You don't need to read the comments -- I already told you Durham is awesome, what more is there to say?? But while you're here, consider supporting the channel by signing up for Nebula! Use my custom link to get 40% off an annual subscription. go.nebula.tv/citynerd Also STILL available: the Lifetime offer! $300 for Nebula as long as both you and Nebula exist, and a full 1/3 of the price goes directly to support this channel. go.nebula.tv/lifetime?ref=citynerd And! Gift cards -- get the same deals using my code, but gift a membership to someone who needs weekly (ad-free and promo-free) Nerd propaganda! gift.nebula.tv/citynerd

@KembaWalkerGOAT

19 күн бұрын

@@CrizioTV Lol. It's not 1990 anymore, grandpa.

@CrizioTV

19 күн бұрын

@@KembaWalkerGOAT tf does that even mean, child

@cellularautomaton.

18 күн бұрын

minor correction: the regional "GoTriangle" buses have started charging fares again, probably since you recorded the video (the change was july 1st). local "GoDurham" buses are still fare-free though

@rhonda7289

12 күн бұрын

City nerd is the biggest fake on youtube.

Thank you for not bringing up the fact that Duke killed a light rail line that Durham had already spent $130 million on.

@mattywanders

19 күн бұрын

Shhhh, people might find out Duke killed a proposed (and widely popular) light rail line after the city already spent $130 million on the project.

@ptknudson80

19 күн бұрын

Minnesota Public Radio wanted to kill a light rail line in St. Paul, MN. These organizations are terrible

@Westlander857

19 күн бұрын

Here in Arizona, both Tucson and Tempe invested in streetcars for their university populations, and they’ve both been massively successful. Not sure what Duke was thinking there.

@brickitect420

19 күн бұрын

@@Westlander857 I must remind you the koch brothers own everything from tires to seatbelts to oil/auto companies, it is against their best interest for there to be any kind of transportation competition that isn't cars. Competition is lame! (also I love using the az lightrail/streetcar, they are great esp since the lightrail connects not only to ASU but also the international airport with one of the coolest names you could give an airport.

@Legority

19 күн бұрын

it was briefly mentioned at 15:58

The famous 11'8" underpass!

@teacul

19 күн бұрын

11'8"+8" now!

@SailingROX4321

19 күн бұрын

We love our can opener!

@sethtriggs

19 күн бұрын

That one might be one just a couple blocks away! But I immediately thought of that!

@jtsholtod.79

19 күн бұрын

Yeah that's the Erwin Road bridge. The Can Opener bridge is about a mile away on Gregson Street near the train station.

@mdhazeldine

19 күн бұрын

I was gonna say...is that THE 11 foot 8 bridge? It's world famous. haha

4:26 Just casually slipping in footage of The Can Opener without a word 😆

@michaelvickers4437

19 күн бұрын

Also, glimpses of America's favourite purveyor of cheesecake at the lifestyle centre, uncharacteristically offered without comment. 🤔

@user-mg9tb6zt7z

19 күн бұрын

It's not even! It's a different bridge less than 1.5 km west. Who would have thought there were two!

@THE_BATLORD

19 күн бұрын

the can opener is about a mile southeast of this one. Real can opener fans also remember that they raised the height on that bridge to 12'4

@williamhenning6686

19 күн бұрын

No op is right. That’s THE can opener on 9th St

@stapleremover

18 күн бұрын

​@@williamhenning6686The Canopener is on Gregson St. just past Brightleaf Square.

The Streets at Southpoint has plans to redevelop a large chunk of its parking into a couple thousand apartments.

@GoldenChildBH

19 күн бұрын

Really? Niiiice

@Legority

19 күн бұрын

wait really? oh that's awesome

@SamuelSmith91

19 күн бұрын

@@Legority Yep, I tried sharing the link but I think those get blocked. Just Google "Streets of Southpoint redevelopment", Durham council has approved a plan that includes 1300 apartments, plus offices, hotel, more retail.

@SamuelSmith91

19 күн бұрын

@@Legority Yep, city council approved plans for 1.3k apartments, hotel, offices, more retail.

@CharlesJosepDelDotto

19 күн бұрын

For further context, the management company that owns the mall pushed for the redevelopment to ensure the mall's viability, as at least two malls in the Triangle, including the older mall north of downtown Durham, have permanently closed in recent years.

Durham resident here...the social district thing is relatively new in the last few years but yes, was passed on a statewide basis with control by local jurisdictions. Glad you enjoyed Durham!

@babybalrog

19 күн бұрын

yep, raleigh has a big one too

@JimmyDorff

18 күн бұрын

Downtown Cary also

@colbyjd3

18 күн бұрын

Even small towns are adopting social districts, like Franklinton!

