Downtown Revitalization: Raleigh, Seven Years Later

[fsquid]

Speaking of North Carolina cities, I'm currently boarding a plane in Charlotte. Nice airport.

If yiu do not go outside.....the airport is just a pass through....when you step outside, you see it is all but dead

why would you go outside the airport?

[I-10east]

Blah blah blah, Raleigh aint all that. Yall are trying way too hard to act as if Raleigh is some cosmopolitan city. Typical MJ....

[I-10east]

You must have me confused with someone else. Before the post you responded to, I mentioned RTP a grand total of ONE time so I have no clue what you're talking about. If just one mention of the place rankles you THAT much, then that sounds personal on your part.

Wrong, you said it TWO times, go back and check it if you don't believe me; But you're right though, you didn't say it that many times, I should have said 'everyone who is debating with me' and not only you. I never take anything 'personal' on this website. I can disagree with you on one subject, and agree with you on another with a ^^^+100; Even the people who are critical about me have no choice but to attest to that.   

[fsquid]

Blah blah blah, Raleigh aint all that. Yall are trying way too hard to act as if Raleigh is some cosmopolitan city. Typical MJ....

I haven't seen anyone say it is a cosmo city.  Just that it outpaces JAX in a few key areas.

[I-10east]

^^^So what, that works vice-versa too, not just some one way street with Raleigh being better in every faucet. 

[I-10east]

^^^Yeah tedium, as in tedious, perfect word; Just ignore the posts that I basically covered my ass on by admitting that Raleigh is currently doing some progressive things that Jax is not, then fifteen people act as if I didn't say that by keep repeating themselves, just look at the post that I just responded too. Talk about tedium...   

[krazeeboi]

Wrong, you said it TWO times, go back and check it if you don't believe me; But you're right though, you didn't say it that many times, I should have said 'everyone who is debating with me' and not only you. I never take anything 'personal' on this website. I can disagree with you on one subject, and agree with you on another with a ^^^+100; Even the people who are critical about me have no choice but to attest to that.

OK I missed the second mention, but even in that mention, I was attributing it more to Durham than Raleigh. At any rate, I wasn't making a huge deal out of it as you were implying, so that was pretty disingenuous on your part.

^^^So what, that works vice-versa too, not just some one way street with Raleigh being better in every faucet.

Yes, but this is the "LEARNING FROM" forum, where cities are featured and key areas of progress highlighted in an attempt to demonstrate what Jacksonville can learn from them. So of course we're talking about the areas where Raleigh outshines Jacksonville BECAUSE THAT'S THE ENTIRE POINT.

[I-10east]

OK I missed the second mention, but even in that mention, I was attributing it more to Durham than Raleigh. At any rate, I wasn't making a huge deal out of it as you were implying, so that was pretty disingenuous on your part.

Damn, I could've sworn that I conceded that already, by saying 'YOU'RE RIGHT you didn't say it that many times' not unless I'm in The Twilight Zone....Even when I try to be humble and reasonable....Replies like that make you look very trivial, overly sensitive and unreasonable....

Yes, but this is the "LEARNING FROM" forum, where cities are featured and key areas of progress highlighted in an attempt to demonstrate what Jacksonville can learn from them. So of course we're talking about the areas where Raleigh outshines Jacksonville BECAUSE THAT'S THE ENTIRE POINT.

I TOTALLY AGREE. I don't know how many times that I have to mention Raleigh is being more progressive than Jax right now, apparently infinity. I just disagreed with some of the comments people said which IMO overly hyping Raleigh when comparing it to Jax, like someone said 'Raleigh is much more well known than Jax' and other things. I'll respect people's opinions though, but that doesn't mean that I have to agree with them.

I still think that Raleigh is one of the lesser known capitals, but their profile obviously can't do anything but improve with time, considering the good things they are doing; I'm sure that some people will disagree with that. That's what is good about living in the USA, and not a communist country, having opinions.

[tufsu1]

Speaking of North Carolina cities, I'm currently boarding a plane in Charlotte. Nice airport.

If yiu do not go outside.....the airport is just a pass through....when you step outside, you see it is all but dead

why would you go outside the airport?

well I guess if you weren't just using the airport as a pass-through hub, you would go outside

[RaleighResident]

Wow! A lot of people here sound jealous of Raleigh. I lived in Savannah for 4 years and went to Jacksonville a few times for concerts. Not a lot of stuff to do there. All of NC is very beautiful and Raleigh is right in the middle. We have great beaches and mountains within a 3 hour drive in either direction. Florida as a whole is pretty boring geographically and is basically a poor man's California. Sure, there's nice beaches but nothing else but elderly people. It's pretty boring. Also, Raleigh is a relatively short drive to most east coast urban centers. It's not about the size of the city, it's about the quality. Sorry, guys but your city is kind of a dead end.

[RaleighResident]

I will say I do like Jacksonville's downtown riverfront. That is a nice attribute. The tiny train cars of the public transportation system downtown is kind of a joke, though. Raleigh is a very walkable city and is very easy to bike around. Our weather beats yours, too.

[I-10east]

Wow! A lot of people here sound jealous of Raleigh.

Oh brother, here we go...Actually if you looked throughout the thread, people were defending Raleigh. I'll take credit for being the guy that thought many on here overrated Raleigh. While I was being sarcastic, I do realize that Raleigh is a very fast growing city. Raleigh has a lot of nice things going for it.

I just thought that some tried to make it out to be a unparalleled glistening beacon of entertainment which it isn't. Enough said from me, although that won't stop the old arguments that I will not respond to....

[Tacachale]

Cool stories, y'all.

[sonoandrea]

I will say I do like Jacksonville's downtown riverfront. That is a nice attribute. The tiny train cars of the public transportation system downtown is kind of a joke, though. Raleigh is a very walkable city and is very easy to bike around. Our weather beats yours, too.

Firstly, I have to disagree that the weather in Raleigh beats Jacksonville.  Raleigh gets far colder and icier - I never had to sit on a highway for five hours because there was an ice storm in Jacksonville and the city didn't get the salt trucks out before they released all of the schools and government employees.  It gets just as hot - if not hotter - than Jacksonville, the difference being that Jacksonville stays warmer for longer.  In Jacksonville, if it gets too hot and humid you can get respite by the river or the ocean.


I live in Jacksonville and have lived in Raleigh (2003-2005).  I currently also visit downtown Raleigh frequently due to my husband's job.  When I moved from Raleigh back to Jacksonville in 2005, Glenwood South was just starting to take off and they were just starting the work to open up Fayetteville Street in downtown proper.  I remember thinking downtown was dead and questioned if their plans would work.  From what I have witnessed over the past nine years, I can tell you that it definitely worked.

It may be because I spend *all* of my time downtown when I'm in Raleigh and in Jacksonville I live on the Southside and spend a lot of time in Riverside (meaning that I may not be seeing everything Jacksonville downtown has to offer) but I feel like downtown Raleigh is bigger, more advanced and has much more to offer than downtown Jacksonville.  There are better and more residential options, restaurants, museums, hotels and entertainment.  And there is a free bus (the R-Line) to loop through all of it, all day and into the night.  I think the colleges and universities and corporate headquarters in and around downtown Raleigh provide a lot of demand for these things.

Because of my husband's job, we have considered moving back to Raleigh.  The lower cost of living, lack of state income tax and weather keep us in Jacksonville, but I think Jacksonville could learn a lot from Raleigh.