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The downtown was really beautiful. I remember wishing we had downtown areas that lovely here in the Triangle area. It would probably make me sad to go there now.
The downtown's still beautiful (the river walk's still there and in 2000 we built a huge carillon), but there are a few big parking garages to accommodate the thousands of visitors ... since 1987-1988, Naperville has grown from about 50K residents to 120K, and so has Aurora right next door. Plus, the rising real estate costs have driven out a few of the old time stores ... City Meat Market moved to a strip mall on Ogden after being in its downtown location forever, and Tasty Bakery moved to a location somewhere south on Washington. Now, you have big chains like Eddie Bauer and Apple for all the yuppies that like to stroll downtown and pretend they're in a small town.
If you had lovely downtown areas in the Triangle, no doubt the yuppies would do the same ... everybody wants to live in a small town, as long as they have access to their beloved high-end stores, restaurants, and coffee shops and can tear down the older homes nearby to put up McMansions.
I welcome the growth in NC and to be honest its NCs fault. The rise of banking in Charlotte and RTP in Raleigh was due to native NCians having a vision to make NC a better place. As some posted, 64% of the growth in NC is concentrated in Charlotte and Raleigh. IMO, no matter how many transplants move to these areas both are still incredibly Southern. Btw, only Wake and Mecklenburg are the only counties over 600k. Guilford might be in that range but is not near Wake or Meck. So most of the complaints are probably directed to those areas.
I totally agree with you! I am for growth and I welcome anyone who wants to move to NC! Yes, I am a native NC'er and I'm glad that people want to move here, thus contributing to the tax base and bringing new cultures and ideas to this state! Like you said, most of the growth is occurring around the Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham areas and to a lesser extent, Greensboro and Wilmington! Like it or not, the growth isn't going to slow down, and once rural areas will eventually become more urbanized, so I guess, North Carolina is becoming the next Florida and in the next 10-20 years, the North Carolina we used to know will cease to exist, especially around the Piedmont region, where the more urbanized areas are!
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drqhome
The facts are that NC grew by approximately 1.3 million people between the year 2000 and 2009. Approximately 830,000 or 64% of the growth was in the Charlotte and Raleigh metro areas. Charlotte and Raleigh are driving the growth of the state. Many of the counties and cities such as Cleveland County (home of NCRebel) experience very little growth. For example, Cleveland county, NC only grew from approximately 96,000 to 99,000 people from 2000 to 2009. Growth is inevitable in some area of NC for now. But it may not always be that way. Ohio was growing in the 1950s. I believe the people of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Michigan would agree that they would like to experience again the job and population growth and challenges that this growth presents. Unfortunately, cities, counties, and states are either growing or shrinking. Once the shrinking begins, it is difficult to turn around. These shrinking states would love to have the problems that NC has experienced with runaway job and population growth. Before NCRebel is too critical of NC's problems, he should look more closely at the alternative.
I live in Kings Mountain, just over the county line, in Cleveland County. I've been here over 2 years, coming from South Jersey. I bought a foreclosure & fixed it enough to live in it. It will take me longer to finish fixing it up than I anticipated, because I got very sick & I'm now paying off medical bills, & looking for work, since I was not able to work for a while.
Anyway, where this is going is that Cleveland County seems, to me, to have a split personality. The eastern part of the county (City of Kings Mountain & Kings Mountain Twp., as well as Grover) looks eastward to Gaston County & Charlotte. Shelby is the County seat & Kings Mountain is the only other city in the county. It seems to me that Kings Mountain & the rest of the county are at odds a lot. Kings Mountain is more commuteable to Charlotte than some places with very high growth rates & commutable to Spartanburg. The SW corner of the county, around Boiling Springs, is also very commutable into the Greenville/Spartanburg MSA
The way that I see it is that Gaston & Cleveland Counties were hit extremely hard by the textile collapse. Both counties seem, to me, to be looked down on by most transplants to the Charlotte area. Both counties are working hard to fix things up & get businesses in.
The OP is from further out in the county. I don't go to Shelby often, but when I do, I sometimes run into people like him. They only see the bad side of getting transplants in. Around here, there's a push for change, but it's the natives in power who are pushing for it. In 2020 Cleveland County will probably register a much larger growth than it did this time. I think that eastern Cleveland County will be very different then, but the further west you go, the more it will be the same, except that area around Boiling Springs.
I have traveled the entire state of NC and vast majority of the state is rural. Yes, NC has a positive migration trend, but these people, by and large, are not moving to the rural areas.
I also think that native's to the area have a gross misconception of what is a typical Northeasterner. After reading many of these posts, I get the idea that many natives think that the cast of the Jersey Shore has come to town. The vast majority of transplants come here and are happy with their decision. Yes, they miss the foods that they are used to and their familiar haunts, but don't spend their existence complaining about the natives and their traditions.
