Missing Charlotte (Atlanta, LaGrange, Gainesville: shop, statistics, land)

[qc dreamin]

No, my friend we are looking at two different statistics!! neither one of us is wrong just look it up. Mecklenburg county alone has over a million people just like fulton county. What you see as urban area for Charlotte is actuallly parts of Mecklenburg county that are incorporated for example: Charlotte, Matthews, Pineville, Davidson,etc. The city of Charlotte has a population of 691,000 while Atl has a poulation of 519,000. Atl's urban population is based on parts of its surrounding metro counties that are incorporated. That is the misnomer. If you looked at Charlotte's 13 county metro areayou see that there are actually 2.5 million people in our metro. If you looked at Atl's metro you see that it incorporates 33 counties and has 5.6 million people. I f we compapred the regions by actual urban population which is based on populations within a 100 mile radius of a city you will see that Charlotte actually has 8 million people compared to Atl's 6 million.

[LovinDecatur]

Originally Posted by qc dreamin

No, my friend we are looking at two different statistics!! neither one of us is wrong just look it up. Mecklenburg county alone has over a million people just like fulton county. What you see as urban area for Charlotte is actuallly parts of Mecklenburg county that are incorporated for example: Charlotte, Matthews, Pineville, Davidson,etc. The city of Charlotte has a population of 691,000 while Atl has a poulation of 519,000. Atl's urban population is based on parts of its surrounding metro counties that are incorporated. That is the misnomer. If you looked at Charlotte's 13 county metro areayou see that there are actually 2.5 million people in our metro. If you looked at Atl's metro you see that it incorporates 33 counties and has 5.6 million people. I f we compapred the regions by actual urban population which is based on populations within a 100 mile radius of a city you will see that Charlotte actually has 8 million people compared to Atl's 6 million.

Although this statement is a bit of a stretch to say the least, I just got back from the Charlotte area (my sister lives on the west shore of Lake Norman, my niece in the city proper) and it amazes me how eerily similar it feels like the Atlanta of the 1980's. It is poised to join the ranks of other major US cities, and areas that have been rural up to now are poised to explode in the near future...the intersections are crowded with signs pointing to new development just as they were in West Cobb, Cherokee, North Fulton, and Forsyth were 20 years ago. On a sad note, seeing how much cleaner Charlotte's roads and public areas are than Atlanta's make me nostalgic for the Atlanta of 25 years ago.

[FromCLTtoATL]

QC Dreamin -- I just moved from Charlotte a few months. Charlotte certainly feels like a smaller city, no matter how people slice and dice the stats -- and that's not a negative in my book. Not by any means. Gosh, you can walk the uptown area from one end of 277 and back in no time. And it's a nice walk.

I think Atlanta is an awkward size. Too big and spread out to have the charms of a smaller city, yet not big enough to compete with what a Chicago or NYC has to offer. And Charlotte's clean downtown is certainly the envy of downtown Atlanta's dirty maze and stacks of streets and boarded up stores.

And with that, I'm headed out to two of my favorite parts of the greater ATL area -- the Emory area for a walk and then the DeKalb Farmers Market! (Now that's something that Charlotte most certainly can't compete with -- this farmers market is a dream!)

[LoveMiami]

Tell me one famous person from Charlotte. NONE!

[WilliamM]

Originally Posted by qc dreamin

I I am here to tell you that I like ATl but Charlotte is equal to ATL if not better. Don't forget Charlotte is bigger than ATL and please do not talk about your metro that is not city population!!

Sorry, dreamin, that argument won't wash. It's true that Charlotte's intown population is modestly larger than Atlanta's, but as I've pointed out before on these forums this figure is virtually meaningless when discussing the demographic monster that is Atlanta, which long ago grew beyond its city limits like a torrent and - for various political and cultural reasons - has not (yet) been able to properly annex its nearby urban jurisdictions as have other places, including your Charlotte. It's like saying that the 3.8 million that make up the city of Los Angeles are a good measure of the importance and size in real terms of that metropolis, which is simply false bec. it sprawls on to include 15+ million across a vast and complex landscape. Likewise, if you want a better measure of what Atlanta is, look at the totality of Fulton along with the two adjacent counties and that's just for starters. In real terms, Atlanta is somewhere between 2 and 3 times the size of Charlotte (close to 3 times I'd suspect).

Now, with that little clarification in place, we can get on to your question. Now what's this about missing Charlotte over Atlanta? Could it be something about a lost Southern charm you're longing to return to?

[WilliamM]

Originally Posted by FromCLTtoATL

I think Atlanta is an awkward size. Too big and spread out to have the charms of a smaller city, yet not big enough to compete with what a Chicago or NYC has to offer.

That's perfectly put and it's in my opinion THE burning issue for those of us who are drawn to this city for whatever reason but who are torn about where it is along the growth curve of world cities. It's become a kind of NEITHER / NOR city. It's lost the charms and easygoing, laid-back convenience of smaller cities (like Charlotte?) but it hasn't yet acquired the respect of being a true world class city (see my new thread from the recent Conde Nast article on Atlanta). In other words, Atlanta is sort of in a no-man's land at the moment. No longer a mid-size city like Denver, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, etc., but not (YET ?) a Chicago or San Fran or LA. And therein lies its true dilemma.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by qc dreamin

I mean are all Atl people against Charlotte or do you guys just feel threatened!!

Charlotte is as much a nonfactor to me as Seattle. Neither one exerts any influence on me or the things/people in my life.

I've never been there, but as far as I know it's a nice city.

[NCN]

Originally Posted by LoveMiami

Tell me one famous person from Charlotte. NONE!

Billy Graham

Just answering your question of one famous person from Charlotte.

On the subject of missing Charlotte, I think we should bloom where we are planted.

[atlantaATL]

Originally Posted by qc dreamin

I mean are all Atl people against Charlotte or do you guys just feel threatened!! I am here to tell you that I like ATl but Charlotte is equal to ATL if not better. Don't forget Charlotte is bigger than ATL and please do not talk about your metro that is not city population!! Charlotte and ATL offer the same amenities and on a lot of levels Charlotte gets more respect as a "city" than ATl does. Yes ATl has been established longer then the Q.C. Besides having a downtown Aquarium(Congratulations) ATl is NOT oh so much better than Charlotte. Instead of trashing my hometown based off what you think you know why don't you visit and than you will see why Charlotte is fastest growing city on the eastcoast !!

My thing is who looks bigger who gets more media play who has mor fortune 500 companies in the city and metro whos mass transit is better forget the population jacksonville has more people than charlotte but looks smaller than charlotte, charlotte has the same amount of people as boston but who looks more developed and bigger? you cant go by city population you have too look at the entire metro. the only reason charlotte population is where it is because the square mileage of the city is bigger if atlanta had that square mileage it was pass charlotte. Charlotte cant compete with atlanta we are way ahead in development shopping hotel offerings job market is bigger and more diverse etc nothing in charlotte can compete with sandy springs? dunwoody midtown downtown or buckhead so lets stop with this Charlotte is smaller Point blank charlotte looks like atlanta in 1970s I got a pic so you can see the difference.

Charlotte






Atlanta

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

Stay in Atlanta, get in a time machine, set your destination for 1980, get out and you'll be in Charlotte.

Very true...as one lived in Atlanta back then (1982-92), and visits Charlotte quite a bit now. The similarities are quite striking.