Charlotte blows. One of the worst "little big cities" I've ever experienced. The downtown isn't any more/less vibrant than Raleigh, and the sprawl is ridiculous.

RDU has much more going for it on several levels. But I'm a happy west-coaster now, and Seattle/Portland/Vancouver trumps the shit out of any non-coastal NC town.

5/12/2008 6:57:18 PM

Quote :

"The downtown isn't any more/less vibrant than Raleigh"

That's one big point everyone who lived in both usually agree on. That downtown Charlotte IS more vibrant and active than downtown Raleigh. I don't think there was any arguing there. I mean just drive through downtown Raleigh and drive through downtown Charlotte on the weekend. BIG difference. I guess it also depends on your definition of "vibrant". There's more bars/restaurant/things to do in downtown Charlotte simply because it's a bigger city, but that doesn't mean Raleigh is any less "vibrant" i guess.

Quote :

"and the sprawl is ridiculous."

It's bad everywhere. Although both Charlotte (#4) and Raleigh(#3) were ranked top housing markets in the US (forbes). In my opinion the sprawl seems more recognizable in Raleigh because it starts closer into the city, whereas in Charlotte you have to go a ways out before you see massive sprawl. I guess partly due to Charlotte being bigger and older.

Quote :

"RDU has much more going for it on several levels."

Have you lived for significant amounts of time in both Raleigh and Charlotte? Or have you only "passed through" Charlotte? This all depends on who you are, and what you want. It's demeaning to make a simple "Charlotte blows" comment and make a generalization saying Raleigh has "more" going for it. Based on what? According to who? I don't think either city "blows".

Quote :

"Seattle/Portland/Vancouver trumps the shit out of any non-coastal NC town"

Yeah you're right. The Seattle area is great.

[Edited on May 12, 2008 at 7:46 PM. Reason : .]

5/12/2008 7:28:40 PM

Quote :

"The downtown isn't any more/less vibrant than Raleigh"

lololololloolololooollolol

5/13/2008 12:26:41 AM

That instantly discredits your opinion...that's like the one thing most people who know jack-shit agree on...that downtwon charlotte >>>>>>>>>>>>>> downtown raleigh.

5/13/2008 1:24:25 PM

To all the idiots who keep saying simply that Charlotte sucks:

http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/105075/Charlotte-Named-Best-Place-to-Live

5/16/2008 12:18:16 PM

They should rename that list to "places where it's cheap to live."

Because there is no one, anywhere, that could honestly say that Greenville, SC or Chatanooga, TN, is a great place to live compared to cities such as Seattle or San Francisco...

5/16/2008 12:21:13 PM

[Edited on May 17, 2008 at 8:19 PM. Reason : ,]

5/17/2008 8:19:38 PM

charlotte is vibrant only if you think booty dancing and ibankers count for vibrancy.

5/18/2008 3:09:32 PM

This is "the most successful pointless thread" I've ever read. Hats off to you Howard.

5/19/2008 9:27:29 AM

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2008/06/02/daily28.html

Amtrak adds a third daily train between Raleigh and Charlotte.

6/7/2008 12:30:21 AM

^I honestly don't understand the pont of that. They make it sound like more people are taking the train on that route to save money. However the ticket price is $50 and most cars can make that round trip for that price or less. Not to mention that even if you drive an SUV and it costs you an extra 10-15 over the train its still worth it to save you the time and effort.

6/7/2008 3:15:36 AM

Eh. Round trip is 340 miles, so I could see the drive costing $50. However, rising fuel prices during the summer could make it a fairly economical thing for a person to do.

6/7/2008 2:29:30 PM

it costs me about 55 bucks to full up my tank and i usually get about 430 miles out of a full tank. (mixed city/highway usage)

[Edited on June 7, 2008 at 3:16 PM. Reason : ]

6/7/2008 3:16:02 PM

marko asked for this to be bttt with this link


http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/12/cities-ten-top-lifestyle-real-estate_0212_cities_slide_2.html?thisSpeed=30000

Quote :

"In Depth: America's Emptiest Cities Charlotte/Gastonia/Concord #15"

2/22/2009 2:01:15 PM

Home sweet ghost town.