@terriellis3697

18 күн бұрын

Wow NC rules on alcohol have evolved. When I lived in Durham 15 years ago, we had to time our Brunches on Sunday because we couldn't order Mimosas before noon!

@colbyjd3

18 күн бұрын

@@terriellis3697 They changed that a few years ago! But you still have to go through the ABC Stores to get your liquor, and those stores are still closed on Sundays ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hey, I get that durham is located within the Research triangle, but saying research triangle refers to the whole urban triangle made by Chapel Hill, Raleigh, and Durham. These other cities, and the ones inbetween (Cary, Apex etc.), are a fascinating case study of urbanism vs suburbanism, all connected by the fantastic greenway trails you rode on. I think you should come back and make a video on the triangle as a whole, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!

I really appreciate how this series shows off all the cool urbanist stuff that's going on all over the country. It's a really strong anti-dooming pill about urbanism and shows there are plenty of genuinely nice places to live outside of major cities. This has definitely put a few cities on my map

@CityNerd

18 күн бұрын

I appreciate that! Don't get too comfortable, though, Phoenix is coming in a couple weeks

@crowmob-yo6ry

18 күн бұрын

I can see why the ultimate doomer hates CityNerd. I consider it an honour to be on NJB's shit list. It means we speak the truth unlike the doomer crowd.

@ShowLSWH

17 күн бұрын

Agreed! As a resident of Dallas-Fort Worth where the only two “solutions” to urban problems considered by governments are 1) buy a lifted truck or SUV and 2) build another overpass it’s pretty easy to be a doomer over here.

@advisorywarning

6 күн бұрын

Yup Durham is awesome, much better than Raleigh. I highly recommend Durham as someone who lived there for 8 years. The state politics are frustrating though

The Cat Distribution System has spoken. You now have three cats.

@CityNerd

18 күн бұрын

It's the sorting cat

"Tarheel GOAT... Raymond Felton." Well played, sir

@banksavram

18 күн бұрын

As a Heels fan that joke made me actually lol

@benprovan

18 күн бұрын

Yeah, was surprisingly inside baseball for an out of towner

@CityNerd

18 күн бұрын

As a Trailblazers fan I lived through the pain

I spent 6 years living in NC, 3 in Durham. If I had to rank the states 1 to 50 to live in, NC would make my top ten. (I'm a Californian.)

You forgot to mention Durham is a proper foodie town. We have several James Beard chef restaurants, #1 rated coffee roasters, #1 rated craft gin, #1 rated foodie town of the Southeast by Southern Living magazine.

It's amazing to me to see how many hundreds of millions of dollars have been allocated, spent, and then disappeared without any sign of an actual light rail train. In the Denver -Boulder area of Colorado, rail lines were voted on, planned for, funded and land was purchased. New light rail lines were built throughout the Denver-Metro area, but no light rail lines were built in the Boulder area. The land is purchased, so they can build the lines, but the money to complete the project pretty much disappeared. It was much needed and anticipated infrastructure too.

I live about 30min outside of Durham and have for the last 30 years. Durham has really improved over the last 15 years or so, I really enjoy heading there to do dinner and drinks w/ friends. Durham is a foodies delight. However, as a local to the area, the growth and genterfication is pushing many of the locals out. While yes, progress is great, the rising cost of living and influx of those moving into the area are starting to kill the local feel of the town. It's become less NC and more hipster paradise. Hopefully, the city figures out the right balance and doesn't lose it's identity while still encouraging growth.

14:40 Yes, the state of North Carolina does have enabling legislation for Social Districts. There are rules involved, which could be seen as classist, to reduce public drinking by those not paying, including requiring your drink be in a cup from one of the establishments in the district, etc.

@jayDB5

19 күн бұрын

Similar things in central Ohio, e.g. New Albany, Gahanna, Bexley, Westerville..

@michaelkerley746

19 күн бұрын

Yep Raleigh piloted one that has been pretty successful.

@andyk10013

19 күн бұрын

Same in Cincinnati and a few surrounding suburbs as well. They’re called “DORA districts.”

@kurthanushek5520

19 күн бұрын

And Toledo.

@ix830

19 күн бұрын

It's a step in the right direction. Coming back home to NC I'm always surprised at the ban on happy hours, bars that don't open until 5 (or later), and even the low number of gay bars (even in Charlotte and Raleigh).

I went to high school at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham - it was a very fun place to live car-free at the boarding school, with the 9th Street business district just down the road. Going back as an adult in 2019, 5 years after graduation, it was amazing to see how much had changed in such a short period of time.

@KembaWalkerGOAT

19 күн бұрын

Isn't it unreal?

