By far the most commented article on this blog is titled: Top Ten Things I hate about Charlotte, N.C. The article seems to have created somewhat of a debate. I would say at least 75% of the people agreed with me, but there have been the defenders. Now I am not one to bash someone for liking a city, although not all the comments were nice so they may have deserve it… Still I need to wonder what the continuous draw is to Charlotte. It has been over a year since I wrote the original article, and things have gotten worse not better. Taxes are going up, roads are undrivable at rush hour, and more bad food is popping up daily. I would say I hate Charlotte even more
Yes, I stand by everything I said in my last post, but I don’t think I went far enough. Below are five more reasons why I hate Charlotte, NC.
Over Hyped and Under Delivered
Charlotte is all hat and no saddle…for those of you who grew up in the 1800s. Every new thing in Charlotte is dubbed as Epic or amazing…the most common or subpar place is elevated in the minds of sheeple…
I am getting so sick of being disappointed. Just because something is new doesn’t make it good.
Take last year’s launch of Shake Shack, you would have thought aliens had landed it created such a flurryof activity. I have been to the original Shake Shack in New York, and the line was longer at the location off Woodlawn. Dear Charlotte, there were hundreds of Shake Shacks all over the world before this one, it isn’t special. Don’t get me wrong I like the burgers, but people here acted like their favorite sports team was working the counter…
Probably the biggest Hype monger is the Charlotte Agenda, which reads like the rejection desk at a middle school newspaper. I am not saying I am Mark Twain, but I don’t write articles like I am a 12-year-old. This brings me to my next topic…
Second Thing I hate About Charlotte: I HATE the Charlotte Agenda Axios Charlotte
Different name same garbage. I absolutely hate the online newspaper the Charlotte Agenda. I know, I know…if you don’t like don’t read it. Picture this, two trains of sh*t coming at each other full speed, you know the outcome is going to be disgusting, but you can’t look away. That is why I continue to read; every word is like watching a shitty train wreck!
It is hard to imagine a bigger group of Charlotte cheerleaders than these writers. I am not sure if they are paid to promote the city, but they never have a bad word to say about it. In contrast, article after article sounds like a gushing millenial’s text, everything is “sooooo good” or how we are all “freaking out” over some recent clone bar or restaurant opening. I get it you’re a bunch of millennials, but do you need to be so stereotypical? The problem when nothing is questioned is we keep getting more of the same below average establishments.
I think my favorite article was this one. (Sorry in advance for redirecting you to their site). The “writer” says he won’t apologize for spending a few hundred dollars on an average weekend in Charlotte. The claim is the city has too much to offer. He goes on to ask why frugality is a badge of honor and takes shots at the fiscal advice on the web.
That’s some great advice, tell a generation who is buried by student loans and worried about housing to spend hundreds of dollars on the same 4 IPAs and an underwhelming brunch. It is ok, after all you’re a millennial, you think the government should pay your student loans (IE us). Just relax and spend $150 on overpriced pork belly tacos and watered- downed drinks at Soul. As a side, if you want Charlotte food revies go here
The Third thing I hate about Charlotte: The Brewery scene.
I used to think that the brewery scene was the highlight of Charlotte. After all who doesn’t like a good local beer? I still like Old Meck and Triple C, but all the “new” ones feel the same. Is there really that much of a demand for IPAs that we keep getting excited by new openings? After the 12th brewery it somewhat loses its thrill. These places have more in common than the Olsen twins. The next “big thing” are the self pour tap rooms. What a rip off, not only are you paying for mostly foam, but they have a tip jar after making you get your own drinks. There are two in Charlotte so far, but don’t worry it’s Charlotte, so there will be 50 identical ones coming soon to a neighborhood near you!
What may be worse is the people that they attract. It used to be that breweries were for older people and heavy drinkers. Now it is like romper-room! The last time I went to drink some hoppy beer, my table was taken over by toddlers (literally). The parents brought their toys and it looked like a playpen. Nothing like hearing a baby cry at a brewery to remind you.. you’re in Charlotte. If it isn’t babies its dogs, why drag your dog to a crowded brewery? Whenever I see a dog in a brewery it makes me feel like the owners have a desperate need for attention.
Next Up: Endless Construction
Charlotte is growing, but not in a good way. How many terrible, tiny condos can one city hold? If I see one more orange cone or dumpster lining the street, I may lose my mind. Plaza Midwood and South End have lost any essence of character due to overbuilding. Near me it isn’t any better. In South Charlotte there is a constant noise of trucks beeping and power saws. I run over more nails then I can count and see litter lining my neighborhood from the workers.
