On efficient two bedroom units (1,000 SF), do people think the primary bedroom should have two sinks and the guest bath one sink or would both bathrooms having just one sink be sufficient?
For me, I prefer and look for 2 sinks in the primary.
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I have a 2/2 that’s 1070 s.f. and I have 2 sinks in my primary bathroom.
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I gotta say… unsure what New Bern will look like after all the BRT construction is completed but MAN… I went to the Alamo Saturday night to see “Civil War” and driving back home (Westbound from Longview Plaza through downtown) it’s like the Walking Dead after dark, with people stumbling around in the medians, and literally in the middle of the got damn street… There’s only so much a couple new bus stops and some new shops and townhomes will do when there’s already a strong culture of vagrant behavior along that entire stretch. It’s not like suddenly over night those folks will admit themselves into a shelter or mental hospital and everything will look pretty and welcoming. But no joke- I felt like I had to be on high alert driving back home, and not at all for my personal safety, mind you- but because I felt like at any moment I was going to pull up to some random guy in the traffic lane, or crossing the street nowhere near any crosswalk, and have to swerve out of the way to avoid hitting someone. Something’s gotta give, there… and full disclosure, I’d obviously love to see those folks get any help they need. But DAMN what a weird 3rd-world feeling that area has at night…
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Should’ve gone to Paragon Theater at the Fenton. Plenty of parking, no vagrants, plus there’s a Williams Sonoma if you needed a $30 avocado slicer.
I’m joking but I honestly hate driving down New Bern during the day, much less at night. Why do you think most of the pedestrian hit by car stories always seem to be on New Bern or Capital?
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Yup, and to imagine how hard some people are fighting to maintain the status quo too. It’s hilarious.
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Right that makes the criticisms of “gentrification” so hollow - like, y’all WANT it to stay like this? Y’all WANT vagrants stumbling around the medians and into the road at all hours of the day??? Come on now… lol
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And that’s why I felt the need to speak up at the TOD hearing, to let them know that those status quo folks don’t speak for all of East Raleigh. Many of us want to see it improve.
There is MUCH potential in this area. Alamo & Little Blue Bakery are two great examples of what we could see here. But city leaders have got to be on the side helping to change it.
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-I have been watching this last discussion and have to speak up and out!
Do you really believe that the people who live in this area and have lived here since the early 1900s want to continue the status quo in terms of the people who are homeless and/or drink too much (not saying that some of ya’ll might also drink too much but do it in private) or have mental health or substance abuse issues - all of which are universal. Do you really not understand that this community has these issues in public because this was a place that was affordable to live and that now the affordability has gone awry? North Raleigh didn’t want “these people” (and you can put any spin on that you want to) in their space and so Jim Crow restrictions, zonings and cost of living kept people on the other end of the financial spectrum out of those areas for years.
Black communities were the best that they could be under the financial and zoning restrictions that were put on them. Financial because of the amount of money that people were paid, regardless of their educational status and ability; zoning included the Jim Crow restrictions created by law and included in subdivision agreements by 1900. There are so many causes and effects that a number of people of color have been able to overcome, but many others were not able to overcome.
Issues like real estate developers and white people only selling the land that was most undesirable to them to people of color that was low land and covered with creeks that would flood the land; selling people homes and then not wanting to turn over the titles after the payment agreements were completed causing some families to have to spend more money going to court to get proper documentation; small tiny lots platted for sale/lease in the 1800s and therefore smaller inheritances to pass down to their families; working for people who could “at will” (you realize that North Carolina is still at at-will work state don’t you?) get rid of you and your job and then you could barely take care of your families needs - much less upgrade or fix your house…then when the city created a program to help pay for basic system fixes and contractors came in to inspect those systems-being written up for other things that hadn’t been fixed in your house and the city condemning the property based on stuff that the contractors shouldn’t have looked at; destruction of whole communities requiring the people who live there to HAVE to move out and find other housing - and there wasn’t other housing except in some white communities in the southeast part of town…and the federal programs that helped people to move in weren’t explained well so folks didn’t realize that their rents would climb and become mortgages. And so on, and so on.
Black people want the same thing as white people do. We don’t sit back and ignore problems in our communities. We act and ask and for many years were ignored. We don’t always get told when there are decisions being made that affect our communities and we can’t be at all of the meetings especially when they are held during the day. There were years of community work on the New Bern Avenue corridor, in College Park and in Idlewild to keep beer and alcohol and drug paraphernalia from being sold. I didn’t participate because I lived across town in another Black community but I know the history and know that it was done. Do you know it? If you don’t, ask Octavia Rainey and Johnny Blaylock, both of whom still live in the community and are still fighting for it daily (not perhaps the way you would do it but are doing the work nevertheless.)
All the potential isn’t just about what white people bring here. There was potential and amazing work done here long before ya’ll ever showed up. Learn to know and speak all of the truth before you start your condemnations.
