Perception of Charlotte Nationwide

[Raintree21]

She said that she had a nine hour layover in Charlotte so her and her friends rented a car and tried to find something to do but could only come up with some seafood place in what turned out to be somewhere near 85. So, either this lady can't read a map and tell where a CBD is, or we don't have enough up near the airport to let people know where the action is at.

She must have been sleeping when the plane landed because the planes circle around downtown and quite often their landing approach gives a great view of downtown. That would have given her an idea of where things might be at. Then there's a crazy idea like asking for directions from someone at the airport or at the car rental place.

[krazeeboi]

Might have been because of the Democratic debate at SCSU last Thursday - MSNBC aired the debate.

Yep, held in my hometown of Orangeburg, SC!

As to aussie luke's encounter with some Jacksonvillians, it never ceases to amaze me how people try to assess everything about a city based on something so trivial. I can see if she were here for a few days for a convention, but you say that the town is boring based on eating at a seafood restaurant while on a layover? I mean, really?

[monsoon]

..... You don't think "small" when you hear Boston, Miami, Chicago, etc. Why do people still think that about Charlotte?

Here's a thought for you, compared to those places, Charlotte is small.

[nowensone]

She said that she had a nine hour layover in Charlotte so her and her friends rented a car and tried to find something to do but could only come up with some seafood place in what turned out to be somewhere near 85. So, either this lady can't read a map and tell where a CBD is, or we don't have enough up near the airport to let people know where the action is at.

The tree lined boulevards surrounding the airport are rather empty and desolate, and seemingly endless, it is easy to see how one gets this impression. Never-the-less, people should get called on BS like flying into a place and then having the nerve to form an opinion based on this, you should have ripped her a new one (verbally).

[voyager12]

There are few cities that have airports located in attractive parts of town. They are purposely placed near industrial and shipping facilities because of business needs and most people don't want to live near them. So it's hard to judge a city by this standard. I do like seeing Charlotte's skyline rising phoenix like as I arrive and leave on flights, it's very modern and cool.

[New Name]

speaking of view from a circling plane (from last sunday morning):

[Raintree21]

Just watched CBS Sports come back from commercial break to the Wachovia Championship. The words of the announcers were:

"Welcome to Charlotte, here at Quail Hollow Country Club for the Wachovia Championship....Charlotte, NC the Queen City of the South where the top 10 of the PGA have come to compete

[voyager12]

The Sunday NYT Real Estate Section had an article on Sperling's "Best Places to Live". NC was represented with Raleigh in the top 10 places for young couples. Cary for young families with children and Asheville in the retiree category. I suppose Raleigh continues to have an edge over us because of RTP and the research universities.

[Raintree21]

The Sunday NYT Real Estate Section had an article on Sperling's "Best Places to Live". NC was represented with Raleigh in the top 10 places for young couples. Cary for young families with children and Asheville in the retiree category. I suppose Raleigh continues to have an edge over us because of RTP and the research universities.

Raleigh-Durham is ALWAYS listed over us for some reason. Only thing I can think of are the universities and RTP. Even on MSN, when they do their "Best place to...." feature, they list Raleigh-Durham. When I emailed them asking why Charlotte was not listed instead and gave a list of reasons why it should be, I never got a response.

Edited May 6, 2007 by Raintree21

[AuLukey]

Here's a thought for you, compared to those places, Charlotte is small.

Well, of course. But, my point was in hopes that someday Charlotte may be recognized among the sub-elite. So as Rain said "on the rise," I can't wait for the day where we are considered "risen."

[frodo328]

First post. I think the Wachovia Championship has quickly become a great event for Charlotte. I don't follow golf too much, but it's a highly (if not one of the most) regarded stops on the PGA tour now and is really an asset to the city.

As far as Cary goes, I think it really is a great place to live and I believe the rankings. I grew up in Charlote and am moving back shortly, but have spent a number of years in nearby Chapel Hill now. Cary is definitely suburban, but for most people, it has a lot of things to offer - large educated class, high incomes, large variety of restaurants, safe.

[Sabaidee]

The Sunday NYT Real Estate Section had an article on Sperling's "Best Places to Live". NC was represented with Raleigh in the top 10 places for young couples. Cary for young families with children and Asheville in the retiree category. I suppose Raleigh continues to have an edge over us because of RTP and the research universities.

