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.
Ok!!! Here is the deal guys. Keep in mind that I like Atlanta better than Charlotte so don't take offense. Outside of Buckhead, Midtown, and parts of Downtown, most of Atlanta looks like the Beattes Ford Rd area of Charlotte. Especially the area near the Bankhead courts housing project on Bankhead Hwy (thank goodness they are tearing that place down!!!). Even when I ride the MARTA, most of the areas the train goes through are wooded and ghetto much like West Charlotte. That is Atlanta folks. Midtown and Buckhead is what Atlanta wants to be. Bankhead courts is what Atlanta is. It will take years before Midtown and Buckhead is the standard or norm in Atlanta.
Another issue in Atlanta are the race relations within the city. I hate to go there, but ya'll Atlantans know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. I know ya'll are familiar with what some folks in Atlanta says MARTA stands for. Moving (blank) Rapidly Through Atlanta. Ya'll can fill in the blank yourselves because you guys in Atlanta know the answer. Also, some freeway exits in town warn a certain group of people not to exit there at night.
I could honestly go on and on about Atlanta's shortcomings, but I like the city too much to do that. Really I do!!! I just think we have some friends in Atlanta that just don't understand why Atlanta is compared to Charlotte.
Here are your answers: What are the two largest southeastern metros outside of Florida?
Atlanta and Charlotte What are the only southeastern metros outside of Florida with a CSA population of over 2 million people?
Atlanta and Charlotte What are the only southeastern cities outside of Florida with skyscrapers over 200 meters tall?
Atlanta and Charlotte What were the first two cities in the southeast to have Nascar plus two pro teams at least?
Atlanta and Charlotte What will be the first two counties in the southeast outside of Florida to reach a population of one million? (they both will do this in the same decade BTW).
Fulton and Mecklenburg What was the only city in the southeast outside of Florida to beat Atlanta in a competition for a major tourist attraction? (Nascar Hall) The idea of this tourist attraction actually originated in Atlanta.
Charlotte What are the only cities in the southeast outside of Florida with either heavy rail or light rail?
Atlanta and Charlotte
There are also very many similarities when it comes to highend retail and hotels. In all honesty, you can almost do the same things in Charlotte that you can do in Atlanta. The bottom line is that Atlanta just has more of those special things to do and a much larger crowd to go with them!!! This is why I like Atlanta better because it looks and feels much bigger and more lively. With that said, Charlotte is not lacking as much as some of our friends in Atlanta would like to think.
I think the most glaring stat is that Charlotte's metro is about 1/3 the population of metro Atlanta, yet Fulton county and Mecklenburg county are nearly equally in size and population.
Fulton county has 532 sq/mi of land and 1 million people.
Mecklenburg county has 526 sq/mi of land and 900,000 people.
For Charlotte's small metro size when compared to Atlanta's, Charlotte has a much greater % of it's metro population within it's home county. Fulton county should honestly be 3 million strong. Not just 1 million. This is why Charlotte is thought to be doing a better job at keeping down sprawl. To compare to Atlanta, Charlotte is doing a much better job in that department. You guys can now go back to your regularly scheduled POINTLESS debate (already in progress).
+
Yeah this is somewhat true But the northline goes into buckhead and thru sandysprings and north springs which is not ghetto ,and wooded also Atlanta does not stand for Ghetto. And Charlotte has is larger than Atlanta and still Atlanta still has tons more than charlotte in the city limits and Metro ( Cause you know Charlotte forumers love to say Charlotte is bIgger than Atlanta
The things that make Atlanta Better is we have much Much more and veriety offerings. More diverse Economy More fortune 500 companies. In upscale retail,people from charlotte still come to atlanta to shop ( perimeter mall, phipps plaza , Midtown Mile when finsihed. they have nothing like phipps and Lenox which Southpark could compete with But still doesnt offer as much as lenox. soon to be streets of buckhead ) Hotel accomadations( 4 W hotels 3 ritz carltons Hotel palamor and St regis Intercontinetal 3 or 4 Hyatts,4 or 5 Westin hotels having the tallest one in the country, Four seasons etc. Better Rail service more extensive (300,000 people ride a day ranked 5th in the country ) More tourist Attractions, more sports teams,Bigger metro more conventions and events, Bigger freeways. 4 edge citys with skylines( sandy springs midtown buckhead and marietta etc. Buckhead looks almost as big as Uptown Charlotte if not the same. I know it has more buildings.
