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I'm not too crazy about Charlotte. The biggest reason is really my own fault for coming here.... its just too big. Other than the concentrated center city area, it doesn't have the feel of a densely populated urban center like Pittsburg and other large cities, but it is spread out and overwhelming in a bad way. Take what you don't like about any town.... and here its just bigger. In my old hometown, the "bad part of town" was about 10 blocks and you drove around it, here it stretches for miles and miles, kind of hard to drive around it. There might be lots of events to attend like Panthers and Bobcat games and conventions but just seeing the cars lined up and the crowds you'd have to fight make me pine for the old arts festivals in my hometown that were big enough to fill the day, but UNcrowded enough to feel casual and relaxed.
Also, streets don't run perpendicular and parallel other than in downtown (which is a nightmare to drive through). Look at a map of charlotte, it looks like a spiderweb with every road leading to the center or in a circular fashion! I bought a compass for my car's dash after moving here. Roads meander so much you never know what direction you are heading.
Poor city planning- its as if they never realized this city was growing and that they needed to build better roads that connect it all better. You are reduced to a handful of main roads to get to certain sectors of town that this city is divided into, and so many areas are one way in, one way out. I cant count how many times I explored a neighborhood only to never find a way through or out other than how I came in. Its like they plopped down huge areas of houses and businesses, and never connected them to one another other than a few main roads which are already congested by transporting people into the city from the suburbs or out of the city limits.
The suburbs, thats another thing I hate. Just about anyone who tells you they love Charlotte probably don't even live within it- they live in some cookie cutter subdivion with fruity names OUTSIDE the city. Its like the major jobs are in downtown with ghetto neighborhoods surrounding it, minus a few incredibly trendy 'hoods, and everything else is in the 'burbs. Live in east charlotte and want to buy some furniture? The only Ashley furniture stores are in Huntersville and Matthews. Live on the east or west side and want to buy a BOOK? Good luck finding a bookshop. A musician like myself need some new strings or sheet music? .... I'd better drive to Matthews for the Guitar Center. The list goes on and on. It seems like for such a large city its hard to find what you want and actually get there. I have the same problem living outside charlotte in mount holly (population ridiculously small) because there absolutely is no furniture store, or art store, music store, book store, or even a drive thru other than mcdonalds! Luckily I'm a back road or two away from east Gastonia which has about everything I need. Mid-sized cities are where its at folks...... small enough they arent so crazy, big enough there are places to go and things to do without having to cross county lines on interstates to get there.
I wish I could say that even living in proximity to charlotte I could appreciate the malls, shopping, cultural aspects, the downtown of such a metro center, but sadly no...... ever since I moved outside the city I only venture in to go to work. I dunno why exactly, maybe it just left a bad taste in my mouth.
But despite all the bad (to me), Charlotte is a fairly clean and pleasant metro. Even the ghettos get new walmarts and have flowers planted along the roads. I've lived near Tampa, FL and have to say its not nearly as gritty as most of that town. And it might not have quite as picturesque of a skyline as Jacksonville, FL but at least you can get off the beaten path and not feel like you entered a third world slum.
I love Charlotte - but my only real gripe is the crime. I lived in Westport CT before I lived here -- where the biggest crime was a teenager stealing gum from the Bridge Market.
I have had two brand new BMW's that had windows smashed out multiple times in the first THREE MONTHS I lived here -- had everything jacked up in those cars, had a laptop stolen out of one on one of the occasions, and at travel bag stolen the other time ... plus thousands in damage to the cars.
AND, since these kinds of crime are so prevalent here, I called 911, and they TRANSFERRED ME to 311 ! Can you imagine the anger I felt calling the police and getting transferred?!? Then the folks at 311 directed me to a website to file an online police report. Aside from high crime, the police are chronically underfunded, and no one ever came out to my place in either instance. Additionally, in the first year I lived uptown, count this: 17 of my neighbors had their cars stolen. SEVENTEEN. My condo only has 100 units in it! It has happened so regularly that the CMPD police came one night to my bldg and spent three hours here, going door-to-door and handing out (for free) The Club to all of the residents in my condo!! That was a nice gesture, but doesn't solve the endemic issue: even worse than chronic police underfunding is the terrible underfunding by the state of the prosecutor's offices. They are about two dozen DA's below what they need -- so repeat offenders are let right back out.
