Charlotte Off Topic

[CLTProductions]

So while I am in Austin, I checked out the W and the bar inside (called the Living Room). It is just incredible what their bar scene has to offer compared to Charlotte. It's like their residents understand drinking, good cocktails etc and in Charlotte everything just becomes a bro-bar, and I feel like a concept of a speak easy would never work in Charlotte because every bar conforms to the standard nonsense. Don't get me wrong, I love Charlotte but it is certainly frustrating seeing a city like Austin just be light years ahead of Charlotte and we show no signs of catching up/improving. 

 

That being said, rant over, and I hope we get a W soon, because they are awesome.

 

Also, they have a bar called Garage, its tucked away in a parking garage and its so freaking cool. I wonder if any garages uptown have space for something like this? And I wonder if any potential developer of said garage bar has the vision to make it happen.

Edited March 8, 2015 by Jayvee

[ah59396]

Austin will always crush us in bars and entertainment.  They have the benefit of having U of T with their 50,000 students within walking distance of downtown.  Unfortunately that is just something we can't replicate.  I'll echo what was said in the 210 thread.  Thinking about it, I actually am stunned Charlotte is growing like it is, especially uptown.  

 

We've got no rivers or coasts to use (like San Antonio, Houston, Jacksonville, Tampa, Miami).  We aren't a capital (like Austin, Raleigh, Nashville, Atlanta or Denver) and we don't even have a freaking flag ship university within 5 miles of uptown (UNCC is about 9 miles as the crow flies and really doesn't feel like it's in Charlotte at all).  I guess we are actually doing pretty well all things considered.

[CLTProductions]

All things considered. Absolutely. And Austin is super dirty and I love that Charlotte is so clean. I just want a hidden bar in a parking garage.

[ah59396]

All things considered. Absolutely. And Austin is super dirty and I love that Charlotte is so clean. I just want a hidden bar in a parking garage.

We could always simply drink in a parking garage. Charlotte has plenty, haha.

[The ATX]

All things considered. Absolutely. And Austin is super dirty and I love that Charlotte is so clean. I just want a hidden bar in a parking garage.

That's funny.  There are a lot of us in Austin that think San Antonio is so dirty. (And it really is.)

[nonillogical]

So while I am in Austin, I checked out the W and the bar inside (called the Living Room). It is just incredible what their bar scene has to offer compared to Charlotte. It's like their residents understand drinking, good cocktails etc and in Charlotte everything just becomes a bro-bar, and I feel like a concept of a speak easy would never work in Charlotte because every bar conforms to the standard nonsense. Don't get me wrong, I love Charlotte but it is certainly frustrating seeing a city like Austin just be light years ahead of Charlotte and we show no signs of catching up/improving. 

It's a very apples to oranges comparison even moreso than Austin, but I just got back from visiting friends in DC and made the same observations, even moreso since my last visit. There are at least 15 "hip" neighborhoods where you can't walk a block without passing at least 5 great beer bars or breweries and at least 1 speakeasy type cocktail bar. People have the luxury of being very picky about the type of crowd they want to be in when choosing whether to go to Chinatown vs. U Street vs. H Street vs. Dupont vs. Adams Morgan vs. Shaw, etc etc. Austin has the numbers to support the same thing on a smaller scale, and we just don't yet as most of our population is happy in the suburbs and has little interest unique bars. So anything that is a little unique is appealing to just about every bar-going person we have, bro or not. It'll be a while still before we have the numbers to allow that natural segmentation to happen but I'm confident it will. 

Edited March 9, 2015 by nonillogical

[CLTProductions]

The biggest thing I've noticed and compared is that the crowds here understand drinking, understand the nature of a social scene. Where as in Charlotte, people just want to party. I hope that mentality changes.

[ah59396]

The biggest thing I've noticed and compared is that the crowds here understand drinking, understand the nature of a social scene. Where as in Charlotte, people just want to party. I hope that mentality changes.

 

 

That actually makes Charlotte sound more fun.  Drinking with structure is for the dogs.

[CLTProductions]

That actually makes Charlotte sound more fun.  Drinking with structure is for the dogs.

fair enough

[Third Strike]

Should Charlotte be concerned?

 

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/editorials/article12870713.html#/tabPane=tabs-b0710947-1-1

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/rob-christensen/article14413646.html

 

Bob Rucho and friends want to alter the makeup of the Greensboro City Council and Wake's County Commission, to give more Republicans more representation and seats. One Republican on Meck's Board of Commissioners has stated he would like to see two positions eliminated, giving Republican's a slight chance of gaining a majority on the board.

 

What's your thoughts on this? 

[kermit]

Short answer is yes, we should be very concerned about higher levels of government fiddling with local decisions.

