dense development ever proposed in Cary. There are some elements shared with other spots, but there’s nothing like it now. I think it’s an important step towards light rail because a link from DTR to Cary is going to be necessary to justify a western corridor.
Waverly and Park West have some elements. Waverly has had it’s issues through the years and Park West and Parkside are primarily a large strip centers with some apartments on the edge.
I think part of the perception issue is having the Wegman’s so prominent at the front. I’m not as concerned with that if it’s a 2 story Wegman’s with a 2 level parking deck.
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Its both a class and race issue. Keeping inner city folks out of the suburbs.
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@pBeez
Thank you for the explanation…very sad indeed!
Now, if we can just more more of “all classes AND all races” into DTR, I will be most happy! 
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…and this was what I was talking about; not everyone thinks that.
There’s a sizable number of people in the U.S. who get uncomfortable by people of other races or other cultures/economic classes. There’s a significant number of people in our state and country who think poor people shouldn’t get to be in the same spaces as rich people (at least until they conform to the same looks and expectations as rich people like them) -be it a conscious idea or not. This is another ugly truth of American public transit urban developers need to fight.
Oh yeah, I absolutely don’t deny that. I’m sure the discomfort people feel in this kind of situation is legit (I can’t say my own family is immune from that, either).
I think the issue is that you have to recognize it for what it is: even for things that should be as universal and unifying as public transit, racism/classism comes into play -and you need to address it for what it is.
(e.g. no matter how much you cite how light rail can increase economic activity and real estate investment, some people will oppose it because it bring “undesirables” closer to them -and that’s an un-American value that transit developers have to address)
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I recently moved to Durham (I know, what am I still doing on this forum 
) and now take the bus to work. I have never in my life seen how segregated our society is in such clear terms. 95% of the time, I am the only non-black person on the bus, and I am also quite visibly the only professional. Most of the people at my bus stop live in public housing, most do not have cars, many do not have cell phones. Some are disabled and can’t get around any other way.
I’ve grown up in the Triangle without interacting with anyone outside of my middle-class bubble on a regular day, because that’s how life in our city is structured. I think it’s important for more people to make an effort to do so. When you see the need, you immediately become more aware of the importance of affordable housing, public transit, and the way others experience the city outside of our bubble of trendy restaurants and shiny new apartments.
At the same time, I can understand people’s discomfort. I stick out like a sore thumb, despite being a person of Color. My two female coworkers who live in the same apartment building now drive to work because they were being harassed too often. When you look different from everyone else, you naturally become an easy target for panhandlers and creepy men. Public transit will only get better (and comfortable) for everyone if we get a more diverse mix of users. And in the reverse, perhaps a more integrated city would help break down personal biases.
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I …I’m lost for words right now. 
@maverick333
Have “I” confused you?
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Pretty good podcast interview here with Jeff Mann of GoTriangle. He talks about the overall transit system across the Triangle and the upcoming RUS Bus development, but he also covers why they thought light rail made sense for Durham and Orange County during the planning process, but didn’t make as much sense for Wake County (around the 31:00 mark).
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It made me laugh too. The little animation from a “drone” position emphasizes all these cars circulating around it at night. So, yes, it’s a walkable district that you drive to. If there were any doubt whatsoever that cars are considered first, just look at that massive WalMart sized parking lot surrounding the Wegman’s as the first thing you see on approach to the project.
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They meant wealthy history.
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I am laughing at all the negative comments myself. It amazes me how people only want to see the bad in almost every project brought forward. Probably nobody knows that years ago Cary had an offer to build an Inside Wade type development on the Fenton site. The Cary town council voted it down. Now years later Fenton is coming about. It is a much denser development by far than what was proposed before. If everybody wants to dwell on the Wegman’s and it’s parking lot while all the long ignoring the other 4 parking decks on the site… well go ahead. I prefer to think of development in baseball terms. A single is good. A double or a triple is great. A home run is awesome. But everybody knows that you can’t hit a home run every at bat. By what Cary has done historically, this is truly a home run and a major step forward in their thinking looking forward.
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Not hating Charlotte for what they done to their Transit system.Was in Charlotte seeing a old friend that moved from NYC…says that he loves their rail system.
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Question regarding commuter rail…I’ve taken Amtrak a few times between Raleigh and Durham over the past few months for fun and have noticed that there’s a lot of single track sections still remaining in the corridor. In order to add additional trips to the corridor, are we eventually going to have to double track the corridor?
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A substantial chunk of the budget for commuter rail is intended for double tracking the whole corridor between Raleigh and Durham.
They also plan to grade separate nearly every crossing in the corridor but I am not sure if that will be part of the CR budget or funded from the standard NCDOT STIP rail category.
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