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1 minute ago, thenewkage95 said:


Thanks for pulling those stats. In keeping in line with my previous statement. I know how crucial it is to have a large enough population to support your economic grown. What can Charlotte do to boost growth? Outside of hosting the Olympics, Atlanta had to have done something different to grow that rapidly. I mean...Salt Lake City hosted the Olympics and didn’t grow that drastically as a result.


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Keep up with growth in tech. It’s the way of the future and so far I like what I’m seeing. It’s almost a redefining of Charlotte. We’ve always been associated with banking and our outskirts with Textiles, now we are witnessing something amazing with the resurgence in tech identifying Charlotte as a viable location to grow. This is such a big deal and can’t be overstated how important this will be going forward. 

 Our banking backbone will continue to be the one juggernaut that actually helps us from a foundational level. It will be the bedrock that Charlotte will build its future economy on. While we wait on the buildout on the tech sector in the QC, the other big item is transit. Focus on our airport and make sure that we invest in that infrastructure. These things form a great foundation for the future ! 

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Keep up with growth in tech. It’s the way of the future and so far I like what I’m seeing. It’s almost a redefining of Charlotte. We’ve always been associated with banking and our outskirts with Textiles, now we are witnessing something amazing with the resurgence in tech identifying Charlotte as a viable location to grow. This is such a big deal and can’t be overstated how important this will be going forward. 
 Our banking backbone will continue to be the one juggernaut that actually helps us from a foundational level. It will be the bedrock that Charlotte will build its future economy on. While we wait on the buildout on the tech sector in the QC, the other big item is transit. Focus on our airport and make sure that we invest in that infrastructure. These things form a great foundation for the future ! 

I’m glad you mentioned tech. That’s my career area. Also, yes to the tech sector! I feel like we should invest heavily in transit (both light rail and airport), as well as education. If we can make UNCC into a well-known school for tech degrees, then we can really call ourselves players in the tech market. I feel like companies are just itching to relocate from Silicon Valley because of cost of living. I’d love for Charlotte to be a heavy hitter on their radar.


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9 minutes ago, thenewkage95 said:


I’m glad you mentioned tech. That’s my career area. Also, yes to the tech sector! I feel like we should invest heavily in transit (both light rail and airport), as well as education. If we can make UNCC into a well-known school for tech degrees, then we can really call ourselves players in the tech market. I feel like companies are just itching to relocate from Silicon Valley because of cost of living. I’d love for Charlotte to be a heavy hitter on their radar.


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You kind of touched on what I do believe is the biggest deficit of Charlotte: Education.

I’m not knocking UNCC or CPCC (which is probably the best CC in the SE or even the country). And we do have some excellent private institutions (think Davidson).

But Charlotte does lack the Big name Universities and the Brand that comes along with it that some of the other cities that we want to compete with have. That said, the stock of Higher education in N.C when viewed as a whole, is second to none. So when we look at our state collectively we are well positioned. If anything it might be Raleigh-Durham (and Winston-Salem) that actually HELPS Charlotte! Let that sink in for a moment. 

Those cities are known for their Institutions of higher learning, and Charlotte can be their Urban playground to set up shop once they graduate. After all Who wouldn’t want to stay in N.C?! 

A2

Edited by A2.
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You kind of touched on what I do believe is the biggest deficit of Charlotte: Education.
I’m not knocking UNCC or CPCC (which is probably the best CC in the SE or even the country). And we do have some excellent private institutions (think Davidson).
But Charlotte does lack the Big name Universities and the Brand that comes along with it that some of the other cities that we want to compete with have. That said, the stock of Higher education in N.C when viewed as a whole, is second to none. So when we look at our state collectively we are well positioned. If anything it might be Raleigh-Durham (and Winston-Salem) that actually HELPS Charlotte! Let that sink in for a moment. 
Those cities are known for their Institutions of higher learning, and Charlotte can be their Urban playground to set up shop once they graduate. After all Who wouldn’t want to stay in N.C?! 
A2

It’s a weird side-effect of Charlotte not being a planned city. 50 years ago, Charlotte was just another small town that hardly anyone outside of the state even knew existed. My mom moved here in 1985 from Tennessee but had never even heard of Charlotte (she fell in love and is still here) Raleigh was more of the master planned city. Winston-Salem and even Greensboro were projected to blow up in the early 20th century. No one ever expected Charlotte to blow past the rest of them. I just wish the investment in education would have occurred prior to 1946. That way we could have an established and reputable institution of higher education (and maybe a really good school football team???)


