What I like about Monroe... (Charlotte, Matthews: appointed, for sale, apartments)

[NCN]

I was brought up to believe that anyone who has a sole and is still living is someone to be treated with respect. We should not pay any attention to how much money a person has, how nice their house is, what kind of car they drive, what they do for a living, how much education they have, what color their skin is, what their religion is, etc. I think there are a lot of things that our government is doing that is costing us unfair money that is not known by the masses. It is done to help the rich get richer and take advantage of those of us who actually work for a living. We do need English as a national language. Do you remember the tower of Babel. Speaking more than one language weakens our nation. But when someone whose family has been here since before the American Revolution and has been doing a particular job for years is told that they have to speak Spanish or it will affect their pay in the next evaluation, something needs to be done to protect that person. Having English as a national language, would protect that person. The employer could not legally require that person to learn a FOREIGN language because English is our national language. This happened on a government job in Monroe. I am purposely not saying which government. That is not hatred, that's just common sense. Not only is that person helping to pay for illegal immigrants houses, medical, and heaven only knows what else, but is being discriminated against. Something needs to change. There is nothing wrong with encouraging an employee to learn new things, I am objecting to it's affecting that persons pay in a negative way.

[snuggles23]

I love living in Monroe. There are many fine neighborhoods in Monroe. There is a high end country club, golf courses, shopping, great restaurants, and, and, and. I could go on forever. I paricularly like the hospital here. You can drive to everything in 15 minutes or less. I can get to most everything I do in 7 minutes tops. The local restaurants like Spiro's Bistro, Dukes, Little Country Kitchen, the Palace, the Brown Derby are fantastic. We have a huge weekend flea market. There are fine neighborhoods and economy neighborhoods and everything in between. True there are some schools that are not all that desireable but some of the schools that serve the City of Monroe are perfectly fine. In fact, we have some brand new schools coming on line soon too. Don't count out Monroe.

[Samohtal]

I'll chime in here because I live relatively close to Monroe and think people often get side tracked when they're discussing immigration, etc.

People in Europe frequently speak more than one language because of the relative proximity to other countries. If every time I went to Virginia, for instance, I had to speak "Virginian", I'd be more likely to at least pick up a few words of the language. Well, if I live in France, driving to Germany, for instance, isn't very far. Now in the UK, though, its much harder to find multi-lingual citizens than in mainland Europe.

If non citizens want to come to our country and stay forever, I have absolutely no problem with it. I would like them to check in at the door, however, and go through the process that is required. I think the argument gets confused for racism because most of population that comes up from Mexico is of a much lower income & education status than many that come from Europe. Its the economic and legal status of the immigrants that is the biggest problem, not the race, per se. I have new friends that are both in middle management type jobs that come from Columbia. They have a good education and are contributing to our society. They are here legally, of course. I think most people would have a different opinion of their situation than the situation of someone crossing the border with six kids just to go on welfare. Do I have compassion for the mother with six kids who sees US welfare system as an upgrade in her lifestyle? Yes - but its not the USA's responsibility to take care of her. We have enough current citizens that are living in poverty that we can't find a way to help.

Back to Monroe - I think the reason it gets a bad rap is exactly because of the large influx of people of lower economic situation than other communities in Union County. Please don't be confused, I'm not saying that having lower economic status means that you are necessarily a bad person, but there is no denying the fact that violent crime rates are much, much higher in lower-income areas. There are nice areas of Monroe, as well, but unfortunately most of us form our initial impressions of an area based on the sections that we drive through. The areas within visual range of 74 &, to a certain degree, 601, aren't the best to look at and don't represent Monroe very well.

[neoflex]

Originally Posted by snuggles23

I love living in Monroe. There are many fine neighborhoods in Monroe. There is a high end country club, golf courses, shopping, great restaurants, and, and, and. I could go on forever. I paricularly like the hospital here. You can drive to everything in 15 minutes or less. I can get to most everything I do in 7 minutes tops. The local restaurants like Spiro's Bistro, Dukes, Little Country Kitchen, the Palace, the Brown Derby are fantastic. We have a huge weekend flea market. There are fine neighborhoods and economy neighborhoods and everything in between. True there are some schools that are not all that desireable but some of the schools that serve the City of Monroe are perfectly fine. In fact, we have some brand new schools coming on line soon too. Don't count out Monroe.

A place that the wife and I tried this weekend that we really enjoyed and the food was pretty good was JBs Midway. It's not the prettiest place but the burgers were great and the service was even better. I believe the place has been around for 40 years and the waitress told us back in the day it used to be a gas station. We ended up eating their food twice this weekend.

[marvinnative]

Originally Posted by neoflex

A place that the wife and I tried this weekend that we really enjoyed and the food was pretty good was JBs Midway. It's not the prettiest place but the burgers were great and the service was even better. I believe the place has been around for 40 years and the waitress told us back in the day it used to be a gas station. We ended up eating their food twice this weekend.

JB's has a great country-style breakfast.

[sal329]

I have been thinkin of Monroe as one of my choices to move. Are there any areas to avoid? Really looking for an area with good schools. Thanks

[Samohtal]

Originally Posted by Samohtal

There are nice areas of Monroe, as well, but unfortunately most of us form our initial impressions of an area based on the sections that we drive through. The areas within visual range of 74 &, to a certain degree, 601, aren't the best to look at and don't represent Monroe very well.

OK, to whomever dinged my rep by saying that "601 north is beautiful" ... first of all - I agree; second - why is that deserving of a negative rep compared to what I had to say above? I could really care less about these make-believe rep points, but I'm confused.

To a certain degree, route 601 IN MONROE is the way many people see MONROE. I wasn't speaking of the entire expanse of route 601. I live just over a mile from 601, but considerably farther north than Monroe. I'm not trying to knock your fair city ... it was just my way of giving fair balance to what myself and other observe merely by driving through it on a semi-regular basis.

[carolina_guy]

Originally Posted by Samohtal

OK, to whomever dinged my rep by saying that "601 north is beautiful" ... first of all - I agree; second - why is that deserving of a negative rep compared to what I had to say above? I could really care less about these make-believe rep points, but I'm confused.

To a certain degree, route 601 IN MONROE is the way many people see MONROE. I wasn't speaking of the entire expanse of route 601. I live just over a mile from 601, but considerably farther north than Monroe. I'm not trying to knock your fair city ... it was just my way of giving fair balance to what myself and other observe merely by driving through it on a semi-regular basis.

I just bumped you back to 36. How do you ding anyways?

[neoflex]

Don't feel bad, my wife and I have already decided that when we bring people in from out of town we will have them come from either 485 to 521 through Waxhaw or 485 to Providence through Waxhaw and than down to 75. Not because we don't like the other way but it just looks more grand coming through either Ballantyne or Weddington. We are also looking forward to showing people some of the older homes in Monroe, especially some of them on 75 going toward downtown Monroe. Some of those homes are gorgeous.

[Samohtal]

Originally Posted by carolina_guy

I just bumped you back to 36. How do you ding anyways?

I'm not sure, but it shows up as a red dot instead of a green one. Thanks for the love. Do you get a cookie when you get to 50? LOL.