I can’t drive for more than 5 minutes without seeing a construction truck blocking my path or some kind of detour. What do we get for the hassle of construction? Growth!!! Whoopie more traffic, more overpriced, underwhelming restaurants…just more Charlotte!
Finally: Charlotte Lacks Soul
Walk into New Orleans and you know you’re in New Orleans just by the feel of it. New York is the same way, there is an energy about the city. It is like I could step in blind-folded and still know where I am. Every great city that I have been too has its own distinct feeling. Step into Charlotte and it is what I would imagine sleeping with an elderly librarian would feel like, going through the motions, everything is dry, and manufactured enthusiasm a requirement. The city has no personality, its fake… like someone pretending to have something of substance. It has no idea what it takes to be a great city, because it is too busy telling you how wonderful it is.
Charlotte is void of feelings, for me it is a utility city. This is where my job is for now, I will use it for what is worth, but it is difficult to live here. I was fortunate to get in before the prices of homes become unreasonable. I am not sure why people are still moving here, as any real benefit of a relocation to Charlotte is gone…
Conclusion
Just five more reasons, but I can probably devote my entire site to this topic. To the 75% who agree with me be sure to subscribe to my reading list and I will send you details about cities that aren’t terrible. To the other 25%, please subscribe to my reading list on the right, you don’t get out enough. It would serve you well to read about better places.
I Had No Idea Their Was Somebody Who Thinks’ Like Me & Your Female > Just Sayin’, You’ve Got Guts’ … Born & Raised In Charlotte, Graduated From Myers’ Park HS In The Mid 60’s …Raised Near Freedom Park… I Just Love It When The PC Crowd Boast About All The Money That Is Created > Panthers’, GOP, Democratic Conventions’, NBA All-Star Game, Ect. Then Wanna Raise Property Taxes’ On The Retired, Poor & Middle Class’ … Where’s Mind? The PC Crowd Is Not Gonna Be Satisfied Until >>> They Pave / Concrete Every Square Foot Of Dirt In Mecklenburg County … I Can’t Even Get The Money I Paid Into The Social Security Fund … I’d Be Better Off Being Illegal … They Forced Me To Sell My Land In Charlotte Due To Property Taxes’ … Anybody On Social Security Shouldn’t Have To Pay Taxes’ > Charlotte Is A ‘Joke’ > Lol > Thanks’ > “I Feel Better Now After Running My Mouth” !!!! You Keep Up The Great Work Here …
Lets be clear…I am not female! Loved everything else you had to say!
I was born and raised in Charlotte, graduated North Meck High and I totally agree with this article. I live in Charlotte for 30 years and I don’t mind if I ever go back. Too many people now, traffic is terrible, housing is unaffordable to most people and lots of racist people. Just my personal experience.
I have been here for a little less than 20 years, its biggest draw was that it was a peaceful and affordable city. Now it is crowded and I have no idea how people can afford to buy a home here now.
As a former “New Yawker” I can tell you the cost of housing here in the Charlotte area is far far less than on Long Island where a little 60/100 cape is $450K and property taxes are $15k a year. To someone from there or halfbacks from Lauderdale or Miami we’re talking a huge bargain. It’s the only reason people are coming here. However this article is right on the money. As a city Charlotte is nothing more than a glorified office park with big buildings. It’s about elitist bankers and old money who control both political parties and don’t want real progress or change. The suburbs are nothing more than giant strip mall, soccer mom waste lands, but compared to every other place is cheap
I am actually also a former New Yorker, Long Island adds high taxes to the mix that hurts housing even more. Having said that, the cost of a decent house in Charlotte is almost as bad. My father moved here from Long Island and owned a house in Charlotte. The Charlotte house went up by 25% and the New York home actually fell.
No sidewalks, rude drivers, bad smells, terrible water, wan·na·be culture . people are really fake, just trying to fit in, pretend to have money to be in popular crowd , no originality. To many out of town people.
That is it in a nutshell
I’ve been here 15 years. I have see a lot of changes. I’m moving out of here 2022. I make a $100,000 a year as a nurse with a lot of overtime. This place is unaffordable and the people suck. I am from Long Island NY. You people here are shallow and shitty.
It feels like lately we can never get ahead. I am from LI also, it has its problems, but the reasons to live in Charlotte have disappeared.