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3 minutes ago, thenewkage95 said:

That way we could have an established and reputable institution of higher education (and maybe a really good school football team???)


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:lol: 

Since I’m an alum of Alabama, that statement could not be more true! Ha!

I know many here on UP could care less about football, but unfortunately I was indoctrinated early on in childhood and have an unhealthy love affair with It. 

Edited by A2.
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1 hour ago, thenewkage95 said:


It’s a weird side-effect of Charlotte not being a planned city. 50 years ago, Charlotte was just another small town that hardly anyone outside of the state even knew existed. My mom moved here in 1985 from Tennessee but had never even heard of Charlotte (she fell in love and is still here) Raleigh was more of the master planned city. Winston-Salem and even Greensboro were projected to blow up in the early 20th century. No one ever expected Charlotte to blow past the rest of them. I just wish the investment in education would have occurred prior to 1946. That way we could have an established and reputable institution of higher education (and maybe a really good school football team???)


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https://www.biggestuscities.com/nc/1940

https://www.biggestuscities.com/nc/1960

https://www.biggestuscities.com/nc/1980

https://www.biggestuscities.com/nc/2000

 

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2 hours ago, A2. said:

I’m not knocking UNCC or CPCC (which is probably the best CC in the SE or even the country). That said, the stock of Higher education in N.C when viewed as a whole, is second to none. So when we look at our state collectively we are well positioned. If anything it might be Raleigh-Durham (and Winston-Salem) that actually HELPS Charlotte! Let that sink in for a moment. 

Those cities are known for their Institutions of higher learning, and Charlotte can be their Urban playground to set up shop once they graduate. After all Who wouldn’t want to stay in N.C?! 

A2

You're right: UNCC is probably one of the best community colleges in the country.

 

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29 minutes ago, deleted said:

I can really geek out on sites like the ones listed above! Thanks for posting them. :tw_star:

A2

2 minutes ago, Tyrone Wiggum said:

You're right: UNCC is probably one of the best community colleges in the country.

 

You might have stirred up a hornets nest with that one TW. :whistling:

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2 hours ago, A2. said:

You kind of touched on what I do believe is the biggest deficit of Charlotte: Education.

I’m not knocking UNCC or CPCC (which is probably the best CC in the SE or even the country). And we do have some excellent private institutions (think Davidson).

But Charlotte does lack the Big name Universities and the Brand that comes along with it that some of the other cities that we want to compete with have. That said, the stock of Higher education in N.C when viewed as a whole, is second to none. So when we look at our state collectively we are well positioned. If anything it might be Raleigh-Durham (and Winston-Salem) that actually HELPS Charlotte! Let that sink in for a moment. 

Those cities are known for their Institutions of higher learning, and Charlotte can be their Urban playground to set up shop once they graduate. After all Who wouldn’t want to stay in N.C?! 

A2

As with all things, I just think Charlotte needs to Lean In with what it's got. I think the UNC system is one of the top five public university systems in this country, in terms of having multiple campuses that aren't mere extensions of the main one, and I think UNCC needs to get Board of Regents support for its fullest growth and development. Basically, I dream of it being like UCLA is to Berkeley--both equally well known, even if one is the older, more officially established and slightly more prestigious campus. Charlotte just needs to redouble its support and promotion of it as an outstanding UNC school.

Davidson has blown up in the national consciousness in the past decade, even. I was in college in the '90s, and I feel even then it was still 'just' a good regional school, which not many people outside the Carolinas really knew about. I remember a friend who had gone to W&L telling me that opinion was, at that time, Davidson was considered the most academically rigorous in its league, with the least grade inflation, but not feeling like it was necessarily common knowledge. Now kids are coming to Davidson from all up and down the eastern seaboard, at least. As Charlotte grows in size, Davidson's 15 mile distance from downtown isn't going to seem all that far. Northwestern's got to be at least 10 miles from downtown Chicago, and Stanford and Berkeley are each several miles outside San Francisco, and I think Charlotte just needs to encourage the perception that Davidson is adjacent. And of course the Red Line connecting it wouldn't hurt.

