The writer's kids are both in high school, so I assume MYR is not a problem for them. I have lived in 6 states and 10 cities before settling in Cary 15 years ago. All the cities had 100K+ population, so I think I'm emminently qualified to compare. In all those states and all those cities, I never saw local governments who were so unresponsive to the citizens, and none of these areas turned to MYR to solve their problems. Prince William County in northern VA (one of the spots along the trail) has and continues to experience explosive growth. They do it without fracturing families with MYR, and the county government (at least when I lived there) was, by comparison, devoid of the political maneuvering we see here.
As far as leaving Cary, I'd love to, but with my older son entering high school in the fall I think dealing with the prospect of MYR is better than dealing with the prospect of him starting as a freshman in a new town. The greenways are great, but they don't help with my kids education, and I can't drive on them to avoid traffic. To those of you who have sent letters, my thanks.
For anyone who want to give Money Magazine their opinion either for or against our ranking, you can log directly onto their Top Ten blog here. I already sent in my posting, and you'll see others share my opinions:
- I have lived in Cary 15 years. In 1992 we probably deserved the #1 Ranking, now I don't think we deserve a ranking in the top ten. The number one issue with Cary that people must consider is schools. The schools are managed by Wake County, and Town of Cary officials do not work with them to balance growth and school capacity. Next year, 18,000 Wake County students are being forced to Mandatory Year Round calendars. In many families' cases, this means having children on multiple schedules, with as little as 4 weeks break in common across the whole year. Log into the Raleigh News & Observer WakeEd or WakePol blogs and see for yourself the mess we're in.
Cary deserves Top 10 honor
I am shocked that there are Cary residents who think our beautiful town is not worthy of Money Magazine’s ranking as one of the top five small cities to live in in the United States! Obviously those people have never lived in another city with a population over 100,000. Cary deserves every bit of the honor, as I’ve lived in many cities around the United States and Cary by far has the lowest crime rate and the most beautiful and accessible parks and greenways, with some of the best schools in the United States, and I have first-hand experience with the schools with two teenagers. Sure there are politics and some weak decisions that have been made, but you will find that in any city with a large population. Cary is an exceptional city and well deserving of Money Magazine’s recognition.
I hope the people who are so unhappy with our town who have gone as far as pleading to Money Magazine to remove us from the Top 10 list will move to another city and experience the growth problems, politics, crime, school policies and traffic there instead. Maybe if they took advantage of some of Cary’s beautiful greenways, parks, people and culture they would see what a great and beautiful city we live in. Becky Finley
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