Not Perfect--But Great--Let's Clarify
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3/1/2010
I had posted a couple years ago and still receive numerous inquiries regarding Raleigh when I left my email. In fact, I received three this week.
Look, if you are seeking a perfect city--pass Raleigh by because it is not perfect. I mentioned before that I have traveled 27 countries and have visited 45 of the States and have lived in a variety of cities in a couple other States. I believe I have a good point of reference when I say Raleigh is a wonderful place to live. Does it have flaws--yes, but then so does every city I have visited over the years.
In these postings, I have seen allegations of Confederate flags and people being called Yankee. This is for those folks. Look, if people are calling you a Yankee--stop acting like one. Don't appear aloof, holier than thou and stand-offish. Stop looking down your nose at Southerners. We all are not uneducated rednecks. We all do not drop the last syllable in words. Our universities are noted for their academics just as much as their atheletic programs.
I recently did some work in Nigeria. The Nigerians had major issues with the British and Dutch expats working with them because they said they looked down at them and treated them as second class citizens. This creates a great divide. If someone calls you a Yankee, it may be in fun--just like the Bostonian who wants me to pronounce car, art or Saturday over and over again for their amusement. Maybe you need thicker skin. Suck it up--you don't get a cross burnt on your lawn this weekend---sorry.
The roads in and around the city have not kept pace with the surging growth. That's right--you aren't the first or last person to research great cities to live in who actually moved to one. With 30% growth in the last few years, our infrastructure has been challenged to the max. We have worked hard at adding new roads and widening exisiting ones. We have not done a great job tearing down all those wonderful trees you noticed when you flew in here for the first time and replacing them with concrete and asphalt just so you don't have to sit too long in your air-conditioned car on the way to work. I go to LA every month (have for about 15 years) and every month I sit in a traffic jam and admire how they have paved over a third of their city's real estate to accomodate all the needed roads to mobilize their society. But I don't stress nor do I sit there and cuss at the few inches I have progressed in the last ten minutes. When I look out at the thousands of cars and the heavy smog hovering overhead, entertained by the road rage I see, I am thankful for my return to Raleigh that weekend.
I fear that Raleigh may become an Atlanta someday--its unique charm and coziness lost to millions of impatient commuters shouting obsenities to the person in the car next to them, a city where folks complain about the "good ol' days" and people who have never visited Umstead Park, NC Museum of Natural Science,or Marbles Kid Museum, or the Farmers Market, or attended any of the Broadway series, or NC Museum of History or our local lakes belly-aching about nothing to do in this hick town. Grab a copy of the weekly publication, Independent, which is chocked full of things to do in this area. Then when you have exhasuted the Raleigh options--go visit the universities. If you are bored--it is because you are lazy--sorry-we don't deliver culture to the door.
Look--Raleigh makes the top ten list of great places to live and work but it never made the Top Perfect Cities in the US.
Again, I post my email (p_ingalls@msn.com) if you want to contact me with questions regarding Raleigh and the surrounding area. If you want to contact me to belly ache about my adopted city--send your email to Washington DC because I heard they really care about your input and suggestions and they will work hard to do something with it..
Preston | Raleigh, NC