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People say East Charlotte is the bad side of town because there are black and Hispanic people living there. It's just veiled racism, that's all.
This is true, but consider this VERY true story (I'm a black male in my 30s by the way).
I'm a fuel delivery driver. About a year ago with my former employer, I was making a routine delivery of 7,000 gallons of regular gasoline and 1,500 gallons of diesel. Such a delivery takes about 25-30 mins. I don't wish to give details about which gas station I was at because that would certainly narrow down the exact company I worked for. I will say though that it was an East Charlotte location.
About mid-way through my delivery, I saw a badly injured black male stagger his way across Central Avenue onto the property of a fast food restaurant then quickly fell to the ground. Shortly after seeing this, medic, CMPD, and Charlotte fire showed up. So it seems, this man was a gun shot victim who had just left the gas station I was at (the gas station clerk made the 911 call). After my delivery, the employees inside of the station were laughing at the situation because this same guy had been shot the previous month in a similar fashion. For what it's worth, I believe this incident took place around 10 pm if my memory is correct.
Within the last few weeks, I've switched to day shift driving instead of over night. However, back in my over night days, I could literally write a book on some of the things I've seen. In east Charlotte after dark, you can find it all. Drug deals, prostitutes (straight, gay, lesbian, and Transexual), drunk driving, shootings, robberies etc. There are nice and quiet parts of east Charlotte, but there are those "other" parts as well.
What amazes me is how out-in-the-open some of the illegal activity is. I'm just a fuel delivery guy, but I can tell you exactly which intersections to go to in east Charlotte to find the prostitutes and/or drugs. Surely you'd think CMPD would know these spots as well and pounce on them, but that doesn't appear to be the case. When the cop makes his/her rounds in their police cruiser, the perps scatter like roaches. Five minutes later, it's business as usual.
As for West Charlotte (as someone has mentioned), it's still the same West Charlotte. If you don't believe me, take a nice late night slow drive through Thomasboro. That's one of those areas that my grandmother would describe as "wicked".
Last edited by urbancharlotte; 12-19-2013 at 08:04 PM..
East Charlotte just is not being maintained very well. The city has had to shut down some apartment complexes out there for repeated code violations. There have been gang turf fights and shootings in the Milton/Plaza rd area. I lived out near WT Harris and Albemarle ten years ago, and could sense it was a part of the city just treading water, and not much has changed.
It depends which side of East Charlotte. What you have to realize about Charlotte, is that as a city, it has "nice areas" located next to "really bad areas". I'd say anything from Midwood to Albermarle rd is good...Albermarle Rd and down is a little sketchy.
University used to be awesome, but now it's ghetto. Just goto the boardwalk on a Friday or Saturday night and you'll see.
ghetto? because of the diverse crowd that gathers? there are quite a few black people that frequent boardwalk billies and the place across the way bad dog or whatever it is. but then all of the white college students right next door at the wine vault and 49er cafe, with a live acoustic musician, while other people stay at the hilton or eat at the italian restaurant. what exactly is ghetto about diversity? black people scare you? i am a 30 year old white male with a young child and a wife and have never felt scared or unsafe at the boardwalk.
also with all the new construction going on around the ikea and newer walmart the area is completely changing. i live more towards prosperity church so i do not live in the heart of the university area but i do understand south on tryon towards downtown past the walmart does get sketchy, but anything north of that and across of harris blvd i have never seen a problem.
It depends which side of East Charlotte. What you have to realize about Charlotte, is that as a city, it has "nice areas" located next to "really bad areas". I'd say anything from Midwood to Albermarle rd is good...Albermarle Rd and down is a little sketchy.
University used to be awesome, but now it's ghetto. Just goto the boardwalk on a Friday or Saturday night and you'll see.
I live in University and take offense to that. There is nothing ghetto about. University just because it has a high prescience of Asians and blacks...
I really don't see anything ghetto about Highland Creek and the dozens of neighborhoods out here....That's one thing I hate about Charlotte....if you don't live in South Charlotte or the in town trendy neighborhoods it's ghetto....GTFOH
It depends which side of East Charlotte. What you have to realize about Charlotte, is that as a city, it has "nice areas" located next to "really bad areas". I'd say anything from Midwood to Albermarle rd is good...Albermarle Rd and down is a little sketchy.
University used to be awesome, but now it's ghetto. Just goto the boardwalk on a Friday or Saturday night and you'll see.
It depends which side of East Charlotte. What you have to realize about Charlotte, is that as a city, it has "nice areas" located next to "really bad areas". I'd say anything from Midwood to Albermarle rd is good...Albermarle Rd and down is a little sketchy.
University used to be awesome, but now it's ghetto. Just goto the boardwalk on a Friday or Saturday night and you'll see.
I have to strongly disagree with your assessment that University City is "ghetto". It's probably not as white dominated as some would prefer, but I've been living in the area for almost 4 years now and have never gotten the impression that it's ghetto. Unless you're equating non-white people being at the Boardwalk with "ghetto". The biggest negative about the area in my opinion is that it's constructed like a suburban area rather than urban. It's not a part of town that feels unsafe.
Personally, I love East Clt, it is close in to town and diverse. To me it feels like an actual real city and since every real city has its share of crime, this is just something you have to accept if you live here. East Ct has everything from tattoo shops and antique stores to unique areas like Saigon Square and fine dining restaurants all within 1-2 miles of each other.
I think it is great that most people either move to North or South Clt, it keeps the traffic down and it weeds out the whiteys that are afraid of a little diversity.
Personally, I love East Clt, it is close in to town and diverse. To me it feels like an actual real city and since every real city has its share of crime, this is just something you have to accept if you live here. East Ct has everything from tattoo shops and antique stores to unique areas like Saigon Square and fine dining restaurants all within 1-2 miles of each other.
I think it is great that most people either move to North or South Clt, it keeps the traffic down and it weeds out the whiteys that are afraid of a little diversity.
My wife and I live off Arnold Road on the "other side" of Eastway and we love it too. We back up to Kilborne Park so it's quiet and way more affordable than if we lived just on the other side of Eastway in Merry Oaks. And I love having the immigrant business and restaurants around me, I love the diversity. I realize I'm barely in the East Charlotte area, but I honestly think it's one of the best home markets in the city for what you get for the price. We bought a 1950s ranch in great shape, 1500 square feet with great landscaping for 120k; if we'd gone a quarter of a mile across Eastway and looked for that much house we'd be paying 200k instead.
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