Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Charlotte is "good ol' boy" at the 1% level, the ones calling the shots. You might get the patina of otherwise amongst the lower-level busy bee minions, but we're still a city whose private sector is run by a small and exclusive "old guard" club. I was told as much by those very people when I moved here. In all fairness, that's not to say it isn't the case in the Mid-Atlantic or Northeast Corridor, I wouldn't know since I don't have a lot of experience in those places. But I know that elsewhere, that's not the case. In college I hung out with a lot of guys and gals eating 50 cent ramen out of a vending machine who are now CEOs of top companies in California.
Maybe some of the county commissioners (bill james) but Mayor Foxx nor the CCP strike me as good ole boy. Our new superintendent of CMS is from Memphis (?). BOA CEO is not from here. US Air is in PHX, Chiquita from Cinnci. Wells Fargo not here, Jerry Orr airport director has to be a native BUT he is the best airport director...
My family is not from here, yet my mother has a 1 year old business that started in Kings Mountain, expanded into Shelby, Lincolnton, and Gastonia just today got someone to financially open up 2 locations in the ultimate prize, Charlotte.
And my family are Yankees. I plan on investing a lot of money into Charlotte in future years and going to try and make a name for myself. I want to make a mark in the city, and good ole boy hicks is not going to stop me... Right now I'm a full worker investing all of my money into the family business
Lots of action in this thread today, but in case I missed it...
Where is this magical city that is a similar size and similar cost of living to Charlotte that has jazz, theatre, dance, opera, zoo, casino, an amazing uptown complex, a beach, mountains, museums, entertainment complexes, a huge variety of cuisines, a great highway system, good airport and public transportation, and good schools across the board all within the city limits?
If you're willing to settle for mediocrity at everything and excellence at nothing (except CLT, which is definitely a star airport), then sure, Charlotte might float your boat. But just be absolutely sure that a place doing something halfway in every respect doesn't get on your nerves after a while.
Jazz - laughable to say our jazz scene is anything out of the ordinary
Theatre/dance - you can find our level of theater anywhere, nothing special
Opera - is a very exacting artform. If you can't get the basic technique down, forget being able to bring the interpretational complexities to bear that actually gets at the heart of it. It's no wonder they can't fill the seats.
Zoo - NC Zoo is great but is 2 hours away
An amazing uptown complex - sure, if you like shiny buildings, but give me a good variety of inexpensive, flavorful, non-expense-account cuisine
A beach - Charleston is our closest beach at over 3 hours away, and Myrtle Beach is a downmarket place with ugly sand/water compared to NC beaches like Wrightsville, the Crystal Coast, or OBX.
Mountains - the best on the East Coast for sure, but 2 hours away, and how often are you doing that drive
Museums - which don't contain true masterworks. Any random room in any of the world-renowned art galleries blows the whole entirety of Charlotte's collection out of the water. Pales in comparison to other regional museums like the High Museum in Atlanta.
Entertainment complexes - yes, Charlotte has that in spades. In fact, it's a shame that the Atlanta Symphony has to perform in their lemon of a performing arts center out there.
A huge variety of cuisines - compared to what? Just because you can find a restaurant or two that does a close approximation of the genre or ethnicity of cuisine you're seeking doesn't actually mean we're getting a good and broadly authentic representation therein.
A great highway system - no, more like awful highway system, the rush hour backups on 485, 77 and 85 are inexcusable for a city this size, no to mention that the fact that we're a shipping/trucking hub means that we have to run semis deep into our urban areas, which further confuses the nature of the rushes.
Good public transportation - it's amazing that Lynx light rail is so limited in scope. In the San Francisco Bay Area, they build light rails left and right like butter running down existing street medians and such. I don't get why there's so much red tape and telegraphing to get that thing expanded.
Good schools across the board all within the city limits - the affluent areas have good schools, the non-affluent areas have bad schools. This is no different from any other city with our income profile.
Charlotte is "good ol' boy" at the 1% level, the ones calling the shots. You might get the patina of otherwise amongst the lower-level busy bee minions, but we're still a city whose private sector is run by a small and exclusive "old guard" club. I was told as much by those very people when I moved here. In all fairness, that's not to say it isn't the case in the Mid-Atlantic or Northeast Corridor, I wouldn't know since I don't have a lot of experience in those places. But I know that elsewhere, that's not the case. In college I hung out with a lot of guys and gals eating 50 cent ramen out of a vending machine who are now CEOs of top companies in California.
You are absolutely correct.