I know we have More crime Sprawl traffic bad infastructure etc that Happens to any city that hits 5.4 million. crime always goes up
When you live in a city that has multiple plus more variety of offerings there will be no comparison to a place that has 1 of each and some they havent even gotten yet thats why i put Charlotte on the scale with tampa or New orleans or Denver Portland etc because they fit a better comparison. And this is why Dallas Houston and atlanta and miami are compared because they are big citys that pretty much offer much more a more variety and almost the same things I wasnt doing this to try and put Charlotte down but the similarities are slim and those things can be compared to Atlanta by many other citys that are smaller than atlanta
Yeah this is somewhat true But the northline goes into buckhead and thru sandysprings and north springs which is not ghetto ,and wooded also Atlanta does not stand for Ghetto. And Charlotte has is larger than Atlanta and still Atlanta still has tons more than charlotte in the city limits and Metro ( Cause you know Charlotte forumers love to say Charlotte is bIgger than Atlanta
The things that make Atlanta Better is we have much Much more and veriety offerings. More diverse Economy More fortune 500 companies. In upscale retail,people from charlotte still come to atlanta to shop ( perimeter mall, phipps plaza , Midtown Mile when finsihed. they have nothing like phipps and Lenox which Southpark could compete with But still doesnt offer as much as lenox. soon to be streets of buckhead ) Hotel accomadations( 4 W hotels 3 ritz carltons Hotel palamor and St regis Intercontinetal 3 or 4 Hyatts,4 or 5 Westin hotels having the tallest one in the country, Four seasons etc. Better Rail service more extensive (300,000 people ride a day ranked 5th in the country ) More tourist Attractions, more sports teams,Bigger metro more conventions and events, Bigger freeways. 4 edge citys with skylines( sandy springs midtown buckhead and marietta etc. Buckhead looks almost as big as Uptown Charlotte if not the same. I know it has more buildings.
I know we have More crime Sprawl traffic bad infastructure etc that Happens to any city that hits 5.4 million. crime always goes up
When you live in a city that has multiple plus more variety of offerings there will be no comparison to a place that has 1 of each and some they havent even gotten yet thats why i put Charlotte on the scale with tampa or New orleans or Denver Portland etc because they fit a better comparison. And this is why Dallas Houston and atlanta and miami are compared because they are big citys that pretty much offer much more a more variety and almost the same things I wasnt doing this to try and put Charlotte down but the similarities are slim and those things can be compared to Atlanta by many other citys that are smaller than atlanta
They both have traffic and sprawl, but Atlanta's is about 10 times as bad - that's enough to keep me from ever moving there Though as mentioned, Atlanta can be a fun place to visit!
They both have traffic and sprawl, but Atlanta's is about 10 times as bad - that's enough to keep me from ever moving there Though as mentioned, Atlanta can be a fun place to visit!
Well charlotte is going to get that Big status years to come so if you live in charlotte you will be moving after while
Well charlotte is going to get that Big status years to come so if you live in charlotte you will be moving after while
It surely will be decades down the road, as it were, seeing as how we can't even get the highways finished that have been on the books for over 10 years, LOL.
Yeah this is somewhat true But the northline goes into buckhead and thru sandysprings and north springs which is not ghetto ,and wooded also Atlanta does not stand for Ghetto. And Charlotte has is larger than Atlanta and still Atlanta still has tons more than charlotte in the city limits and Metro ( Cause you know Charlotte forumers love to say Charlotte is bIgger than Atlanta
The things that make Atlanta Better is we have much Much more and veriety offerings. More diverse Economy More fortune 500 companies. In upscale retail,people from charlotte still come to atlanta to shop ( perimeter mall, phipps plaza , Midtown Mile when finsihed. they have nothing like phipps and Lenox which Southpark could compete with But still doesnt offer as much as lenox. soon to be streets of buckhead ) Hotel accomadations( 4 W hotels 3 ritz carltons Hotel palamor and St regis Intercontinetal 3 or 4 Hyatts,4 or 5 Westin hotels having the tallest one in the country, Four seasons etc. Better Rail service more extensive (300,000 people ride a day ranked 5th in the country ) More tourist Attractions, more sports teams,Bigger metro more conventions and events, Bigger freeways. 4 edge citys with skylines( sandy springs midtown buckhead and marietta etc. Buckhead looks almost as big as Uptown Charlotte if not the same. I know it has more buildings.
