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I'm moving to Denver, Colorado next week. Already got the place and just packing up and getting ready for the 2nd cross country move in 2 months.. LOL.. At least this time I only have to go over the Appalachians and not the Cascades and Rockies..
Well if RotseCherut, is moving to Denver (from Charlotte), that should tell you something. Make sure when your evaluating places to live, your are accounting for quality of schools, taxes and safety. But you need to do whats best for you.
I'm moving to Denver, Colorado next week. Already got the place and just packing up and getting ready for the 2nd cross country move in 2 months.. LOL.. At least this time I only have to go over the Appalachians and not the Cascades and Rockies..
Denver is a nice city. Good luck with your move and let us know how it goes.
It seems that folks who mainly complain about the difficulty of parking in downtown areas are suburbanites who are averse to parking in garages, and Charlotte has plenty of garages. There are even surface lots near the arena that people can park in and walk a few blocks to College/Tryon/Trade streets. Out of all the complaints about uptown, that was the weirdest.
It was hard to get a parking spot in downtown Ashland, Oregon during the weekend.. Does that make Ashland, Oregon a huge city? I think you are totally misconstruing what I am saying. My point about Uptown is it is not like a typical urban downtown where there are areas for nightlife and clubs in one spot and the business district or in another spot. For example, Seattle 1st and 2nd Ave have all the restaurants, clubs, etc lined up one after another and you park in one area to access this strip of businesses. Pioneer Square is another area of downtown wiht a lot of shops and retail businesses. In CHarlotte there is no such thing in its Uptown (or downtown). There is a restaurant here, bank there, business there and then four blocks of more businesses with no retail. You literally have to walk 15 minutes to go from one restaurant to the next and pass through several office buildings with no retail or restaurant/bar/coffeeshop type of businesses. I cannot easily convey it, but my point is that downtown Charlotte is very disconnected and there is no street full of bars/restaurants and retail shops like you would have in other places. And, to make matters worse the parking in Uptown Charlotte is poorly planned being the highest concentrated area of its population. This makes it a nightmare to get anywhere in Uptown. If you live in the area and can just uber everywhere and know where you have to go its feasible.
Parking in Charlotte should not be difficult like Seattle or New York. In fact, parking in downtown Denver, despite being a more concentrated and busier downtown with a larger population is much easier than in Charlotte. It was so simple to find parking in Denver and you know what parts of the downtown have all the businesses, bars, retail shops and you can walk and access each part of the downtown in its zones. Once upon a time, even Seattle and Portland had this nice accessibility. Of course, these cities have grown so huge that there is now just limited parking, esp in Seattle. Charlotte has plenty of space , in my opinion, but poor city planning and several blocks of "NO PARKING", reserving spots for government officials and overpriced parking garages run by the city have resulted in a horrible deficit of parking.
I really do think Charlotte is a great family city, it is just not a place for single professionals and really is more like a disconnected city infused with suburbia. Basically, the city was designed to be an urban suburb and the downtown seems to cater greatly to the banking industry than to an urban population of single professionals. Everywhere you go in Charlotte it really appears people are in couples and moved to the city with their families. Single, professional people don't come from across the country, by themselves to live in Charlotte. Unless, maybe, they are in the finance industry. There are some dicey areas, but if you are making a decent salary, like over $70,000 a year or have a dual family income you can usually avoid those. Housing prices are getting expensive and definitely are matching that of Denver area for similar quality neighborhoods. This is just how things go it seems. People love Charlotte's weather and good weather seems to have caused more places to explode than any other factor. In the 1950s, my father never thought that dusty barren desert near the beach, Los Angeles, would have become the mecca it is today. Everyone was still raving about Detroit, Chicago and other places with much stronger economies.
I actually feel bad to keep ragging on Charlotte. Many of the people here, especially on the Charlotte forum are good and friendly people and I do appreciate those who have tried to help me. I do appreciate the help you and others tried giving me during my whole fiasco with my crappy neighbor. I have yet to meet another single person the whole time I am here, except for some of the young college kids. In fact, I have found myself stuck hanging out with some college kids because that is the only place non-married couples seem to be found in this city. Anyhow, this is just my opinion of CHarlotte and maybe I have not figured out the secrets and mysteries of the area. Maybe, there is a raging nightlife district full of friendly single professionals. I guess I will not know, since I am leaving next week, but I did try looking all over the city in the 2 months I had been here.
