Charlotte- really that lame? (Raleigh, Asheville: transplants, low crime, how much)

[timbo]

I'm thinking of relocating to Charlotte from Albuquerque, New Mexico in a couple of years time, and have been struck by the number of polar-opposite opinions which the city seems to elicit!

There seems to be a lot of bad stuff being said about Charlotte's lack of culture,as well as it's high crime, traffic problems etc, and I notice that most of it is coming from people who are comparing Charlotte to New York, San Francisco etc.

I'm sorry, but that is just crazy! You cannot seriously hope to compare a town of, what, 750,000 max., to New York- one of the world's great cultural centers!

I moved to New Mexico from London, (IMHO one of the world's greatest cities) and I suffered a similar sense of downscaling, but you have to rate a city in context.

When you all say that it has little or culture, nightlife etc- what is your frame of reference? Does it GENUINELY have no culture (when it seems to me that Charlotte IS making an effort to enhance it's cultural standards through projects such as the Convention Center) or does it have no culture in comparison to Manhattan?!

Is the traffic REALLY that bad?! Bear in mind that the average commute in London takes around 1 1/2 - 2 hours!

Is the crime problem REALLY that bad?! Albuquerque has one of the highest gang crime and murder rates in the US, but that doesn't mean that thugs live around every street corner!

Are the people REALLY that unfriendly?! I have spent some time in both New York and San Francisco, and wouldn't rank either (or any other big city for that matter) as the home of polite and friendly masses.

So, what i'm really getting at, is how does Charlotte rate next to other cities of 1/2 - 1 million people? Is it really as uninspiring as it has been portrayed? And if there was a perfect city, wouldn't we all be living there?!

Also, does anyone have any thoughts on the relative merits of Raleigh compared to Charlotte?

[jasonkruk]

I think Charlotte is a great city. They are working on the culture and trying to bring many new things to the city. I like the nightlife, some think it is not that great because there are a lot of places to go that are not mainstream (not dives). But there are also lots of mainstream places to go. One of the problems people here have is they have been here so long they don't realize how much has actually changed around them.
As for your comparison, I lived on Long Island, NY. This is a huge place for parties and nightlife in the summers, althought not a big city. I still enjoy going out in Charlotte where there are places that you can walk for less than two blocks and visit 10 bars and 8 resturants.
Try looking here and decide for yourself:

removed

[jdelre13]

Everyone is going to have a different experience and opinion on this topic based on personal needs, interests, and priorities in their present situation. If you are raising a family and looking for a city that has relatively low crime and good schools, than by all means you'd look at a place like Charlotte.
If you are single, not interested in children yet, and want to experience life a little bit before marriage, then Charlotte is not the place for you.
I actually really liked Charlotte when I first moved there, but it just got old. To observe a BoFA and a Wachovia branch strategically placed on every major street intersection throughout the city can become a little stale.
As stated earlier, I was done with Charlotte after 6 years. . No regrets, I was just simply ready to move on to bigger and better things.

[silverwing]

Originally Posted by jdelre13

If you are single, not interested in children yet, and want to experience life a little bit before marriage ...

Now that made me laugh like h*ll Somebody owes me a new keyboard, I just snorted Dr. Pepper over it

[angelaf]

Why did it make you laugh?

Not being sarcastic... just curious... I'm not married yet, will be moving down with my fiancé, but we won't be having kids (ever) and I still haven't gotten a very good idea of whether Charlotte is worth looking at for us. We wouldn't want to live in the city, as we want some land and some llamas, but we also need to find jobs and a larger city such as Charlotte might be a good place to look...

[jdelre13]

Now I am curious too as to why that person found my comments humorus.

That other person's comments that referred to Charlotte as a "town" with 750,000 people, now that's something you should be laughing at. Just to humor you, we can compare apples to apples. Just to name a few other "towns"

San Diego
Denver
Seattle
Austin
Dallas
Houston
Chicago
Boston

All of those cities kick Charlotte's a$$ too. .. .

