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Please don't move here thinking you will have a better life, your husband/wife will get a job and/or quit cheating on you, your kids will miraculously begin to do well in school, your dog will stop biting, your in-laws won't follow you, etc.
I have been here for more than 50 years and if I could get away I would. Everyone hates it. Traffic is awful. People are mean and I mean everyone. The place is dirty, trash everywhere. It gets hot as Hades in the summer and winter is 6 months of ice. Very few places to shop. Grocery stores are always out of everything. No good restaurants.
For some reason, most people that come here - STAY. Then, their families come and they STAY! I think there is a force field surrounding the city that isn't allowing people to move.
Charlotte stinks. Stay away. Don't come here. Please!
Please don't move here thinking you will have a better life, your husband/wife will get a job and/or quit cheating on you, your kids will miraculously begin to do well in school, your dog will stop biting, your in-laws won't follow you, etc.
I have been here for more than 50 years and if I could get away I would. Everyone hates it. Traffic is awful. People are mean and I mean everyone. The place is dirty, trash everywhere. It gets hot as Hades in the summer and winter is 6 months of ice. Very few places to shop. Grocery stores are always out of everything. No good restaurants.
For some reason, most people that come here - STAY. Then, their families come and they STAY! I think there is a force field surrounding the city that isn't allowing people to move.
Charlotte stinks. Stay away. Don't come here. Please!
Are you trying to keep our population down?? I do hope this is said with some sarcasm.
If you think that 2.2 MM people living in the Charlotte Metro think so terribly about Charlotte yet continue to work, live and play here then I'd advise you to step away from the internet
These forums are notorious for bringing out the bearish sorts. These are obviously opinions held by the minority, and the only place for such dimly held views are anonymous message boards. As a "newbie" here you don't yet have the insight to know who among your pool are prone to negativity and histrionics. Stick around for a while and form your own opinion.
But really, when it comes to a city or locale or culture or people, it doesn't matter what a million people feel if it's not how YOU feel. If you like a place, who cares who hates it? If you hate a place would it matter if 10MM people felt otherwise? Choose your own adventure, listen to your own song. Don't rely on subjective musings to form your opinion for you.
your absolutely right.
I think there are people who love Charlotte, maybe they're just not wasting time on this forum,
I just wish I could hear from more people who are proud of there city and hear more positive things about the area.
you know I have been to Charlotte many times and I have a pretty good list that I have made for myself.
thanks Native Son
Last edited by chicagobears; 11-04-2012 at 07:57 PM..
I don't want to come across as one of those "well traveled douchebags" but I grew up in a military family and we moved to a new city/state every 11-13 months. Here's a bit of advice: residents will b**ch about their city no matter how great it is. Everywhere I lived my friends would complain about how much it sucks there. It drove me crazy. All I wanted to say was, "You have NO idea what other places are like." but I did my best to keep my mouth shut.
I spent the summer of 2010 here and absolutely loved it. In fact, I loved it so much that I spent my senior year of college applying for every job imaginable until I got one. Moving here has been fantastic. Sure it has things about it that aren't great but every place has that.
Anywho, you asked for a list so here's mine:
- weather (it's hot, sure, but the sky is always clear!)
- city life without being overly crazy in metropolitan headache
- I can go shoot my guns and have a drink downtown within a 10 minute drive of each other
- Sports! Our teams suck right now but for a small city we can see plenty of games
- Cost of living. I lived in a nice 1br apartment off 7th street with a fantastic view for under $1k/mo. Crazy!
- Friendly people. You get the nice attitude of the south without having to be fully enveloped by "the south"
- Jobs. People complain about the economy and say CLT is all bankers but I know dozens of people that have gotten great jobs here without any problems at all
- Traffic. There is none.
The thing you have to remember is that people are more inclined to go online and complain about something, than to take the time to boast about it. Hence why when reviewing anything online, you will inevitably find more negative reviews than positive, as a general rule.
Think about it, who's going to get on this forum...with a bunch of Charlotteans and say "I LOVE CHARLOTTE"??? not so much.
That having been said, I'm a transplant and have been here for 3 years. Born and raised in New England my husband is from Kentucky. Both of us grew up outside of large cities, but the actual towns we came from were very small. We LOVE it here. Granted, we live in one of the suburbs of Charlotte and not IN Meck, but we're close enough to enjoy the perks of the city, yet far enough away to escape it when it gets to be too much.
I work in University at a corporate office and my husband has a great job in the County. There are TONS of jobs available in Charlotte, you just have to be willing to drive, deal with traffic and be qualified. That having been said, don't move here without a job. That's irresponsible and it's always harder to get a job if you don't have one. But that's not just Charlotte.
There's ALWAYS something going on in Charlotte. I'm not a night owl, never have been...more of a family person myself, so I couldn't tell you whether the night life here is comperable to NYC or Miami (although I don't think I need to have experience to be able to say that it's not) but for those of us who don't sleep the day away as a result of binge drinking and debauchery, there is more than enough to do in the area. I'm a foodie growing up between NYC and Boston, I'm somewhat of a food snob...and I never seem to find a shortage of good food. Again, you have to be willing to drive and explore, but it's here.
Charlotte isn't the Hamptons or even Charleston, but it's a nice city. It's not an older city like NYC or Boston..so it certainly lacks charm, but it's not bad. Also---you have to remember that we are growing at an alarming rate, so to keep up with the demands is certainly difficult.
I love that we're 3 hours from the Mountains and 3 hours from the beach. Not too far for a weekend trip.
Since I live outside of Meck, my taxes aren't as bad---for my home OR my car. Also, the schools in my area are rated higher than most of the city/surrounding areas. Violent crime is also lower--naturally, as things are more spread out. Not that it's not existent, but it's definitely lower.
The weather is beautiful. We have a couple weeks of extreme heat, but I'd take that over 6 months of nasty cold weather any day of the week. There are only a couple of weeks in the summer that it's really too hot to do anything outside unless you have a pool, but for the most part, we live outside in the summer.
I've found that if you're not happy with something, then do something to change that. Charlotte is not going to hand you greatness on a platter. Go out and find it. Make it happen. There's plenty to do/find, use Google, get creative, ask the locals of things to do.
Maybe I have low expectations, or maybe I'm easy to please, but I love Charlotte and it'll be a long time before I move from here.
Again, this is just my perspective, everyone is different...and experiences things differently. This is my OPINION.
I love living in Charlotte because it's very progressive.
The weather is good, and there's close proximity to the mountains and beaches.
The skyline is beautiful.
The fact that large companies have offices here tells there's good business climate.
For a city of Charlotte's size, there's plenty of things to do/places to eat if you just know where to look.
If you're not happy here, I don't understand why you're still here.
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