Charlotte

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was searching for the thread in which Zette asked about Charlotte, when I ran across this thread: Charlotte is not a world-class city? in General Questions. There, Racer72 asked this question

I started to respond in the original thread, and then thought better of it. The last response was in August, and frankly the thread’s topic probably doesn’t have a factual answer. But having lived there for nearly 10 years back when it was just beginning to emerge as a national city, I have a lot of fond memories of the place.

If you’ve never visited Charlotte, add it to your list. This is going to floor some of you, but next to San Fransisco, it is my favorite American city. And here are some of the reasons why:

Its center city core (they call it uptown, never downtown!) is a thriving, vibrant, and beautiful place. It is the world headquarters for some of the nation’s largest banks, including Bank of America (the biggest in the U.S and one of 57 uptown highrises), Wachovia, and First Union. There are more banking assets in Charlotte than in any city outside of New York. That’s part of the reason that the city is simply abuzz with an almost electric entrepreneural spirit. Investment capital flows like a river, and people aren’t afraid to try and fail and try again.

Because of a city ordinance that at least 1% of the budget for building projects must go for public art, there is an astounding variety of beautiful artwork lining the streets and filling the lobbies of buildings. In fact, when Bank of America was built, the project was so massive (it is one of the tallest skyscrapers in the word) that the public art manifested as the North Carolina Blumenthal Center for the Performing Arts! This breathtaking center, designed in the manner of European opera theatres, is so acoustically remarkable that microphones are unnecessary even to reach the remotest seats with conversational volume.

Charlotte Douglas International is one of the nation’s busiest airports, and is the primary hub for US Airways. It is a beautiful facility, generously appointed with skylighting from cathedral ceilings. Its public art includes a mammoth bronze statue of Queen Charlotte, the city’s namesake.

Charlotte’s city limits population is larger than Atlanta’s or Miami’s, and its metropolitan area is growing almost as fast as Las Vegas. It was selected by Money Magazine as one of the 10 best places to live. It takes aggressive advantage of North Carolina’s unique annexation laws, interpreted by the NC Supreme Court to imply that “if an area is urban, it shall be municipal.” Therefore, the city is already nearly 200 square miles and increasing every day.

It prides itself on its early history as a hotbed of revolution. British General Cornwallis called it a “hornets nest” (hence, the name for the Charlotte Hornets). As the seat of Mecklenburg county, Charlotte has put on its flag the date April 12, 1776. That’s the date that the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence was signed, preceding the national declaration by almost three months. Independence Boulevard is the longest east-west thoroughfare in the city. And of course, it intersects Freedom Drive. :slight_smile: Because of its vast network of highways and rails, Charlotte is a port of entry, and one of the nations largest wholesale distribution centers.

Almost anything you could ever need or want, from professional sports in state of the art arenas and stadiums, to beautiful museums, to a wonderful variety of food and entertainment, to post graduate university and research facilites, to recreational lakes, amphiteaters, and theme parks — they’re all there.

But I saved my favorite aspect until last. There is another city ordinance that for every one tree you cut down, you must plant two. You do not find here very many of the paved over eyesore vistas that you find in a lot of cities of comparable size. Trees are everywhere, even uptown. Some buildings are constructed such that indigenous trees are a big part of the plans, some even with trees inside the buildings! You can be only a mile from center city and not even see a skyscraper because of the density of the trees.

It is a modern cosmopolitan city with a quaint, almost rural feel. It is brimming with a spirit of “can do” and “will help”. It welcomes newcomers with open arms and an almost naive hospitality. Its people smile and greet each other on the uptown city streets. It is a wonderful place to visit and to live. I miss it.

2

Charlotte? You gotta be kidding, Lib. The traffic is awful, the streets are narrow and hard to manuever. The crime rate is way up there. I hate going through there for any reason and avoid doing so as much as possible. Please tell me where these ‘friendly’ people are because I’ve yet to run across them. Walking down the street is not something you’d do as a pass-time. I haven’t been to Charlotte in about 3 years, so maybe there’s been some drastic changes since then. But I’m not about to visit there to find out.