2/22/2009 2:08:21 PM

greensboro/high point got #4

[Edited on February 22, 2009 at 2:10 PM. Reason : 4 not 3]

2/22/2009 2:09:23 PM

The data is skewed because of all the new buildings that just opened. I'm sure it won't be "vacant" after all the residential places finish being built. The Vue will be finished this year, 201 S Tryon will be finished in a month or two, and places like Trademark and the Avenue or all way bigger than Raleigh buildings, and all residential (save for S Tryon).

Basically, it's just based on vacancy percentages....not increases or decreases in downtown population, etc. Tons of growth in homes and buildings would add extra vacancies until the people fill them.

I heard on NPR that Charlotte uptown is projected to have more residential growth than any city in the southeast over the next 10 years, but I have no real source.

Other "empty" cities: Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, Las Vegas

What does this really have to do with Raleigh vs. Charlotte?

[Edited on February 23, 2009 at 10:00 AM. Reason : ]

[Edited on February 23, 2009 at 10:05 AM. Reason : ]

[Edited on February 23, 2009 at 10:07 AM. Reason : ]

2/23/2009 9:59:07 AM

mexico city. 10,000 persons per square car

2/23/2009 10:28:10 AM

haha i stick by what I said a few months ago.

charlotte is vibrant only if you think booty dancing and ibankers count for vibrancy.

2/23/2009 10:43:05 AM

Two of the places i hang out in Charlotte are Plaza Central and Noda. I haven't really found places like this in Raleigh. Maybe i'm just not looking hard enough. Plus there's much more to Charlotte than clubs, especially downtown.

[Edited on February 23, 2009 at 9:10 PM. Reason : .]

2/23/2009 9:09:57 PM

i always liked charlotte....then again I hate raleigh so consider my opinion as worthless as the rest of 'em

[Edited on February 23, 2009 at 10:10 PM. Reason : .]

2/23/2009 10:10:36 PM

^^^DentalDamn is bringing his usual perspective of "I live in Brooklyn, so if you don't live in NYC, you live in a shitty city with nothing going on"

2/25/2009 8:11:06 PM

i love Raleigh.

i grew up in charlotte and hate it

2/25/2009 11:42:06 PM

^where did you grow up in Charlotte?

2/26/2009 12:16:25 AM

on the border of concord and Charlotte by the mall.

also I wouldnt say I "hate" charlotte but what is enjoyable is so spread out in different parts it makes it unbearable to deal with. Also it has shitty bbq places and the majority of the bars are worthless. When I lived there the music venues where pretty shitty too except for the Milestone but that hasn't been reopened for very long

[Edited on February 26, 2009 at 10:06 AM. Reason : !]

2/26/2009 10:03:24 AM

As in Concord Mills mall? As in barely associated with Charlotte in any way part of Charlotte?

2/26/2009 10:05:44 AM

yeah i was 5 minutes from UNC Charlotte which is in Charlotte. Whats your point? I had a car and drove to charlotte.

2/26/2009 10:08:49 AM

Cities changes, especially fast growing cities like Charlotte. When was the last time you lived here?

So you didn't even live in Charlotte really and it was "growing up". Aren't you really saying that you didn't like Concord/University 5 or more years ago?

Meh.

This thread is fucking stupid anyways...look at the original post....fucking Howard started this shit.

2/26/2009 10:37:04 AM

while i agree this thread is dumb i was in charlotte during christmas and spent sometime downtown. Went to that silly bar Cans which was lame and completely empty.

2/26/2009 11:36:37 AM

Quote :

"yeah i was 5 minutes from UNC Charlotte which is in Charlotte. Whats your point? I had a car and drove to charlotte. "

exactly, i lived in harrisburg, about 10 mins from unc charlotte so I'm in the same boat as you, but I went to school in Charlotte, 90% of my friends lived in Charlotte, and I was in Charlotte doing stuff all the time...my parents just didnt want to live in the city limits.

Charlotte was't bad, but I enjoyed Raleigh more. Part of that probably has to do with the fact that I spent a long time in one (ie got bored) while the other one I spent my college years at...so its kind of hard to compare those on level ground

2/26/2009 11:46:53 AM

Quote :

"on the border of concord and Charlotte by the mall."