Even all of my born and bred North Carolinian friends (bless their hearts) that love NC, are disgusted with Charlotte because of all the BS that is going on there.

[mm34b]

I think "Silverwing" was referring to the phrase, "want to experience life a little bit before marriage" instead of saying "want to experience single life a little bit before marriage". Reminds me of Al Bundy on the old TV sitcom "Married with Children".

[angelaf]

Originally Posted by jdelre13

Even all of my born and bred North Carolinian friends (bless their hearts) that love NC, are disgusted with Charlotte because of all the BS that is going on there.

Can you be more specific about what's going on in Charlotte? What's the BS? Are you referring to the schools? Politics?

[jdelre13]

OK Gotcha. Well, I've always heard that life ends with marriage. .. hehehe

Here are someone's comments taken from another website that I found. Pretty much sums up a lot of Charlotte. .

Charlotte is a lot like Los Angeles, tiny "city" with endless suburbs - but no beaches, mountains, or tourist attractions without a minimum 2 hour drive. Highly superficial community values, i.e. wealth over education. Very "clean" and thus about as un-hip as you can get. A great place to raise a family, but don't even think about being single here. The city places a much higher value on sports than arts. And walk around downtown during business hours and about every other person (the male ones) are sporting the same banker uniform: blue shirt and khakis. No major university here and so the intellectual culture is completely absent.

I can completely understand why many of the native NC folks are a little bitter about all the transplants that have moved to Charlotte.

When I first moved there back in 96, I was very fortunate and honored to meet some true southerners and experience their genuine hospitality. That was one of the major reasons why I moved there in the first place. To illustrate this, my neighbors (total strangers at the time) would smile and wave to me as I was driving out of my neighborhood. Growing up in CT, that was something that I had never experienced. I honestly felt like I never wanted to leave because of these unselfish acts of kindness and courtesy.

Unfortunately, the "secret" got out that Charlotte was a nice place and the charm quickly vanished. Every person I met thereafter was from either upstate NY, Pittsburgh, or the midwest. It's rare if you meet any natives there now. It has pretty much turned into a very soulless and sterile banking city full of SUV's and superficial yuppies.

[silverwing]

Originally Posted by mm34b

I think "Silverwing" was referring to the phrase, "want to experience life a little bit before marriage" instead of saying "want to experience single life a little bit before marriage". Reminds me of Al Bundy on the old TV sitcom "Married with Children".

Almost ditto

As a childless-by-choice couple the whole "marriage then kids ... therrrre goes your life" thing is a bit of a snark Spouse and I have had a 20 year union that has been pretty much 'kick up our heels, we can do as we please' because we don't have the responsibility of kids. [disclaimer: not that one life is better than the other. it's a matter of choice and what you find fulfilling]

Angelaf, you said :

I still haven't gotten a very good idea of whether Charlotte is worth looking at for us. We wouldn't want to live in the city, as we want some land and some llamas, but we also need to find jobs and a larger city such as Charlotte might be a good place to look..

LLamas don't need that much room - you can have several on less than an acre, but zoning laws will take precedent. I know where you are coming from; we wanted acreage and llamas, and fortunate circumstances finally lead to that dream: we have acreage and did have llamas for several years. They are awesome animals to handle (just don't get them p*ssed, they do spit ), but our schedules and other interests lead us to have to find them new homes. One became a guard llama for a Boer goat farm and the other went to a friend even more critter crazy than us. The last time we visited Rush (llama) he was having fun associating with miniature donkeys, horses, and zebu You've come to the right part of the country if you want to become involved in llamas. There are many llama farms in NC, VA and TN. If you want to see them en masse, check out the Western NC State Fair, held in .. usually September .. in Asheville. As far as I know, the llama association still holds a yearly show there. You see the best of the best.

Back to where you can have them. Check the zoning laws. LLamas are considered livestock or exotics, and some municipalities won't allow that, even if you do have room for them. Considering the development around Charlotte, you may not find land to have them that would be within a reasonable commute to Charlotte. You might want to consider the Triad area, where you still have access to rural acreage or Salisbury, where you are just a skip from country land.