I get kind of annoyed when any news media is doing the weather segment and on the national map it's like Atlanta, RALEIGH, than Washington, DC. The Weather Channel alternates every other time from showing Charlotte or Raleigh on the national maps, the same is thing happens with Memphis and Nashville.

When I'm at school, the perception statewide about Charlotte isn't about envy but more of an annoyance. If I meet anyone from Raleigh and I tell them I'm from Charlotte I get an annoyed reaction.

[nyxmike]

I get kind of annoyed when any news media is doing the weather segment and on the national map it's like Atlanta, RALEIGH, than Washington, DC. The Weather Channel alternates every other time from showing Charlotte or Raleigh on the national maps, the same is thing happens with Memphis and Nashville.

When I'm at school, the perception statewide about Charlotte isn't about envy but more of an annoyance. If I meet anyone from Raleigh and I tell them I'm from Charlotte I get an annoyed reaction.

Why do you think people are annoyed by it? Did you ever ask them why they reacted that way? Just curious

[Charlotte_native]

I get kind of annoyed when any news media is doing the weather segment and on the national map it's like Atlanta, RALEIGH, than Washington, DC. The Weather Channel alternates every other time from showing Charlotte or Raleigh on the national maps, the same is thing happens with Memphis and Nashville.

When I'm at school, the perception statewide about Charlotte isn't about envy but more of an annoyance. If I meet anyone from Raleigh and I tell them I'm from Charlotte I get an annoyed reaction.

Don't forget Raleigh is the capital so it has been "the" North Carolina city on these kinds of maps for some time, if not for as long as there have been national televised media. Old habits.

[Sabaidee]

Why do you think people are annoyed by it? Did you ever ask them why they reacted that way? Just curious

I go to a historic black college, Winston-Salem State University. Roughly half the population of WSSU's 6000 students are from Charlotte and this figure is similar with all the other major historic black colleges in North Carolina such as North Carolina Central and North Carolina A&T. This is because Charlotte lacks a large public black college, Johnson C. Smith is a small private and religion affilated school. The Triad has WSSU and NC A&T, Triangle has NC Central and Raleigh has 2 or 3 private black colleges. I guess other students from other parts of North Carolina get annoyed by Charlotteans because we make up about half the student body and we are proud to be from Charlotte.

Don't forget Raleigh is the capital so it has been "the" North Carolina city on these kinds of maps for some time, if not for as long as there have been national televised media. Old habits.

Charlotte also has been the largest city in North Carolina for quite some times.

Edited May 7, 2007 by Shawn&Zae

[Charlotte_native]

Charlotte also has been the largest city in North Carolina for quite some times.

True, but Charlotte hasn't been "so" much bigger for all that much time. When I was much younger, in the 70's, Charlotte wasn't really all that much smaller than the RDU area and they tended to get a lot more attention for many reasons, one being major nationally known colleges and universities all located very close to each other. Athletics and graduates moving all over the country made a lot more people aware of the Raleigh area than of Charlotte. Our explosive growth is really not much more than 20 years old. That seems like a long time, but to those outside the region, it has taken time for them to notice.

[Raintree21]

A quick look at Wikipedia shows these statistics (they only show Charlotte back to 1940 so I didn't include pre-40's for Raleigh). But they show that Charlotte has been ahead of Raleigh in terms of population for quite some time now.

Raleigh Census

year Population

1940 46,879

1950 65,679

1960 93,931

1970 122,830

1980 150,255

1990 212,092

2000 276,093

Charlotte Census

year Population

1940 100,899

1950 134,042

1960 201,564

1970 241,178

1980 315,473

1990 395,934

2000 540,828

[AuLukey]

Oh boy let's not make this into another Charlotte vs Raleigh thread. Just a simple blurb here to sum it all up. Charlotte as a city is much larger than Raleigh, however, in the grand scheme of things, Charlotte as a metro is only a little larger than the Triangle metro. Their layouts and design are completely different so the perception of Raleigh in the eyes of a Charlottean is that it is much smaller.

One of our city's problems is that it doesn't really have one set thing that we stick out in. Not a lot of people (as in typical Americans) are going to care that we are the second largest banking city in the country. We are not a hugely marketable city because our name is not already out there.Vegas had casinos long before thousands of people started migrating there. People are migrating to both Charlotte and Raleigh because they are great places to live, there are a lot of jobs, the weather and environment are relatively tepid compared to most other parts of the country (ie few hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, earthquakes.) Despite the fact that this area is a great place to live, it still won't make Charlotte part of the everyday table conversation. Charlotte needs something to put it on the map for most people. Whether that is the NHOF, Quail Hollow, Trump, who knows? I think the same is true with Portland, Raleigh, Nashville, San Jose, and Columbus. They don't have something that sticks out to most normal Americans so even though they are large cities, they aren't perceived that way. We all know they are because we care to find out more than most people, but most people aren't going to take that time to learn about the lesser known large American cities.

