Perception of Charlotte Nationwide

[nowensone]

People everywhere who have little knowledge of places other than where they live are provincial. That goes for Manhattanites, too. I lived and worked there for 6 years and I found significant knowledge and awareness of Charlotte due to its banks and respect, too. I think this is just a case of catty journalism majors trying to score points with their peers in Chelsea.

That said, I feel that most cities in America are provincial, in that few are beyond regionally important. I would argue that only NYC, Los Angeles, D.C., Chicago, and San Francisco are the only national cities in the country. I think Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston could be considered national on some levels, but on others, much more locally significant than nationally so.

Well said on both, and as much as we love this city it has a lot farther to go before it rises out of that provincial category. And in some ways San Francisco even has fallen out of that national list.

The immunization thing, I REALLY hope that ends up passing under the radar for the rest of the country, there just isn't any way to spin that in a different way. The fact is they are using our speedway to study/improve emergency procedures which is really a positive thing, though of course that angle to the story has all but been lost.

Edited October 12, 2007 by nowensone

[Raintree21]

It wasn't people in general. Some staffers from Congressional offices have been traveling around the country looking at public health systems at mass gatherings. They visited Talladega (if it wasn't Talladega it was some other speedway) and aree here this week at Lowe's. The staffers were advised to get Hepatitis A and B vaccinations prior to coming because of potential health risks when large groups meet. Nothing else was given as a reason.

[NcSc74]

I wouldn't worry too much about forbes so much. Besides look at the other cities that are bigger than Charlotte that have the identity crisis thing going on. One thing that will help the city is its travel visitation numbers. As more destiniation come to town then the number of people not in the know will get in the know. So yes banking is huge but it is the other tangible factors that help cities get name recognition. Once the skyline boom fills out then we should increase in the Charlotte brand name recognition. I am still waiting to see the QC on some national commercial or something. I am sure the skyline will peak the curiousity of someone. Heck I see Dallas, Houston and San Antonio travel commercial out here all the time. A "new" city like Charlotte can not rest on its name. It has to go out and announce itself to let the masses like "Hey I'm here in-between ATL and DC...just waiting for you to take notice!!!". Or something along those lines.

[monsoon]

^I think that before that happens, there has to be something here that people would actually want to see on a national level. Skylines don't do this unless there is something very remarkable about them, and in the scheme of things, Charlotte's is pretty small when compared to many other places and there is nothing distinctive about it. For example Charlotte has taller buildings than St. Louis, but STL has the Arch. Guess which one people go to see. It's even more insulting in Charlotte because not one of the towers has an observation deck so the visitor is left at looking at a bunch of glass and concrete walls at ground level. I don't see many people hopping on a plane to come here and see that.

What else do we have? Some churches, a bunch of chain store shopping/restaurants, an arena, a football stadium, a few museums. None of this is going to be that much of a draw beyond say the regional area.

[CorgiMatt]

Charlotte's skyline is too squinched up. And their mayor doesn't like gay people. Those are my main impressions of the Queen City. Oh, and the conservative banker thing is there too.

[voyager12]

^ That pretty much sums it up I am afraid Change is a coming but I would check back in about a decade or so....

[cltheel.sdl]

^I think that before that happens, there has to be something here that people would actually want to see on a national level. Skylines don't do this unless there is something very remarkable about them, and in the scheme of things, Charlotte's is pretty small when compared to many other places and there is nothing distinctive about it. For example Charlotte has taller buildings than St. Louis, but STL has the Arch. Guess which one people go to see. It's even more insulting in Charlotte because not one of the towers has an observation deck so the visitor is left at looking at a bunch of glass and concrete walls at ground level. I don't see many people hopping on a plane to come here and see that.

What else do we have? Some churches, a bunch of chain store shopping/restaurants, an arena, a football stadium, a few museums. None of this is going to be that much of a draw beyond say the regional area.

Well, we are getting the NASCAR HoF, which will be a national draw, even international. I know there are tons of Canadians who love NASCAR. They come down in their big RVs and set up shop at LMS, but I'm sure they'd make a trip uptown to see their favorite sport's HoF.

And if I had the money, I'd build an observation deck in a split second. I'm sure we will see one come in the next 20 years.

[Justadude]

Having moved out of state I'm paying a little extra attention when I hear Charlotte come up in conversation. The comments always seem to approve of what's going on there. The most common thing to hear is that people are noticing how popular Charlotte is with young families. People seem to have the impression that the city is pretty attractive and has a surprising amount of opportunity (both economic and social).

