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Raleigh, North Carolina

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Raleigh (rälē or RAW-lee (natives), rôlē (non-natives)) is the capital of North Carolina, a state of the United States of America. It is the county seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. As of the 2000 census, it had a population of 276,093, making it the second most populous city in North Carolina, behind Charlotte. Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill make up the three cities of The Triangle, so named in 1959 with the creation of the Research Triangle Park, a research park between Durham and Raleigh (mostly located within Durham County). The Triangle is equivalent to the U.S. Census Bureau's Combined Statistical Area of Raleigh-Durham-Cary. Its total population as of 2004 was over 1.46 million. The estimated Raleigh-Cary metropolitan statistical area population, as of 2004, is 914,680.

Combined Statistical Area population for Raleigh-Durham-Cary was 1,509,560 as of July 1, 2005

The City of Raleigh estimates its population to be 347,729 as of January 1, 2006, making it one of the fastest growing cities in the nation.

Contents

History

Raleigh was established in 1792 as both the new county seat and the new state capital. It was named for Sir Walter Raleigh, sponsor of the Colony of Roanoke, which was known as the "Lost Colony." The site was chosen as being within ten miles of Isaac Hunter's Tavern, a tavern popular with the legislators of the time. No city or town existed on the site before it was chosen to house the capital.

Despite being spared destruction in the Civil War, Raleigh grew very little from its original 1792 size until the introduction of streetcar lines in the 1920's, foundation of the Research Triangle Park in the 1950's, and a freeway known as the Beltline (I-440/US-1/US-64) in the 1960's.

Raleigh is one of the few cities in the US planned and built specifically to serve as a state capital.

Downtown Raleigh panorama, from 1909
Enlarge
Downtown Raleigh panorama, from 1909

Law and government

Raleigh has operated under a council-manager government since 1947. The city council consists of eight members; all seats, including the mayor's, come up for election every two years. The current and 7 council members (5 district representatives and 2 at large).

City council

See also: List of mayors of Raleigh, North Carolina

Crime

Raleigh has a very low homicide rate. In 2004 only 16 murders or non-negligent manslaughters were reported within city limits, per the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reports. In 2005, Raleigh's murder total grew to 21.

Raleigh has 469.2 motor vehicle thefts per year per 100,000 residents. The average for metro areas in North Carolina is 528.4 motor vehicle thefts per year per 100,000 residents.

According the FBI's Crime in the US 2004, there were 99 forcible rapes, 661 robberies, 1,091 aggravated assaults, and 12,126 incidents of property crime.

According to the Uniform Crime Reports, crime in Raleigh has been steadily decreasing, as has the trend been nationally. In 2004, there were 580 violent crimes and 3768 property crimes reported per 100,000 population. Nationally there were 466 violent crimes and 3517 property crimes reported per 100,000 population. However, it can be difficult to compare local averages to a national number as a number of urbanization levels are present across the nation. Cities with between 250,000 and 500,000 population reported 978 violent crimes and 5631 property crimes per 100,000 population, well above Raleigh's report crimes.

In 2004 and 2003, Raleigh has posted a 10% and 6%, respectively, decrease in violent crime per 100,000 population and a 21% and 14% decrease in property crime. Nationally a drop of 2% and 4% were registered for violent crime and 2% and 1% for property crime. The drop for cities between 250,000 and 500,000 population is not able to be measured yet as 2004 was the first year that the Uniform Crime Report broke data down into city size categories.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 299.3 km² (115.6 mi²). 296.8 km² (114.6 mi²) of it is land and 2.5 km² (1.0 mi²) of it (0.84%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census[Geographic references#2GR2] of 2000, there were 276,093 people, 112,608 households, and 61,371 families residing in the city. The population density was 930.2/km² (2,409.2/mi²). There were 120,699 housing units at an average density of 406.7/km² (1,053.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 63.31% White, 27.80% African American, 0.36% Native American, 3.38% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 3.24% from other races, and 1.88% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.99% of the population.

There were 112,608 households out of which 26.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.5% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.5% were non-families. 33.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.97.

In the city the population was spread out with 20.9% under the age of 18, 15.9% from 18 to 24, 36.6% from 25 to 44, 18.4% from 45 to 64, and 8.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 98.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $46,612, and the median income for a family was $60,003. Males had a median income of $39,248 versus $30,656 for females. The per capita income for the city was $25,113. 11.5% of the population and 7.1% of families were below the poverty line. Approximately one out of four (25.5%) Raleigh citizens are beneath 200% of the poverty line. Out of the total population, 13.8% of those under the age of 18 and 9.3% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

Education

Institutes of higher education

Public education

Public education in Raleigh is serviced by the Wake County Public School System. Raleigh is home to 77 schools in that system (48 elementary, 15 middle, and 9 high schools. Raleigh is also home to 5 other [special public schools].

Charter Schools

The State of North Carolina also provides for a certain number of charter schools. These schools are administered separately from the Wake County Public School System. Raleigh has 10 charter schools:

Private education

Attractions

Sports

Professional

The NHL Carolina Hurricanes moved to Raleigh in 1999 with the completion of the RBC Center and is the only major professional sports team in the area. The Hurricanes are the only top league professional sports team in North Carolina to have won a championship, winning the Stanley Cup in 2006. They also have an AIFL team named the Raleigh Rebels. Before the Carolina Hurricanes several other professional sports leagues have had failed franchises in Raleigh including the Arena Football League, the World League of American Football, the United States Basketball League with the Raleigh Cougars, and the Women's United Soccer Association (in nearby Cary).