Only 23,000 people live in downtown Denver. Compared to about 20,000 for downtown Charlotte. They also have around the same amount of workers.
Denver is a nice city. Good luck with your move and let us know how it goes.
Thanks for the good wishes goolsbyjazz...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mutiny77
It seems that folks who mainly complain about the difficulty of parking in downtown areas are suburbanites who are averse to parking in garages, and Charlotte has plenty of garages. There are even surface lots near the arena that people can park in and walk a few blocks to College/Tryon/Trade streets. Out of all the complaints about uptown, that was the weirdest.
Well, I utterly hate garages and use them as a last resort. The ones I saw in Charlotte were about as expensive as the ones I saw in Seattle, yet a fraction the population density of the downtown. But, street parking is minimal, which is why these garages can charge such a premium, even in a smaller/medium sized city like Charlotte.
Even in Seattle I could pay for parking and reuse the same parking ticket at another spot of the city or zone (not quite sure about that). Of course, in Seattle you sometimes pay $4 to $8/hr for parking on the street (depending on the neighborhood), whereas Charlotte street parking is much cheaper. Yet, if you go to the garages they seem fairly similar. I usually avoid going to the downtowns of many cities if street parking is not available. Garage parking runs up a bill. But, once again, even if I parked in a garage. The disconnect of the retail/restaurant/coffeeshop type of businesses in Uptown (and about every place in Charlotte ) means I would have to fork out $10 to pay in one garage. However, when it is time to go to the next place in Uptown, I will either need to take an Uber or go and park in another garage. In Seattle, I could park in the Bed, Bath and Beyond or Nordstrom garage for as low as $5/hr and have access within 20 minute walk to Pike Place market, Pioneer Plaza and if I don't mind the 20 minute uphill climb to the main drags of Capitol Hill. Even Capitol Hill has two main drags of its own, which are Pike and Pine place. Then there is 15th Ave which is a bit farther out. 15th Ave cannot be reached by parking downtown very easily, but Pike and Pine can.
In Uptown Charlotte if I walk down the strip for 20 minutes there is hardly any shops, clubs bars, businesses lined up against each other . Each place requires me to walk a long distance in various directions. I cannot plan my day/night to hang out in one spot like I could in Portland, Seattle or many other cities with distinct neighborhoods and retail/restaurant/nightlife type districts.
Well, I utterly hate garages and use them as a last resort. The ones I saw in Charlotte were about as expensive as the ones I saw in Seattle, yet a fraction the population density of the downtown. But, street parking is minimal, which is why these garages can charge such a premium, even in a smaller/medium sized city like Charlotte.
Even in Seattle I could pay for parking and reuse the same parking ticket at another spot of the city or zone (not quite sure about that). Of course, in Seattle you sometimes pay $4 to $8/hr for parking on the street (depending on the neighborhood), whereas Charlotte street parking is much cheaper. Yet, if you go to the garages they seem fairly similar. I usually avoid going to the downtowns of many cities if street parking is not available. Garage parking runs up a bill. But, once again, even if I parked in a garage. The disconnect of the retail/restaurant/coffeeshop type of businesses in Uptown (and about every place in Charlotte ) means I would have to fork out $10 to pay in one garage. However, when it is time to go to the next place in Uptown, I will either need to take an Uber or go and park in another garage. In Seattle, I could park in the Bed, Bath and Beyond or Nordstrom garage for as low as $5/hr and have access within 20 minute walk to Pike Place market, Pioneer Plaza and if I don't mind the 20 minute uphill climb to the main drags of Capitol Hill. Even Capitol Hill has two main drags of its own, which are Pike and Pine place. Then there is 15th Ave which is a bit farther out. 15th Ave cannot be reached by parking downtown very easily, but Pike and Pine can.