I know the public perception isn't there yet, but I think (eventually) having a noteworthy branch of a top public university system and leading private college both associated with the city is pretty good. There just needs to be better 'messaging' about them and their proximity/relation to Charlotte--in addition to continuing actual improvements in their offerings, resources and faculty, of course.         

Edited by ertley
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North Carolina has ~10 million people. The reputation of the in state public universities is highly dependent on the quality of students graduating from K - 12 in this state who are the most likely to attend the public universities. Elevate the quality of students graduating from 12th grade and churn out students with high ACT / SAT scores, lots of AP / IB coursework, et... and the reputation of the in state public universities will follow. You can then create an atmosphere of competition and selectivity among the in state public schools that increases their reputation on the national scale and begins recruiting students from outside of state lines.

Schools like UC San Diego have risen in reputation because the state of California produces more top ranking students at the K-12 level than there are seats at UCLA and UC Berkeley. I don't think North Carolina has hit that ceiling, hence acceptance rates climb up to the ~60% rate at the campuses after NC State. Chapel Hill's acceptance rate is 27%, then you step up NC State at 48%, et.... Meanwhile California is so short on seats for their in state students that regional universities like Cal State - Long Beach have an acceptance rate comparable to North Carolina's flagship. This has pushed campuses like UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Davis, and UC Santa Barbara into the top 50 on the US News and World Report ranking. 

Edited by CLT2014
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1 hour ago, CLT2014 said:

This has pushed campuses like UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UC Davis, and UC Santa Barbara into the top 50 on the US News and World Report ranking. 

This is what I hope to see UNC Charlotte more and more like. All the UC campuses aside from the big 2 are incredible schools that benefited from increased education emphasis at the K12 level, as well as superior state support and private donors. The UNC BoG is the roadblock to all success for all UNC campuses. UNC Chapel Hill and NC State are somewhat immune, but the others will continue to struggle the more partisan that board becomes, and the more partisan our state government becomes. The focus currently, is on STEM education, and that's great and all, but part of the standard higher ed needs some liberal arts focus. 

As an alumni of UNC Charlotte, I have never been more proud of the school than I am today, and that's a large part of the great education I received. I would only hope for the same for all Charlotteans, and I can't wait to see the city, and state, finally embrace the jewel in its back yard. 

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5 hours ago, thenewkage95 said:


Thanks for pulling those stats. In keeping in line with my previous statement. I know how crucial it is to have a large enough population to support your economic grown. What can Charlotte do to boost growth? Outside of hosting the Olympics, Atlanta had to have done something different to grow that rapidly. I mean...Salt Lake City hosted the Olympics and didn’t grow that drastically as a result.


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I personally don't think Charlotte's priority should be boosting growth.  The current growth is very good.  What we need to do is grow without encouraging sprawl because housing is affordable.  Continue to invest in density and transit.  The growth will keep coming.

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Agreed^

on a side note regarding schools: I took some classes at CPCC just to do it and keep my brain juices flowing, and  from my experience, I don’t think that school gets enough praise! It’s truly affordable and even if your going to just supplement some things like taking an advance course or attempting to get certified in a certain discipline, it’s an amazing jewel in our own back yard. I took some Econ coursework just to do it. Ended up meeting one of my best friends who happened to be from Honk Kong. He’s now a millionaire many times over and is one of the brightest traders I know. He started his journey at CPCC, transferred  to UNCC, then went on to Chapel Hill.

I guess what I’m saying is don't discount the institutions that are so beneficial to our community even if it’s a CC. So many people need a foundation that won’t leave them saddled with debt and I am super proud of the people I meet who are a product of that institution. 

As for UNCC, truly a great school. I just don’t think it gets the national recognition it deserves.

