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Perception of Charlotte Nationwide

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15895 City

15895

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From the AP

Unions wary of Dems' convention plans in NC

..........In many other ways, Charlotte makes perfect sense as the site of the convention. A bustling city of more than 700,000 with a popular Democratic mayor, the Queen City is both a center of the American banking industry and a symbol of the New South.

More and more stories calling us the Queen City and highlighting the fact that we're the symbol of the New South and that we are a bustling city :tough:

Edited by AirNostrumMAD
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Tyrone Wiggum
Tyrone Wiggum

Not a threadjack, but having not been uptown for more than a few hours in at least three years, spending the weekend in the QC was an eye-opener.  Just for point of reference, the only three cities I'

KJHburg
KJHburg

I always tell people Charlotte is the perfect location.  I can my leave my suburban Charlotte home and have lunch in Asheville or be driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway and back to sleep in my bed that

QCxpat
QCxpat

William O'Connor's story in The Daily Beast (01/12/2019) about his recent Southern road trip and stay in Charlotte is a real delight.  Photo of Charlotte  - Getty Mr. O'Connor, who grew up i

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krazeeboi Gigalopolis

krazeeboi

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The good news is they didn't refer to us as "Charlotte, North Carolina."

The bad news is they referred to us as "Charlotte, South Carolina."

Link to a Daily Mail article

(To be fair, it is a British paper.)

They were probably thinking about Charleston, especially since the article was about earthquakes and Charleston sits on a fault line (and had a devastating earthquake not too long after the Civil War).

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aceboogie Whistle-Stop

aceboogie

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The only city in California that was is worth mentioning that existed before the automobile was the San Francisco. I would personally put Charlotte up against any city in New York except NYC. Too many on this board have no concept of Charlotte before 1970. Downtown thrieved and walking from Five Points to Elizabeth or Fourth Ward to Southend wasn't anything unusual. Cities outside of the sunbelt have not had growth patterns like the south. Unfortunately, most of the south is newly build due to growth patterns. People move to this area to have big yards for their children to play and to have Bar-B-Ques and enjoy the outside. The age of cohesive ethnic ghettoes of northeastern citiesfor which many elude has gone away. Corner stores in the city are not feasible now with the cost of land, etc. We do have some really nice neighborhoods that are trying to bring patterns back as they were in the good old days and that is great. But, Charlotte was once a thrieving city for its size with the trolly cars, pedestrians, and all of the things for which so many are aware.

Many of my friends in London would move here in a hearts beat if they could. They often visit and love the area. They have no problems finding wonderful parks to walk or run, and excellent shopping. The corner shop and small cafe in London is also dying due to costs, etc. I would love to have the corner shop and mom and pop businesses, but that is a thing of the past in most cases.

Added to your neighborhoods of NoDa and Belmont, I would like to add Fourth Ward where my mom grew up, Elizabeth, Southend, Dilworth, Davidson (the town), Cornelius, Baxter, Selwin Village, and downtown Concord to name a few more. :)

This is so true! I thought I was the only one who realized this. When you look at photos of Charlotte from the the 1950s and 1960s it is highly pedestrian friendly, walkable neighborhoods, and DT retail. I recommend everyone to go the Levine Museum of the New South and look at the permanent exhibit "Cottonfields to Skyscrapers" and see the growth of Charlotte. It is truly inspiring and amazing to see the transformation of Charlotte. I wish that some of the gentrification did not mess up great neighborhoods such as Brooklyn and 2nd Ward High School.

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southslider Town

southslider

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^I disagree with the above assertion that the corner shop is a thing of the past. Granted, it is largely gone, if thought as a convenience store, save areas dense enough to provide enough customers within walking proximity. But despite the driving behavior of most consumers, the corner shop has evolved, becoming a social space.

There is a reason Common Market has boomed, despite the recent recession. Even if we work from home, shop online, or have little cash to burn, we still yearn for and spend time in "third spaces" (or "third places"). The human condition requires that we still have somewhere outside of home and work to interact with one another.

In a progressive capitalist society, the corner shop can thrive, when it becomes more than just a place to shop. Thankfully, young people and artists fought against the City's short-sighted noise ordinance. Social vibrancy is the lifeblood of urban living. Making and keeping Charlotte a cool place to live is more important than ever, when capital and talent are more mobile than ever.