[Charlotte_native]

Charlotte's skyline is too squinched up. And their mayor doesn't like gay people. Those are my main impressions of the Queen City. Oh, and the conservative banker thing is there too.

Here is a site for a local mag that pokes fun at the conservative banker image...

www.banktownusa.com

Well, we are getting the NASCAR HoF, which will be a national draw, even international. I know there are tons of Canadians who love NASCAR. They come down in their big RVs and set up shop at LMS, but I'm sure they'd make a trip uptown to see their favorite sport's HoF.

And if I had the money, I'd build an observation deck in a split second. I'm sure we will see one come in the next 20 years.

Love it or hate it, Nascar is a HUGE draw and boon for the area.

[1979Heel]

I think families are generally happy with Charlotte; singles, less so. I loved growing up there and then in my 20s came to loathe it. Now I'm siginificantly older and I am returning there because I have come to value its better qualities and have made my peace with its lesser qualities. Happily enough, the lesser qualities are much less in evidence than they once were.

Oddly, I have experienced anti-gay prejudice in New York and San Francisco. And both are awash in automobiles even with their heavily-used transit systems. So perfection doesn't really exist anywhere.

[1979Heel]

Here is a site for a local mag that pokes fun at the conservative banker image...

www.banktownusa.com

Thanks! Always good to be able to laugh at oneself.

Love it or hate it, Nascar is a HUGE draw and boon for the area.

Exactly so. In its own way, a little quirky. And remember, even the Bay Area has a NASCAR raceway (Infineon.)

Really, where else can you find NASCAR and international finance living side by side? Helps keep Charlotte weird.

[Charlotte_native]

Oddly, I have experienced anti-gay prejudice in New York and San Francisco. And both are awash in automobiles even with their heavily-used transit systems. So perfection doesn't really exist anywhere.

The only two places where I've ever really been harrassed for being gay was:

Charleston -- walking out of a gay bar with a friend -- group of teens drives up and starts to yell and taunt. I'm not a small guy, I started walking towards them and they sped off.

New York (actually Brooklyn): walking to the subway with a friend, group of big teens starts yelling and walking towards us, we got in the subway tunnel QUICKLY!

Never had anything happen here.

[voyager12]

I don't want to go discussing gay life in Charlotte generally since we have a thread for that. In the context of national perception Charlotte does not have a gay friendly reputation and is considered anti-gay by many. People involved in the arts nationally still remember The Angels in America fiasco ( I know the group that attacked the play was thrown out of office in the end but that's not what people remember). From a business standpoint I have heard incredulity from people across the country at McCrory's ignorant comments and dismissal of Charlotte's gay community. This attitude does not fit the image of what a progressive city of the future should be. Unfortunately our challenges don't end at the Mayor's Office. I used to live in Philadelphia and the head of the Charlotte Convention and Visitors Bureau went on a fact finding visit there a year or so ago. There was national press of him expressing "embarassment" at Philly tourism officials proudly showing off their targeted gay adverstising. Our tourism chief said Charlottte can't "do that". To round up President Bob Morgan of The Charlotte Chamber of Commerce told the gay Charlotte Business Guild last year quite bluntly that he does not want to know if any members are gay and The Chamber will not do any targeted outreach to draw gay businesses to our city or develop a rapport with the gay community. I hardly think having anti - gay leaders in the Mayor's, CVB, and Chamber offices is something to proud of. It's pathetic, embarassing, and does make Charlotte look backwards and prejudiced when compared to similar size cities such as Austin and Portland that proudly tout their gay friendly reputations.

Edited October 14, 2007 by voyager12

[jednc]

I don't want to go discussing gay life in Charlotte generally since we have a thread for that. In the context of national perception Charlotte does not have a gay friendly reputation and is considered anti-gay by many. People involved in the arts nationally still remember The Angels in America fiasco ( I know the group that attacked the play was thrown out of office in the end but that's not what people remember). From a business standpoint I have heard incredulity from people across the country at McCrory's ignorant comments and dismissal of Charlotte's gay community. This attitude does not fit the image of what a progressive city of the future should be. Unfortunately our challenges don't end at the Mayor's Office. I used to live in Philadelphia and the head of the Charlotte Convention and Visitors Bureau went on a fact finding visit there a year or so ago. There was national press of him expressing "embarassment" at Philly tourism officials proudly showing off their targeted gay adverstising. Our tourism chief said Charlottte can't "do that". To round up President Bob Morgan of The Charlotte Chamber of Commerce told the gay Charlotte Business Guild last year quite bluntly that he does not want to know if any members are gay and The Chamber will not do any targeted outreach to draw gay businesses to our city or develop a rapport with the gay community. I hardly think having anti - gay leaders in the Mayor's, CVB, and Chamber offices is something to proud of. It's pathetic, embarassing, and does make Charlotte look backwards and prejudiced when compared to similar size cities such as Austin and Portland that proudly tout their gay friendly reputations.