[Guest]

Winston Salem was actually the last largest city in NC, I believe we surpassed them in 1931, at a population of around 80k. I agree with what aussie has to say, charlotte has not had the oppurtunity to be home to something of groundbreaking attention. The closest we have had is the Panthers getting to the superbowl, and even so they are the Carolina Panthers not the Charlotte Panthers. Honestly I believe the nascar hall of fame isn't very groundbreaking, it only reaches a small sector of the american people, whether nascar is the fastest growing sport or not. I its is going to have regional draw, but I doubt many people will travel to charlotte just to see the nascar hall of fame. Charlotte needs to make strides at becoming a week vacation stop, not a gas stop. I think we are starting to approach being a weekend getaway, but we still have a little ways to go. To address this situation I created a little to do list for charlotte.

To do List:

Downtown Destination Retail

New Museums

Aquarium/Zoo

Improved appearance and connectivity from charlotte to lake norman

Continued beautification of the area.

Play off of whitewater center, create a outdoorsy atmosphere

International districts or focus'

A ligitament less corporate arts district, that must evolve on its own.

Success of the Music Factory

Connectivity to all of the major attractions.

Attract additional major conventions

Attract major concerts

Demand better development by creating more sensible restrictions (make developers give back to the neighborhoods/city)

Encourage Developer Partnerships to create a more unique and less generic urban fabric.

Help East, West and North Charlotte. Locate something ground breaking there to start a rennaissance.

Camden could be an excellent walking district, and the area around should be oriented to utilize this fact.

TOD needs to be made to a pedestrian scale, with exception of the scaleybark station which cannot be helped.

Do all these things and we have a chance to become a national city.

Edited May 7, 2007 by Guest

[Charlotte_native]

I was only referring to perceptions, not stats. We all know the actual numbers. Combine that with the metro area of Raleigh and the various cities included in it and the fact that it is the capital of the state, it doesn't surprise me that on some maps that only include a city or two from any given area that Raleigh is present. This is, by no means, a Raleigh vs. Charlotte thought to me, just facts. Nothing to ruffle feathers in either place -- merely giving my opinion as to why someone saw Raleigh on a Weather Channel map that didn't include Charlotte!! sheesh. I am far from being worried about whether one is "better" than the other, my dad lives in Durham, I live here, I have lots of family in Raleigh. Why is it a big deal anyway?

[PlazaMidwoodGuy]

I get kind of annoyed when any news media is doing the weather segment and on the national map it's like Atlanta, RALEIGH, than Washington, DC. The Weather Channel alternates every other time from showing Charlotte or Raleigh on the national maps, the same is thing happens with Memphis and Nashville.

I wouldn't read too much into that. In fact, the folks on the Weather Channel are usually so busy talking about Atlanta that they don't have time to mention many other cities.

[peaceloveunderstanding]

Charlotte needs something to put it on the map for most people. Whether that is the NHOF, Quail Hollow, Trump, who knows? I think the same is true with Portland, Raleigh, Nashville, San Jose, and Columbus. They don't have something that sticks out to most normal Americans so even though they are large cities, they aren't perceived that way. We all know they are because we care to find out more than most people, but most people aren't going to take that time to learn about the lesser known large American cities.

I'd rather be San Jose than, say, New Orleans, a town that focuses so much of its energies on tourism.

In Charlotte, GovCo chasing tourism seems to be a misplacement of priorities, to me at least.

Edited May 8, 2007 by moonshield

[krazeeboi]

^But national media outlets can't figure out which state it's in, so they just play it safe and go with Raleigh.

[Charlotte_native]

^But national media outlets can't figure out which state it's in, so they just play it safe and go with Raleigh.

Well our metro area does straddle the line of NC/SC and we choose to name our football team for the region and not the city.

[voyager12]

Why don't we have a mass outdoor nude pic like Mexico City did the other day? Any suggestions of where in the city? That would put us on the map

Edited May 8, 2007 by voyager12