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.
Its comments like this that can start arguments.Everybody on here knows that Atlanta has the bigger population. But that does not make it the better city. The purpose for starting this thread was to see how the natives of Atlanta felt about Charlotte being in the same position 20 years ago. Up here in Charlotte we have nothing but respect for Atlanta( we can say alot of negative things as well). There is alot of history,culture ,and character. It might not be the type you find in Atlanta but every city is different. Me personally i think that Atlanta can be too ghetto some times(I am african-american) and that Charlotte is the grown up version of Atlanta, but every city has its faults. Every city feels different to different people. With that being said much love to the A-Town and the QC!!!
You knew that you were going to get all kinda responses so when you ask a question and someone says. Charlotte is country and its behind of times, You asked for that.. I hope you didnt expect everyone to say nice wonderful things about Charlotte..
Whatever. In person, Charlotte's buildings are sterile, with no city vibe down on the street.
Let's be fair (although I suspect that you have no intentions of doing so, given the tone of your post); most of the buildings in both cities that constitute the bulk of their beautiful skylines do very little for street life. For examples, let's look at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte and its taller counterpart in Atlanta. Both do wonders for their skylines, as they are the tallest buildings in their respective cities. But at the street-level, they do very little to generate pedestrian activity with their fortress-like entrances.
Quote:
Charlotte's dull. Atlanta's not.
Atlanta's skyline is awesome. Charlotte's isn't.
That's solely a matter of opinion. I think both skylines are awesome and I've heard people from much larger cities speak quite favorably of Charlotte's skyline.
History is not as fun when you can only read about it in a book. Atlanta has demolished too much, but still has quite a bit intact. I can think of only 2 substantially large old buildings in downtown Charlotte with the rest of them built post 1980, and I can't really think of any old neighborhoods in Charlotte that can come anywhere close to Grant Park, Inman Park, Brookwood Hills, Tuxedo Park, Druid Hills, Ansley Park, 4th Ward, Brookhaven, etc.
Charlotte has indeed razed many of its historic structures over the years, and it is very regrettable. However, I don't think a lot of people realize that Charlotte never had a large stock of historic highrises like Atlanta did/does. Most of the buildings that were razed here in Charlotte were midrises and lowrises like
The Federal Reserve Bank
The Carnegie Library
and the old Charlotte Observer building.
http://www.cmhpf.org/observer.jpg (broken link)
And of course, there were the historic storefronts that were leveled to make way for new office highrises and parking lots, which is the story in just about any sizable city in America. The tallest historic building to be demolished was the Independence Building
http://www.cmhpf.org/REALTY.JPG (broken link)
with the second tallest being Hotel Charlotte
In my opinion, it is the widespread demolition of the regular, traditional storefronts that did the most damage from an urban perspective in Charlotte, Atlanta, and other American cities. These are the buildings that most contribute to an active, urban streetscape, even more so than the taller buildings.
But back to Charlotte. The damage here appears to be more widespread because we didn't have a particularly large urban stock to begin with. Other cities demolished more than we did, but they also had more to begin with.
In terms of urban neighborhoods, the ones that would come closest to those you mentioned would be Fourth Ward, Dilworth, Elizabeth, Myers Park, and Plaza-Midwood. Because Atlanta has been the larger city for a very long time, it has more and larger established neighborhoods than we do, which is to be expected.
You knew that you were going to get all kinda responses so when you ask a question and someone says. Charlotte is country and its behind of times, You asked for that.. I hope you didnt expect everyone to say nice wonderful things about Charlotte..
It seems he did. The fact of the matter is that as great as Atlanta is, we don't need its validation to be a great city.
I'm curious, and this is a serious question: why are Atlantans and Charlotteans, at least on this site, constantly trying to figure which of Atlanta and Charlotte is bigger, best, etc.? THIS IS NOT A CRITICISM - so please don't offense! Merely a question, because, perhaps I ain't too smart, but don't understand the rivalrly. Seems to me that both cities are unique and beautiful (and, yes, have problems) in their own ways.
It's natural; these are the two largest, fastest-growing cities in the Southern Piedmont, are relatively close to each other, and their growth and development patterns mirror each other in many ways. Most of the superficial comparisons seem to come from younger people though.
It is apparently natural from the Charlotte perspective. From the Atlanta perspective, it would be like Charlotte viewing Columbia as their rival.
I don't know much about Charlotte as I have never been there. It seems to be maybe a little better run. I know they either just have or are in the process of implementing a light rail system. Sure Atlanta has MARTA but its basically useless. Ever try to get from say Midtown to the Virginia Highlands via MARTA? Good luck. I'm not sure how good the coverage of the light rail is. The sports teams seem to be a little better run as well. I remember when the Panthers made it to the Super Bowl they put up a respectable fight. When the Falcons made it to the Super Bowl they just got embarassed. Not to mention only in Atlanta can a man lose 4 World Series with arguably the best pitching staff in history and be considered a hero. Plus the Hurricanes already won a championship but I think they are in Raleigh so it doesn't count for Charlotte. I have a friend who is originally from Philly and moved to Charlotte after living in Atlanta for a while. He says Atlanta is definately more cosmopolitan. Also the fact that Atlanta has 5 million people is a little misleading. Almost all of those people live in spread out suburbs. Anyways, Charlotte seems like all though they are smaller they are trying to plan out their growth a little better. Not sure if I could live there though. Even though Atlanta has its issues it is on another level than Charlotte like it or not.
Edit: Also I'm a reverse transplant. Originally from ATL but moved to the NYC area. I thought there might be a lot of people from GA here since everyone in ATL is from NJ or NY. I thought there was some sort of population swap going on! Anyways, just wanted to make it clear I am from ATL so have a right to insult it haha.