3

Well, to each her own, I guess. :smiley:

But its a mistake to approach Charlotte the way you would Atlanta. Approach it the way you would San Fransisco. Park your car early in the morning. Get out and walk around. Touch El Grande Disco, a gigantic bronze disc by an Italian artist that weighs two tons, with your little finger and watch it move! Stroll along Tryon Street and enjoy the smiling faces of entrepreneurs already half-way finished with their busy day.

Have lunch at a sidewalk cafe while you read The Observer. Find some of the concerts and Off-Broadway shows that you can see later.

In the early evening, walk up to 7th Street and stop in at Spirit Square to watch artists at work — painting, sculpting, and reading poetry. After twilight, mosey on up to Davidson Street and join the “crawl”, with hundreds of people browsing galleries dedicated to the artists you just met.

Have a late dinner and take in a show at the Carolina Theatre. And then take a free uptown trolley back to your car. Be sure to check your rearview as you drive away. The city is brightly lit and beckoning you to return.

4

Thank you, Lib. Seriously, thank you. I’m glad someone else notices the finer points of our fair city. Ever notice my ‘location’, inspired by the thread you mention in you op?

ultress - I’d like to see a cite for the crime rate being “way up there.” I’ve walked around uptown plenty of times at 2, 3, and 4am and never once have I feared for my safety. The only point that you make that I can agree with is that the traffic sucks. But really it’s the traffic around the city (mostly I-77, and they’re widening that as we speak) that sucks, not in the city. In fact, when I was going to school at CPCC it was actually faster for me to drive through uptown than to take the expressway around it.

5

I always notice your location tag, Cisco. And everytime I see it, I smile wistfully, knowingly, and sympathetically.

One of the things that I love about your city are the well defined neighborhoods. So many neighborhoods have so much character. The Beverly Hills feel of Carmel Rae. The upscale shops, restaurants, and bars around South Park. The academic spirit and technological prowess that permeates the North side, where giants like IBM, Microsoft, Verbatim, and others have regional and national headquarters near the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

The spirited industrial production of the East side, with factories, tech farms, and manufacturing of almost everything under the sun. The suburban sprawl of the South side, where children play in the streets and neighbors barbecue together. The forbidding and tempestuous West side, with its hidden treasures like the Brown Derby Cafe.

I love Myers Park in the spring, with its stately old mansions and streets divided by medians with long-limbed dogwood trees. I love Stanleyville with all its hippies, its musicians, and its “mayor”. I even love The Plaza, with its bizarre mixture of beautiful churches and street prostitution.

One of the reasons that you are still stuck with the NC monicker is because of Atlanta’s jealousy. You failed with NBC’s late night venture, but CNN succeeded, and it set the precedent of omitting you from its maps, while touting Atlanta as the center of the universe.

One of the reasons your freeways are so congested is that you have to finance most of them yourselves with local bonds. Raleigh is so envious of you that it calls you “The Great State of Mecklenburg”. When RDU finally got flights to Paris, the local newspaper ran a full page advertisement to razz you with the headline, “Parlez-vous Français, Charlotte?” They had long been jealous of your flights to London, Munich, and other international destinations. Getting a roads appropriation for Charlotte from Raleigh is like getting a Martin Luther King day in Chester, South Carolina.

Hang in there, Cisco! In my book, you’re already “world class”.

6

Hmm. Many relatives of mine live in Charlotte, and so I go there several times a year. The place doesn’t do much for me.

But I’ve not spent much time uptown. Lib, next time i have a couple of days to kill in Charlotte, I’ll take your advice and check it out.

No way is it going to be better than Asheville, but it might be fun. Thanks for the tip!

Daniel

7

I’ve been in Charlotte, and I’ve been in Asheville.

Asheville, hands down.

