RSS
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
Does anyone have any input on Charlotte? I have a good friend who lives there and im thinking about moving to the uptown area with him. Pros/cons of the city? Thanks!
Columbus Underground Messageboard » General Columbus Discussion » Q&A
Thinking about moving to Charlotte.
[28 posts] [17 contributors]
Topic Rating:
(Total Ratings: )
Rate this topic:
Rate this topic:
-
people211
Columbus
Login to Send PM
I've been to Charlotte's airport too.. on the way to San Francisco.. Seems like it's a rapidly growing city. The only thing that bothers me about it is that it's similar to Columbus in size and population. I thought Columbus was big with it's 211 square miles, compared to Cleveland's 82 and Cincinnati's 79, but Charolotte's 242 sq miles trumps Columbus easily.
Posted 11 months ago # -
StateLineOhio
Login to Send PM
Charlotte is a bit of an odd city. A lot of the population is from Ohio or New York or elsewhere in the north, but if you go outside the city things get very Southern very quickly. It's not particularly a nice place if you're not into car culture, as the walkability/bikability of much of the city is questionable at best. There's a ton of money down there, although the banking industry's woes are definitely more prominent here than elsewhere -- there are more American banks headquartered here than anywhere other than NYC. Obviously this money distributes itself elsewhere in the service economy, so there are some nice shopping options, etc. Summers are disgustingly hot, winters are mild, drivers are hilarious when there is any snow at all on the ground. I'd recommend NoDa as an alternative to Uptown Charlotte.
Posted 11 months ago # -
jungaroo
Italian Village
Login to Send PM
This issue depends on what you do for a living, but a friend of mine who once lived there complained about the old boy Southern Ivies-based network in certain professional/social circles. Think Duke, Emory, Vanderbilt, UVA, etc. But I think this is weakening over time as the city grows and more Yanks move in.
A couple of local blogs to check out:
- The Naked Cityby Charlotte Observer columnist Mary Newsom is one of the best urbanism blogs anywhere (my opinion at least).
- Charlotte Viewpointis a cool online magazine about arts, culture and city life in general.Posted 11 months ago # -
lizless
Columbus/Hocking Hills
Login to Send PM
I lived there for 3 years in the 90s and couldn't leave the city fast enough.
If you love conservatism, thinly veiled racism, lack of fresh vegetables in restaurants, lack of vegetarian food options, banking, traffic, sprawl, disgustingly hot/humid summers, minimal arts and cars, this is your city.
Their indie rag is called Creative Loafing. It's about the only thing I liked about the place. Oh, and I liked their BBQ!
Posted 11 months ago # -
Neil Jaye
Login to Send PM
I have been there several times to visit a friend that lives there. I find the city to be fun but a little odd in a way I can’t really put finger on. Living in Uptown would be great if can afford a nice apartment or condo. Based on my experience Uptown is the overwhelming center of Charlotte nightlife. That aspect I do like. Their Uptown (or downtown as we would call it) is very thriving at night. The downtown area seems to be far more alive than Columbus’ at night. The drawback is that there does not seem to be much else in the way of nightlife outside the Uptown area. Unlike Columbus, which does very well in the neighborhood nightlife vibe, Charlotte does not have that sense of neighbor identity. There are several new bars in the recently growing suburban areas; which are very nice, new and clean. They have more of a generic corporate feel to them and just seem a little slow to me, but if you’re just wanting to hang out with friends they would be fine.
Crime is a problem I hear. There are several very bad areas of town (Charlotte is a regular destination for the Homicide Dept. reality show The First 48), but they seem to be avoidable. Traffic is pretty bad. The city does not seem to have planned very well for its growth and the freeways do not seem to meet that growth. They DO have a light rail system that seems to be growing and is quite popular (Columbus could learn from this). The metro area seems to be more spread out than Columbus but there is a lot more empty space. There is lot of green there. This seems to be a big contrast to Columbus. They have NFL and NBA teams if you’re into sports; and of course NASCAR. There are also a lot of Buckeyes fans in the area as well. I saw FAR more buckeye gear in stores there than any other college team.
