Across the Triangle, cities are pouring tens of millions of dollars into building new public gathering spaces for residents hungry to take advantage of new amenities in their fast-growing communities.

Why it matters: Since it opened in late 2023, Downtown Cary Park has been a catalyst for downtown Cary's resurgence from an afterthought destination to one that attracts individuals and families from across the region.

Driving the news: In June, Raleigh hopes to capture a similar energy when it opens Gipson Play Plaza in Dix Park.

• Gipson Play Plaza is a $69 million interactive area that leaders hope will serve as the new entrance to Dix Park and attract tens of thousands of visitors.

Between the lines: Mitchell Silver, a Raleigh City Council member and former New York City parks commissioner, told Axios that cities risk falling behind if they're not investing in gathering spaces.

• "If we want to build a great city you have to have amazing public spaces," he said.

Zoom in: The 18.5-acre Play Plaza will feature several playgrounds and gathering spaces, including a waterfall wall, picnic grove, food vendors and skywalks.

State of play: The success of Downtown Cary Park comes up frequently at gatherings across the Triangle, with residents wishing something similar existed near them or as a source of comparison to existing parks.

• That was true in Durham last week, when its city council gathered to discuss making improvements to Durham Central Park and studied a presentation that featured images from parks across the country, including Downtown Cary's.
• A great city is "deserving of a great space like this," Durham City Council Member Nate Baker said at the meeting. He noted that he and his colleagues "look around to our neighbors in Cary and Raleigh and Dix Park and all of the work that is going into great parks."

What's next: The Durham City Council will discuss making more improvements to Durham Central Park later this spring, and it's also studying the future of the historic Durham Athletic Park as another potential gathering space.

• Silver, for his part, hopes Raleigh uses the momentum of Gipson to invest more in its downtown spaces — specifically making Nash Square more active and bridging the roughly 1.5-mile gap between Dix Park and downtown.

Go deeper

North Carolina lobbyist Ches McDowell first entered President Trump's orbit just before the 2016 election, when he spotted Donald Trump Jr. at a conservation gala that was auctioning off a bear hunting trip on the North Carolina coast, the Wall Street Journal reports.

• McDowell approached the younger Trump and offered him a better hunt than the auctioning was offering, and the two have been hunting together ever since.

Why it matters: McDowell, a 35-year-old with no experience working in the nation's capital, is expanding his North Carolina lobbying practice to Washington, bolstered by his close ties to the Trump administration.

Driving the news: McDowell has tapped Chris LaCivita Jr., the son of one of Trump's top 2024 campaign advisers, and Jackson Hines, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nephew, to join his firm, making for a splashy entrance when it opens its office on Pennsylvania Avenue next month.

The big picture: As the Trump administration upends industries across the country, it's also upending lobbying as we know it, "by rewarding loyalty and making K Street the latest battleground for Trump's war on elites," WSJ writes.

The intrigue: McDowell, the older brother of now-GOP congressman and former lobbyist Addison McDowell, has been a fixture in North Carolina's legislature for years, known in part for one of the most massive client lists of any lobbyist on Jones Street.

• In 2021, when the state Senate blocked a House bill to crack down on debt settlement companies, which McDowell represented, state Rep. Julia Howard reportedly told colleagues: "I guess we're just going to do whatever Ches f---ing McDowell wants," per the WSJ.
• According to the WSJ, Howard noted in a recent House speech that McDowell had moved to Washington to lobby, "so he's not going to be a pain in our side."

Read more: The MAGA Lobbyists Upending Washington With McDonald's and Bear Hunting (gift link)

👾 North Carolina lawmakers are attempting again to pass legislation that would regulate videos created with artificial intelligence. (WRAL)

🏡 Also advancing in the General Assembly: numerous bills that would expand "missing middle" housing statewide. (News & Observer 🔓)

💰 The former head basketball coach of St. Augustine's is suing the school for unpaid wages. (ABC11)

🍺 Havoc Brewing in Pittsboro has filed for bankruptcy but hopes to stay open. (Triangle Business Journal 🔒)

More than 12% of Raleigh metro adults aged 25-34 were living in a parent's home as of 2023, per a Pew Research Center analysis of census data.

Why it matters: While living at home as a young adult is sometimes viewed negatively as a "failure to launch," it can also reflect economic realities, cultural preferences, caregiving needs, and other factors.

The big picture: Nationally, close to 18% of U.S. adults were living with parents as of 2023.

• That's down a bit after steadily increasing from 2000-2017, a period marked by multiple financial crises that changed the leaving-home calculus for many young adults.

By the numbers: Vallejo, Calif. (33%), Oxnard, Calif. (32.8%), and Brownsville, Texas (30.5%), have the highest shares of young adults living with their parents among U.S. metros with at least 250,000 residents, per Pew.

• Lincoln, Neb. (2.9%), Springfield, Mo. (6.7%), and Utica, New York (7.8%), have the smallest shares.

The intrigue: While some areas with relatively high shares of young adults living at a parent's home also have relatively steep housing costs, Pew didn't find a clear link between those factors.

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