Charlotte or Columbus or ? (Nashville: 2009, lawyers, construction jobs)

[totsuka]

N.C. gets hurricanes and that means "how difficult and how expensive will my home insurance be?"...I live in FL and under estimated how difficult home insurance could be or how expensive. If FL gets one more big "Andrew Like" hurricane ..that's it..game over....

[ZnGuy]

Originally Posted by totsuka

N.C. gets hurricanes and that means "how difficult and how expensive will my home insurance be?"...I live in FL and under estimated how difficult home insurance could be or how expensive. If FL gets one more big "Andrew Like" hurricane ..that's it..game over....

this is a 2 yr old post but Fla hurricanes-yes, NC hurricane-possible mainly on coast. Charlotte hasn't had hurricane since Hugo which was 20 yrs ago. Hurricanes are fairly rare in Charlotte.

[GeminiGal]

Originally Posted by ZnGuy

this is a 2 yr old post but Fla hurricanes-yes, NC hurricane-possible mainly on coast. Charlotte hasn't had hurricane since Hugo which was 20 yrs ago. Hurricanes are fairly rare in Charlotte.

Wow, 20 yrs, I cannot believe it's been that long! Inland areas of NC / SC really need to be prepared for storms like Hugo & Floyd (I hate to say it but those areas ar "due" for one ).

Trust me, I was shocked by the wind damage and widespead poer outages we had from Ike last Fall here in OH.

[wGoshen]

Originally Posted by GeminiGal

Trust me, I was shocked by the wind damage and widespead poer outages we had from Ike last Fall here in OH.

Ahh the week from hell. Lost well over $200 worth of refridgerated food that week.

[ohioaninsc]

Originally Posted by Buckeye in SC

I wasn't comparing 277 to 270, but I'd agree, it is more comparable to OH-315 than I-670. However, I was just disputing the posters claims that Cbus was drastically better b/c it had more interstates than Charlotte which is just not true. Not to mention that it is just an illogical argument, I mean we have 4 interstates in Columbia (I-77, I-20, I-26 & I-126), does that mean Columbia is just as good and/or big as Cbus or Charlotte? Well I can at least answer the 2nd question in that it is not as big as it's about half the size of both!

I totally agree about I-77 being 6 lanes in Charlotte, it's mind-boggling to me that as soon as you hit the S. Carolina line and down into Rock Hill, that it goes from 6 to 8 lanes where there is less population density! Obviously SC officials saw the need to widen their stretch of the expressway in the metro area with the increasing growth, not sure why NC can't do the same. Especially north of I-85 out near Lake Norman where it's still only 4 lanes, if you hit that at the wrong time, forget about it.

As a former Ohioan that lives in York County I can tell you exactly why Charlotte's Hwy system sucks compared to even Raleigh-Durham...the state gov't in Raleigh is dominated by long entrenched down east politicians, especially the NC DOT...Charlotte-Mecklenburg produces by far the most tax revenue in the Tar Heel State, but the politicians in Raleigh give back the littlest amount to CLT...they build great Interstates in the Triangle which has about 500K less people than Metro Charlotte, (many 8 lanes and 2 outerbelts w/ another one under construction), and they build 6 and 8 lane freeways to small towns down east like New Bern, Edenton, Greenville, etc, and they build loop freeways around small towns like Fayetteville....the started building I-485 around Charlotte in 1986/87, and they still haven't even started on the final leg up north from I-77 over to I-85...nor have they expanded I-77 to 8 lanes through the city or to 6 lanes up by the Lake Norman area (it should be 8 lanes too)...Gov Perdue, a Democrat who only won b/c she rode Obama's coattails w/ his big win in NC promised that I-485 would be started later this year up there and would be completed by like 2013...now she's reneging on that b/c "the state can't fund the completion of 74 into a needed Freeway out to E Charlotte and do that...both are needed, yet the can build I-295 around Fayetteville..also, in regards to the Light Rail...Charlotte-Meck has gotten the first line up and running w/out any state help...it's been funded by local sales taxes and some help from the Federal govt...the next line which should start construction soon is the same way...NC had a chance to help Charlotte woo a company that could have brought 1500 jobs w/in a few yrs, and potentially as much as 10,000 jobs, but the state didn't meet the company's deadline for a state proposal...the company ended up selectin Indianapolis I believe...Raleigh-Durham gets all sorts of state help, Charlotte gets nothing...if Mecklenburg County was in SC, the infrastructure would be much closer to what it should be there...
As for comparisons, in many ways, Charlotte is better, and some ways Columbus is better...I love living down here and would have to be guarenteed 3 months of paid vacation if I was to ever take a job back in OH b/c winter w/ 4-5 months of cloud cover made me truly depressed...even though it's not necessarily all that warm down here in Jan/Feb (it's usually 50s and occasionally in the 40s in the day, and upper 20s to the upper 30s at night), the sun usually shines which makes me feel much better...and when it does snow here, usually no more than an inch or two, it's melted by the afternoon...if anyone is looking at moving to the Charlotte area, I would recommend if at all possible, you move to York County SC...it takes no more than half an hr to get into Uptown where all the actions is (downtown Clt is much more active than downtown Col w/ all the highrise condos and many bars, clubs, restaurants, and a few museums now too), yet taxes are lower, (though we too have the car tax), the schools are a little better, especially Fort Mill, and the property values are a little bit more affordable.

