Things you Love/Dislike about Charlotte

[atownrocks]

Saw this on another forum. List 5 things that you love about Charlotte and 5 things you dislike about Charlotte. Here are mine:

Like:

1.)Lots of Attrative Area's.

2.)Great looking skyline.

3.)Lot's of new devopments.

4.)More public transit.

5.)Great housing

6.)(For good luck) Lot's to do.

Dislike:

1.)Not enough nightlife in Uptown.

2.)Not enough shopping in Uptown.

3.)Humidity

4.)Traffic

5.)Still to Conservative

[MZT]

1) Strong job growth here

2) Restaurant selection is pretty good

3) Affordable housing

4) Clean "downtown" with few panhandlers

5) Better transit options than most southern cities

---

1) Bland, mass produced subdivisions

2) Sprawls to the point, you need a good reason to visit "the other side of town"

3) Dysfunctional school board

4) Summer smog

5) Too much stuff closes by 9:00

---

In between comment to elaborate on #1. Charlotte doesn't have many REALLY bad areas (bars on the windows of houses, drug dealers walking up to your car) but it does have a lot of marginal neighborhoods that don't feel very well maintained.

[mallguy]

Likes:

1. Generally pleasant people.

2. Good airport with cheap parking.

3. Not overcrowded.

4. Widespread availability of generally well-paying jobs; at least more than in smaller Southern cities.

5. Churchgoing culture.

6. Not too conservative (e.g., Greenville, SC) and not too liberal (e.g., Cambridge, MA).

Dislikes:

1. Boring; not much to do and there isn't a going-out type culture even remotely close to what New York and some larger cities have.

2. Sprawl.

3. Bible-beaters and in-your-face fundamentalists (such as work colleagues who put Bible verses on their email auto-signatures but who are complete jerks).

4. High taxes for a non-Northeastern city (sorry, we need to be like New York in ways other than this).

[Rickydavisfan21]

Likes:

1. Amazing Skyline

2. Myers Park, Eastover, Southpark, Dilworth, Foxcroft, and Pellyn Wood

3. Southpark Mall

4. Trees

5. NoDa, Central Ave, Plaza-Midwood, Southend

Dislikes:

1. smog

2. traffic

3. Ballantyne, great place I just hate suburban spawl with a passion of a million fires, have you ever been in the bissell box at BofA stadium, its just full of ballantyne pix and stuff, they are too proud.

4. Lack of apparent history, especially architecturally, there are a lot of icons we could have saved

5. Sprawl

Moderate:

1. Nightlife, its good enough

[swampfox43]

LIKES:

1) the weather

2) the size

3) the large trees

4) the people

5) the fact that I have lived here 42 years and know my way around

DISLIKES:

1) the Dept. of Transportation (whose primary goal is to impeed traffic flow)

2) the Dept. of Landscape & Maintenance (why design these beautiful medians or

interchanges and rarely if ever maintain them?)

3) the lack of foresight by city leaders (this has always been a problem here)

4) the litter & cigarette butts that have infiltrated every roadway in the city.

5) the lack of inspiring architecture for medium size office buildings (all bland, unlike

Atlanta for example)

6) the lack of courteous drivers - I am not a mind reader, USE YOUR TURN SIGNAL!

[Miesian Corners]

Likes:

Dislikes:

4. High taxes for a non-Northeastern city (sorry, we need to be like New York in ways other than this).

Not sure I understand this statement. See below.

Property Taxes (Real)

Effective Tax Rate - City Per $100

Washington, DC $0.96

Virginia Beach, VA 1.11

Charlotte, NC 1.22

Minneapolis, MN 1.27

Columbia, SC 1.45

Indianapolis, IN 1.50

Phoenix, AZ 1.82

Atlanta, GA 1.87

Jacksonville, FL 1.96

Houston, TX 2.62

Newark, NJ 2.95

Bridgeport, CT 3.86

Source: Statistical Abstract of United States, 2004-2005

[Temeteron]

Likes: Is so diverse for a city it's size compared to other cities

Skyline is beautiful

Retail sector is improving tremendously

Growing rapidly(healthy growth)

The fact that there are so many nothern transplants, it gives the city diversity other than just international diversity

SP Mall

The city in general has so much potential

Showmars

Not as conservative as other parts of the Carolinas/Southeast

Light Rail

Condos and Epicentre boom in uptown

Dislikes: Downtown can use more restaurants/shops/life (although it has been improving)

Highways need more lighting especially I-77, there are no reflectors!

Downtown is very crammed compared to others such as Columbia, Atlanta, Miami, Baltimore, etc.

Too many Sharon Rds. Sharon Rd, Sharon Ln, Sharon Lakes, etc.

South Blvd needs a median badly

It's usually underated nationally

Sometimes too conservative

Entirely too many Harris Teeters and needs to have Publix and/or others to enter the market

Entirely too many Bojangles and needs to have Popeyes, and/or others to enter the market

Not enough upscale shopping being supported and has repetitive locations of American Eagle, Gap, Wal-mart, Target and other stores that can be found everywhere

The ethnic areas arent named "China-Town" or Little Mexico" and there is no particular Greek town or Little Italy unlike other cities

[krazeeboi]

Wow, I never thought I'd see the day that Tem expressed dislikes about Charlotte.

But I do agree about Popeyes being a good alternative to Bojangles. And not only could I-77 use more lighting, but it could also stand to be resurfaced and widened. But alas, we've got to get I-485 out of the way first.