Last edited by Lagwagon113; 09-20-2010 at 09:20 PM..
I don't know much about Charlotte as I have never been there. It seems to be maybe a little better run. I know they either just have or are in the process of implementing a light rail system. Sure Atlanta has MARTA but its basically useless. Ever try to get from say Midtown to the Virginia Highlands via MARTA? Good luck. I'm not sure how good the coverage of the light rail is. The sports teams seem to be a little better run as well. I remember when the Panthers made it to the Super Bowl they put up a respectable fight. When the Falcons made it to the Super Bowl they just got embarassed. Not to mention only in Atlanta can a man lose 4 World Series with arguably the best pitching staff in history and be considered a hero. Plus the Hurricanes already won a championship but I think they are in Raleigh so it doesn't count for Charlotte. I have a friend who is originally from Philly and moved to Charlotte after living in Atlanta for a while. He says Atlanta is definately more cosmopolitan. Also the fact that Atlanta has 5 million people is a little misleading. Almost all of those people live in spread out suburbs. Anyways, Charlotte seems like all though they are smaller they are trying to plan out their growth a little better. Not sure if I could live there though. Even though Atlanta has its issues it is on another level than Charlotte like it or not.
Edit: Also I'm a reverse transplant. Originally from ATL but moved to the NYC area. I thought there might be a lot of people from GA here since everyone in ATL is from NJ or NY. I thought there was some sort of population swap going on! Anyways, just wanted to make it clear I am from ATL so have a right to insult it haha.
Just an fyi - Charlotte's new LRT line is a starter line of just under 10 miles. It goes from the SW suburbs to Uptown, as of now.
In terms of planning, both Charlotte and Atlanta are very suburban and planned for the most part after 1970 (when the boom really started hitting Atlanta, perhaps 1990 for Charlotte). If you look at maps of both cities, you will find dendritic street patterns. Planners have long argued that due to the topography, street grids are impractical. When Atlanta actually was building street grids and streetcar lines, the area was so fiercely divided into different municipalities that the grids were not well connected and actually went in all different directions. In any case, I have seen enough cities with more hills and a yet still containing a well maintained grid street pattern. San Francisco is an example, Seattle, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, list goes on. Yea they are older, but the point is that Atl and Charlotte are both so poorly planned and built up in the time of gated subdivisions and cul de sacs that it will be impossible to return to a plan that is more conducive to public transportation and mixed use projects.
Charlotte's Uptown area is the only real urban area with enormous potential for 24 hour city status, while Atlanta has a larger in town area that can produce that kind of environment, as well as a chunk of Buckhead about the same size as Uptown Charlotte (I think Buckhead and Uptown Charlotte will very closely resemble each other in scope, layout, and aesthetics in a matter of 5-10 years). Uptown Charlotte will never be able to compete with downtown Atlanta (maybe Midtown) because it is lacking that old city plan and old city buildings. When Atlanta can figure out how best to rebuild up downtown, it will probably once again be the premiere office and entertainment district in Atlanta (which happens to also mean the South by default).
From an Atlanta perspective, there is nothing in Charlotte that makes me jealous. We have everything Charlotte has and more (from a Winston Cup track to a major theme park, etc). From my hometown perspective (Jacksonville), Charlotte is like a great professor. I truly think that Jax has so much more potential (location, climate, grid pattern, as much old stuff to work with as Atlanta, wealthy northern retirees and OLD money to help with philanthropy, etc), but Charlotte right now is doing everything right for what it has to work with. Charlotte's leadership is nearly unmatched, especially in the South. Charlotte also has a great economy going for it (though for its apparent lack of diversity, I am shocked at how strong the Charlotte economy is still going). Charlotte is also stealing top talent from Florida and New York at least as much as Atlanta is, if not more. Bottom line is: Charlotte leaders know how to finagle state and federal politicians, and they know how to appeal to local businessmen to settle deals and implement projects. Jacksonville has no friends in Tallahassee (like it used to) and no friends in Washington. The current City Council is comprised of uneducated bigots who squabble about what prayer to say before a meeting, and so obviously as a result, NOTHING gets done.
Sorry for being slightly off topic, but I think Charlotte is developing like Atlanta has (suburban wise that's unfortunate), but because of it population and economic size wise, it is much more comparable to metros in the 1.5-2.5 million person range (Atlanta is approaching 6 million people).
To all of you posters from Charlotte that are looking for a feel good moment, do not compare yourselves or ask opinions of people from metros much larger and generally much more progressive than yours (i.e. Atlanta). I am not saying to go hijack any other cities' boards, but you might want to ask Indianapolis, Austin, Nashville, Cincinnati, Orlando, Tampa, Providence, Jacksonville, Raleigh (really would ask them, I think Charlotte blows Raleigh out of the water in every category except for the meds, the feds, and the eds), and other more similarly sized metros that are having difficulty competing with Charlotte in growth, GDP, amenities, etc. That way your chances for a feel good moment are much higher. FWIW, I think Orlando's growing faster (could be wrong, though), but half of Orlando is moving half way back up to Charlotte and loving it up there, so I doubt you'll get too many negative responses from them.
Why do I keep posting in this thread?
And to Poseidon704, I know Myers Park is very nice, but it is so different from Buckhead or any of Atlanta's old wealthy communities. Most houses I have seen in Myers Park seemed pretty new to me. Was it even a streetcar suburb? Your 4th Ward might be pretty similar to Atlanta's 4th Ward, but the similarities stop there.
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.
I apologize in advance for the long post!