In Uptown Charlotte if I walk down the strip for 20 minutes there is hardly any shops, clubs bars, businesses lined up against each other . Each place requires me to walk a long distance in various directions. I cannot plan my day/night to hang out in one spot like I could in Portland, Seattle or many other cities with distinct neighborhoods and retail/restaurant/nightlife type districts.
Actually there's plenty of street parking in uptown and there are also surface lots scattered about that you could have parked in. You simply were very unfamiliar with uptown Charlotte--or you expected to be able to park right on Tryon which I never expect. Park a few blocks away and walk; that's what people have to do in an urban environment.
And what street are you referring to as "the strip" in uptown? A good bit of the bars and nightlife venues are along College St and some of its side streets. Did you even make it to Epicenter?
Also, I think the cities you constantly compare Charlotte to limited you from truly exploring uptown and letting Charlotte be Charlotte. It's that classic "we didn't do it like this back where I came from" that always rubs people in your new city the wrong way. I've never been to Seattle or Portland so I have no clue what you're talking about but I HAVE been to or lived in New Orleans, Atlanta, Charleston, Savannah, DC, Philadelphia, etc and comparatively, I don't find uptown Charlotte to be this huge conundrum that you do.
Charlotte may not have been for you in the long run, but there's no way you could have known that in only two months. You fail to acknowledge that there's a lot of Charlotte you simply didn't have time to explore and that's rather disingenuous IMO.
Well, I utterly hate garages and use them as a last resort. The ones I saw in Charlotte were about as expensive as the ones I saw in Seattle, yet a fraction the population density of the downtown. But, street parking is minimal, which is why these garages can charge such a premium, even in a smaller/medium sized city like Charlotte.
Even in Seattle I could pay for parking and reuse the same parking ticket at another spot of the city or zone (not quite sure about that). Of course, in Seattle you sometimes pay $4 to $8/hr for parking on the street (depending on the neighborhood), whereas Charlotte street parking is much cheaper. Yet, if you go to the garages they seem fairly similar. I usually avoid going to the downtowns of many cities if street parking is not available. Garage parking runs up a bill. But, once again, even if I parked in a garage. The disconnect of the retail/restaurant/coffeeshop type of businesses in Uptown (and about every place in Charlotte ) means I would have to fork out $10 to pay in one garage. However, when it is time to go to the next place in Uptown, I will either need to take an Uber or go and park in another garage. In Seattle, I could park in the Bed, Bath and Beyond or Nordstrom garage for as low as $5/hr and have access within 20 minute walk to Pike Place market, Pioneer Plaza and if I don't mind the 20 minute uphill climb to the main drags of Capitol Hill. Even Capitol Hill has two main drags of its own, which are Pike and Pine place. Then there is 15th Ave which is a bit farther out. 15th Ave cannot be reached by parking downtown very easily, but Pike and Pine can.
In Uptown Charlotte if I walk down the strip for 20 minutes there is hardly any shops, clubs bars, businesses lined up against each other . Each place requires me to walk a long distance in various directions. I cannot plan my day/night to hang out in one spot like I could in Portland, Seattle or many other cities with distinct neighborhoods and retail/restaurant/nightlife type districts.
I can kinda see how one can describe uptown as not having a “strip of all bars and restaurants” (but again, that can be found in some other neighborhoods), but you must walk slow as the majority of uptown is only like 7 square blocks or so so you can probably walk from one end to the other in less than 20 minutes.
I thought most of the garages are like $10 but for the night (or day on the weekend, unless there is a Panthers game or something), not per hour. I highly doubt garages in Charlotte are as expensive as Seattle.
Thinking that one needs to drive from place to place in uptown is just ridiculous, as is stating that it’s a 20 minute walk between restaurants/bars...no there’s not the density of some urban centers, and there are still too many office buildings/garages with no street level retail, but come on. Heck, I’m 20 minutes you can easily walk from trade/Tryon to the Southend.
Plenty of walkable areas in and around Charlotte to eat/drink. We’ve done it many times - Plaza Midwood, NoDa, Southend, Dilworth and yes, even Uptown.
