Perception of Charlotte Nationwide

[deleted]

2 hours ago, Dale said:

Briefly moved to LA, in 2013, to start a fitness business (because LA needs another fitness trainer, right ?). Almost as soon as I got there I realized that living there would be prohibitively expensive. Luckily, got a job offer in Charlotte. It was an easy choice.

All true.  But...Southern California is amazing.  I could live there and stay with the same company I've been with for 30 years (based in CA).  I choose to live here but the pull of CA never fully goes away for me.

[Dale]

3 minutes ago, JBS said:

All true.  But...Southern California is amazing.  I could live there and stay with the same company I've been with for 30 years (based in CA).  I choose to live here but the pull of CA never fully goes away for me.

Oh, it's exhilarating. And since I have family there, it'll always be a cheap vacation. But cost-of-living is a huge quality of life factor. And the annoyance factor would also have been high.

[CLT2014]

16 minutes ago, Dale said:

Oh, it's exhilarating. And since I have family there, it'll always be a cheap vacation. But cost-of-living is a huge quality of life factor. And the annoyance factor would also have been high.

I'm from LA too! Cost-of-living means the reality for anybody making less than $300,000 a year is living in neighborhoods like this below. My rent for a 1 bedroom apartment built in 1981 was $1,850 per month. We had to take our laundry to a central laundry facility outside as those units with laundry started at $2,200. I was walking distance to a 99 cent store, psychic, drive-by-shooting scene, and pawn shop. The horizon was blue about 30% of the year and brown 70%. But I was only 30 minutes from the beach not in traffic.... emphasize not in traffic. LOL

Also, for most jobs, you will not be paid more in Los Angeles. In fact, the lack of corporate headquarters in LA means you are usually working in a branch office. The people with money don't work for corporations, they are in medicine, own a business, in sales, etc... The Bay Area on the other hand, DOES pay more for most jobs.

Edited January 24, 2017 by CLT2014

[deleted]

These were the views from my front porch in a small SD County town called Jamul (my house was on 3 acres but only 1100 sq ft and sold it when our 5th child was on the way):

[Dale]

Tell me about it. I landed a temporary job in LA, to tide me over while I established my business, but Red Ventures offered me considerably more money for a similar position. And I got a nice apartment, in Ballantyne, for $800 a month. Had my own washer and dryer. And I could drink coffee, on my patio, while watching deer and foxes.

Sometimes lost on Charlotteans: we don't take a back seat for natural beauty. I've lived all over. And it's the greenest place I've ever lived. In fact, the day I arrived in Charlotte, it was experiencing a rare convergence of dogwoods and pear tree blooms. The parkways were snowing pink and white petals. I literally had tears in my eyes. And mind you this was coming from a place where you could see mountains from the beach, and vice-versa.

[Bikeguy]

^ could've been allergies.

[Dale]

1 hour ago, Bikeguy said:

^ could've been allergies.

Yeah, never heard that before.

[rickrodewd]

19 hours ago, Dale said:

And it's the greenest place I've ever lived.

My girlfriend's uncle and his boyfriend move to Greensboro from San Diego a few years ago.  They said the same thing when they visited us.

[deleted]

On 1/24/2017 at 2:16 PM, Dale said:

Sometimes lost on Charlotteans: we don't take a back seat for natural beauty. I've lived all over. And it's the greenest place I've ever lived. In fact, the day I arrived in Charlotte, it was experiencing a rare convergence of dogwoods and pear tree blooms. The parkways were snowing pink and white petals. I literally had tears in my eyes. And mind you this was coming from a place where you could see mountains from the beach, and vice-versa.

For some reason, Your recollection stuck with me into the evening yesterday.  I recall having a similar experience when I first moved here and marveled at how beautiful the area is.  Your description brought that back.  SoCal is uniquely beautiful and so different than the rest of the country but I know if I move back, I will miss much about Carolina (and I think I'm staying).  Thanks.  

[nonillogical]

On 1/24/2017 at 2:16 PM, Dale said:

Sometimes lost on Charlotteans: we don't take a back seat for natural beauty. I've lived all over. And it's the greenest place I've ever lived. In fact, the day I arrived in Charlotte, it was experiencing a rare convergence of dogwoods and pear tree blooms. The parkways were snowing pink and white petals. I literally had tears in my eyes. And mind you this was coming from a place where you could see mountains from the beach, and vice-versa.

I feel you...I am likely moving to Denver later this year, and my only trepidation about it as a place to live is the lack of green. Some of the neighborhoods have a decent canopy and they have a ton of parks, and then at certain elevations in the mountains you do get evergreen forests, but having only lived in ridiculously green places in the south, I won't know until I take the plunge how wide open spaces and the absence of stuff growing everywhere will affect my psyche!

[videtur quam contuor]

Best Urban Forests: Charlotte in the top ten. The list is alphabetical rather than ranked by any gradient.

http://www.americanforests.org/blog/the-best-urban-forests/

 

[CLT704]

I'm currently in the United Kingdom, watching ITV news at 10, and Charlotte has just been mentioned it a report about Trump protests. We're international now!

[Dale]

4 minutes ago, CLT704 said:

I'm currently in the United Kingdom, watching ITV news at 10, and Charlotte has just been mentioned it a report about Trump protests. We're international now!

EEEEEEE-YES!

[Nick2]

I watched a random youtube video where the person talked about visiting charlotte and asked people to guess where they were going based on a picture of the skyline. This person had a large spanish speaking following (from looking at the comments) and more than one person guessed New York! lol

[Synopsis101]

3 minutes ago, Nick2 said:

I watched a random youtube video where the person talked about visiting charlotte and asked people to guess where they were going based on a picture of the skyline. This person had a large spanish speaking following (from looking at the comments) and more than one person guessed New York! lol

Link please.