Im a NC Native and I always feel like I’m not in NC anymore when I visit Charlotte. You should try the RDU area. Charlotte has an off-vibe to it, it’s not like the rest of NC imo. I only visit Charlotte for specific reasons – cheaper/direct flight, friends/family, sports, carowinds, that’s it.
It is true, I like the rest of NC more than Charlotte. Charlotte doesn’t feel southern, just an extension of the worst people from the North
Charlotte’s not bad I think what grows on you are the people. Very contrived. No matter where they hail from originally there is just something wrong with many people here. Too much of an agenda I suppose. Alotta people here hail from these dying rust belt towns in the north and Midwest. They come down to this young blossoming city in the south and they think it’s the sh&t. Then they think they’re the sh$t because they’re here! Lol . I’ve lived many places throughout the country and I’ve had to cut ties with more people in Charlotte than anywhere else I’ve ever lived.
Contrived is the perfect word for it.
Yesss!! This article is so accurate. I am sick and tired of fake highly positive propaganda articles by TOOLS
I disagree. Charlotte has a soul. A miserable, greedy, devil-may-care soul.
I share your previous article with my mom the other day. She and I have been toying with a move back to Charlotte. When I attended UNC-Charlotte the university area was a relatively safe neighborhood. Parts of North Tryon were deemed ratchet but it was still a cool place to live. Now, people tell me that all that has flown out the window and the University area is a LOT less safe.
I like articles like these because although I hate living where I am now (DC/Maryland/VA), which I often refer to as a douchebag watering hole), I feel like I know enough about Charlotte to determine that the grass isn’t really greener on the other side. As an NC native, I just can’t shake the fact that Raleigh just seems to Mayberry-ish and Stepford and Durham seems like a smaller Charlotte. Everything else bores me to tears – Greensboro (what exactly is there to do there besides be a college student), Chapel Hill (college town), Greenville (College town and medical) and of course Fayet-nam as we used to call it.
I think my main problem with Charlotte and other areas of NC is that the wages haven’t kept up with growth or the cost of living. The average apartment in Raleigh costs about 900-1000 yet the wages are still low outside of tech/Research Triangle. Charlotte seems to have a lower cost of living (just by apartment search) but the wages are lower than Raleigh – and I’m only comparing these to my line of work.
I plan to visit soon but I’m always worried about the following –
I ride the bus – and um, when I lived in Charlotte long ago the bus station (is it still near Time Warner/Spectrum/whatever the call it now?) it was sketchy as hell at night. I’m definitely planning on having a car.
Wages – haven’t kept up with the cost of living
Oh, and I don’t know if you’re married or single – but how is the dating scene there?
Thanks!
Absolutely true, wages aren’t close to keeping up with the cost of living. Unless you got here early, you are most likely overpaying for a small condo.
Grew up in the northeast…Moved here from New Jersey…Spent a year…asked for a transfer right back to NEW JERSEY! this city has no real roots and culture. Live where you feel good. The little things in life bring the most amount of happiness….id move to Florida before Charlotte any day of the week.
Wages haven’t gone up anywhere in the US
They have never been up in charlotte lol. Rent sure is. Homes food gas childcare everything else is up. This isn’t the place folks I’m sorry.
Uptown Charlotte ( incl’d South End now) on weekends is one big amateur hour. It’s like New Year’s Eve. They have some nice/cool places to hang out up there but the crowd will grow on you quick. Just be prepared to be surrounded by the just turned 21 crowd. It’s like one big frat house. Way too many immature actors. The dudes are all punks. The girls slutty bimbos. Or at least that’s how they like to portray themselves. Everyone is trying too hard to call attention to themselves and be something they’re not. There isn’t much deviance from that. Very few places you can find a diversified down to earth chill crowd in Charlotte. Even in the suburbs like ballantyne the locals have persona issues. No matter where they are in life everyone acts like they’re still in high school.
This is great. I stumbled upon this post (and the other 10 reasons post) by researching if there are others out there who hate Charlotte too and why. And you have articulated the reasons clearly and concisely.
Parsing the five mentioned and the comments from your posts, I have to agree and add my two cents.
Over hyped indeed. I am sick of all these new condo towers being built Luxury and High-End. And the new restaurants as Luxury and High-end. These are catered to the bougies or the clueless, mindless, finance and tech bros who think that by living and eating in any of these over hyped new establishments give them power and cred. One more thing I hate about the Shake Shack opening is that it opened in a an affluent neighborhood. Danny Meyers concept of starting Shake Shack was so that a gourmet burger is accessible and affordable to all. Yet, here in Charlotte, it’s only accessible to the wealthy. Which comes to my point that most of Charlotte is ONLY for the wealthy or wanna be wealthy or who think and act as if they are wealthy, i.e. the bougies.