And urban retailing is where small business can make a difference. Small business often can't compete with big business on cost. But small business can compete in providing "third spaces/places" for neighborhoods.

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caterpillar2 Hamlet

caterpillar2

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This is so true! I thought I was the only one who realized this. When you look at photos of Charlotte from the the 1950s and 1960s it is highly pedestrian friendly, walkable neighborhoods, and DT retail. I recommend everyone to go the Levine Museum of the New South and look at the permanent exhibit "Cottonfields to Skyscrapers" and see the growth of Charlotte. It is truly inspiring and amazing to see the transformation of Charlotte. I wish that some of the gentrification did not mess up great neighborhoods such as Brooklyn and 2nd Ward High School.

You probably wouldn't have said that if you saw those areas back then. These neighboroods were mostly not "great". They were mostly dirty and extremely dangerous. Murder was much more rampant back then. Lots of innocent people were murdered while transiting those neighborhoods after sunset. It theory, it would ave been nice if they were actually like they are projected. They were some entrepreneurships that were lost due to gentrification.

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Sabaidee Hamlet

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Even if those destroyed neighborhoods weren't great, it would have added character to Charlotte. Brooklyn was probably the only neighborhood that was lost in its entirety. I think the conversion of Independence Blvd to an expressway and freeways in general did most harm to Charlotte as a whole than destroying old downtown neighborhoods.

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southslider Town

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^Despite Independence Boulevard, neighborhoods that have already turned their back on the evolving freeway, like Elizabeth, Sunnyside, Plaza-Midwood, Morningside, and Chantilly, all seem to be thriving. I think the sooner the next ring of neighborhoods, like Commonwealth Park, Oakhurst, and Sedgefield, fully turn their back on Independence, they will thrive as well.

While businesses were lost on Independence, nearby and more pedestrian-friendly business districts on East Seventh Street and Plaza-Central are more vibrant than ever. And it wouldn't hurt to lose some of the questionable motels on Independence, like those at Briar Creek and at Eastway, for more new urban apartments on abutting side streets, like those already built and under construction along Hawthorne.

Besides, it's not just the highway project that's killing corridor businesses; it's the market, which was changing even before the recession. People don't shop where they drive (arterial strip centers) anymore. Now, people want to shop where it's fun (lifestyle centers, town centers, restaurant rows) or where it's convenient to home (grocery centers, neighborhood centers). Auto-oriented strip centers on South Boulevard are struggling, not just those on Independence. And even those on Independence well outside the coming construction zone are hurting, from the closed Best Buy in Village Lake to the old K-Mart at Sardis.

All of these vacancies outside the "project zone" are signs that, aside from buying a car or gas, Independence is no longer where consumers go to shop. And since people now desire "places" to shop, the abundant car traffic on Independence has evolved from previously a boon to now a bain for attracting retail.

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caterpillar2 Hamlet

caterpillar2

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^I disagree with the above assertion that the corner shop is a thing of the past. Granted, it is largely gone, if thought as a convenience store, save areas dense enough to provide enough customers within walking proximity. But despite the driving behavior of most consumers, the corner shop has evolved, becoming a social space.

There is a reason Common Market has boomed, despite the recent recession. Even if we work from home, shop online, or have little cash to burn, we still yearn for and spend time in "third spaces" (or "third places"). The human condition requires that we still have somewhere outside of home and work to interact with one another.

In a progressive capitalist society, the corner shop can thrive, when it becomes more than just a place to shop. Thankfully, young people and artists fought against the City's short-sighted noise ordinance. Social vibrancy is the lifeblood of urban living. Making and keeping Charlotte a cool place to live is more important than ever, when capital and talent are more mobile than ever.

And urban retailing is where small business can make a difference. Small business often can't compete with big business on cost. But small business can compete in providing "third spaces/places" for neighborhoods.

I don't dispute what you say. What I am pointing out is that in the 1950s it was possible to build a small shop, cafe, or other small entrepreneurship in the central city because there was plenty of space and rents were not astronomical. Today, profit margins at small places don't provide enough to pay rent and salaries. I love small shops, but in order to exist, most have to charge astronomical prices and are not affordable to the average person as a routine place to shop, eat, drink, etc. For example, I enjoy Birkdale, but prices are pretty steep for the average person. But, in order to exist today, there aren't many alternatives to high prices.