I mentioned this in a separate thread just recently. Anyone who doesn't realize how much wealth, power and influence is posited behind the gated country club communities of this city isn't paying attention. And this is nothing NEW. We have mega wealthy investors/corporate execs who have residences here (and elsewhere) have interests in corporations here (and elsewhere) and who have the power and resources to influence any aspect of life they wish to influence, not only here in Charlotte, but in other cities around the globe.
Many of these guys have known one another for decades, may have prepped together . . . certainly have socialized together for a long time and often have been in joint ventures with one another. I know this for a fact b/c I know some of these folks -- grew up with two in particular. They are not necessarily glitz and glamour, either. That is typically the nouveau riche and newbies who like to throw the bling around, lol. These guys are pretty understated as far as personal appearance while here in Charlotte. You won't find them riding around in a limo, in other words, LOL.
I plan on investing a lot of money into Charlotte in future years and going to try and make a name for myself. I want to make a mark in the city, and good ole boy hicks is not going to stop me... Right now I'm a full worker investing all of my money into the family business
Lots of action in this thread today, but in case I missed it...
Where is this magical city that is a similar size and similar cost of living to Charlotte that has jazz, theatre, dance, opera, zoo, casino, an amazing uptown complex, a beach, mountains, museums, entertainment complexes, a huge variety of cuisines, a great highway system, good airport and public transportation, and good schools across the board all within the city limits?
Vancouver sans the cheaper cost of living. Awesome city, but it is one of the most expensive cities on the planet.
Go back and read. I have already been over this. I never said I knew of a place that had all those things you decided to cherry pick out of my post. My reference to mountains and beach in no way was connected to anything about another city anywhere on this planet - it was a statement about how we have mountains and beach several hours away, not right in this city - and was simply emphasizing that Charlotte is a great place to live so you can conveniently get to SOMEWHERE ELSE, i.e. beach and mountains.
Please do not take my words out of context.
The thing I object to is how Charlotte likes to market itself as "having it all" -- yet so many of the things people like about the region ARE NOT EVEN IN CHARLOTTE.
Last edited by brokensky; 08-14-2012 at 08:48 PM..
If you're willing to settle for mediocrity at everything and excellence at nothing (except CLT, which is definitely a star airport), then sure, Charlotte might float your boat. But just be absolutely sure that a place doing something halfway in every respect doesn't get on your nerves after a while.
Jazz - laughable to say our jazz scene is anything out of the ordinary
Theatre/dance - you can find our level of theater anywhere, nothing special
Opera - is a very exacting artform. If you can't get the basic technique down, forget being able to bring the interpretational complexities to bear that actually gets at the heart of it. It's no wonder they can't fill the seats.
Zoo - NC Zoo is great but is 2 hours away
An amazing uptown complex - sure, if you like shiny buildings, but give me a good variety of inexpensive, flavorful, non-expense-account cuisine
A beach - Charleston is our closest beach at over 3 hours away, and Myrtle Beach is a downmarket place with ugly sand/water compared to NC beaches like Wrightsville, the Crystal Coast, or OBX.
Mountains - the best on the East Coast for sure, but 2 hours away, and how often are you doing that drive
Museums - which don't contain true masterworks. Any random room in any of the world-renowned art galleries blows the whole entirety of Charlotte's collection out of the water. Pales in comparison to other regional museums like the High Museum in Atlanta.
Entertainment complexes - yes, Charlotte has that in spades. In fact, it's a shame that the Atlanta Symphony has to perform in their lemon of a performing arts center out there.
A huge variety of cuisines - compared to what? Just because you can find a restaurant or two that does a close approximation of the genre or ethnicity of cuisine you're seeking doesn't actually mean we're getting a good and broadly authentic representation therein.
A great highway system - no, more like awful highway system, the rush hour backups on 485, 77 and 85 are inexcusable for a city this size, no to mention that the fact that we're a shipping/trucking hub means that we have to run semis deep into our urban areas, which further confuses the nature of the rushes.
Good public transportation - it's amazing that Lynx light rail is so limited in scope. In the San Francisco Bay Area, they build light rails left and right like butter running down existing street medians and such. I don't get why there's so much red tape and telegraphing to get that thing expanded.
Good schools across the board all within the city limits - the affluent areas have good schools, the non-affluent areas have bad schools. This is no different from any other city with our income profile.
I didn't say Charlotte had all that, I was just curious what city did. Heck, I'd be curious if any city has 3/4 of that.
I didn't say Charlotte had all that, I was just curious what city did. Heck, I'd be curious if any city has 3/4 of that.
