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I've been here 8 years now and I have lived in FL, NY, UT and been to most other states at least once. Charlotte has grown on me a bit but it wouldn't be in my top 5 of major cities to live in.
Positives:
-We get all of the seasons (although probably the worst of each of them - ie winter is cold and summer's are hot and humid. Fall is beautiful and lasts a long time)
-You can be out in the country or in the city in relatively short time frame
-Lakes, rivers, and "mountains"
-Ocean is a couple hours drive and so is Asheville
-US Whitewater Center
-Carowinds
-A lot of transplants so there are lots of different personality-types
-Real estate is pretty cheap
Negatives:
-Boring, flavorless uptown.
-Traffic (which most major cities have but Charlotte should have expanded 77 from Mooresville to the SC border 5 years ago).
-Crime (but I really don't think it's better or worse comparatively speaking)
-Lack of sidewalks on many roads
Regardless of price:
1. San Diego
2. Seattle
3. Austin
4. Portland
5. Boston
(just so you see I'm not completely west-coast biased)
6. Denver
7. DC
8. Chicago
9. Minneapolis
10. Charlotte
If price is a factor (which it always is, realistically)
1. Charlotte
2. Portland
3. Austin
4. Denver
5. Minneapolis
Looking at your top negative for Charlotte and your favorite cities, it makes sense. Those cities are definitely not boring. I'm not sure they solve the others though.
Is San Diego walkable? I've never been but would love to check it out sometime. What makes it number 1 for you?
We don't need sidewalks on every road around. Half of the city would rather drive 2 miles to a gym to run 5 miles on a treadmill (seemingly).
I disagree that we don't need sidewalks on every road.
Charlotte is in desperate need of more walkability. We need more pockets of walkable areas outside uptown and the other tiny strip of Midwood.
If Charlotte would stop letting developers, e.g. Ryan Homes, build the city and have a team designers layout some strong ordinances to stop the same old crap from sprawling then Charlotte may build some flavor; as it was said by the other poster in this thread that Charlotte is missing.
Good Thread! After reading some of the posts, the best thing to keep in mind about crime and public schools specifically: With crime, if you use common sense (locking doors, being aware of your surrounding, not being out very late at night, stay out of areas you shouldn't be in, etc.) you should be fine. This goes for any area in any city. I've lived here all of my life and have never once had a problem with crime. With Schools: If parents take an active role in their children's school lives, 9 times out of 10 they will do fine. Schools that have high crime or are academically cut-throat (2 ends of the spectrum) I would've never wanted my children in (they're young adults now). My children, my wife, and I graduated from schools that many would consider "middle of the road" or slightly less than "middle of the road" and we've been successful. This is just general rules of thumb........Other than that, it just depends on what people area looking for personally. Some people say it's too hot here. I love it....Some say there's noting to do. We're never bored.....It just depends. If I had to say something, it's unusual for a metro area our size to not have a medical school or law school that's directly associated with a university. On the college level, that's really something we lack. But in general, the Charlotte area's a great place to live. Like every other area, we're not perfect. But one of the best in the bunch : )
Good Thread! After reading some of the posts, the best thing to keep in mind about crime and public schools specifically: With crime, if you use common sense (locking doors, being aware of your surrounding, not being out very late at night, stay out of areas you shouldn't be in, etc.) you should be fine. This goes for any area in any city. I've lived here all of my life and have never once had a problem with crime. With Schools: If parents take an active role in their children's school lives, 9 times out of 10 they will do fine. Schools that have high crime or are academically cut-throat (2 ends of the spectrum) I would've never wanted my children in (they're young adults now). My children, my wife, and I graduated from schools that many would consider "middle of the road" or slightly less than "middle of the road" and we've been successful. This is just general rules of thumb........Other than that, it just depends on what people area looking for personally. Some people say it's too hot here. I love it....Some say there's noting to do. We're never bored.....It just depends. If I had to say something, it's unusual for a metro area our size to not have a medical school or law school that's directly associated with a university. On the college level, that's really something we lack. But in general, the Charlotte area's a great place to live. Like every other area, we're not perfect. But one of the best in the bunch : )
Not sure who said it takes 45 min from huntersville to davidson but i work in Davidson and live in huntersville it has NEVER taken me 45 min even in traffic. Its more like 10-15.
Huntersville to me is no different than cornelius almost the exact same town. I think your fine with any of the lake norman areas. concord not bad but I prefer davidson, cornelius and or huntersville.
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