@advisorywarning

6 күн бұрын

I adore 9th street

A very optimistic outlook on Durham! It is hard to get around without a car though. So many new highways were built without any multimodal features at all. I'm glad they dropped the parking requirements for downtown. That will help a lot to increase demand for public transportation. And you figured out how to get the bus to the airport! Amazing. I've been trying to figure out whether that connection actually works or is some kind of vaporware. You really did have the ideal trip. And thanks for mentioning the Koch brothers. Their evildoing pushed back transit in the Triangle by decades.

@cellularautomaton.

18 күн бұрын

i haven't really tried by bus, but durham by bike is absolutely possible if you know where the greenways can get you! although, it gets exponentially worse as you get further from downtown since connectivity plummets

@eighthu

18 күн бұрын

just 5 minutes north of 9th str and you are already in suburban stroad hell in durham. but i don't blame him for missing that part... the bus system misses that part too 😂

@knosis

18 күн бұрын

Durham by bus is not bad. Especially if you live downtown. Too bad it isn't free anymore lol.

@eighthu

18 күн бұрын

@@knosis which is why I specified north of 9th, lol.

@cellularautomaton.

18 күн бұрын

@@knosis the local godurham buses are still free, it's only the gotriangle ones that have switched back to fares!

Thanks for highlighting our little city. Pretty much 100% of the growth in the Geer/Mangum street area (around Fullsteam Brewery) has happened within the past ten years or so. And the majority of that really in the last five years. Durham has about 5,000 new residents every year, so now is the time to build density and establish good urbanism while there is vigorous real estate demand to justify it! Further out from the inner-ring mixed density neighborhoods, things are more hit or miss. Not all neighborhoods have streetlights, sidewalks, & the other basic things that make walking and biking safer. But there is a bond in the next local election for sidewalk improvements. Any other Durham residents watching this video, please vote! Thanks again!

I was so sad to be working during your event with Bike Durham - thank you for visiting!! Love to see my city getting a feature, and for re-inspiring me to enjoy all the great stuff we have here

Downtown Durham needs a grocery store! We looked at buying here but opted for the northern ‘burbs instead because it just wasn’t as walkable as we originally thought for a family with little kids. Lots of expensive restaurants and cool places to drink, but if you’re feeding yourself and your family the normal way, you pretty much need a car. A grocery store with a pharmacy and a small hardware store downtown would make it much more feasible for a wider range of families. It’s also very expensive, but hopefully we’ll get more affordable housing soon.

@TheWizardAnon

19 күн бұрын

This, this, this! I moved out of downtown after a year living there because the lack of walkable grocery store. It still requires you have a car just to drive to get food.

@jonathanstensberg

19 күн бұрын

Family friendliness is a seriously under-discussed problem in the circles. Perhaps not surprising considering most urbanist creators are either single childless men, or else rarely if ever say anything that would suggest otherwise…

@ccederlo

19 күн бұрын

Ah dang, yeah, that's a problem. Those items can be easily overlooked with a general review without perhaps some an urban living checklist

@paulruth8886

19 күн бұрын

9th street has a Harris Teeter and a Whole Foods. I guess downtown proper could use a grocery store but the west side of DT is very bikeable for almost everything. Walkable if you pick the right place. There is also a Food Lion in Old West and the Ellerbee Creek trail can get you to Costco, Home Depot, and a second Harris Teeter using a tunnel under I85.

@matthewsalmon2013

19 күн бұрын

Hope Valley is definitely a good dessert if you're on foot, but there's hardly anywhere between 147 and 85 that's more than a ten minute walk from a grocery. Maybe it's ethnic or maybe Trinity Park (with some of the priciest homes in the city) is another pedestrian food desert.

Omg the cat at the end 🥹

I really think the "upper South" of North Carolina and Virginia is underrated. There's more urbanism and walkability than a lot of people think, and prices are still quite reasonable compared to other parts of the country.

@bjdon99

18 күн бұрын

Home prices in the RDU area are going parabolic. So are Charlotte’s. Virginia’s best urban area (the suburbs of DC) are crazy expensive

that Raymond Felton fakeout made me spit out my drink

@CitizenTowel

19 күн бұрын

I scrolled down for this: best moment of the video!

@matthewsalmon2013

19 күн бұрын

Did Jordan dirty 😂😂

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg recently launched the project to rebuild the S-Line, the original direct railway betweem Richmond and Raleigh and once rebuilt expects to cut passenger train travel time by over an hour and designed to support 175kmh speeds (that is about 110 US miles per hour) with a lot of grade separation in project. The S-Line project driven by NCDOT. They hope this will create more frequent train services in region.

wow, my city on citynerd!

Durham resident here- so glad you enjoyed your visit! Check out Old East Durham next time for a great example of a walkable/bikeable neighborhood with accessible small businesses nearby. Proud to be NC!!