Lastly, Raleigh and Charlotte are becoming larger cities and that is not changing any time soon. It is going to get more difficult to live a rural lifestyle any where close to these cities. If that is your desire, there are plenty of rural areas in the state that would love to have you as a neighbor.
I have traveled the entire state of NC and vast majority of the state is rural. Yes, NC has a positive migration trend, but these people, by and large, are not moving to the rural areas.
I also think that native's to the area have a gross misconception of what is a typical Northeasterner. After reading many of these posts, I get the idea that many natives think that the cast of the Jersey Shore has come to town. The vast majority of transplants come here and are happy with their decision. Yes, they miss the foods that they are used to and their familiar haunts, but don't spend their existence complaining about the natives and their traditions.
Lastly, Raleigh and Charlotte are becoming larger cities and that is not changing any time soon. It is going to get more difficult to live a rural lifestyle any where close to these cities. If that is your desire, there are plenty of rural areas in the state that would love to have you as a neighbor.
Well, I can tell you honestly ... I am a native of New England (which does not geographically include NY or NJ). After being in WNC for several years, at first, there were times because of my northern accent, that I've been lumped in with that misconception of "northeasterners"; and have was embarrassed sometimes to say I'm from the norheast, while being very careful not to be defensive about it.
And yes, those from certain areas aforementioned carry with them a loud, rude, brash, in-your-face attitude which makes them unwelcome in the area. After you've lived in the south awhile, some northern attitudes are very noticeable and are annoying. They complain to a faretheewell after they get here as to why there is not a big box store here or there, why don't the lines at the bank or the grocery store move faster, why don't the small town stores remain open after 6 pm. Why isn't there any good pizza. Whine, whine, whine.
Many are impatient, stressed out, and huff and puff their way through life ... I can't blame some locals for being put off by them, and as a result, there is a tendency to lump everyone into the same perception of northerners. There is an extremely small number of natives though, almost not even measureable, that post mean or evil things on a forum. They should be ignored because they do not represent a typical native southern personality.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,688,469 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by QuilterChick
Well, I can tell you honestly ... I am a native of New England (which does not geographically include NY or NJ). After being in WNC for several years, at first, there were times because of my northern accent, that I've been lumped in with that misconception of "northeasterners"; and have was embarrassed sometimes to say I'm from the norheast, while being very careful not to be defensive about it.
And yes, those from certain areas aforementioned carry with them a loud, rude, brash, in-your-face attitude which makes them unwelcome in the area. After you've lived in the south awhile, some northern attitudes are very noticeable and are annoying. They complain to a faretheewell after they get here as to why there is not a big box store here or there, why don't the lines at the bank or the grocery store move faster, why don't the small town stores remain open after 6 pm. Why isn't there any good pizza. Whine, whine, whine.
Many are impatient, stressed out, and huff and puff their way through life ... I can't blame some locals for being put off by them, and as a result, there is a tendency to lump everyone into the same perception of northerners. There is an extremely small number of natives though, almost not even measureable, that post mean or evil things on a forum. They should be ignored because they do not represent a typical native southern personality.
I know just what you mean. I'm originally from the Midwest but spent most of my life in South Jersey, just outside Philly. Most people in South Jersey will vigorously protest the label of Northeast, which in reality refers to the Amtrack northeastern corridor. South Jersey & Philadelphia are very much in the MidAtlantic, which, like New England, are specific regions unrelated to the NY metro.
If it makes people here feel any better, before I came to NC, my area of South Jersey was also invaded & we heard nothing but complain, complain, complain, whine, whine, whine, complain.
Yes, they miss the foods that they are used to and their familiar haunts, but don't spend their existence complaining about the natives and their traditions.
You speak the truth But some natives enjoy making this stuff up so their feelings get hurt. Weird.
I have traveled the entire state of NC and vast majority of the state is rural. Yes, NC has a positive migration trend, but these people, by and large, are not moving to the rural areas.
I also think that native's to the area have a gross misconception of what is a typical Northeasterner. After reading many of these posts, I get the idea that many natives think that the cast of the Jersey Shore has come to town. The vast majority of transplants come here and are happy with their decision. Yes, they miss the foods that they are used to and their familiar haunts, but don't spend their existence complaining about the natives and their traditions.
Lastly, Raleigh and Charlotte are becoming larger cities and that is not changing any time soon. It is going to get more difficult to live a rural lifestyle any where close to these cities. If that is your desire, there are plenty of rural areas in the state that would love to have you as a neighbor.
This is definitely a true statement. NC is definitely rural with the majority of the population living in either Charlotte, Triad, or Triangle areas. Western and Eastern NC are rural although Eastern NC has more cities than Western. IMO, I kind of like NC that way.
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But some natives enjoy making this stuff up so their feelings get hurt. Weird.
