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Light rail anywhere in Wake County is dead, dead, dead. Commuter rail and bus rapid transit is what we'll get for the next 25 years.

PNC is just fine for many of us. And if you go to lots of games there, you know which roads to take. There's never a backup the way I go.

Oh, let's not go through that again. What DTR tax base? So much of the DTR square footage is governmental and produces zero revenue for the City. Look, if the City didn't want the suburbs, they should quit annexing new parcels. It's still going on in northwest Wake and even across the line into Durham County. You've now got residents of the City who are closer to DTD than DTR. If the City really believed this was a bad financial deal, they could stop it immediately. But they process those annexation requests -- all of which are voluntary -- without a thought. Note that Cary's property tax rate is substantially lower than Raleigh's, although the services provided by both jurisdictions are essentially identical. And Cary has no downtown tax base to speak of. Like I said, the ideological split ITB and OTB may be unresolvable and perhaps the two groups should just go their separate ways... although Cary would become more populous than Raleigh if north Raleigh changes jurisdiction.

Rhetoric aside, no chance. People in the suburbs don't want it, and Raleigh has twice as many of them OTB than urbanists ITB. Push them too far and they'll get the General Assembly to deannex them from Raleigh and then either incorporate as a new municipality or merge with Cary... although I suppose that's one way of resolving OTB/ITB tension.

A 4 or 5% compounded annual increase in value would be more typical for Raleigh overall, during the last 30 years.

Developers in the Raleigh limits/ETJ (and I believe Morrisville also, if not more) can already build narrow residential streets if they provide off-street parking, typically behind the houses/townhomes in a service alley, and prohibit on-street parking. Hard to imagine those streets getting narrower than they already are. The street has to be wide enough for two full-width vehicles to pass.

Relative to Atlanta, Philly, etc there's not that much housing stock in east/south Raleigh ITB that can be gentrified. I'm not discounting the trend, which I expect to continue, but within 25 years I wonder if there will be any low-income housing left ITB. Of course, that's exactly what some people want to happen. The topic of low-income housing is sure to arise during the mayoral campaign, but I'm wondering if it will be just more of the same... OTB like Poole Rd and Fox Rd.

People attending PNC Arena who park east of Youth Center Drive are already walking half a mile. That said, I'm curious what parking arrangements would be made for disabled persons. PNC is really good for people with disabilities.

With both Raleigh and Durham-Orange having flirted with and then walked away from LR, the stage is set for commuter train service over the NCRR between Mebane/Hillsborough/Durham on one end and Garner/Clayton/Selma on the other. It's a complicated concept because so many players are involved -- municipalities, counties, NCDOT/NCRR, and NS. On the other hand, we're not talking 10 figures here. I'm guessing it will take 10 years if a serious effort is launched quickly.

I don't defend Duke's decisions, but as an electrical engineer I will point out that EMI from an above-ground catenary and EMI from a deep-buried electrified third-rail are quite different. Perhaps the systems in Minneapolis and Houston are better comparisons. As if it matters anymore.

Charlotte's LR uses NCRR ROW from 32nd St to Pumpernickel Rd (~2.5 miles). South of 32nd St through the city center to Woodlawn Rd (6 miles), the LR reuses an old freight line that Norfolk Southern owned outright but had ceased to use by the 1990s if not sooner. South of Woodlawn, there are another 5 miles of LR in NS ROW but that's a lower-density environment, like the north end above 32nd St. My point is, Charlotte would have had a tremendous and perhaps insurmountable problem putting LR through the center of the city without this serendipity. Durham ain't havin' any such luck with NCRR between Duke St and Roxboro St.

TBJ is reporting that the Cargill site is now under consideration.

Might work. You've got tens of thousands of workers nearby who eat lunch. They often tire of company cafeterias and the too-familar fast-food joints on the periphery of RTP.

So what did Berger and Moore -- assuming they remain in power beyond 2020 -- promise Duke as an incentive to be obstructionist? Unless the Duke leadership is truly stupid, they know the PR cost in blocking the program. Surely they see some upside for themselves in doing so, beyond the ridiculous reasons they've cited. Meanwhile the North Carolina Railroad and Norfolk Southern must be delighted to see Duke catching all the PR heat. The railroads aren't on board with the program, either, and that's not so easy to fix.

It's complicated because you've got four parties -- the developer, the hotel owner, the hotel operator (often but not always the same as the hotel owner), and the hotel franchise. I'm sure there are linkups like you suggest, but the overall trend appears to be polyamory.