For the average American (meaning the other 18 out of 20), I just don't think that stuff is on the radar. I guess it just depends on the circles you run in...

[voyager12]

You are right that most people in this town don't care. I am in the minority of those who do think it's something that needs to be worked on. And I was discussing the perception from groups and people that also note this deficiency.

Edited October 14, 2007 by voyager12

[1979Heel]

When it's clear that such attitudes are "bad for bidness" then "official" people will care. In the meantime, I'd suggest that guild members go about building their respective businesses and forget the troglodytes at the Chamber and in the Mayor's office. Sometimes, a ground-up movement will overtake official pronouncements (see any number of business, political and social events in American history.) In other words, our success as gay people cannot depend solely on official blessings, helpful though they are. It also requires, even more importantly, that we engage others one-on-one to be our allies. I think this is already happening in Charlotte and across the country.

OK, I think that's far enough off topic.

[kickazzz2000]

I would recommend Situl too. It is better than Maharani on Kings in my opinion. They have very good dal makhani, and their biryani is more interesting than other places in my opinion. I have never been disappointed with Situl.

Agreed on Copper - definitely worth a trip, but it's more fusion than pure Indian.

I would like to add that there is a nice little Indo-Chinese fusion place on Independence in the same shopping center as the Laser Tag and Infinity's End is. I can't remember the name of the resteraunt (Went there when visiting the folks) but it was pretty cheap and good.

Larry, the place on South Blvd. is probably Jaipur. It's one of the best in the city among actual Indian people (always a good indicator).

Sorry to take it back off topic.

In reply to an above post, I agree with the thought that as soon as the PTB's in CLT realize that being anti-gay is "bad for bidness" you will see a change in tune. Not before that, unfortunately.

Edited October 14, 2007 by kickazzz2000

[elvigy]

In reply to an above post, I agree with the thought that as soon as the PTB's in CLT realize that being anti-gay is "bad for bidness" you will see a change in tune. Not before that, unfortunately.

The very odd thing about this though is that the biggest businesses in Charlotte have already come to this conclusion. Wachovia and BoA are way ahead of the city on this. Which puts Charlotte in the ironic position of making the stereotypical conservative banks look more progressive than the city as a whole.

[Charlotte_native]

The very odd thing about this though is that the biggest businesses in Charlotte have already come to this conclusion. Wachovia and BoA are way ahead of the city on this. Which puts Charlotte in the ironic position of making the stereotypical conservative banks look more progressive than the city as a whole.

Exactly. Consider that Mayor Pat won't write a Welcome Letter to the Human Rights Campaign dinner at the convention center (and he writes a welcome letter to all over events there) but Ken Lewis, CEO of Wachovia, attended the dinner as did the mayor of Columbia, SC, and Jennifer Roberts, of our county (or is it city) commission.

I personally don't think Charlotte is regressive in policy towards gays, just some elements of it. To me, the city as a whole is quite fine with my gayness and I'm involved in the business community and quite out.

People that I know that live in other cities don't think we are anti-gay at all, they just don't think we have a big gay scene like other cities do. It isn't what we are known for. That doesn't bother me at all. If that is what I needed I'd move to DC, San Fran, ATL or somewhere else similar.

[voyager12]

There is a perception of stuffiness about Charlotte but I don't regret moving here. The reason was for a web job that changed into a contract then freelance work. I never was one who could sit in front of a keyboard all day and dog nannying is awesome fun so not rakin in the big bucks is not a big deal to me. The overly corporate conservative tone here just tends to rub me the wrong way quite often. Maybe more than most or it's just a reaction from living in a tourist town for so long. I choose to be more outspoken about my views. So I don't have a strong comfort level outside of the bubble I live in. To vent I have joined several activist groups and engaged in protests and other activities, it's hard to break through the suit and tie surface and make consistent forward motion.