Yes, it is hot in the Summer…very hot and humid. Snow, any snow more than an inch will shut the city down to a good degree. They just do not have the resource the fight it. IMO, I like the town. I have always enjoyed myself and the people are very friendly. For me it is a nice city to visit but I would not want to live there.
Posted 11 months ago # -
SusanB
Hungarian Village, Columbus' fastest growing Gayborhood!
Login to Send PM
I will not live anywhere south of the Mason Dixon line. As stated previously in this thread, once you get out of the city you are in dueling banjos country. Columbus is as far south as I ever want to live.
Posted 11 months ago # -
RBloodworth
Baja Beechwold
Login to Send PM
joev wrote >>
Charlotte is purgatory for Millennials from Ohio. People go there in their mid 20s for a few years, then leave when they're ready to start their real lives. I get a very odd transient vibe in that city.Funny; I've heard a lot of people say the exact same thing about Columbus...
I haven't spent a lot of time in Charlotte (I'm much more familiar with the Triangle area), but my initial impression was that of a southern version of Indianapolis. Vibrant downtown (or Uptown) area, dormant inner-ring neighborhoods, pro sports, heavy focus on college basketball and auto racing, corporate vibe...you get the picture. IMO, the place had too much of an artificial feel to it for me to ever consider living there (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill kills it in that department), but it's not a bad place to visit for a weekend conference or sporting event.
Posted 11 months ago # -
negativetouch
Login to Send PM
SusanB wrote >>
I will not live anywhere south of the Mason Dixon line. As stated previously in this thread, once you get out of the city you are in dueling banjos country. Columbus is as far south as I ever want to live.In case you've never noticed you don't have to get far out of Columbus to be in "dueling banjo" country. Most of New York state too in my experience. Hell I'd hazard a guess that there is plenty of banjo music anywhere south of German Village. But don't let that get in the way of your ridiculous bigotry.
Posted 11 months ago # -
Snarf
Dystopia
Login to Send PM
negativetouch wrote >>
SusanB wrote >>
I will not live anywhere south of the Mason Dixon line. As stated previously in this thread, once you get out of the city you are in dueling banjos country. Columbus is as far south as I ever want to live.In case you've never noticed you don't have to get far out of Columbus to be in "dueling banjo" country. Most of New York state too in my experience. Hell I'd hazard a guess that there is plenty of banjo music anywhere south of German Village. But don't let that get in the way of your ridiculous bigotry.
Thank you.
Posted 11 months ago # -
SusanB
Hungarian Village, Columbus' fastest growing Gayborhood!
Login to Send PM
I could start posting all the stats on levels of illiteracy, fundamentalism, a whole lot of other nastiness, and oddly enough, on line porn consumption in the South but I'll not bother. Is it prejudice if there is statistical proof?
Posted 11 months ago # -
Manatee
The eternal present
Login to Send PM
SusanB wrote >>
I could start posting all the stats on levels of illiteracy, fundamentalism, a whole lot of other nastiness, and oddly enough, on line porn consumption in the South but I'll not bother. Is it prejudice if there is statistical proof?There's no statistical proof compelling enough to dismiss entire geographical segments of humanity as worthless. Perhaps you could more accurately say that you don't, on the whole, find their behavior neighborly. But the best way to create neighborliness is by modeling that good behavior yourself. We are all works in progress, right?
Posted 11 months ago # -
rus
Login to Send PM
Snarf wrote >>
negativetouch wrote >>
SusanB wrote >>
I will not live anywhere south of the Mason Dixon line. As stated previously in this thread, once you get out of the city you are in dueling banjos country. Columbus is as far south as I ever want to live.In case you've never noticed you don't have to get far out of Columbus to be in "dueling banjo" country. Most of New York state too in my experience. Hell I'd hazard a guess that there is plenty of banjo music anywhere south of German Village. But don't let that get in the way of your ridiculous bigotry.
Thank you.
Seconded. Thanks.
Posted 11 months ago #
You must log in to post.
Launched in August 2010, TheMetropreneur.com is a local online resource devoted to small business development and entrepreneurship. Its aim is to tell the stories of Central Ohio's business community, foster regional economic development and assist entrepreneurs with its resource-heavy focus.