Love downtown Durham, that’s where my office is. Surprised you didn’t cast any shade at NC-147 or The Loop. Durham would be so much more if those roads were erased from the earth.

You couldn't possibly put into words the transformation Durham has gone through in the last ~15 years. It used to be right there with Fayetteville as the stereotypical bottom-tier NC city, and now it already might be my 2nd favorite. Truly a unique lil city with a fascinating history, much more enjoyable & lively than its larger neighbor a bit further east.

@elemenopi55

19 күн бұрын

what's your 1st favorite????

@cellularautomaton.

18 күн бұрын

​@@elemenopi55if i had to guess, most people watching this channel would probably say asheville

@chrisfarmer6893

18 күн бұрын

I'm from Durham and I remember in the early 2000s that college guides used to list the city of Durham as one of the worst points about Duke University. How the tables have turned! I know one video can't cover everything but I think this missed a big historical point about how Highway 147 destroyed a prosperous black neighborhood, the Hayti district, that was nicknamed Black Wall Street.

@elias90368

16 күн бұрын

@@cellularautomaton. I recognize your name, we climbed a tower together a bit over a year ago. I guess it makes sense that I’d see someone I recognize on this video but still. Hope you’re doing well lol

@cellularautomaton.

16 күн бұрын

@@elias90368 oh hi lmao. same to you

The cat has chosen you already. No turning back now!

@sethtriggs

19 күн бұрын

The Cat Distribution System is real!

@TheLiamster

19 күн бұрын

He is so cute and I wouldn’t want to leave him

@CityNerd

18 күн бұрын

I've been selected??? This is how it works?

@manmasher

18 күн бұрын

@@CityNerdIndeed it is. Consider it a high compliment - cats don’t like just anyone, you know! 😉

@TheCriminalViolin

18 күн бұрын

@@CityNerd You don't adopt cats, cats adopt you.

11 foot 8 bridge 😮

I just moved to Raleigh a couple weeks ago and so what an exciting and well timed set of videos for me!!

@mattywanders

19 күн бұрын

Welcome!

The Greenway System in Raleigh-Durham is fantastic!

Thanks for highlighting local advocacy groups! I’m a part of one in Salt Lake City supporting the Rio Grande Plan. A plan to put a train box in SLC and grade separate a large rail yard on the west end of the city. And restoring service to the Rio Grande Depot!

My undergrad film professor was the assistant to the director on Bull Durham. He would host a screening every year and share stories from the making of the film. It's good to see that ballpark full and the city still embracing the team.

@KendallKD

17 күн бұрын

I’m glad to see the old park is still there too! We were extras in the stands for some of the filming, and lived close enough to hear the crowd when there was a home run. Good memories.

Biking on hills is a lot of fun! A straight, flat bike path gets boring pretty quickly.

A video about how access to National Parks largely requires a private vehicle could be interesting. Maybe the best worst ones on that metric.

Raymond Felton mentioned hahahah LETS GO

I enjoyed five years in Durham, post-doc’ing at you know where, in the 90’s. Last two years I lived in a passive solar apartment, one of multiple units built by a couple who also built solar homes until the market changed. It was a lovely wooded neighborhood, 15 minute bike ride from work, with Ethiopian take-out nearby. At the time, downtown was still a scary place but redevelopment of the tobacco warehouses was starting. Thanks for the memories.

As an NC resident, Durham city worker, and local government nerd, it's super cool to have a whole video about our city!! To answer your question, yes the state legislature passed an act enabling cities to create "social districts" a couple of years ago. I think most major cities have one, including Durham, Raleigh, and Greensboro.

Durham is a great town stuffed with amazing things. Its sister city, Chapel Hill is worth seeing too.

Moved to North Durham from Boston 3 years ago. Great place to live, especially some of the quieter areas like up around Latta Rd area. Never any real traffic, and I see horses and cows en route to grocery store. Downtown has great food, a few perfect outdoor eating/ drinking options! They just need a supermarket or 7-11 down there

Great video and glad you loved Durham and NC! Transportation is your bailiwick, but Durham has lots to talk about with housing, gentrification, and affordability. History, too! Don't know if you heard about the history of 147/Durham Freeway as an "urban renewal" project, the effect it had on the Hayti (hay-tie) neighborhood. Glad you got to see the Bulls; Wool E. Bull is the real deal when it comes to mascots and the DBAP is great!

No one is explaining the weird purple mascot! First of all the 'main' mascot is Wool E. Bull, Blue Monster makes muuuch more limited appearances. Its a reference to the massive blue wall (blue monster) on the left outfield!

@KendallKD

17 күн бұрын

Thank you for explaining! I was wondering why there were two. The Greensboro team has a similarly weird green monster… looks like it was pulled from an episode of The Simpsons.