The hubs of NoDa and PlazaMidwood are too small to have a strong impact on the rest of the more buttoned down conservative city. It would be great if a larger "funky" or whatever you want to label it district organically gelled around these two blocks. The friendly progressive vibe needs to be louder in Charlotte and some perceptions could change.

Edited October 16, 2007 by voyager12

[Andyc545]

There's a pretty good article on Charlotte describing the city and how people are moving from NY. Although it states the obvious that we know, it was nice to see positive outside recognition. The reason this article caught my attention was because of a news search for Trump, which was vagily mentioned in this article that a rep from Infinity Partners said he is planning on closing by year end.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...ec&refer=us

[voyager12]

I think we can all agree that Charlotte is a great place to live for young families. Singles and others outside of that category find it tougher to fit in.

[Charlotte_native]

I think we can all agree that Charlotte is a great place to live for young families. Singles and others outside of that category find it tougher to fit in.

I know lots of people who are outside the young family catagory that would disagree with you. Actually almost everyone I know fits outside that catagory and loves it here. The people I know moving here from Miami and Atlanta in the next couple of months are singles and seem to think this is just where they want to be. These aren't banker yuppie types either.

Not intended directly at you or anyone, but Charlotte is like anywhere else, if you can't find what you like you just might not be trying hard enough or looking outside your realm. You say yourself that you don't leave Dilworth much and don't go downtown at all. I'll assume you go to Thomas Street / Central Ave some and NoDa some. Those areas are quite alternative and are growing. Dilworth, and one of the reasons I moved, IS quite young family oriented.

I think it is more an issue of not liking the social or single scenes on a personal level than them not existing. I'd say most of the folks out downtown, Thomas Street, NoDa, Southend, etc, are 90% singles. Young families and married folk tend not to support nightlife and bars very much so someone is filling the bars and clubs in these areas.

[voyager12]

That's the great thing about perceptions. We all have different ones. I don't think that all single people here are miserable. I am not. Compared to other cities that draw young professionals Charlotte is often rated lower when it comes to meeting a future partner. At least that is what I hear anectdotally from friends gay and straight. Dilworth is very family friendly, East Boulevard sidewalks gridlock with spandexed mommies with strollers on nice days. Most of them are quite nice and friendly. There are still some singles, the residents of my apt building being an example and others hang around the restaurants and Caribou on East . You are right that I don't like the "scene". I met my last BF while I was out walking a client's dog and it still did not work out so I guess the "scene " or place of first meeting may not matter for me

[1979Heel]

That's the great thing about perceptions. We all have different ones. I don't think that all single people here are miserable. I am not. Compared to other cities that draw young professionals Charlotte is often rated lower when it comes to meeting a future partner. At least that is what I hear anectdotally from friends gay and straight. Dilworth is very family friendly, East Boulevard sidewalks gridlock with spandexed mommies with strollers on nice days. Most of them are quite nice and friendly. There are still some singles, the residents of my apt building being an example and others hang around the restaurants and Caribou on East . You are right that I don't like the "scene". I met my last BF while I was out walking a client's dog and it still did not work out so I guess the "scene " or place of first meeting may not matter for me

I must add to my earlier comments that I have known several straight singles in Charlotte who loved it and thought the "scene" was just great, thank you very much. I'm not moving back to Charlotte either expecting to find a scene (actually, there's too much of that here in SF) or another life partner (was partnered for 13 years, I ended it some years ago but we are still friends.) I am coming back for 1) the job (always a Charlotte draw) 2) the mid-century brick ranch (now in escrow, fingers crossed, thanks) and 3) to re-connect with old friends. Most of my friends here in SF don't get it until I list 1,2 and 3 and then they say "oh of course. It's a no-brainer."

I agree that you make your own success and happiness. Good and bad can be found everywhere. I think the national perceptions are frequently fed by people who don't know much about anything other than Chelsea or the Castro and have no interest in having their ignorance abated. They are not the kind of people I would spend much time with no matter where I found them.

One other thing: the recent Forbes ranking that placed SF at the top for singles was hotly contested on sfgate. Most respondents made the distinction that SF is good for singles if you want lots and lots of hookups but have no real interest in being married/partnered. In other words, there's so much choice here there's no need to settle down-there's always another man/woman around the corner. So I'd advise anyone wanting to move to SF to find a life partner, whether gay or straight, to maybe reconsider.

Edited October 18, 2007 by 1979Heel