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Sabaidee Hamlet

Sabaidee

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^Despite Independence Boulevard, neighborhoods that have already turned their back on the evolving freeway, like Elizabeth, Sunnyside, Plaza-Midwood, Morningside, and Chantilly, all seem to be thriving. I think the sooner the next ring of neighborhoods, like Commonwealth Park, Oakhurst, and Sedgefield, fully turn their back on Independence, they will thrive as well.

While businesses were lost on Independence, nearby and more pedestrian-friendly business districts on East Seventh Street and Plaza-Central are more vibrant than ever. And it wouldn't hurt to lose some of the questionable motels on Independence, like those at Briar Creek and at Eastway, for more new urban apartments on abutting side streets, like those already built and under construction along Hawthorne.

Besides, it's not just the highway project that's killing corridor businesses; it's the market, which was changing even before the recession. People don't shop where they drive (arterial strip centers) anymore. Now, people want to shop where it's fun (lifestyle centers, town centers, restaurant rows) or where it's convenient to home (grocery centers, neighborhood centers). Auto-oriented strip centers on South Boulevard are struggling, not just those on Independence. And even those on Independence well outside the coming construction zone are hurting, from the closed Best Buy in Village Lake to the old K-Mart at Sardis.

All of these vacancies outside the "project zone" are signs that, aside from buying a car or gas, Independence is no longer where consumers go to shop. And since people now desire "places" to shop, the abundant car traffic on Independence has evolved from previously a boon to now a bain for attracting retail.

Aside from the business and commercial aspect on the Independence conversion and I-277, neighborhoods were destroyed and that's the main point. It took decades for the neighborhoods around Uptown and the inner ring to recover, Independence removed connectivity and it remains a mental barrier as freeways have done in other cities. Brookshire was the first section of I-277 get built (its original purpose was to connect Independence to I-77), it separated Belmont and Optimist Park from Uptown. Independence separated the Central corridor and Plaza-Midwood from Elizabeth. Belmont and Optimist Park just recently as in the past decade to start showing sign of life (though stagnant now b/c of the recession), 30 years after Brookshire was built. Plaza-Midwood fared better due to its long standing identity and history and the connectivity to Elizabeth is recovering via development along Hawthorne and Pecan after almost 20 years after the reconstruction of Independence during the early to mid 90s.

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15895 City

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Obama with a mention of Charlotte tonight in his speech about Libya.

"We knew that if we waited one more day, Benghazi – a city nearly the size of Charlotte – could suffer a massacre..."

Interesting example....

That's pretty awesome. ;) No "NC" tag neither.

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New Name Burg

New Name

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Forbes has a list of the "15 cities where the economy is getting worse." Charlotte is not on the list but the photo they used for Cleveland certainly looks familiar (its a two year old photo of the Charlotte skyline)

http://www.forbes.co...e_slide_12.html

That"s funny. If DEC was complete in that pic, there would be no way to confuse the two skylines. But BOA does look like the Key Tower

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caterpillar2 Hamlet

caterpillar2

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That's pretty awesome. ;) No "NC" tag neither.

I just returned from east Europe yesterday. While in Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovokia, and Austria, I asked everyone with whom I had conversations (whenever possible) if they had heard of Charlotte, N.C. Out of twelve people asked, I received the following responses: Two South Africans (not related) had never been to Charlotte but banked with a bank in Charlotte, one Austrailian had a sister that lived there, two Germans and one Austrian had actually been there on business, two other Australians knew Charlotte because they are big NASCAR followers, One person from the Czech Republic thought that is was the city that had bad hurricanes (Charleston), One person from Finland hadn't heard of Charlotte but his wife had travelled through Charlotte in the past. Charlotte is a city known by educated people all over the world.

I found it interesting that when I asked if they had heard of Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Columbus, or Cincinatti, practically all had, yet the only city with which they could relate any knowledge was Cleveland. Apparently, Cleveland has a huge Hungarian population. So it seems that in the worldwide perception of our city, people are aware not only that it exists, but know it by specific features. It seems that Europeans are more aware of such matters more than Americans. And, yes, I do wasted lots of times on stupid things and questions.

Obama with a mention of Charlotte tonight in his speech about Libya.

"We knew that if we waited one more day, Benghazi – a city nearly the size of Charlotte – could suffer a massacre..."

Interesting example....

He might have been thinking of Charleston. Although he has been to all "57" states he thinks. LOLs.

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