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Charlotte and Raleigh are experiencing rapid growth. Greensboro is experiencing steady growth. However I do see Greensboro becoming the next boom town in the state. Its not a matter of if but when. Eventually its going to get really expensive to build and live in Raleigh and Charlotte (already heading that way) and developers and companies will look at Greensboro's urban amenities, lower cost of living, less expensive to develope and its proximity to both Charlotte and Raleigh. Greensboro is sowing the seeds for the future growth over the next few decades. Despite every thing that's happening today in Greensboro, its going to take some time for the city to shed its "small city" image. Look how long it took for Charlotte to prove to the world it was a "major city" despite having an NBA team and an impressive skyline. The key to changing Greensboro's image is continued large scale urban downtown development, large corporations relocating here, rapid population growth and more continued national exposure through sporting events, conventions, etc. That is why the Greensboro Coliseum is one of the city's biggest assets.
Greensboro just has an image problem.
Perfect example...remember when the X Factor Auditions were held in Greensboro? The city was not portrayed in a positive light on national TV. The show made Greensboro seem like a VERY small southern hick town. A lady on the show was asked by Simon Cowell what Greensboro was famous for and she responded "country music and grits" I've lived here my whole life and I can tell you that while country music is popular all over the state, its not the genre of music I think of when I think of Greensboro. We are a diverse city with many tastes. We also have one of the most diverse restaurant scenes in the state and to say grits was an insult. Simon Cowell is driven through empty city streets (which had to have been filmed on an early Sunday morning because that's the only time the streets are that dead) a lot of tape editing to create a narrative about Greensboro. Then he asks where is everyone? Then the lady says if you went downtown its a ghost town because everyone is at the coliseum. The city was not that crazy about X Factor coming to town lol.. I just think we were portrayed as a southern redneck town. This is the challenge Greensboro faces. Stereotypes and over exaggerations. Companies want to move to up and coming cities with a vibrant urban scene. If this is the impression people get of Greensboro which is a false impression, its going to be more challenging.
Charlotte and Raleigh are experiencing rapid growth. Greensboro is experiencing steady growth. However I do see Greensboro becoming the next boom town in the state. Its not a matter of if but when. Eventually its going to get really expensive to build and live in Raleigh and Charlotte (already heading that way) and developers and companies will look at Greensboro's urban amenities, lower cost of living, less expensive to develope and its proximity to both Charlotte and Raleigh. Greensboro is sowing the seeds for the future growth over the next few decades. Despite every thing that's happening today in Greensboro, its going to take some time for the city to shed its "small city" image. Look how long it took for Charlotte to prove to the world it was a "major city" despite having an NBA team and an impressive skyline. The key to changing Greensboro's image is continued large scale urban downtown development, large corporations relocating here, rapid population growth and more continued national exposure through sporting events, conventions, etc. That is why the Greensboro Coliseum is one of the city's biggest assets.
I disagree with you on several fronts:
Charlotte is only a metro of 3 million. Raleigh-Durham are even smaller.
- We haven’t really seen other cities even in the 5 million range that have struggled with too high cost of living. Seems like the cities bleeding due to high cost are NYC, San Francisco and LA. But even then, they’ve bled people to entirely different regions. Greensboro would have to compete with many other cities for and bleeding from CLT/RDU.
Not to mention, there is such a huge void west of Charlotte, plus South Carolina border for Charlotte. Growth would boom in those areas rather than move to Greensboro. I do think if it gets too expensive in those two metros, there would just be urban sprawl, particularly South Carolina for Charlotte.
I think Raleigh and Charlotte still struggle with a midsized image. There’s a lot of mid-sized cities in the US.
As long as there are jobs coming to Greensboro, then it’ll boom. Can’t boom without jobs. So. The key is jobs, education. Not sure being low cost will matter too much.
Charlotte is only a metro of 3 million. Raleigh-Durham are even smaller.
- We haven’t really seen other cities even in the 5 million range that have struggled with too high cost of living. Seems like the cities bleeding due to high cost are NYC, San Francisco and LA. But even then, they’ve bled people to entirely different regions. Greensboro would have to compete with many other cities for and bleeding from CLT/RDU.