Ditto on Charlotte Agenda. I’d also like to add Charlotte Five. Both act as if they are the PR and marketing for Charlotte–brainwashing and prevaricating stuff that Charlotte is grrreaat!, and maybe they are paid by the businesses featured there and Charlotte City Government (did you see the profile on Dimple’s wedding in C5, it was laughable), Both web sites encourage people to spend, spend, spend… CONSUME, as if everyone is a VP at a bank or a venture capitalist, or a tech bro who just got rich off of an IPO. Point being, Charlotte treats its residents as consumers and not citizens. If one is not consuming, you are nothing.
Breweries. Yes, too many of them, where it has come to the point it is saturated and will become meaningless and its bubble will burst (see what happened to the cupcake and froyo fad). And when you mentioned kids at breweries, I thought you were going to refer to the actual adults going and drinking there, because they are what I call kidults. And these kidults who have kids not only use their dogs to get attention or as an accessory, they use their kids! Whole point of going to a brewery to have a drink is to relax, have a nice conversation, or just to think.
Charlotte copies everything from other cities–it’s trying to be Asheville, Austin, Charleston, Atlanta, SF, NYC… even the endless construction, just to make it seem like that it is an important and relevant city in par and keep to par with those other cities.
Don’t want to beat a dead horse, but Charlotte clearly lacks soul. There are no bookstores, real museums, galleries, art museums, culture to stir up one’s soul. The (travelling) Broadway shows/plays have to be seen inside a mall (BoA plaza). The people are soulless (well, duh, they are bankers, techies…)
Just want to add more stuff on why I hate Charlotte.
Those damn shared scooters. It;’s a toy! not an alternate mode of transportation. It doesn’t belong in the streets or sidewalk. It belongs in a park, like Central Park, but Charlotte clearly lacks that too. Furthermore, those scooters are just a status symbol for who or where the rider is in life. It’s just a brag of honor for them. Plus, one can just leave them on a sidewalk — a public space. If I were to leave my personal scooter on a sidewalk, (aside from obviously it being stolen), the city will dispose of it and considered it as littering. But noooo, these tech start-ups can get away with leaving their tech bro toys on public street and sidewalks with no consequences.
Which takes me to my next point of hating Charlotte — the privatization of public spaces. City of Charlotte Government has sold out Charlotte (including its soul) to the soulless real estate developers and banking industry (no wonder why Charlotte has no souls). I hate the fact there are so many security guards eyeing you on a public sidewalk. I get that you are hired to watch the almighty BoA, or Wells Fargo or whatever vainglorious buildings the rent-a-cop was hired to watch. But most times, they are also eyeing and are suspicious of those who are walking on a sidewalk in front of these soulless behemoths. One just get the feeling that you are not wanted there, esp. if you do not conform to the banking uniform clothes.
Which segways me that Charlotte is elitist (when there’s nothing elite about Charlotte) — it present itself that only the elites and wealthy are worthy of its city. From Shake Shack (that opened in an affluent neighborhood instead of Uptown), to the security guards judging, discriminating, and eyeing you with suspicion if you’re not a khaki-, polo shirt -wearing banker.
And the flights in and out of Charlotte — expensive (and one has to go to JFK for al ayover when flying to Florida, for an inexpensive flight) ! when there really nothing here to do and see except NASCAR and the Billy Graham Library. Charlotte is basically creating a barrier of entry so that only the bankers can afford to fly in and out of Charlotte. This point reminds me of that when I sued to work at Metlife in NYC, and when MetLife decided relocate its headquarters to Long island City, when LIC was still a grungy, industrial, pre-gentrified neighborhood. The shops/restaurants/businesses around where the MetLife HQ was started to raise their prices to Manhattan prices, (at times even more expensive than Manhattan prices, since they have some sort of monopoly on these office workers), since they think that these MetLife office workers will go to their businesses and be able to afford it. Well, wrong. The office workers started to bring their own lunch or went to the the Metlife cafeteria. These business then lost business since they also alienated those that live in the neighborhood. Metlife HQ eventually then moved back to Manhattan, to which these businesses then closed since they only targeted MetLife workers as its customers. Point being, this is akin to what Charlotte is doing. Exorbitant prices–from flights, to restaurants, to condos/housing, to walking its sidewalks, to breathing its air …. alienating, ignoring, genrifying, and pushin-out its long-time residents , so that it can only cater to the bank or fintech industry, thinking that everyone in the banking industry is an investment banker or VP with a sense of self-entitlement and arrogance. What happens to Charlotte when these banks decide to leave town?