Ah, things make much more sense now...all this time I thought you were talking about Charlotte sucking, when you are actually talking about Concord

ps: if you're from Concord, or Mooresville or Rock Hill, etc, you don't have to say you're from Charlotte assuming that nobody knows where your actual hometown is...but yeah, I don't feel nearly as bad about how you trashtalked Charlotte now, seeing as you didn't even grow up in Charlotte

2/26/2009 12:58:42 PM

it doesnt matter where I grew up. Ive spent enough time in charlotte and dealt with enough bankers to know it sucks a ballsack.

shit I would rather live in concord than in charlotte if we're going to talk about that.

2/26/2009 1:30:24 PM

just an FYI, while conord mills is in concord address-wise, you are *3 whole miles* from the charlotte city limits and once you hit the city limits you are in probably the largest employment area in charlotte/largest concentration of office parks and healthcare stuff in Charlotte. And my guess by his description is that he probably lived within a mile or 2 from the Charlotte limits and a whole 10-15 miles to hit the heart of downtown

as I said about myself, MOST people that live in that area spend 99% of their time in Charlotte even if their home address isnt technically Charlotte. So I mean, if you want to think that just because someone has a house 5 miles SW thus having a Charlotte address that they know infinitely more than someone who chose to get a house right on the border, so be it. But thats absurd.

2/26/2009 1:35:05 PM

its just evident from his comments about bankers and bars that he really doesnt have a clue

i could care less where somebody lives, but its equally absurd to think just because you spend time somewhere you know it as well as someone who was born and raised there

and the University area of Charlotte blows, i feel bad for you if thats your main experience to Charlotte, you're doing a disservice to yourself

[Edited on February 26, 2009 at 1:37 PM. Reason : .]

2/26/2009 1:36:37 PM

I don't know. The boardwalk area with Boardwalk Billy's, Bad Dogs, and the Wine Vault can be fun on Thursday and Friday nights.

2/26/2009 1:42:03 PM

^^nah thats where I lived but most of my friends lived in South Charlotte, I went to school in Charlotte, and I spent a lot of time downtown too. I liked Charlotte though, just enjoyed Raleigh more. Plus, like I said, I had gotten bored of Charlotte simply from growing up there and spending all that time there.

[Edited on February 26, 2009 at 1:51 PM. Reason : ]

2/26/2009 1:42:04 PM

You went to Charlotte Catholic and had Barry Bridges for Calculus

No wonder you got bored of Charlotte

If you would pull your head out of your ass and check out more of what Charlotte has to offer instead of the Jack in the Box across the street

You'd see it it trumps Raleigh in every way imaginable

Raleigh and its surrounding area is home to some of the best universities in the country

Charlotte is where all the graduates of those universities come to live afterwards

2/26/2009 1:56:44 PM

haha

but nah I haven't talked bad about Charlotte man. I've been downtown a lot and still head downtown for stuff there some and spend all my holidays in charlotte. And I dont live in Raleigh or Charlotte atm.

[Edited on February 26, 2009 at 2:16 PM. Reason : ]

2/26/2009 2:15:55 PM

I just found it funny that DentalDamn is from Concord and is probably basing part of his opinion of Charlotte on the far outskirts...like if you lived in Rock Hill and said "yeah I live in Charlotte, it sucks"

It made more sense to me when I thought you were just a "I live in NYC, all other cities aren't shit" type mentality person...that at least makes sense

2/26/2009 3:09:58 PM

so whats so great about charlotte?