Also, someone commented about the traffic down 26 into Charleston...I go down there often as I have relatives down there and hopefully w/in a year or 2 will get to move down there (I absolutely love the Low Country), but they are now widening 26 from Summerville into Charleston to 8 lanes...when that's done a year or 2, I forget how long exactly, they will widen it from 4 lanes to 6 lanes from 95 to Summerville...they will also complete their 526 loop too...

Finally, about Charlotte, until this year, the estimate for the last 5 yrs or so was that 75K people a year were moving into the city...that was a bit too fast, but w/ the recession, and the particulary hard hit banks here in CLT, the growth is slowing (though many northeasterners are still moving here b/c compared to MA, NJ, and NY, taxes and cost of living are still much lower and if they are able to sell their overpriced $500k, 1000 sq ft condos, apts, or small bungalows, they can afford to move here w/out a job for a while and still live better)...hopefully, this will allow the city to catch up a bit on infrastructure, and focus on better diversification...as of now, only 2 industries are really dominant, banking (which is obviously in bad shape) and energy (Duke Energy and Areva both based here, and they deal a lot w/ nuclear energy)...

[ohioaninsc]

Originally Posted by GeminiGal

Wow, 20 yrs, I cannot believe it's been that long! Inland areas of NC / SC really need to be prepared for storms like Hugo & Floyd (I hate to say it but those areas ar "due" for one ).

Trust me, I was shocked by the wind damage and widespead poer outages we had from Ike last Fall here in OH.

Charlotte doesn't really ever get any of the terrible affects of hurricanes...usually, it's down just remnants when it comes through here and will drop some heavy, sometimes flooding rains on the area and maybe some 30-40 mph winds...a couple yrs ago, the remnants of Lili (hit LA) dripped about 10" of rain here...last year the remnants of Faye did that as well...one of my friends is a local meteorologist on one of our news stations and he was here when Hugo came through...he said that was very rare that a storm that hit the coast would still be that powerful w/ the winds when it got up through here, but that storm moved very fast, so it wasn't over land for long...he said that happens here about once every 50 yrs...the tropical rains from remnents though are more common...the SC coast is long overdue for another major hurricane though...it's been 20 yrs since Hugo...and SC usually gets a major hurricane every 15 yrs or so.

As for Ike through OH, that was even more rareity...probably had something to do w/ the absolute monstrous size of that storm...I think at one point the satelite photos showed that storm covered 80% of the Gulf.

[Buckeye in SC]

Originally Posted by ohioaninsc

As a former Ohioan that lives in York County I can tell you exactly why Charlotte's Hwy system sucks compared to even Raleigh-Durham...the state gov't in Raleigh is dominated by long entrenched down east politicians, especially the NC DOT...Charlotte-Mecklenburg produces by far the most tax revenue in the Tar Heel State, but the politicians in Raleigh give back the littlest amount to CLT...they build great Interstates in the Triangle which has about 500K less people than Metro Charlotte, (many 8 lanes and 2 outerbelts w/ another one under construction), and they build 6 and 8 lane freeways to small towns down east like New Bern, Edenton, Greenville, etc, and they build loop freeways around small towns like Fayetteville....the started building I-485 around Charlotte in 1986/87, and they still haven't even started on the final leg up north from I-77 over to I-85...nor have they expanded I-77 to 8 lanes through the city or to 6 lanes up by the Lake Norman area (it should be 8 lanes too)...Gov Perdue, a Democrat who only won b/c she rode Obama's coattails w/ his big win in NC promised that I-485 would be started later this year up there and would be completed by like 2013...now she's reneging on that b/c "the state can't fund the completion of 74 into a needed Freeway out to E Charlotte and do that...both are needed, yet the can build I-295 around Fayetteville..also, in regards to the Light Rail...Charlotte-Meck has gotten the first line up and running w/out any state help...it's been funded by local sales taxes and some help from the Federal govt...the next line which should start construction soon is the same way...NC had a chance to help Charlotte woo a company that could have brought 1500 jobs w/in a few yrs, and potentially as much as 10,000 jobs, but the state didn't meet the company's deadline for a state proposal...the company ended up selectin Indianapolis I believe...Raleigh-Durham gets all sorts of state help, Charlotte gets nothing...if Mecklenburg County was in SC, the infrastructure would be much closer to what it should be there...
As for comparisons, in many ways, Charlotte is better, and some ways Columbus is better...I love living down here and would have to be guarenteed 3 months of paid vacation if I was to ever take a job back in OH b/c winter w/ 4-5 months of cloud cover made me truly depressed...even though it's not necessarily all that warm down here in Jan/Feb (it's usually 50s and occasionally in the 40s in the day, and upper 20s to the upper 30s at night), the sun usually shines which makes me feel much better...and when it does snow here, usually no more than an inch or two, it's melted by the afternoon...if anyone is looking at moving to the Charlotte area, I would recommend if at all possible, you move to York County SC...it takes no more than half an hr to get into Uptown where all the actions is (downtown Clt is much more active than downtown Col w/ all the highrise condos and many bars, clubs, restaurants, and a few museums now too), yet taxes are lower, (though we too have the car tax), the schools are a little better, especially Fort Mill, and the property values are a little bit more affordable.