San Diego (minus cost of living)
Seattle and Portland
San Francisco Bay Area (minus cost of living)
Pittsburgh (they've made a ton more progress than Charlotte has from a much more unenviable starting point)
---
The thing about cost of living is, it tends to fold into itself. A place can only be so desirable until everyone wants to live there, land becomes limited (or you get excessive sprawl that makes the place undesirable), and suddenly cost of living is through the roof. Again, supply and demand. That's why I don't even like the metric requiring that a town be "of Charlotte's size". It's why I mentioned earlier that the "sweet spot" for me might be some university town somewhere that doesn't necessarily have all of the elements you describe but a good handful of them at which they excel.
If you're willing to settle for mediocrity at everything and excellence at nothing (except CLT, which is definitely a star airport), then sure, Charlotte might float your boat. But just be absolutely sure that a place doing something halfway in every respect doesn't get on your nerves after a while.
Jazz - laughable to say our jazz scene is anything out of the ordinary
Theatre/dance - you can find our level of theater anywhere, nothing special
Opera - is a very exacting artform. If you can't get the basic technique down, forget being able to bring the interpretational complexities to bear that actually gets at the heart of it. It's no wonder they can't fill the seats.
Zoo - NC Zoo is great but is 2 hours away
An amazing uptown complex - sure, if you like shiny buildings, but give me a good variety of inexpensive, flavorful, non-expense-account cuisine
A beach - Charleston is our closest beach at over 3 hours away, and Myrtle Beach is a downmarket place with ugly sand/water compared to NC beaches like Wrightsville, the Crystal Coast, or OBX.
Mountains - the best on the East Coast for sure, but 2 hours away, and how often are you doing that drive
Museums - which don't contain true masterworks. Any random room in any of the world-renowned art galleries blows the whole entirety of Charlotte's collection out of the water. Pales in comparison to other regional museums like the High Museum in Atlanta.
Entertainment complexes - yes, Charlotte has that in spades. In fact, it's a shame that the Atlanta Symphony has to perform in their lemon of a performing arts center out there.
A huge variety of cuisines - compared to what? Just because you can find a restaurant or two that does a close approximation of the genre or ethnicity of cuisine you're seeking doesn't actually mean we're getting a good and broadly authentic representation therein.
A great highway system - no, more like awful highway system, the rush hour backups on 485, 77 and 85 are inexcusable for a city this size, no to mention that the fact that we're a shipping/trucking hub means that we have to run semis deep into our urban areas, which further confuses the nature of the rushes.
Good public transportation - it's amazing that Lynx light rail is so limited in scope. In the San Francisco Bay Area, they build light rails left and right like butter running down existing street medians and such. I don't get why there's so much red tape and telegraphing to get that thing expanded.
Good schools across the board all within the city limits - the affluent areas have good schools, the non-affluent areas have bad schools. This is no different from any other city with our income profile.
You do realize that you just compared Charlotte to Atlanta (6 million metro) and San Fran (6 million plus metro)? Why don't you compare Charlotte to actual peers? How about the light rail systems in Columbus and Indianapolis? What about those peer cities' proximity to a beach and the mountains? However, many pages back you complained that Charlotte doesn't have the small college town charm of Charlottesville VA. At this point, I have to ask; what exactly is your point? IMO, it just sounds like you have a bad case of greener grass Flu. The only known cure is to leave your current grass.
You do realize that you just compared Charlotte to Atlanta (6 million metro) and San Fran (6 million plus metro)? Why don't you compare Charlotte to actual peers? How about the light rail systems in Columbus and Indianapolis? What about those peer cities' proximity to a beach and the mountains? However, many pages back you complained that Charlotte doesn't have the small college town charm of Charlottesville VA. At this point, I have to ask; what exactly is your point. IMO, it just sounds like you have a bad case of greener grass Flu. The only known cure is to leave your current grass.
I guess my overarching point is - "when better than a lot of places still isn't good enough personally." It's a question each of us should ask. Instead of looking at things from an absolute perspective, every one of us should identify specific elements of a place that we think will grind our gears after a while, and those we are happy to live with even if it's not ideal. Unfortunately, sometimes it's impossible to know just how negative an impact certain characteristics will have unless we experience it ourselves or have it described in specific detail. The point is that a negativity thread can be made just about for any city, and for some people, the elements identified as negative won't matter, but for some others, it'll be elucidating. A lot of people who move to a place and then decide to leave do so not because of a "grass is greener" miscalculation of perceived advantages/disadvantages, but an increased rationality that can only be garnered through direct and more complete information through which the comparison can be made.
I've never had this visceral a reaction to any of the other places I've lived, whether the town was smaller or larger, and not because each of them necessarily had more or less than Charlotte, but because their specific combination of things gelled with me better.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