Not to mention, there is such a huge void west of Charlotte, plus South Carolina border for Charlotte. Growth would boom in those areas rather than move to Greensboro. I do think if it gets too expensive in those two metros, there would just be urban sprawl, particularly South Carolina for Charlotte.
I think Raleigh and Charlotte still struggle with a midsized image. There’s a lot of mid-sized cities in the US.
As long as there are jobs coming to Greensboro, then it’ll boom. Can’t boom without jobs. So. The key is jobs, education. Not sure being low cost will matter too much.
True but people are going to move to where the jobs are located. I was basically saying more companies will give Greensboro another look when it gets too expensive or saturated in the Charlotte and Raleigh markets The people will then follow. But that doesn't mean Greensboro needs to sit on and hands and wait. The city needs to do a better job promoting itself as great place for companies to relocate to. We have enough assets just poor marketing and lack of "aggressive" recruitment of new companies. The city needs to build on its strengths. The city has been trying to attract a lot of high paying white collar jobs for years but fails to realize that we need to build on what we do have. Greensboro has always been a hub for insurance companies. Why not build on that? We already have a concentrated base. Two of the largest are the Arch Capital Mortgage Insurance headquarters and the Lincoln Financial Insurance headquarters (the bank is based in Philadelphia). The insurance sector could be to Greensboro what the banking sector is to Charlotte. That's our ace in the hole for white collar jobs. Greensboro just lacks business visionaries like Hugh Mccoll who look beyond the company and want to move the city forward. City leaders also need to think bigger and be more aggressive in attracting companies. We have a nice manufacturing base we just need more high paying white collar jobs. That's what leads to urban development such as the luxury highrise apartments/condos, office towers, high end retailers and other urban amenities that we see going up in Charlotte and Raleigh. A city is not going to get development on that kind of level when well over 50% of the labor force is manufacturing, distribution and logistics and service related industries. Im not saying that its bad to attract those kind of industries. I think its important for a city to have a diverse economy
Charlotte and Raleigh are experiencing rapid growth. Greensboro is experiencing steady growth. However I do see Greensboro becoming the next boom town in the state. Its not a matter of if but when. Eventually its going to get really expensive to build and live in Raleigh and Charlotte (already heading that way) and developers and companies will look at Greensboro's urban amenities, lower cost of living, less expensive to develope and its proximity to both Charlotte and Raleigh. Greensboro is sowing the seeds for the future growth over the next few decades. Despite every thing that's happening today in Greensboro, its going to take some time for the city to shed its "small city" image. Look how long it took for Charlotte to prove to the world it was a "major city" despite having an NBA team and an impressive skyline. The key to changing Greensboro's image is continued large scale urban downtown development, large corporations relocating here, rapid population growth and more continued national exposure through sporting events, conventions, etc. That is why the Greensboro Coliseum is one of the city's biggest assets.
Greensboro just has an image problem.
Perfect example...remember when the X Factor Auditions were held in Greensboro? The city was not portrayed in a positive light on national TV. The show made Greensboro seem like a VERY small southern hick town. A lady on the show was asked by Simon Cowell what Greensboro was famous for and she responded "country music and grits" I've lived here my whole life and I can tell you that while country music is popular all over the state, its not the genre of music I think of when I think of Greensboro. We are a diverse city with many tastes. We also have one of the most diverse restaurant scenes in the state and to say grits was an insult. Simon Cowell is driven through empty city streets (which had to have been filmed on an early Sunday morning because that's the only time the streets are that dead) a lot of tape editing to create a narrative about Greensboro. Then he asks where is everyone? Then the lady says if you went downtown its a ghost town because everyone is at the coliseum. The city was not that crazy about X Factor coming to town lol.. I just think we were portrayed as a southern redneck town. This is the challenge Greensboro faces. Stereotypes and over exaggerations. Companies want to move to up and coming cities with a vibrant urban scene. If this is the impression people get of Greensboro which is a false impression, its going to be more challenging.
Coming from a small town, Greensboro will always be a big city (for NC) to me, not much different from Raleigh. Charlotte is bigger and not comparable to Raleigh or Greensboro anymore.
But the logic and criteria you're using to judge and rank cities is in actuality, subjective, and it's the reason why Hollywood used to call Wilmington "sleepy" back when One Tree Hill and so many tv shpws were taped there.