RBC Center
Enlarge
RBC Center

College Sports

Due to the number of colleges and universities in the area, NCAA sports are very popular. The Atlantic Coast Conference member North Carolina State University Wolfpack is situated in West Raleigh, and fellow ACC rivals, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Tar Heels, and the Duke University Blue Devils, are no more than a 30 minute drive away. The competition among these three schools is sometimes referred to as Tobacco Road by sportscasters. Two historically black colleges, St. Augustine College and Shaw University also provide a basis for the strength of college sports in the area.

Leisure

The NC-DOT Mountains-to-Sea bike route goes through Raleigh, as does the U.S. Maine-to-Florida bicycle route #1. The NC-DOT Cape Fear Run bicycle route connects Apex to Wilmington and closely parallels the RUSA 600km brevet [route].

The area also features a variety of amateur participatory sports as well, with an Australian Rules Football semi-pro team the North Carolina Tigers [link], and soccer, softball, flag football, basketball, and even dodgeball and kickball leagues operated privately or by the municipality.

Transportation

::U.S. Route 1 (known in parts of Raleigh as Capital Boulevard)
::US-64
::US-70 (known in parts of Raleigh as Glenwood Avenue)
::US-264
::U.S. Route 401 (known in parts of Raleigh as Capital Boulevard)
  • Passenger Rail: [Bytrain.org]: Amtrak [Carolinian], [Piedmont] and [Silver Star] offer daily service to Charlotte, Richmond, Washington, D.C. and Miami
  • Local Bus: Within Raleigh, the [CAT], or Capital Area Transit system operates 27 bus routes. The Triangle Transit Authority operates buses that serve the region and connect to municipal bus systems in Durham and Chapel Hill; this authority is planning a regional rail system to run through Durham, the RTP, Cary and Raleigh.
  • Bicycle: Most public buses are equipped with bicycle racks. A small minority of roads are equipped with bicycle lanes.
    • Capital Boulevard is a significant road in Raleigh. Its southern terminus is near the capitol building in downtown Raleigh, where it splits into McDowell Street (one-way heading north) and Dawson Street (one-way heading south). The northern terminus of Capital Boulevard is at the Raleigh city limits (where the street changes its name). Because this road was the major route of traffic to and from the government buildings of the state capital, a great deal of light industry, commercial work, and service industry grew up along it. In recent years, this development has expanded northward. The portion of Capital Boulevard between downtown Raleigh and Wake Forest Road, originally known as Downtown Boulevard, is a limited access highway. The portion north of Wake Forest Road was originally known as North Boulevard. Major highways US-1 and US-401 follow Capital Boulevard until 401 splits off north of the I-440 beltline and becomes Louisburg Road.

    Media

    National

    WCPE-FM is a classical music station out of Wake Forest, North Carolina that transmits throughout the world via the Internet. It can also be heard via C-band and Ku-band satellite.

    State

    Raleigh and the Triangle are home to North Carolina Public Radio, a public radio station/NPR provider that brings in listeners around the country, and UNC-TV, also based out of UNC in Chapel Hill.

    Local

    There are several newspapers that serve the Raleigh market:

    Raleigh is part of the Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville Designated Market Area, and includes the following television stations:

    Future affiliates: The market is also host to the state's first online TV station: [RTP-TV - Research Triangle Park Television] which has programs of local interest broadcast over the Internet as well as Fox50 (WRAZ) through paid air-time.

    Raleigh is Arbitron radio market #43. Stations include

    Sister cities

    See also

    Famous residents

    External links

    Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
    [media]

    		 State of North Carolina
    State capital Raleigh
    Regions Coastal Plain | Land of the Sky | Metro Charlotte | Piedmont | Piedmont Triad | Blue Ridge Mountains | Outer Banks | Smoky Mountains | The Triangle
    Major cities Asheville | Burlington | Cary | Chapel Hill | Charlotte | Concord | Durham | Fayetteville | Gastonia | Goldsboro | Greensboro | Greenville | Hickory | High Point | Jacksonville | Raleigh | Rocky Mount | Wilmington | Wilson | Winston-Salem
    Counties Alamance | Alexander | Alleghany | Anson | Ashe | Avery | Beaufort | Bertie | Bladen | Brunswick | Buncombe | Burke | Cabarrus | Caldwell | Camden | Carteret | Caswell | Catawba | Chatham | Cherokee | Chowan | Clay | Cleveland | Columbus | Craven | Cumberland | Currituck | Dare | Davidson | Davie | Duplin | Durham | Edgecombe | Forsyth | Franklin | Gaston | Gates | Graham | Granville | Greene | Guilford | Halifax | Harnett | Haywood | Henderson | Hertford | Hoke | Hyde | Iredell | Jackson | Johnston | Jones | Lee | Lenoir | Lincoln | Macon | Madison | Martin | McDowell | Mecklenburg | Mitchell | Montgomery | Moore | Nash | New Hanover | Northampton | Onslow | Orange | Pamlico | Pasquotank | Pender | Perquimans | Person | Pitt | Polk | Randolph | Richmond | Robeson | Rockingham | Rowan | Rutherford | Sampson | Scotland | Stanly | Stokes | Surry | Swain | Transylvania | Tyrrell | Union | Vance | Wake | Warren | Washington | Watauga | Wayne | Wilkes | Wilson | Yadkin | Yancey

     

    From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
    All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

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