I super appreciate all the time you put into your work Ray. This script really shines. The timing with the video - e.g. @ 10:05 - is perfect. Also, don’t miss the epic cat meow time at the end. We are blessed this week.

I know one video can't cover everything. But sadly, like a lot of cities, Durham has the story of a highway that destroyed a prosperous black neighborhood. The old Hayti district was nicknamed Black Wall Street and Highway 147 put an end to that. Durham is also home to NC Central, a historically black university with a lot of great "college town" vibes in the area.

As a south Durhamite, I'm very glad to see you include locations to the south! So many things about Durham seem to think that the city ends just south of the downtown! I do, however, kind of wish you had mentioned Bean Trader's coffee shop, just to the north of the I-40 bridge, which is a great place to park and run on bike on the trail and then afterward have a coffee or tea. Anyway, thanks for the great video about Durham!

@cellularautomaton.

18 күн бұрын

bean traders is literally in a strip mall, not too interesting on an urbanism channel. like, you admitted you drive to it in your own comment

I love Durham so much it is a hidden gem in the south

If you liked Durham so much... you're going to be sorely disappointed by Raleigh. It's gotten nowhere near as much love as Durham has had in recent years.

Thanks for the glowing review of my hometown, but someday perhaps you could take on the issue of five-over-one construction. The bland sameness of it contrasts sharply with the distinctive red-brick style of our older buildings, and there's more and more of it all the time. You showed what's left of Liberty Warehouse - a couple of walls, like a fig leaf on another five-over-one apartment block. There was a campaign to save Liberty Warehouse -unsuccessful, obviously.

Hey Ray, if you ever come to Indianapolis, I'll show you around. Plus Carmel, which is worthy of an urbanism video of its own.

@michaelvickers4437

19 күн бұрын

Rope in John Green. I'd love to see a Ray D & John G collab tour of Indianapolis!

@crowmob-yo6ry

19 күн бұрын

Aaron Freeman is pure evil.

@shelby7090

6 күн бұрын

He said once he wants to cover the cultural trial at some point. Also red line station design is really nice.

Would love to gage your interest in visiting Columbus, Ohio at some point. We have a growing urbanism community through local strong towns and N4MN groups, and the city is undergoing phase one of a massive rezoning (including a marking minimum removal), a ballot measure to fund bus rapid transit, and a major update to cycling infrastructure across the city.

North Carolina and Durham native here. I grew up in the Bull City and have since returned from an extended period out of the state. This is my third year back and I am glad to see the city center being revitalized. I live a fairly easy bike ride from The Streets at Southpoint. I say this since most of the roads behind the mall do not have bike lanes. When I bike on these roads, I have to keep watch for cars. Most drivers will see you and wait their opportunity to pass. My childhood home is an easy ride to the Tobacco Trail. The Woodcroft, Woodlake, Parkwood, Grandale, and other area neighborhoods have a good network of footpaths and multi-use paths snaking around them. Granted, I do have a car and wished I took my bicycle out more than the car. Where I live now, I can still ride to the Tobacco Trail, but it's easier to bring my bike on the car since the main road has no shoulder and a high speed limit. Fun fact: the "stroad" that is Fayetteville Street from Barbee past MLK Boulevard towards downtown was once a simple two-lane. I'd always get stuck trying to turn left at Barbee because everyone else was. The Tobacco Trail crosses that intersection at one signal, now it's two. Though most try to cut across to reduce crossing time. The Tobacco Trail runs all the way through Cary and terminates west of Apex, linking to the greenway systems of those suburban metros. A light rail system connecting Raleigh, Durham, Cary, RDU Airport, and nearby Chapel Hill is a no-brainer. I'm sad it got torpedoed. I wouldn't have to drive into downtown and park; just leave my car at the nearest park-n-ride and maybe bring my bike. It would also facilitate getting to RTP, Raleigh, and Cary for events. GO Durham once trialed a bus route near the entrance to my neighborhood, though the area is car-centric. The fact no buses run through here anymore testifies to that. Though, I love the network of footpaths that make walking, running, or biking a breeze.

Madisonian here who shares your pain since Scott Walker and Republicans made us pay for high speed rail trains between Madison and Milwaukee that we never got because of them which would have been so convenient.

@mentalrectangle

19 күн бұрын

NC has had a similar situation with a hard gerrymandered legislature that rules with an iron fist.

@joemccullough4246

19 күн бұрын

A damn shame. Chicago to STL was supposed to get high speed rail too

@crowmob-yo6ry

19 күн бұрын

Scott Walker is pure evil.

@chicagoknitter

18 күн бұрын

Scott Walker was the worst. The train company that moved into the central city to build the rail cars for the high speed train ended up suing the government when Walker shut the project down.

