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  • From: bendy <bendy AT duke.edu>
  • To: RTP-area local music and culture <ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: cradle & arts center move
  • Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 10:04:14 -0500



grady wrote:
Meadowmont and Southern Village are sorta nice ideas that are executed in the wrong places; those people still have to get in their cars to go to the drugstore, to the dry cleaners', to the library, to a whole host of other places.

And part of the dense/mixed use argument that is often forgotten is the cost of running utilities out to developments. People who live in dense areas pay disproportionately for the infrastructure (sewage, electric) which they depreciate. Or rather, the folks in the MacMansions get a huge discount.

This development is a great idea that is being executed in exactly the *right* place. I'm *not* convinced that the architecture is going to be anything other than ho-hum, but I'm willing to put up with that. Maybe I shouldn't be.

What attracted me to this area sure wasn't the architecture...I remember my first walk through Carrboro on a sun-baked September afternoon eight years ago. Walking around and seeing folks just *hanging* suddenly wiped away the poor first impression of our initial drive down Franklin Street a few days before. The famed Cats Cradle was in a strip mall? I'm gonna have to drive to get to work? And park in a lot full of SUVs? I'm going to double my rent to live in a thin-walled Sears cottage?

Shrimp and grits sealed the deal, but the whole overpriced-ramshackle lifestyle took us a few days to swallow. Anyone who thinks downtown Carrboro is a *small town* is fooooolin'. I've lived in small towns. It ain't a small town unless there's buckshot marks on the speed limit signs.

Bendy




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