The year that Kelly Pickler and many other talented singers from the southeast were discovered, was also the year that auditions were held at Greensboro Coliseum, where I saw Prince's Purple Rain Tour in concert as well as many others in the Grateful Dead (I think).
The judges made comments about finding all that talent "out in the middle of no where".
Until you've driven across the country as I did 9 times when I lived in SoCal, you don't know what out in the middle of no where is. Greensboro actually is in the thick of everything compared to 75% of the rest of the US.
But the producers of the show, the year Clay Aiken competed, were so impressed with WRAL's opening intro that they showed the entire opening of a newscast on American Idol that season where Clay would try to do the weather segment.
NC has been nationally known for growth since way back in the 1980s, where in the movie Wall Street, Charlie Sheen talks about Blue Star Airlines expanding all over North Carolina.
You just have to laugh it off, people just are clueless in general, and visitors to NC really won't remember what any city looks like except Charlotte, because it has a tall skyline, which is etched into peoples memories forever.
What do you think was the defining moment when Charlotte proved itself to be a world city? I ask because I suspect you're basing this on what you place value in that either makes or breaks cities.
You're associating dramatic skylines to cities booming in growth like that's what draws people to come and resettle.
If Greensboro is to boom, it will be from the underlying fundamentals of the area, the businesses and industries that are firmly planted there and poised for growth.
Skylines definitely impact people on the conscious and subconscious levels, but they fund and handout paychecks which are needed for people to flock there.
Also having a another large city within a stone's throw away, will also temper any boom for Greensboro, as many newcomers will investigate Winston, and High Point with over a 100,000 people find something they like in either city, and just commute to new jobs in Greensboro.
I think Greensboro is doing fine, and I'm curious as to why Winston isn't talked about more.
I think the more well-traveled people are the less they will judge places based on their skylines, because many of the world's greatest and most treasured places don't prioritize a goal to look like a successful American city by way of its downtown skyline.
We all sorta do what you're doing in wanting our hometowns or where we live to be respected and flourish though. Just remember to differentiate between concrete fundamentals and those that are subjective.
Last edited by architect77; 05-22-2020 at 06:56 PM..
Everyone consider big to be good, the goal, and mid-sized and small to be bad. Why?
The granola folks championing the saving of Mother 'Earth would say the opposite. I remember a girl from Carrboro referring to Raleigh as the concrete jungle 30 years ago when I was in college.
It fine that gsoboi wants his town to be a player, we all kinda want that for where we call home.
But the qualities that draw people to Charlotte and the Triangle are pretty much uniquw to each and location proximity is ok but I doubt you'll ever see North Carolina towns growing just because they're an hour or two away from Charlotte or Raleigh.
Each city is it own beast, and in North Carolina, the state of a thousand small towns, many any dying as the population migrates to the bigger job centers.
Of the larger cities, The Triad's growth may be tempered by its distance from the two other beacons of growth right now.
Each of them is in the national spotlight for very different reasons, and none are based on any relationship between the two.
I think there's too much emphasis on growing or to be more like the Triangle or Charlotte. Aside from bragging rights or love of skylines and tall buildings, what would be the payoff in having the Triad repeat the expansion of low density sprawl along NC's urban crescent? Less trees, more pollution. more traffic....all of which decrease the quality of life.
In a part of the country that has small metros every 80 miles or so from one another, and small towns every 15 miles in all directions, you won't have one of them take off and become the magnet everyone flocks to , like Atlanta, which is an oasis in an otherwise very rural region.
So don't frustrate yourself by opining for Greensboro to keep up with Charlotte or the Triangle who are offering very specialized qualities of life and specialized business environments.
If China's middle class causes wages to increase over there, the furniture production may return to the US and that's very special for the Triad. Upholstered furniture is still thriving in NC because it's often custom ordered and that proved to be unfeasible to be done in China.
Several automakers were woo-ed to build plants in the Triad, and now there aren't many parcels of land big enough to accommodate them. Perhaps the area seemed to congested for the automakers to choose the I-85/I-40 duplex for a new assembly plant.
To not be losing population in the shadow of Charlotte and the Triangle is something in itself.
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