I know we have More crime Sprawl traffic bad infastructure etc that Happens to any city that hits 5.4 million. crime always goes up
When you live in a city that has multiple plus more variety of offerings there will be no comparison to a place that has 1 of each and some they havent even gotten yet thats why i put Charlotte on the scale with tampa or New orleans or Denver Portland etc because they fit a better comparison. And this is why Dallas Houston and atlanta and miami are compared because they are big citys that pretty much offer much more a more variety and almost the same things I wasnt doing this to try and put Charlotte down but the similarities are slim and those things can be compared to Atlanta by many other citys that are smaller than atlanta
Everything you have said is 100% true!!! What you have said is also why Charlotte and Atlanta are compared LOL!!! Neither town offers a pedestrian like big city feel. Outside of the looooooooong Peachtree strip, Atlanta looks like Charlotte dude. I am sorry, but it does. The fact that Atlanta has more urban areas outside of it's home county is about as significant as areas outside of Charlotte like Baxter village and Birkdale. Atlanta would be better off if NOTHING was outside of Fulton and 5.4 million was inside of Fulton. If NYC can put 9 million people in 400 sq.mi of land that is locked by water, than Atlanta (the self proclaimed NYC of the South) most certainly can put 5.4 million people in 532 sq/mi Fulton County. Instead, Atlanta has 5.4 million people spread across 31 North Georgia counties much like peanut butter on bread. This is why Atlanta is and will always be compared to the likes of Charlotte.
There is no doubt that Atlanta is on another level than Charlotte. But Atlanta is not on the same level as Chicago nor Boston. Heck, Atlanta isn't even on the same level as DC. If Atlanta isn't on Boston's level, and it isn't on Charlotte's level, what level is it on? Don't dare say NYC because such a statement would be laughable!!!
I love your spirit and pride for your home Atl-guy. You remind me of my sister (she lives near Panola Rd in Lithonia BTW). You both LOVE Atlanta and it shows. I just think you need to travel a little more and I am not talking about google search travel neither. If you saw the entire country (like I have thanks to my career), you WOULD KNOW why Charlotte is compared to Atlanta sometimes. I remember coming back south after a week or two of working in the Northeast. Let me tell you, EVERYTHING south of Richmond looks the same when you have spent time in the Northeast. Atlanta is no exception to this.
One more thing. Don't use Charlotte's skyline as a measuring stick for Charlotte vs. Atlanta. It can be very misleading. Charlotte will NEVER have a skyline the size of Atlanta's. Neither will DC LOL!!! Just wanted to put that out there because you have cited the skyline more than once on this thread. Charlotte's skyline currently resembles Cleveland, Ohio. It has ever since the BofA tower was built. Urban development uptown (higher density and mass transit) is what I would like to see more of in Charlotte.
Last edited by urbancharlotte; 01-12-2009 at 11:35 AM..
Atlanta will also become more over grown with more traffic issues and less character
This is, of course, just my opinion, but ATL has already lost so much of its character. There is nothing much left to lose!!! It is gone already!!!
I used to dearly love Buckhead and when I was there a few months ago . . . I dunno. Just didn't beckon me the way it used to. Sitting in traffic forever . . . everything so crowded. Yes, I glimpsed some of the "neighborhood feel" on the side streets . . . but it seemed so much dirtier and grittier than the Buckhead of 10 years ago. Some of the sheen is just gone . . .
Comparing that to CLT . . . the wards surrounding uptown CLT are being "reclaimed." It is a process . . . I saw Dilworth during the regentrification years . . . so it will take some time . . . and then add Ballantyne on the other end of the spectrum . . . I think Charlotte still has plenty of opportunity to "shine" whereas so much of Atlanta seems on the decline. Maybe that is just part of natural cycles . . . but it just felt kinda depressing on my last visit.
Charlotte forumers are hilarious. Comparing ATL to Charlotte? LOL!!!
Actually, you're wrong - a Charlotte poster DID NOT start this thread. Check again, the guy is in GERMANY and obviously trying to understand the differences between the two great cities.
The vast majority of us in Charlotte really don't care to compare the two at all we are just trying to help the newbie.
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.
Though as mentioned, Atlanta can be a fun place to visit!