[Rickydavisfan21]

So I was looking at emporis and found out some cities that I expected to be bigger than charlotte are actually smaller than charlotte, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Denver, St. Louis, etc. We really should have something more exciting, hopefully we can you know gain some recognition. I don't think its that we are underrated, I think we are actually rated like we should be, we have a lot of people within the city proper and we should start acting like it, this city really has a lot of work to do

[DigitalSky]

I agree.... I wish people wouldn't have to say "Charlotte, North Carolina"... Charlotte needs to be recognized on a one-name basis.... just Charlotte.... everyone knows Cleveland, Milwaukee, Denver, St. Louis without adding their state name at the end..

[mallguy]

Not sure I understand this statement. See below.

Property Taxes (Real)

Effective Tax Rate - City Per $100

Washington, DC $0.96

Virginia Beach, VA 1.11

Charlotte, NC 1.22

Minneapolis, MN 1.27

Columbia, SC 1.45

Indianapolis, IN 1.50

Phoenix, AZ 1.82

Atlanta, GA 1.87

Jacksonville, FL 1.96

Houston, TX 2.62

Newark, NJ 2.95

Bridgeport, CT 3.86

Source: Statistical Abstract of United States, 2004-2005

What isn't clear?

First, this list came out before the City Council increased property taxes, so it isn't up to date.

Second, so Minneapolis, Columbia, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Atlanta, Jacksonville and Houston had higher property tax rates than Charlotte did in 2004. That doesn't necessarily mean that Charlotte's are low enough for me, especially as other state and local taxes that affect me in Charlotte are higher than in some other areas.

Third, if Washington, DC and Norfolk (both of which have large Federal government properties, thus both of which have sizeable pieces of land subject to low and/or no property taxes, but still have lower tax rates than Charlotte) have lower tax rates, so should Charlotte, by my standards.

[Miesian Corners]

^You get what you pay for. As an example, Minneapolis has the best public park system in the country. That's worth the cost IMO.

[MZT]

Popeye's? Ick. Grease galore. Don't need it. Any more than Crystal Burger.

I can nitpick Charlotte, but I have not seen anywhere else within 60 miles of here that would make any more sense to live in, and there's nowhere within 150 miles with as much opportunity.

I would not mind moving all that much-- I've lived in several metros now, and kind of like change and having an excuse to explore a new place. But I really dislike interviewing for a new job!

Charlotte is a city reinventing itself though. It's a place you can live in, and witness the pace of change. I can't really say that about other locales I've been. They were simply becoming larger versions of what they already were.

[voyager12]

Likes: Friendly People- I moved from Charleston which has won Miss Manners most polite city in the country for over a decade. I find Charlotteans to be equally as nice. Very clean for a city its size. Cute distinctive neighborhoods. I love the feeling of being in a city that is constantly improving itself. The new projects in uptown,midtown etc will create much needed walkable districts and make this place even better. Dislikes: Conservative vibe: although I don't find it to be as stifling as other transplants claim . The whole point of being open minded is respecting opposing views. Charlotte is a tolerant place and has a strong and growing progressive minority The only time I have had a liberal sticker vandalized in NC was in Asheville of all places. Not Charlotte. Not enough concentration on funding innovative and cutting edge art. Also, Charlotte does not embrace its growing diversity enough. Concentrating on improving the South and Central corridors through beautification and festivals could really enhance already rapidly growing and wonderfully vibrant multicultural neighborhoods.

[Ryepow]

LIKES:

1. The next big project is two years away

2. Skyline

3. Clean city

4. Excellent Football stadium, and uptown arena

5. Great Airport

DISLIKES:

1. The next big project is two year away

2. Pay to park in garages uptown on weekends

3. Cabs are expensive

4. Everything closes too early

5. Venues/attractions are not used to it's full potential.

[monsoon]

Likes - UrbanPlanet.org is based in Charlotte.

(anyone who has been here for a while, know where I stand on the good and bad of the city)

[krazeeboi]

I agree.... I wish people wouldn't have to say "Charlotte, North Carolina"... Charlotte needs to be recognized on a one-name basis.... just Charlotte.... everyone knows Cleveland, Milwaukee, Denver, St. Louis without adding their state name at the end..

That would probably be the case if there wasn't a Charlottesville, VA, or a Charleston in the neighboring state. People get their "Ch"s mixed up a lot.

[A2]

LIKES:

1. The next big project is two years away

DISLIKES:

1. The next big project is two year away

I totally agree with that Ryepow.

A2

[Jerseyman4]

Likes

NC's largest city

Southpark Mall

Uptown

Most of the main boulevards are 4 lanes or greater

Friendly people for a city of its size

Carolina Panthers

Dislikes

The pain of getting there primarly from the north and east

Red Light Cameras

Speed Cameras

Crime (i dont just watch WSOC, i know people in the Queen City)

Charlotte Hornets are gone (yes i know the bobcats are there but its not the same)

[Newnan]

Likes: Up and coming city

has a great and improving skyline

has a great business climate

Dislikes: You all seem to want a really big metro, a big skyline, and more renown too soon. 25 years ago, everybody in Atlanta wanted that, and while its good we have a lot of that stuff now, all of us probably regret not enjoying being a smaller quiter metro while we had the chance. It will come for you all too soon, don't worry. I don't really have any more dislikes other than that.