 

The longer answer is I think we should be very thankful that Ron Carlee et. al. conducted such a forceful and effective defense of the airport taking effort. That process alone (along with the bruises that Bob Rucho got from it) may explain why the 'small government republicans' in Raleigh have thus far focused their political shenanigans on Wake and Guilford.

 

Non partisan redistricting cannot come soon enough!

Edited March 15, 2015 by kermit

[cltbwimob]

^^^Also, even some House GOP members are not too keen on the bills because they fundamentally violate the conservative principle of small government.

Like Kermit said, if non-partisan redistricting occurred tomorrow, it would not be a moment too soon.

Edited March 15, 2015 by cltbwimob

[15895]

What a boring couple of weeks. I need some uptown development news/gossip.

On another note, I still wish Charlotte had a zoo. I Am going to check out the Asheboro zoo soon. Though I heard mixed reviews. I loved Zoo Atlanta

[ah59396]

The Asheboro zoo is great.  Most of the complaints I hear from people are the amount of walking necessary, but that also means large habitats for the animals, which is super important for their health and behavior.  Bring a good pair of walking shoes and enjoy the day!

[Guest]

The Asheboro zoo is great. Most of the complaints I hear from people are the amount of walking necessary, but that also means large habitats for the animals, which is super important for their health and behavior. Bring a good pair of walking shoes and enjoy the day!

Too much walking!?!? [emoji33][emoji33][emoji33]

Guess I better bring my rascal.

[nonillogical]

What a boring couple of weeks. I need some uptown development news/gossip.

On another note, I still wish Charlotte had a zoo. I Am going to check out the Asheboro zoo soon. Though I heard mixed reviews. I loved Zoo Atlanta

Zoo Atlanta is fun in the sense that you can see everything in a couple of hours and often very up-close, but it is not in the same league as the NC Zoo where quality of habitats is concerned, and yeah that means a lot of walking and the bad reviews are probably people who only cared about seeing one certain animal and didn't. There is also a lot more emphasis on distinct ecosystems, with North American and African sections at opposite ends of the property and little sub sections within, including some cool domed areas where the temperature and humidity are controlled. 

[birky]

Too much walking!?!? [emoji33][emoji33][emoji33]

Guess I better bring my rascal.

 

[Temeteron]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/21/upshot/the-metro-areas-with-the-largest-and-smallest-gay-population.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=1

 

Why is Charlotte not on either of these lists?? 

[abttown]

Looks as if we are right in the middle and didn't make the top or bottom

[ah59396]

I'm a little surprised to see us ahead of Raleigh in this list, but I guess it doesn't include Durham.  Interesting stuff.

[CLTProductions]

So I am looking to go to Denver and in looking for downtown hotel rooms I got curious. In terms of available hotels on a quick expedia search, Denver has 22 easily viewed hotels in their downtown area. Charlotte has 18. So that wasn't that big of a difference, but what really struck me was the pricing/high-end hotels vs lower end. While hotels are cheaper in Charlotte (good for us), Denver seems to have more luxury hotels (bad for us). I hope we start to see some higher end hotels moving in with Tryon Place and Crescent Uptown.

Now I will say, over the next few years, we are adding 7 (300 S Tryon, Tryon Place, Crescent Uptown, Embassy, 2 at epi, SREE 5th St) so that'll definitely put us above Denver which is sweet.

Note: by comparison Austin has 16. So we are definitely winning in number of hotels, we just lack high-rise hotels by a margin compared to these 2 cities.

Denver has 3 hotels over 300 ft (4 if you count the Marriott in an office building), Austin has 3 and Charlotte has 0 (1 if you count Skye, and I guess the Westin is close enough).

Basically I'm just being a whiner and complaining we don't have any major high-rise hotels and super luxury brands other than the Ritz, Westin and to a point Omni, and I want another one. Our Le Meredian seems fake lol. It's so lowly rated and cheaper than the Sheraton next door. Still seems strange they put this brand here.

Edited March 25, 2015 by Jayvee

[grodney]

Denver seems to have more luxury hotels (bad for us). I hope we start to see some higher end hotels moving in 

 

Why?

[CLTProductions]

Why?

Because why not

[15895]

Someone should start a petition about shifting/levying income taxes or shifting transportation dollars to urban areas since people from other counties come to the urban counties, etc.

Just to point out the hypocrisy and start a conversation. I'll look into doing that if I ever have free time

I'm also goin to try to get in touch with some Democratic organizations about hosting a tea party demonstration Against the redistribution bill. Rename moral Monday to tea party mondays

Edited March 25, 2015 by AirNostrumMAD

[ah59396]

Ugh. I love living in beautiful NC; but we have some of the most backward-ass politics I've ever encountered in my life. I don't even understand what's happening right now.