I've read some articles about what you are mentioning, definitely seems like Charlotte does get the short-end of the stick from the state. Maybe Charlotte can secede and become part of South Carolina . I saw that the Raleigh-Durham area is getting their 2nd outer belt worked on (they already have I-440) in I-540, while I-485 going on 25 years now still has no completion date in site! Not to mention, that I think the majority of I-485 is still just 4 lanes. US-74/Independence Blvd. is also a nightmare, unless you are driving on it overnight or very early in the morning, it is heavily congested, definitely needs upgraded to a freeway all the way out to 485. Whenever we go back to Ohio, I always try to make sure I avoid hitting Charlotte between 6-9 AM and 3-6 PM b/c if we don't avoid it, might as well plan on sitting on I-77 from downtown to Exit 36 for at least an hour or out around Lake Norman; as you said, forget about upgrading it to 6 lanes, needs to be 8 at this point, I imagine it would be quite expensive to have to build additional lanes over Lake Norman there, but regardless, w/the city growing at the rate it has and especially that region, something needs to be done.

I guess Charlotteans (is that what you call yourselves?) are going to have to voice their disgust w/Gov. Perdue when she's up for re-election, and try to get someone in that will help them get some of these badly needed projects completed!

[GeminiGal]

^^ As a Tarheel native (now living in OH) I can tell you that this Raleigh vs Charlotte has been going on for longer than I have been around. Raleigh has always had the upper hand even if Charlotte is the bigger city. I must commend Charlotte and it's leaders (political & philanthropic) for they have tried. The powers "that be" are in Raleigh and those are the roads they travel on .

As far as road improvements around Fayetteville quite frankly I am suprised it took this long. While Fayetteville itself maybe unimportantant and seen as a small town, but it does have Ft Bragg & Pope AFB and those are huge military/government icons for the state of NC.

It is only recently that the eastern part of NC has gotten some decent roads. That area has grown by leaps and bounds as well as a place for retirement. Greenville is probably the defacto center of the eastern part of NC with their medical center at ECU. Those retirees need good roads to get to medical care

Columbus is weathering the recession better that Charlotte. Friends in Charlotte that work in the banking sector are still scared at what is going to happen. They feel more fallout is coming and that Charlotte's quick rise may result in a quick fall as well. That would frighten me too because this recession will result in MANY changes that I don't think any of us ever dreamed of.

I really like both Charlotte and Columbus. I think both have there pluses and minuses. May both cities be quiet and storm free this season!

[Mbennie]

I have lived in both places Charlotte NC for 8 yrs...........Loved the city and the weather but crime is off the chain there, The Gangs have gotten out of hand because it was over looked for so long! Charlotte is like a melting pot everyone comes there the city is growing with people but the city itself needs to grown with the people. Lots of crime due to illegal immigrant coming there your average apartment rent for a nice place in the South park area or University are would be about 850.00 for a nice 2 bed room apartment. They have a metro system if you want to go there because of the weather ok! but keep in mind the storms!!! if your in the banking field ok! or medical field ok! or you want some great seafood ok! but other than that..........Columbus is just fine the only reason I would go back to Charlotte if I had to would be for the weather!!! that's it

[ZnGuy]

Originally Posted by Mbennie

I have lived in both places Charlotte NC for 8 yrs...........Loved the city and the weather but crime is off the chain there, The Gangs have gotten out of hand because it was over looked for so long! Charlotte is like a melting pot everyone comes there the city is growing with people but the city itself needs to grown with the people. Lots of crime due to illegal immigrant coming there your average apartment rent for a nice place in the South park area or University are would be about 850.00 for a nice 2 bed room apartment. They have a metro system if you want to go there because of the weather ok! but keep in mind the storms!!! if your in the banking field ok! or medical field ok! or you want some great seafood ok! but other than that..........Columbus is just fine the only reason I would go back to Charlotte if I had to would be for the weather!!! that's it

hard to follow thread but I have lived in both Charlotte, CLE, COL. I would rate the cities in that order as far as my desire. I don't see crime worse in CLT than Columbus. I guess if you are living in the bad part of town you may be likely to see crime. There is alot of illegal immigrants due to the growth and past construction jobs which have slowed down. Some of the illegals are heading back to home country because of decline in job market. CLT is still a new city and obviously is desireable to many looking to migrate from the North and Florida as there continues to be 50,000 people annually that decide to call Charlotte home.