That is all.
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Comparing East Raleigh to a “3rd-world” country is not a good look…
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This is the point I’m going to emphasize based on what you said. Affordability has gone awry because of a supply and demand issue. This area is becoming more and more attractive by the day, which is causing prices to go up. We are trying to solve displacement by increasing density, but the same people you claim are fighting for this area (Octavia Rainey in particular) are actually fighting against density:
The solution is not to keep existing zoning. If you keep the existing zoning, gentrification will worsen. People are going to build by right and build expensive single-family homes, which are significantly more expensive than the apartments/condos that would be built from zoning changes.
For the record, I love that Octavia is so passionate about this area and the people in it. But, in my opinion, she and the people in New Bern are being used by LR as a buffer to serve their interests (something they’ve also been doing in the Prince Hall district).
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Did I compare the entirety of “East Raleigh” to a 3rd-world country, though…? I said, and I will quote myself with added context: “DAMN what a weird 3rd-world feeling that area [NEW BERN AVE] has at night…”
There is literally no other place in Raleigh that has this inarguably strange feeling besides NEW BERN AVE. I’ve been through other parts of East Raleigh at night, it’s fine. But NEW BERN AVE, specifically, has large numbers of dudes literally stumbling around the median, meandering across the street at busy sections where there are no lights nor crosswalks, and dudes sitting along the side of NEW BERN at all hours. It’s objectively strange, and you trying to paint me with a broad brush is “not a good look” - neither is groups of dudes stumbling around in the middle of the damn road. There are plenty of other poorer areas of Raleigh that folks have been historically pushed into because of reasons @CC1321 mentions. None have this weird phenomenon of people walking around in the middle of the damn street like they’re sleepwalking.
Notice I also didn’t even specify anyone’s skin color. @CC1321 did. There were black AND white dudes stumbling around the street, FYI. It’s an objectively strange experience swerving around people (again, of any race/gender/creed) in the dark because they’re stumbling into the road from the grassy median.
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You are correct. There are “dudes” and during the daytime “gals” of every color stumbling arouind…they are also walking down the side streets and some end up ringing my doorbell, trying to get into the house. They try to congregate in the woods beside my house, doing all sorts of things. I try not to get more than my share of police time calling and complaining - and don’t let me start on the gunshots that we hear day and night.
Note that I never said that this is a perfect place to live. Nowhere is. I grew up all over Raleigh and have lived all over Raleigh and I love it here. I won’t be pushed out until I can no longer afford to live here and I am fortunate to have options. Many people don’t.
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Wow that sounds amazing and nothing like a third world country. I hope it never changes so there’s always a place for all those people in our city. Y’all means all…
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Do like the Boltman and bolt. Had the same issues. Price of housing does not justify the hassle. Maybe if there was a downtown arena, , better shops and other amenities it would make more sense. No real charm about the place, except city market, and that’s a wasted opportunity. Escape to Pittsboro, home to Jordan Lake, Haw River , very odd people and a lot of goats. 
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Welcome back!!! We’ve missed you 
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The City of Raleigh does NOT need New Bern avenue to remain as is. Its a terrible reflection of the City as a whole (as is S. Saunders & Capital). New Bern seems to currently have a higher proportion of panhandling, prostitution, drug & alcohol use etc. Hell, just look up the police reports…why would ANYONE think that’s worth ‘preserving’!!!
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You raise more of a philosophical question than a city planning one…
When we say this area has problems, or, is that worth preserving, we have to recognize that we’re talking about people and people’s lives. Is everyone walking the streets of New Bern/east Raleigh deserving of an uprooting, or being swept out, or being removed (locked up)? At what cost does the city beautify a ghetto?
What this area really really needs in my opinion is a slow, incremental transformation from the inside out, utilizing tools like community ambassadors, entrepreneurship grants, history honoring, and the hard, dirty work of lifting people up where they are. Sure, some folks in this area need prison/rehab, maybe a lot of people do. I don’t know, I don’t live there. But I know there are thousands of people that live in the BRT corridor and the city can’t just wave a magic wand and “clean up” the area with federal grants and new infrastructure, and even if they did successfully push out the riff raff (to…somewhere else in Raleigh?) it would only be a matter of time before the area falls back into problems of poverty, because new apartments and infrastructure don’t fix an institutional lack of resources for those that stay.
After watching the city’s presentation on New Bern TOD, I thought they did an excellent job of taking the more nuanced approach. They have engaged with community ambassadors, uncovered some of the untold history of the Black community in the area, and have reports of what the residents of this area need (social services, community based job opportunities, education, drug abuse support). Now it’s time to roll up the sleeves and do the hard work, and not repeat the mistakes of the past.
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I think your sarcasm meter is broken…
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Haha! I miss my former downtownites occasionally.
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