My overview photos from this week.
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What a beautiful finished product
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Thank you for the cool pictures! 
One could almost say that THIS picture is the new “branding” for the City of Raleigh!
Incomplete projects 
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dont worry we have had a parking garage in uptown Charlotte that was supposed to be wrapped with apartments un-opened for 10 years so this is nothing to worry about …yet.
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City Council’s agenda for August 19 includes a proposal to lower the parking rate for Amtrak patrons at RUS from $18/day to $8/day. “Approximately” 75 spaces in the Dillon deck would be reserved for Amtrak patrons. 80% of the lost revenue would be covered by a federal grant.
The City says this will “meet growing demand for convenient and affordable parking. The project supports state goals to improve air quality and reduce traffic congestion by encouraging more residents to use passenger rail services”. I’m sure that’s true, but I suspect the availability of free parking at the Cary Amtrak station has a lot to do with the City’s initiative.
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Why reduce revenue? Unless they think the spaces will go empty = $0 what smart business would cut their own revenue?
If someone can’t afford $18/day then take a $20 Uber.
As a taxpayer this makes no sense UNLESS they feel the spaces won’t get rented at all for some reason. $8 is more than $0???
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aye cool find!
The way i see it, it’s federal grant money that’s going to go somewhere so if raleigh and more importantly rail benefits from it then i say what the heck.
(if it were local dollars it’d be a different story)
80% fed, 10% state, 10% city.
Businesses often do cut their prices. Refer to the “price elasticity of demand”. But from the perspective of the parking company, they’re still getting $18 a day.
For many Raleigh residents, it’s faster to get to downtown Cary than downtown Raleigh. The walk to the boarding platform at Cary is sometimes as short as 50 feet, whereas it’s a hike from the Dillon deck to the station and then to the boarding platform. Also, if you are riding to Durham, Greensboro, Charlotte, etc, you save a little travel time by using the Cary station… which is actually larger than the former Amtrak station on W Cabarrus.
Similar situation going to DC and points beyond. You save both travel time and parking expense by catching the train at Rocky Mount instead of Raleigh.
I have my doubts that subsidizing parking at the Raleigh station will make a significant difference in ridership, but if the feds are paying the bill, why not try it.
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I just happened to be walking into the station and they finished installing the acorn art over by the plaza. It looks nice!
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Raleigh once had one big nut. Now we have a big pair of nuts.
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Is that Mr Scarlett O’Hara?