 

 

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3 hours ago, A2. said:

Agreed^

on a side note regarding schools: I took some classes at CPCC just to do it and keep my brain juices flowing, and  from my experience, I don’t think that school gets enough praise! It’s truly affordable and even if your going to just supplement some things like taking an advance course or attempting to get certified in a certain discipline, it’s an amazing jewel in our own back yard. I took some Econ coursework just to do it. Ended up meeting one of my best friends who happened to be from Honk Kong. He’s now a millionaire many times over and is one of the brightest traders I know. He started his journey at CPCC, transferred  to UNCC, then went on to Chapel Hill.

 

CPCC is regarded as in the top 5% of community colleges in USA and I too have have taken classes there including conversational Japanese and several real estate classes.  Now I can't read it but Japanese spoken is not too hard.  and believe it or  not I had to yell out some Japanese to some Japanese tourists in Hawaii when I was taking some surfing lessons.

こんにちはy'allはドーナツのために行く

Edited by KJHburg
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1 minute ago, KJHburg said:

CPCC is regarded as in the top 5% of community colleges in USA and I too have have taken classes there including conversational Japanese and several real estate classes.  Now I can't read it but Japanese spoken is not too hard. 

こんにちはy'allはドーナツのために行く

I understood the Y’all part of it! :lol:

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1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

One of the reasons NC is growing slightly faster than Georgia is our multiple "engines"  Charlotte, Raleigh Durham, Wilmington and Asheville.    NC has more nodes of growths than Georgia does.

But let me tell you one area where Georgia beats both Carolinas combined and that would be in ports.  Savannah (4th largest container port in USA)  is larger than Charleston, Wilmington and Morehead City combined.  Little Brunswick Georgia is 2nd busiest in the nation as a RoRo port roll on roll off.  Georgia can and does move the goods no doubt.  The smaller ports of NC have hurt NC with some manufacturers especially.     http://gaports.com/

But it is remarkable how similar Georgia and NC are in totality look at the US Census figures

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/GA,NC/PST045218

Time for the gang in Raleigh to get back to work! We need to compete in this critical infrastructure. I can’t see why we wouldn’t want more robust ports. If for nothing else, it really expedites goods to market in the Mid-Atlantic markets. 

On a side note, how does Savannah stack up with Charleston? 

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44 minutes ago, A2. said:

Time for the gang in Raleigh to get back to work! We need to compete in this critical infrastructure. I can’t see why we wouldn’t want more robust ports. If for nothing else, it really expedites goods to market in the Mid-Atlantic markets. 

On a side note, how does Savannah stack up with Charleston? 

I forget where I read it but I read that in a recent year-perhaps last year-Wilmington  processed ~225k TEU (Twenty ft Equivalent Units) of containers, Charleston processed 1.8M and Savannah processed 3.4M.  So to answer your question, Savannah process about 2 times the volume of Charleston which processes about 8 times the volume of Wilmington.

North Carolina has, of late, made some heavy investments in the port of Wilmington. Within the past few years they have added several of the neo Panamax cranes, dredged the channel, and widened the turning basin to allow for the passage of  12,000 TEU ships which are significantly larger than the old 5,000-8,000 TEU ships that were the max size the port could handle just a few years ago.  At the moment they can accommodate two of the 12,000 TEU ships simultaneously and they are currently planning on widening the turning basin and deepening the channel to accommodate 14,000 TEU ships which are supposedly the largest that routinely call east coast ports.  They also, I believe, helped to get the Queen City Express intermodal container service between the port and Charlotte, and I believe that service has since increased to a daily service from a 2-3x weekly service.  
 

All that said, where Wilmington faces ostensible challenges is in it’s distance from open ocean, it’s lack of at least two class I railroads, and the fact that there is no freeway connecting a Charlotte directly to Wilmington.  With respect to the distance to open ocean, while some think this is an Achilles heel, I honestly believe that is pretty much a moot point considering that the main port facilities in Savannah are also fairly far upstream on a river that is not particularly wide.  With regard to the lack of two class 1 railroads, there isn’t much NC can do there other than extend a branch line from the NCRR to Wilmington to allow NS to seve the terminals.  The biggest thing NC could do to help drive business to the port, and also the one they have the most control over, is to build an interstate to the port from Charlotte.  I believe most of the traffic coming into or departing from Wilmington originates/terminates it’s trip in metro Charlotte.  An interstate connection To Charlotte would likely drive even more cargo through Wilmington.   
 