2/26/2009 6:25:34 PM

Well I'm obviously biased since I'm from here and live here, lets go ahead get that out of the way first

And I've been to NYC, LA, Chicago, etc and I know they dwarf Charlotte

But having lived in both Raleigh and Charlotte, I'd definitely put Charlotte over Raleigh for a number of reasons

Such as? Plenty of good bars (I'm curious as to which shitty bars you always refer to), good restaurants, pretty much any retail you want, numerous sporting events to attend (NFL, NBA, AAA baseball), good growth relative to other cities (even though the economy sucks ass right now), good weather (although thats similar to Raleigh), lots of beautiful women, a few hours from the beach, a few hours from the mountains, etc

Let me take a guess about the bar scene that you associate with Charlotte: is it pretty much all downtown/uptown bars? Have you checked out any of the "neighborhood" bars? And I, too, think a lot of bankers are douches, but I don't really interact with them too much

I just know there are plenty of people who have visited Charlotte once or twice, sometimes only a small outskirt, didn't have a great time, and think the entire city sucks based on that...thats where i thought you were coming from, apparently not, but I think its a fine city...traffic sucks, but thats true of most big cities

[Edited on February 26, 2009 at 6:35 PM. Reason : .]

2/26/2009 6:32:22 PM

well everything you just said is fine. Theres a blues club alittle south of downtown which is nice and the bar i went to last time was Cans. which is lame.

however I like Raleigh more which is an opinion so this thread is kinda pointless. Raleigh has a high concentration of things that I enjoy doing in the downtown and NC state area. Charlotte lacks this high concentration of things. Its spead out more

2/26/2009 7:50:06 PM

i saw a 'RALEIGH > CHARLOTTE' bumper sticker the other day. relatively amusing bumper sticker, i thought.

2/26/2009 7:53:19 PM

I'm personally more into the neighborhood scene in Charlotte like Noda and Plaza central. I feel part of a community and i see people i know all over the place. I rarely go downtown but enjoy it some of the time. In Raleigh i just don't feel the same type of community. I grew up in Charlotte and lived in Raleigh for 5 years. I still find Charlotte much more enjoyable and comfortable place to hang out. There's no place in Raleigh like the Common Market or the multiple music venues. Double Door, Visualite, Neigh. Theatre etc.

And yeah growing up in Plaza Midwood is completely different than growing up in the outskirts of Charlotte. I grew up riding my bike around town and experiencing everything it had to offer. It's completely different than growing up in the suburbs. You really can't say you "grew up" in Charlotte unless you actually grew up in Charlotte. I remember going to Irwin Ave. elementary right down town and walking to Discovery place back in 90's when downtown was still pretty rough. Now it's completely changed. It's seeing that transformation that puts Charlotte way above Raleigh in my book.

2/27/2009 3:48:00 AM

i do agree that the change Charlotte has seen is insane.

i stayed in a hotel when i was 6 in 91 on harris boulevard by UNC Charlotte and there was nothing to do. there was that dumb lake and that was it.

downtown in 91 was worthless. seriously worthless.

[Edited on March 2, 2009 at 10:48 PM. Reason : !]

3/2/2009 10:47:29 PM

Quote :

"They should rename that list to "places where it's cheap to live." Because there is no one, anywhere, that could honestly say that Greenville, SC or Chatanooga, TN, is a great place to live compared to cities such as Seattle or San Francisco..."

Honestly, I would choose either Greenville or Chattanooga over Seattle and SF. They are both beautiful cities with enough things to do that you don't get bored and not too much so that you can still find your peace of mind.

Also, the percentage of the population suffering from depression in Seattle compared to Greenville...I'd rather be in a happy place.

3/4/2009 2:09:09 PM

^that doesn't make any sense. What you're basically saying is, "i'd choose really small cities, over really large cities."?

3/4/2009 4:00:26 PM

I'm saying I would choose a place based on the feeling of the city. Greenville is a very enjoyable place (the one in SC anyway) but to me, Seattle and SF are not. I hate most California cities in general.

3/4/2009 5:28:08 PM

Quote :

"RALEIGH > CHARLOTTE"

I don't usually get into city comparison conversations, but I just had this conversation with my sister in-law from Charlotte (she was up over the weekend for graduation stuff), and she wants to move to this area just because it is a little more progressive & has more colleges/academic mindset (she does a lot of work with the ACLU).

5/11/2009 2:51:59 PM

Raleigh and charlotte are really not that different.

Charlotte's just a bigger version of Raleigh. Charlotte has more douchebag bankers. Raleigh has more douchebag old-money ITB types.

5/11/2009 2:57:52 PM