DT Cary Performing Arts Center Proposed

[ChiefJoJo]

Click the link. I think they should start with Jim Goodnight. Nice to see a move towards doing something big in downtown Cary.

[NCMike1981]

I gotta give credit to Cary for trying....it appears as if things are slowly starting to change in Cary....

[JDC]

Wait, there's a downtown amid all the gated communities? What for?

[NCMike1981]

LOL yes there is actually a core, albeit a small one. For decades Cary was a tiny town until the boom hit it somewhere in the '80's and '90's. So it has a downtown the size of say Hillsborough, with a population larger then Wilmington.....I find it kind of interesting.

[urbanesq]

the community also has a plan for its town center that would build a fairly dense core playing off of the TTA station that's to be located there. I think it has the potential to be a great little destination downtown for that reason.

[paletexan]

the community also has a plan for its town center that would build a fairly dense core playing off of the TTA station that's to be located there. I think it has the potential to be a great little destination downtown for that reason.

Downtown Cary is a neat little destination with lots of potential. This sounds like a nice project.

I wonder how much longer Pure Gold will be allowed to stay with its proximity to downtown Cary and single family homes.

And for everyone who thinks Cary is full of exclusive gated communities, I just don't see it. Where are these so called nice homes? Aside from McGregor Downs and Preston, Cary looks no different than north Raleigh IMO.

[ChiefJoJo]

Well, I know there are some really high dollar homes in Regency Park as well. Over $1M.

[avery]

Downtown Cary is a neat little destination with lots of potential. This sounds like a nice project.

I wonder how much longer Pure Gold will be allowed to stay with its proximity to downtown Cary and single family homes.

And for everyone who thinks Cary is full of exclusive gated communities, I just don't see it. Where are these so called nice homes? Aside from McGregor Downs and Preston, Cary looks no different than north Raleigh IMO.

The thing with Cary is that there is little in the way of social and economic diversity amongst its residents. Raleigh has just as many "nice" neighborhoods as Cary does, but Raleigh also has more poverty within its limits. Cary is very homogenous and I think people who fit into that fabric find it a desirable place to raise a family. The schools there have less integration and typically have higher scores. There crime rate is much lower than Raleigh. These Pleasantville characteristics help to define Cary residents and the city has done a good job of preserving this quality of life. Kudos for them to keeping true to themselves.

Me on the other hand, enjoy the variety and excitement of reshaping a larger city. Myself, I find Cary rather boring and it is not for me. Should I ever get a minivan with a soccerball magnet on the back one day, I will still call Raleigh home.

[NcSc74]

The thing with Cary is that there is little in the way of social and economic diversity amongst its residents. Raleigh has just as many "nice" neighborhoods as Cary does, but Raleigh also has more poverty within its limits. Cary is very homogenous and I think people who fit into that fabric find it a desirable place to raise a family. The schools there have less integration and typically have higher scores. There crime rate is much lower than Raleigh. These Pleasantville characteristics help to define Cary residents and the city has done a good job of preserving this quality of life. Kudos for them to keeping true to themselves.

Me on the other hand, enjoy the variety and excitement of reshaping a larger city. Myself, I find Cary rather boring and it is not for me. Should I ever get a minivan with a soccerball magnet on the back one day, I will still call Raleigh home.

So you are saying that the Cary model of schools is the way to go. Reverse integration to raise test scores. Like the seperate but equal ideal prior to the civil rights fight. I am not a big fan of busing but I believe if you are going to make that argument then every last school in the system has to be funded equally.

[avery]

So you are saying that the Cary model of schools is the way to go. Reverse integration to raise test scores. Like the seperate but equal ideal prior to the civil rights fight. I am not a big fan of busing but I believe if you are going to make that argument then every last school in the system has to be funded equally.

I'm not making an argument here. First, it is not the "Cary model of schools." Last I checked, we are a county wide system of schools known as Wake County Public Schools. What I was saying was that Cary's demographic make-up is predominately higher income/higer educated and less diverse than in areas in eastern Wake county or in Raleigh. I am totally fine with the idea of integration and don't remember saying otherwise in my previous post. Don't throw mud at me or put words in my mouth regarding this issue.

If you would like to hear my view on this topic, let me state it for myself. There comes a point where it is no longer feasible to bus students in, thru traffic, from all parts of the county to mix up the test scores. Personally, I do not like achievement based funding. It takes more than monetary resources for a child to perform well in school. I think the wealth should be distributed equally among students irregardless of test scores. There are greater factors outside of tax dollars that determines the success of the child. This includes qualified teachers and parental involvement. I went to some @#%* schools when I was growing up and turned out fine. Why? Because it started at home with my parents. Yes, tax dollars are needed. Kids need books and computers, but I think there should be a per child distribution of funding in the schools whether it is in Cary or SE Raleigh. If I had to wager, I would say that Cary's kids do better in school because the parents are more involved and educated AS A WHOLE than in other parts of the county.

Integration is important but it can also be taken too far. My comments on Cary were in no way a post on discrimination. ONE of the reasons families move to Cary is because of the schools their children will be going to. Bussing in kids from all over is not the answer because this will just average out the school's test scores countywide. It does nothing to raise the scores or overall performance of the students. It just makes it look better on paper.

[JDC]

If I had to wager, I would say that Cary's kids do better in school because the parents are more involved and educated AS A WHOLE than in other parts of the county.

I'd attribute that to the fact that Cary is largely a community of transplants (and the offspring of transplants) who came to work in a burgeoning research and technology center. These are generally people with advanced degrees. Y'all get what I'm sayin'?

If I had to pigeonhole Cary, I'd call it primarily a bedroom community for people who work in RTP and downtown Raleigh. That or the posterchild for sprawl and suburban blight.

[NcSc74]

I never intended to throw mud but I did state that I am not a big fan of busing either. I was pointing out the age old argument of test scores being higher in one portion of a district that than another. I do know the facts and yes schools with higher percentages of minorities do score lower however is it fair to use that stigma to attract families to a certain area. I was also trying to allude to the gentrification debate because it seems to me that if new tax money is being funnelled to a certain district then that in turn would help out the schools. Just my thoughts. I was not trying to start a whole racial debate on a topic about a performing arts center.

[Raleighsfinest]

Relax. Relax.

[avery]

I never intended to throw mud but I did state that I am not a big fan of busing either. I was pointing out the age old argument of test scores being higher in one portion of a district that than another. I do know the facts and yes schools with higher percentages of minorities do score lower however is it fair to use that stigma to attract families to a certain area. I was also trying to allude to the gentrification debate because it seems to me that if new tax money is being funnelled to a certain district then that in turn would help out the schools. Just my thoughts. I was not trying to start a whole racial debate on a topic about a performing arts center.

Sorry I got a little testy

I don't think it is right to use the stigma of test scores to attract people to certain areas. I think people are attracted to these areas on their own and have created this imbalance.

[orulz]

Official declaration from the moderator:

The discussion about schools and education in Cary in this thread is over.

[Tayfromcarolina]

The performing arts center sounds like a fair idea. However, I am completely against it if it is trying to draw for the same type of Shows, Performances, Plays that the "Progress Energy Center" currently has.

Those type of performances should only be allowed in larger cities. I also remember hearing of a plan to build a large Durham Performing arts center. That would be cool because at least durham is a large city with all the bells and whistles to go with it. i.e. more than 200,000 residents in city.

[MR-2]

Having 200,000 residents means nothing. Aurora Colorado is the third largest city there after Denver and CO Springs. It's just a suburb. I wouldn't dare call it a city.

Durham has a central business district though, so it would certainly deserve a Performing arts center to compliment Raleigh's.