Thanks for coming to our city and doing such a great video on it! I'm also really glad you got to meet one of our many friendly street cats at the end. One of my favorite parts of walking around the downtown neighborhoods is interacting with all the friendly cats 🐈

I love how NC repurposes old structures instead of destroying them. Super cool.

Lived in Winston all my life and am going to NC state in Raleigh in the fall. I would love nothing more in this world than a decent rail line between the triad and triangle because the drive between the two sucks. Learning that it was once a possibility makes me so indescribably upset. There are no words to describe my fury

My dad relocated from Winston-Salem to Durham over a decade ago and loves it. We just got back from a recent visit and besides the awful humidity, really enjoyed our time there. We also went to a Durham Bulls game and had a great time!

NC does have a huge craft brew industry. Maybe it's tradition stemming from the shiners back in the day! Raleigh hosts NC largest craft beer fest every year called Brewgaloo, put on by Shop Local Raleigh.

@johnmcmahon5225

19 күн бұрын

The Sierra Nevada brewery near Ashville is insane. Willy Wonka's beer factory.

I love visiting my family in Durham. I always call it suburbs perfected because of the urban amenities so close by.

I live far south of Durham but I use the Tobacco Trail often and have seen every mile of it. I hope you enjoyed our warm summer and all of the beautiful repurposed buildings downtown as well as the Bulls.

Welcome to the Triangle. Durham is cool and oftentimes gets overshadowed by Raleigh. They've got some good stuff going on in the Bull City.

@stephenshaw7593

19 күн бұрын

I like Durham a lot more than Raleigh. It's a much more fun city imo. Just more going on

@advisorywarning

6 күн бұрын

Durham > Raleigh I’ve been a resident of both and I can say definitely Durham is better in every way imo

ray, I grew up in Phoenix and I literally cannot wait for your video about it. I've since escaped and now live in a walkable neighborhood in the bay area, but I think about greater Phx's lack of reasonable planning every single day. please tear it to shreds. it will add years to my life

A city visit to the Central Massachusetts city of Holyoke area would be interesting. It's a mix of farmland, college town & good urbanism.

Kitty cohost #2 is a great addition, steal him.

I used to work at that sports bar with the murals (Tobacco Road Sports Cafe). You can literally watch the game from the patio for free as it overhangs the park. Anyway, thanks for the Durham video. It's a cool place.

@advisorywarning

6 күн бұрын

Same!!

As a life long North Carolinian these have been my dream videos! Thanks for coming by and sharing some positive aspects of our state 😊 We've got some complicated stuff going on right now politically, which often bleeds over to our transit projects unfortunately. But I have hope these things will sort out over time.

I live in Winston-Salem but visit Durham frequently because of DPAC, the Durham Performing Arts Center. Even though Greensboro recently built a performing arts center of their own, DPAC remains one of the best performance spaces in the state of North Carolina. It's also located within walking distance of the American Tobacco Campus

The airport connection bit at the end made me think maybe there is an opportunity for a video like, “Best mid-size cities to fly into without needing to rent a car.” Or, “Worst big cities to fly into without a car.” Maybe there’s something there….

@bassguitar2709

18 күн бұрын

You definitely need a car in NC, also the Buses still get stuck in traffic jams on I-40 to and from the Airport everyday, there's no avoiding long delays.

@Jetliner

17 күн бұрын

@@bassguitar2709 ain't nicknamed Sprawleigh for nothin'

The Duke Lemer Center is on my bucket list. While I served in Peace Corps Madagascar, I never saw a lemur in the wild. They are doing a lot of good work and should be checked out.

Just moved from Durham and can’t wait to be back! Happy this amazing city is getting a moment in the sun. Glad you had a good trip!

A notes about parking minimums. Although Durham eliminated parking minimums, most of the urban in fill apartments and condos are still being built around copious parking. (Durham is a great place to raise a car). The reason is that developers can’t get building loans without copious parking.

@dmike3507

16 күн бұрын

That's unfortunate

I've seen a lot of downtowns across the US have drinking districts/streets. They seem to be growing in popularity during summers especially in areas where streets get pedestrianized for these months.

Next time you have to go to nearby college town Chapel Hill, which is one of my favorite cities in the US. It has very artsy vibes. I haven't been there in a while, so I hope it has held up.

@Blukat2-pb8lx

19 күн бұрын

Live there, can confirm. The Franklin/Rosemary street area is very nice and walkable as well as Carrmill mall (That's in Carrboro but they're basically the same place)

@Legority

19 күн бұрын

Chapel Hill and Carrboro are great! highly recommend, not only because they're both my hometown

@Lawman212

19 күн бұрын

Chapel Hill is a lovely place, though many concede the urban energy is in Durham now though.