[nakers2]

On 1/23/2017 at 11:18 AM, CLT704 said:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/people-cant-deal-with-how-this-cute-toddler-and-her-womens-m?utm_term=.uwgAGqynm&bffbvid#.vsrg7L3wo 

I saw this last week, I knew right away it was Charlotte even though the picture didn't mention it. Good free advertising for Ascent though. "Hmm, wonder what that ugly ass building in the back is" *Searches ugly buildings in Charlotte*

[KJHburg]

We all know this because of increasing traffic but Charlotte is one of the top 10 cities people are moving to. Look at the horrible photo they used for Charlotte. Could they have not just turned around?  http://www3.forbes.com/leadership/10-cities-americans-are-moving-to-right-now/?utm_campaign=10-cities-americans-are-moving-to-right-now-mlb&utm_source=FacebookTest1&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=3&kwp_0=301997

 

Heres a quick link to the Charlotte photo if you dont want to scroll through them all 

http://www3.forbes.com/leadership/10-cities-americans-are-moving-to-right-now/9/

Edited January 31, 2017 by KJHburg

[SgtCampsalot]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

We all know this because of increasing traffic but Charlotte is one of the top 10 cities people are moving to. Look at the horrible photo they used for Charlotte. Could they have not just turned around?  http://www3.forbes.com/leadership/10-cities-americans-are-moving-to-right-now/?utm_campaign=10-cities-americans-are-moving-to-right-now-mlb&utm_source=FacebookTest1&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=3&kwp_0=301997

 

Heres a quick link to the Charlotte photo if you dont want to scroll through them all 

http://www3.forbes.com/leadership/10-cities-americans-are-moving-to-right-now/9/

Interesting. Nothing I love more than 2nd Ward's brutalist hotel and office buildings.

Random thought on this comment on traffic, having grown up in South CLT I'm very familiar with the traffic hellscape that is our southern wedge, as well as the infamous Indy Blvd, 77, and every other major corridor, but ever since I moved to the neighborhoods along N Davidson St, I've found I haven't had to expose myself to any of Charlotte's bad traffic unless I have a specifici appointment of some kind that I have to venture out for (requiring my travel cloak).

At the risk of ending up hating traffic here in 10 years, I feel like it's the perfect wedge to be in: Central ave between The Plaza and Uptown is easily avoided, Parkwood/Plaza's choke points are easily bypassed (and only bad for quick moments at rush hour), and access to 277 is a piece of cake for any highway access (for 85, going up Sugar Creek from N Tryon and Matheson is no problem). My needs are easily provided within 1 to 1.5 square miles, so there's rarely an issue. And I really don't get the feeling it will get too bad with more apartments, since N Davidson St terminates at Sugar Creek (doesn't function as a corridor), and there are so many ways around.

Just a thought I wanted to share. Now EVERYONE move here to clog these roads up!

Edited January 31, 2017 by SgtCampsalot

[UPNoDa]

6 minutes ago, SgtCampsalot said:

Interesting. Nothing I love more than 2nd Ward's brutalist hotel and office buildings.

Random thought on this comment on traffic, having grown up in South CLT I'm very familiar with the traffic hellscape that is our southern wedge, as well as the infamous Indy Blvd, 77, and every other major corridor, but ever since I moved to the neighborhoods along N Davidson St, I've found I haven't had to expose myself to any of Charlotte's bad traffic unless I have a specifici appointment of some kind that I have to venture out for (requiring my travel cloak).

At the risk of ending up hating traffic here in 10 years, I feel like it's the perfect wedge to be in: Central ave between The Plaza and Uptown is easily avoided, Parkwood/Plaza's choke points are easily bypassed (and only bad for quick moments at rush hour), and access to 277 is a piece of cake for any highway access (for 85, going up Sugar Creek from N Tryon and Matheson is no problem). My needs are easily provided within 1 to 1.5 square miles, so there's rarely an issue. And I really don't get the feeling it will get too bad with more apartments, since N Davidson St terminates at Sugar Creek (doesn't function as a corridor), and there are so many ways around.

Just a thought I wanted to share. Now EVERYONE move here to clog these roads up!

I second those comments....I live off N. Davidson near Craighead and I rarely run into heavy traffic until I get to South Charlotte via Hawthorne. Our traffic will only improve once Sugar Creek and 36th are re-opened in addition to the Aug 2017 opening of BLE.

I honestly believe we will have LESS traffic once all of these are in place.

[Nick2]

@Synopsis101 I'll look for it but I didn't find it on my computer.

[Synopsis101]

 

[elrodvt]

Lame...

[ah59396]

2 hours ago, elrodvt said:

Lame...

Hahaha, I thought the exact same thing.  Not that it's necessarily wrong, but man that made it look like Uptown is a business park.

[elrodvt]

3 hours ago, ah59396 said:

Hahaha, I thought the exact same thing.  Not that it's necessarily wrong, but man that made it look like Uptown is a business park.

It kinda is to be honest. The most exciting thing must have been crossing 6'th street there. I've stood there with a baby carriage and no one will stop unless i just walk out slowly waving my arms and even then a lot of people just swerve around you. Been thinking about carrying marbles in my pockets....

[videtur quam contuor]

 

 

This is interesting as Meck has higher %age of out of staters than most in NC, more than Wake/Durham, as %age. Counties on state lines commonly fit also as a short move means to another state. Economically lower standard counties are generally more purple. And Michigan and New York export residents broadly. Within states and not at state border look for single lighter shade county surrounded by darker shade. That marks metro area:  Columbus, O; Dallas; Houston; Indianapolis, etc.