This seems like the most relevant place to put this, but Penn and Kim Holderness are on the new season of The Amazing Race which premiered last night. It was disappointing tho when they showed the front of RDU it said Charlotte in the corner of the screen. But it was really great to see our local pesudocelebrities on a popular TV show.
1 Like
MPOs (CAMPO for the Raleigh side and DCHC for the Durham side) and, like @Kevin said, the Triangle J Council of Governments are supposed to serve those roles.
MPOs have the power to set agendas for transportation plans in a metro region, and federally-funded projects are required to be planned through them. This means transportation planning is done with a region-first view, thanks to them being mandated by federal law.
Councils of Government market themselves as if they’re a more locally oriented MPO, but I think they work more like publicly-funded think tanks staffed by local governments. For example, TJCOG helps cities get data for affordable housing programs, manages some housing programs itself, and gives technical support to predict transportation demand in our area.
I don’t think those places have “influence” in that they have decision-making power -but their power lies in the background: MPOs and COGs handle the technical details that make or break local priorities, but they still expect local cities to make their own decisions.
2 Likes
New York Times just released this. Says Raleigh is in 4th place for least affordable for renting a studio.
3 Likes
Is there many studio apartments outside of Downtown Raleigh? I don’t think so. Probably why.
Right, I don’t really know of many.
There is definitely a market for them. I work in the industry and every lease up I do people want a studio or 1 bedroom.
Columbus Oh looks like a steal.
3 Likes
It all goes back to cost of living.
Until cities are remotely affordable to families who want amenities and yards - which is probably 75% of all people - it will continue.
I know it’s not a popular opinion on this site but that’s the reality of what the majority of main stream Americans want.
Would I live downtown if I could? Absolutely! But to have something as walkable as Wendell falls, with a yard, with space to grow downtown would be unattainable.
But back to my main point, it’s an affordability issues.
We’ve touched on this a few times but the triangle does a MUCH better job connectivity wise, and mixed use wise in the suburbs. We blow cities like Atlanta, Austin, Nashville, Charlotte etc away when it comes to that. I do worry greatly about the outlying counties like Johnston and Harnett though. They seem to just let things pop up with no connectivity.
The level of walkability and needing not a car for errands in a lot of these suburbs / master planned communities is better than many even ITB locations.
All that said, being the urbanist I am, id still trade it for downtown if I could lol
But 75% of people wouldn’t agree with us. I wish I could bring y’all to these board meetings and discussions out in Wendell.
Speaking for Wendell in particular, there is a huge focus on the grid, connectivity and neighborhood commercial nodes which will help too.
10 Likes
My company actually just sold the Wendell property last month. Sold it and we were only open 2 months; also, 1 beds were 100% leased and 2 beds were going fast.
2 Likes
I’d prob pick Colorado Springs!
1 Like
Nice! I see the lot is looking fuller by the day. So nice to see things picking up here. Walking to Publix has been great.
3 Likes
Shocking, it’s cheap to live in Wichita! Can’t wait to live there! Lol
I think the thing with some of these less affordable cities is to look at what salary a given person makes doing a comparable job, not just the median income. I could make 10k more a year doing my job in Boston but the cost of living is probably 50-100% higher than here, so it’s not worth it. The Boston area is filled with higher income people so the median salary is higher than here, but that’s basically because the lower income people have already been pushed to other semi nearby areas. Here we have lots of different incomes all within the city. At least that’s my two cents.
8 Likes
Kansas, land of the mud rains. Did some software work for a Newspaper and they seemed proud of the mud rains created from dust blowing in from west mixing with thunder storms. ???
I mean Clark Kent seemed to like Kansas, but haven’t heard of many others since. 
3 Likes
Yea and Dorothy wanted to get back, but then I would not want to hang around OZ either.
The problem is that there’s an idea that you can’t raise a family in a big city and that you need a yard. In a big city (of course depending on where you live), you do have parks and don’t necessarily need a big yard. Even some apartment complexes do have shared public spaces and playgrounds.
The problem with Raleigh right now is that there are so many single family houses that are hugely expensive because they have a yard. The single family homes and lack of missing middle housing is what causes the problem of affordability. Luckily Raleigh did pass the Missing Middle Housing text change last year. Now we just need developers to work on it. I’m not sure how much additional housing is being built as a result.
The level of walkability in some of these new master communities is a bit overplayed in my opinion. I do expect Wendell Falls to eventually become a wonderful community that will have a lot in the future, but I don’t see it being any more walkable than Brier Creek or a lot of other areas around Raleigh. I’m not sure of what Wendell Falls has to offer, but if you stick to the north side of 70 in Brier Creek, there is a hospital, dentist, office buildings, Harris Teeter, Walmart, and restaurants. You can live, work, shop, and play there. Arguably there is a little bit of nightlife. You will need to drive your kids to school (which I believe is the same for Wendell Falls and for the majority of Raleigh). You will also have to drive to the clothing stores across 70 and to the Theater.
I’m not trying to downplay the new master developments, but they really don’t offer the walkability or car-freeness that is marketed. Although they are nice, there really isn’t anything that special about them other than they are new and “clean”. Less dense areas in general (SFH) are not going to offer full walkability. I will also say that Raleigh in general does need to do more to further densify (not necessarily to full on 20+ residential towers), but 3-4 story apartment/condo buildings or row houses/townhomes should be sufficient.
9 Likes
I was there recently - The high plains can be beautiful, Konza Prairie and Lawrence are unique and cool, and I had a couple good beers at Central Standard Brewing in Wichita, but I am not exactly clamoring to go back.
1 Like
Very solid points and I agree with most of what you’re saying. I’m just speaking to what most of what people will say.
Speaking to Wendell Falls since I do live here, while I love brier creek, WF will have a hospital, restaurants, shopping, box box stores and you can walk to school k-8. Overall it seems a more desirable neighborhood than Brier creek. It was voted the number 1 new development in the triangle for a reason. also by the time you deal with 70, you’re looking at the same amount of time to travel from BC to downtown as WF.
I think it’ll take much more than the missing middle text to get general people attracted to the city when you can go 15 mins out and get the same thing for less than half the price.
3 Likes
Your posts have gotten me interested in a townhouse in Wendell Falls. I’m intrigued. If you get a commission check I’ll be sure to let them know it was you that inspired me 
7 Likes
without looking at a map, my initial presumption would be that WF is an easier commute to DT than BC.
1 Like