@jakebruner2719

18 күн бұрын

Franklin St is great!! I love chapel hill -a duke student

@IlCaroSassone

9 күн бұрын

Chapel Hill and Carrboro are both very walkable and bike friendly. Highly recommended. I can easily walk to three grocery stores from my house, all under 1 mile.

It was a while ago, but a company I worked for bought a company that was from NC. They couldn't get a single person to reloc to OR, even though they ultimately shut down that site.

You didn’t go to chapel hill 😢the free bus network there turned me into an urbanist

Ugh the Fayetteville Barbie intersection.. they just finished that about 2021… our street Belgreen is the “5th” point of that intersection, requires a u turn navigating two disorienting on coming right turn lanes and the tobacco trail. Agree with all you had to say and glad you had an awesome time in the triangle and triad. As healthcare professionals we find Durham county a really great balance between work, life and travel.

@TannerLovelace

19 күн бұрын

Yeah, I was also going to say it was recently worked on and as bad as it is, it could be worse. At the very least, when the crosswalk says to walk, all other directions have a red light and a "no turn on right" sign turns on so that there *shouldn't* be any problems with getting hit by a turning car.

As a Duke Alum that spent a few years in Durham after graduation in the bullpen area, you were spot on with this assessment of Durham.

This is the best day ever. I’m about to move to Durham and have been waiting for this video to drop ever since the piedmont triangle one

FYI if you think that who you vote for doesn't matter, work is beginning on a high speed rail connection between the reseaech triangle and central virginia thanks to the huge infrasturcture bill. That will absolutely get axed and not funded if you know who wins

I often bike commute the ATC from downtown Durham into RTP for work, it’s very nice, but it would not be possible without the bike lanes on Cornwallis road. The bike lanes are what allow me to get to work. This was impossible when I lived in Raleigh. A coworker almost died biking from Cary to RTP on a road (Davis Drive) without bike facilities.

"Why's he calling me meat? I'm the one driving a Porsche."

Nice! I can't wait to see you in Raleigh

Really cool to see my home city on this channel, but im sad you missed the most famous attraction in our lovely city, the 12'4'' bridge

As a local this is a really good video. Durham gets a bad rep but it’s downtown has came a long way over the past 6 years. It has so much life and moving into a more urban life that its neighboring city of Raleigh is missing the life in its downtown. The Sip N Stroll started in Raleigh and many other cities adapted it to bring back more people into the downtowns because 2020 the downtowns took a massive hit in feet traffic. The American Tobacco campus is getting Meta and google just moved in.

Problem is that it’s North Carolina.

Indiana has enabling legislation for what are called 'DORA' or Designated Outdoor Refreshment Areas, and are currently in use in Fort Wayne, Jeffersonville, Greensburg, Noblesville, Batesville, Warsaw, and Bargersville, among others

You know a city has kept its soul when it still has residential windows close enough to the ball park to get shattered during a good home run.

I'm a little surprised by the lack of a joke regarding Durham's world-class performing arts center being located right across the street from the county jail! 🤣

@BottyGuy

18 күн бұрын

Or the number of people who what to rent an apartment next to the county jail. BTW my experience with the Durham county jail has been very positive, the front desk people that work there are lovely.

The Museum of Life and Science is really good if memory serves correctly. Went there a lot growing up and my dad and step mom got married there. Durham has changed so much in the past two decades but the cool stuff that's been there a while is worth checking out.

As a daily bike commuter and also a recreational rail trail enthusiast, I'm actually curious if recreational bike trails increase mode share or if they reinforce drivers' attitudes that bikes belong places other than roads? But I have no idea what sort of data you'd want to look at to try and answer that. If anyone does it would make a very interesting video.

@FameyFamous

19 күн бұрын

Cars are noisy. I'll share roads with cars if necessary, but I always prefer to bike on recreational trails.

@_bats_

19 күн бұрын

Yeah, I like them, too, but as he hinted at it is kind of a shame that a right of way that could be used for mass transit has been converted into a token bit of bike infrastructure that more often than not doesn't really serve a functional purpose beyond recreation. I'm not from the area myself but why not build a tram along the American Tobacco Trail and put dense housing at The Streets at South Point? There's already a fair amount of housing density along the parallel Fayetteville Rd. Looking at, for example, NotJustBikes videos that show transit oriented development bringing massive tax revenue to cities make it clear that this is a good path forward.

Ray! So sad I missed the event with you, but I do volunteer work for Bike Durham and I'm so glad they were great hosts for you in our awesome city. We have a lot of work to do, of course, but it makes me really proud that the efforts the city and Bike Durham have done have created a (somewhat..) walkable haven in central NC. My wife moved in with me downtown Durham from Japan and it's been a real relief seeing her able to walk or bike to so many different places safely; she was worried that she would depend heavily on a car, and that's fortunately not the case downtown Durham and it's one of the biggest things I love about Durham, although we're far from perfect. And yes, we have a little too many shops selling mind-altering drugs haha, but you may have passed by Da Kine's, the kava/kratom bar in the West End that's been a good non-alcoholic haven for me. Sorry again I didn't meet you, but I hope to see you working again with the amazing folks at Bike Durham again. Keep up the good fight.