Maybe, I don't actually quite get what Uptown is.. I've only been down there a few times and wasn't sure what the boundaries are. The only times I was down there, was to go to Mecklenburg County Sheriff to apply for my concealed handgun license and the other time was to go to the Counter Culture coffeeshop. I parked far away near that Amelies and walked all the way to the shop. I was surprised at how I lost the sidewalk time to time and the few amount of businesses that were on the way from Amelies to Counter Culture shop. The Counter Culture coffeeshop , itself, was actually just a tiny shop in a larger office building that did conference type of stuff and the shop was like 5% of the first floor space. I saw a few places with food, but it was mostly just fine 5 star dining establishments that you will find in most urban downtowns. There was not much in the way of just food stands or affordable food joints. In downtown Portland and Seattle you will have literally rows of cheap food places right in the downtown. In Portland, there is gazillions of food trucks. All I saw in Uptown Charlotte was this one gyro/falafel stand. I actually bought falafel from the guy.
Anyhow, I never told anyone that it was this or that in Seattle and only made references to it because I thought it was pertinent to the conversation. I don't think there are hardly anyone in the city of Charlotte who knows where I am from or cares about it, actually. In fact, I really made no friends in Charlotte and found it a very tough town to get to meet anybody. People seem pretty reserved and not too outgoing. I was surprised because my feelings of being in the South would have been outgoing , friendly people and that was how it was when I was in Tennessee. Although, I hadn't spent too long there either. The only few people I met who I managed to get in friendly conversations with were few natives I met from North Carolina and South Carolina. They were the friendliest people and actually liked to talk, but you hardly meet any of them in Charlotte. Most of the people I met were transplants from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and DC. They seem pretty reserved and mistrusting. Even my AirBnb hosts when I first came to Charlotte were all from suburban Pennsylvania, like Reading, Lancaster areas. They were the most unfriendly AirBnb hosts I ever had. Despite staying in their house for over a week, they appeared annoyed if I tried to engage in too long of a conversation with them and always acted like I was wasting their time by talking to them. Their behavior seem to be reminiscent of a lot of the people I have met in this city.
Basically, everywhere I go it appears people are in groups of couples and fairly cliqued. I really did not make a single friend or know a soul in this city and nobody hated me or loved me.
I will say that I do not really know Charlotte and regret not spending more time here. However, I will also say I find Charlotte to be disconnected, laid out more like an "urban" suburb, if I can use the term and the people tend to be pretty reserved and not too happy to associate with a single guy with no connections in the town. It just doesn't seem to be the type a town a single, 40 year old software developer comes and moves to by himself not knowing anybody. There really doesn't seem to even be any outlets to make friends in my demographic. If you go to places like Amelie's it is all college kids. The bars are mostly couples or groups of couples. I did attend a couple meetup groups, but it is mostly full of much older people who are divorced or college kids. The younger meetup groups are mostly a bunch of desperate guys trying to hook up with chicks and were not enjoyable at all.
I wish I could have broken Charlotte's secret code. IN the end, the cost of living in Charlotte is the same as living in Denver now, if you are comparing equal neighborhoods like Dilworth/South Park/Noda/Uptown, etc. I feel in Denver that I will find more people like myself. I met more software guys in one day in Denver just walking around town than I did my entire time living in Charlotte. As well, you see groups of guys hanging out and nobody looks at you like you are a criminal or disdain for being a guy on his own and new to town. There is just more of a community sense I feel in Denver as well. That is not to say there isn't sprawled suburbs where people just want to be left alone and their main social activities are church, soccer practice and those precious family outings which seems to be the majority of people in the Charlotte area. But, there are options for single people and those who did not settle down, get married young and living the nuclear family lifestyle. Charlotte, I feel not so much.
Charlotte is actually the most reserved and insular city I have ever lived/visited. I feel the reservedness in Charlotte (and even more so in Huntersville) has an air of uppitiness to it, whereas, Seattle, it is more of social awkwardness and shyness. That says a lot coming from a person from the Pacific Northwest, which is known for reserved and insular people.
Last edited by RotseCherut; 09-08-2018 at 08:09 AM..
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