8

I used to live in Charlotte. It was ok, despite the fairly bad traffic. There are always some fun things to do and the restaurants are gradually expanding beyond simple domestic, but I’d still challenge you to find a quality chinese, much less many choices of anything more exotic: thai, korean, etc. Atlanta has infinitely more of all of that, and I wouldn’t really put Atlanta on a par with any of the major metros in the U.S.
Here are some other quibbles I have, with Charlotte or with your admirably earnest claims:

Bank of America building is FAR from being one of the “tallest skyscrapers in the world”;
If there are 57 skyscrapers in CLT, then the sky is a lot lower than it used to be and now starts at something like 20 stories;
I haven’t been there in a few years, but Uptown is basically a desolate wasteland of bank buildings, with nary a car nor person, after 5pm, except for special evenings like the gallery crawl or late football games;
I’d be interested in seeing where CharlotteDouglas airport ranks among the busiest in the US, but I’d be very surprised if it even made the top 20;
you’re right about Charlotte’s city limit population outstripping Atlanta’s, but if you count their respective metropolitan areas, Atlanta is probably 3-5 times larger;
and my last retort–George Shinn.

I will concede that Charlotte is pretty, and that the trees and neighborhoods are really nice, though a bit too segregated for my taste.

On the whole, I liked living in Columbia, SC better.

9

Well, let’s see…

According to this site, Bank of America is the 53rd tallest skyscraper in the world. On this page, the site says that Charlotte has “57 high-rise buildings”. More are under construction or planned.

According to this site, Charlotte Douglas International is the 22nd busiest US airport in international passengers, and 23rd busiest in all passengers (just behind Las Vegas).

I lived in Columbia for five years. Mostly what I remember is the oppressive heat, the water bugs, and the confederate flag. :wink:

10

Oops, I almost forgot. Yeah, you’ve not been there in a while. Quite a few medium rise condos and a couple of high rise have been built uptown. South Tryon closes with the banks, but North Tryon and East Trade party on.

11

[hijack] Hey…I went to CPCC also. It’s one of the goodest schools around. [/hijack]
As for the crime rate, I don’t have a link, but my house was broken into twice in 6 months, and my truck (reqired transportation here :smiley: ) was a victim of hit and run shortly thereafter.

I like Monroe more better…

12

The newest information I can find on Charlotte crime is for the year 2000. According to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police:

I never had a problem in Charlotte, but I did get mugged in Columbia when I stopped to help a “distressed” motorist.

13

Made a mistake about the airport. It’s not #23. It’s #20.

14

While some of the attributes of Charlotte may make it a world-class city, suggesting that the height of your tallest building is important would mean that Cleveland has more world-class than Charlotte(see Lib’s link).

Also, declaring that you airport is the 23rd or 20th busiest airport in the US means that you are less world-class than Detroit or Newark :rolleyes: (again, see the links).

15

Yeah, but we got a basketball team…oh, wait a minute…never mind.

And a football team…shit…never mind again.

Um, anybody need change for a twenty? We got banks…

16

I hate Charlotte. The town I live in doesn’t exist because it’s neither Charlotte nor in Mecklenburg county. Since almost every single news outlet is based in That Fair City, I have to tramp down to Concord for “local” news. The streets were laid out by a drunken monkey, the drivers are drunken monkeys, and the racing actually takes place in Concord. Feh on Charlotte.

17

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Charlotte.

BUT…
I heard a radio commentator (from Charlotte), laugh about the media still referring to Charlotte, North Carolina, as to forcibly remind the public exactly where Charlotte is located.

It’s an interesting point…

18

Considering that so much of the Buffalo and Rochester diaspora lives in Charlotte, can it be said that Upstate New York is even more world class?

19

I agree. But that’s not why I think it/s world class.

The question that Racer asked (in case you missed the OP) was “Other than being the known center for stock car racing, what else is Charlotte know for?”. And that’s the question I was answering.

So, among the other things I mentioned, it is known for its banks (dwarfing Cleveland, Detroit, and Newark put together), one of which is the largest bank in the U.S. And it is known for its airport, at least to almost any flyer who connects on the eastern seaboard.

20

All I can suggest is that you do a search on Google for “Mecklenburg Declaration” and “hoax”.