Wow I’m featured in a City Nerd video! Briefly saw you biking downtown with the group but wasn’t sure what was going on until I left town. I live in Charlotte now, but I have friends in Durham/Chapel Hill so I visit pretty often. It’s a great city :) As a suggestion, if you ever find yourself in New England I’d love to see a video about Lowell, MA. My hometown and a super interesting textile manufacturing city from the early American Industrial Revolution. Summer up there is usually the best time to visit, but it’s also gorgeous in December with the lights put up.

I think I'm gonna had the middle of the east coast on my list of possible places to move to. I like the direction here and I'm kinda jealous of it.

@cellularautomaton.

18 күн бұрын

yeah aside from state politics stress the atlantic south is a very cool place!

Great vid! Have you considered coming back down to Florida for another video? There's a lot going on the Fort-Lauderdale and West Palm Beach area! The new Flagler Village development next to the Brightline station is a microcosm of walkable urbanism.

Would love to see Raleigh next! The new Amtrak station in Raleigh is a highlight you'd really enjoy. Also, Raleigh's downtown has definitely been slower to add density than Durham's downtown, but Raleigh's North Hills, one of the four "Midtown" neighborhoods, has been adding density at a more rapid pace and is worth a look. Lots of density surrounded by beautiful shady residential neighborhoods with great sidewalks and convenient greenway access. Most of your hype of Durham is warranted, but Durham (and Raleigh) have a few issues that get glossed over by urbanists - primarily the extreme levels of noise pollution, business focus on alcohol consumption / alcohol adjacent "experiences" like axe throwing, and dangerous driving that take place in what gets hyped as the walkable core. There are very real risks to pedestrians and cyclists trying to navigate these cores and it's typically preferrable to avoid them entirely after 4pm. Also, most of the newer apartments in Durham are 5-over-1's made out of wood with effectively zero noise insulation to protect tenants from the extreme noise issues (or noise from other tenants). So the urban cores of Durham and Raleigh are pleasant to visit for a morning or afternoon - like you did! - but actually living in them has serious drawbacks.

@ashleydodson3633

18 күн бұрын

North hills is great! Kind of amazing how much with core north hills, plus innovation district and the next exchange area. But Raleigh is throwing up a lot more density downtown too. Several big new places. I agree on the station in Raleigh, it was great. Kind of blew my mind when I got to Charlotte from it, because it was such a downgrade (Charlotte's is like 60 years old, but new one coming next year I think).

@johnlabus7359

16 күн бұрын

I don't know the numbers, but Raleigh is sitting around watching other cities add housing downtown. The city continues to had substantial numbers of units in and around its core.

Raleigh also has a downtown “social district” for walking around with drinks and i believe they recently expanded it from the original footprint

Durham's a gem. Glad to see Toast is still open!

Been really enjoying all the NC content. It's at a pivotal time too bc most of the things you've covered are brand new. I'd love to see a vid on Asheville. We have had some good developments recently but a lot of terrible existing and planned urbanization plans

Durham resident here... Went to your event but didn't get to talk with you. A thing about Durham is that it is expensive for the amount of urbanism that you get. It is not impossible to craft a car-free life, but the price bump is quite big. Because of the lack of light rail (thanks to our landlord Duke), you will have a hard time going to the other parts of research triangle without a car, where the jobs are at. So technically, you are still car-dependent It could be that you were not visiting for a long period, but the living experience in Durham is going to have much more blacks than in your video. Especially if you are taking transit and attempt to live car-free, which I did. This is a diametrical feeling that I felt as I arrived at Fullsteam or looked at Bike Durham - it's very white.

@CrossboneSyndicate

19 күн бұрын

Umm... It sounds like you're framing Durham having a lot of black people as a negative or at least something for something moving here to be cautious of. Hopefully I'm misunderstanding you.

@nimrod06

19 күн бұрын

@@CrossboneSyndicate WTF how do you even arrive at this? Durham is a city with prominent black culture. The video didn't present that.

@nimrod06

19 күн бұрын

If anything I am critizing the video and Bike Durham to be not black enough.

Lived in Raleigh when I was in elemetary and middle school from 97-2003. So amazing to watch how the triangle has exploded since and continues to be a better and better place to live. North Carolina is a top tier state in my opinion. Showing how you keep your past identity and encourage the innovation that keeps your society and economy thriving.