On top of all of this, I have been mugged once with my girlfriend -- AND I am well over six feet tall and in the 260s, doesnt matter when it is four homeless dudes.... vs you and your gf. One of my neighbors was held up at gunpoint (and unfortunately, she was a 22 year old girl, I don't think she ever recovered, and moved out of town after that).
Additionally, in the several years I have lived uptown, I have witnessed one individual who was shot pass away, most unfortunately, on the exit ramp of I-277. It happened, quite literally, right outside my window. One week later, there were more than ten units for sale in my building.
Honestly, at this point I am totally numb to these kinds of things ... it has definitely changed me ... is it for the better? I don't know. But I am much more careful. A lot of my friends have concealed weapons permits to carry tasers... and we have definitely changed our habits and behaviors, i.e., ALWAYS go out in groups at night ... and if I, for instance, feel tired and want to leave the bar we're at before my friends do --- I'll ALWAYS take a cab, and pay the 3 or 4 bucks for the ride home versus potentially getting mugged on the way back ....
I love Charlotte - but my only real gripe is the crime. I lived in Westport CT before I lived here -- where the biggest crime was a teenager stealing gum from the Bridge Market.
I have had two brand new BMW's that had windows smashed out multiple times in the first THREE MONTHS I lived here -- had everything jacked up in those cars, had a laptop stolen out of one on one of the occasions, and at travel bag stolen the other time ... plus thousands in damage to the cars.
AND, since these kinds of crime are so prevalent here, I called 911, and they TRANSFERRED ME to 311 ! Can you imagine the anger I felt calling the police and getting transferred?!? Then the folks at 311 directed me to a website to file an online police report. Aside from high crime, the police are chronically underfunded, and no one ever came out to my place in either instance. Additionally, in the first year I lived uptown, count this: 17 of my neighbors had their cars stolen. SEVENTEEN. My condo only has 100 units in it! It has happened so regularly that the CMPD police came one night to my bldg and spent three hours here, going door-to-door and handing out (for free) The Club to all of the residents in my condo!! That was a nice gesture, but doesn't solve the endemic issue: even worse than chronic police underfunding is the terrible underfunding by the state of the prosecutor's offices. They are about two dozen DA's below what they need -- so repeat offenders are let right back out.
On top of all of this, I have been mugged once with my girlfriend -- AND I am well over six feet tall and in the 260s, doesnt matter when it is four homeless dudes.... vs you and your gf. One of my neighbors was held up at gunpoint (and unfortunately, she was a 22 year old girl, I don't think she ever recovered, and moved out of town after that).
Additionally, in the several years I have lived uptown, I have witnessed one individual who was shot pass away, most unfortunately, on the exit ramp of I-277. It happened, quite literally, right outside my window. One week later, there were more than ten units for sale in my building.
Honestly, at this point I am totally numb to these kinds of things ... it has definitely changed me ... is it for the better? I don't know. But I am much more careful. A lot of my friends have concealed weapons permits to carry tasers... and we have definitely changed our habits and behaviors, i.e., ALWAYS go out in groups at night ... and if I, for instance, feel tired and want to leave the bar we're at before my friends do --- I'll ALWAYS take a cab, and pay the 3 or 4 bucks for the ride home versus potentially getting mugged on the way back ....
Well I guess this happens when you build in the middle of High Crime areas. Before the luxury condo's etc where the working girls/guys. Just because they put a nice price tag on them doesn't mean the trouble is going ot leave. Yes its better than it was but go under the bridge and your in the projects.
If I left valuables unattended in a parked vehicle, I wouldn't expect any other outcome. There's such a thing as inviting trouble. Some things are a matter of common sense, and being cautiously aware of one's surroundings.
yes its very safe here in Freehold NJ always go to the mall by myself or target and night or walmart
Crime is very very low here that is the ONLY good thing about where I live in NJ.......lol
I was thinking the same! And I am from Jersey ... malls are magnets for thugs (and especially during the holiday season).
SL
I lived in Jersey for awhile too.
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That's never a good idea anywhere.