Some other ideas I’ve personally thought of to drive more ship traffic and therefore more commerce to Wilmington: NCSPA could add some RoRo facilities (NCSPA has no dedicated RoRo facilities) and perhaps work to extend the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to Wilmington and create a natural gas export terminal.  Also N.C. could try to create a large distribution and manufacturing cluster in New Hanover and Brunswick counties such as those in/near Charleston and Savannah.

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I forget where I read it but I read that in a recent year-perhaps last year-Wilmington  processed ~225k TEU (Twenty ft Equivalent Units) of containers, Charleston processed 1.8M and Savannah processed 3.4M.  So to answer your question, Savannah process about 2 times the volume of Charleston which processes about 8 times the volume of Wilmington.
North Carolina has, of late, made some heavy investments in the port of Wilmington. Within the past few years they have added several of the neo Panamax cranes, dredged the channel, and widened the turning basin to allow for the passage of  12,000 TEU ships which are significantly larger than the old 5,000-8,000 TEU ships that were the max size the port could handle just a few years ago.  At the moment they can accommodate two of the 12,000 TEU ships simultaneously and they are currently planning on widening the turning basin and deepening the channel to accommodate 14,000 TEU ships which are supposedly the largest that routinely call east coast ports.  They also, I believe, helped to get the Queen City Express intermodal container service between the port and Charlotte, and I believe that service has since increased to a daily service from a 2-3x weekly service.  
 
All that said, where Wilmington faces ostensible challenges is in it’s distance from open ocean, it’s lack of at least two class I railroads, and the fact that there is no freeway connecting a Charlotte directly to Wilmington.  With respect to the distance to open ocean, while some think this is an Achilles heel, I honestly believe that is pretty much a moot point considering that the main port facilities in Savannah are also fairly far upstream on a river that is not particularly wide.  With regard to the lack of two class 1 railroads, there isn’t much NC can do there other than extend a branch line from the NCRR to Wilmington to allow NS to seve the terminals.  The biggest thing NC could do to help drive business to the port, and also the one they have the most control over, is to build an interstate to the port from Charlotte.  I believe most of the traffic coming into or departing from Wilmington originates/terminates it’s trip in metro Charlotte.  An interstate connection To Charlotte would likely drive even more cargo through Wilmington.   
 
Some other ideas I’ve personally thought of to drive more ship traffic and therefore more commerce to Wilmington: NCSPA could add some RoRo facilities (NCSPA has no dedicated RoRo facilities) and perhaps work to extend the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to Wilmington and create a natural gas export terminal.  Also N.C. could try to create a large distribution and manufacturing cluster in New Hanover and Brunswick counties such as those in/near Charleston and Savannah.

That’s what I’ve been saying for years. Upgrade highway 74 to an interstate all the way to Wilmington. NC loves to build a ton of interstates to absolutely nowhere in every other part of the state except for Charlotte. The Triad has more interstates than the triangle which has more interstates than Charlotte. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying more interstates is better, but simply having an interstate from Charlotte to the coast would prove very beneficial in the long run I feel. You’ve provided more than enough reasoning to support that.


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8 hours ago, cltbwimob said:

 

All that said, where Wilmington faces ostensible challenges is in it’s distance from open ocean, 

 

Which means a LOT more dredging to keep the channel open with such a high sediment factor of Cape Fear River.

Don't you think that Morehead City is a competing factor too?  Savannah is Georgia's only port. Charleston is S.C's only whereas we have two.

I really don't understand the big deal in using Charleston or Savannah myself.  The water around those ports is pretty dirty compared to Kure Beach and Bald Head Island.  I'd almost rather have clean beaches.

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North Carolina was thinly settled for its first two centuries due to the riverine difficulties. Much of the coast was swampy, shallow and navigation was dangerous. The few rivers were also shallow and not navigable to a significant extent. The Cape Fear River was the only river into the interior worth using and the fall line was at Fayetteville. These waterway limitations put inland farmers in subsistence agriculture as shipping was impossible without waterways. When rail came things changed though we were so far behind our neighbor states of Virginia and South Carolina that matching their growth took more decades. The port situations of Hampton Roads and Charleston are due to these historic advantages of those locations.

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