TL;DR
from what you and the commenters worth on hating Charlotte, here are what stand out.
SOULLESS
CONTRIVED
BORING
HOMOGENEOUS
BLAND
SPECIOUS
Yes to all that and more. Seems like Charlotte was built by and for the Patrick Batemans and their sorostitutes of the worst of the North and South. Oftne times, when walking around Queen City, I feel like Rowdy, Rowdy Piper wearing the sunglasses, in They Live.
Final point: If Charlotte and the City of Charlotte Government had a culture that valued compassion over consumption the Charlotte would have more old architecture, which can be more affordable and thus inclusive, and fewer soulless glass towers, fewer high-end restaurants…, which exclude many people.
Obey. Consume. Reproduce. Conform.
I agree with a lot that you have to say (not all, I am in Finance and a Capitalist). Yes, though Charlotte Five should be included in that. They do really encourage you to spend, they must be connected to the city.
The problem with the 30K millionaires is that since they worship anything, go into debt for dinners and living in a good area and then complain about no retirement. This allows even the most basic spot to charge whatever they want.
Not sure I agree with the scooters, think non-idiots riding them could avoid killing someone. I don’t mind high end restaurants if they are good (I go to both high and low end). If they are excluding someone that’s a whole other crime. Thanks for the post.
I have nothing against high-end restaurants; like you said as long as it lives up to its name–that it’s good. My qualm is that all these restaurants popping up advertise themselves as high-end with the same design and food offerings as that other restaurant claiming to be high-end. Plus, these restaurants seem to be catering to the high-end clienteles, whether or not they too are really high-end.
Speaking of high-end, Charlotte presents itself as a high-end city. Again I have nothing against a “high-end” city or place, such as Beverly hills, Aspens, Monaco, etc. Charlotte asserts itself as those places, when it is far from it, not even a city period. It is pretentious, same to those for whom Charlotte caters to, the ostentatious folks who mostly work in the finance industry,
As for the scooters, i can go on and on about it, but one thing is that is is exclusive. If it s really an alternative mode of transportation, then it should not be cashless. being cashless, it excludes those who do not have a smartphone or a credit card or even a bank account — namely, the poor, working class, and the elderly. These scooters are meant for the self-important and unaffected bros and millenials. The scooter is plutocratic, not democratic, much like Charlotte.
And I have nothing against to all who work in the finance industry. I am working for one too. My trepidation is with those who act like as if they are Masters of Universes, like they are the VP or hedge fund managers where in reality is that they are just some sort of back office workers just because they work for BoA or WF or wherever: they act like as if they ARE those banks and American Psychos with a self of entitlement, apathy, and arrogance, that Charlotte revolves and should revolve around them, which Charlotte does.
End rant.
Charlotte is shit garbage
straight to the point
What did Charlotte do to your poor soul? Bless your heart
Charlotte has no soul and serves and caters those that are consumers, elitists, and materialistic and soulless. Some one who has no soul wouldn’t understand that. Bless your heart, you poor thing.
Don’t blame Charlotte because you’re a boring shit.
I outlined it in detail what Charlotte did to me….to all of us.
As a nativeI I personally blame
the influx of outsiders for many of these problems. Northerners are generally arrogant, rude , drive like idiots, and have a ” Let let tell you how we did it up there” attitude. Taxes, crime, traffic, and corruption in govt are epidemic. The PC crowd has seized control iof everything so sports stadiums for losing teams get built instead of serious infrastructure problems getting addressed. Food is overpriced and horrible. Catch and release criminal justice system keeps the streets full of dangerous thugs. The news media is very adept at playing down these issues to protect the crooks that run the place Our previous mayor Patrick Cannon was imprisoned for taking bribes for promises to fast track business licenses and zoning changes to build adult businesses along the totally stupid light rail train routes Nice huh? Well you folks can have it. After six decades of living in this garbage dump I am moving to greener pastures. Enjoy!!!
I am a Northern transplant and I agree. It seems like we imported the worst of the North. Plus they vote the same stupid policies that destroyed the North.
Charlotte is small-minded and not diverse. 6es, demographically and statistically, one can show you that there are many people of different color/race/background/nationality. But you don’t see them integrated together: they are segregated
Charlotte city government (because they are in with the banking industry) dictates on how to and what ones think or do. If you do not conform, one is banished and an outcast,
Charlotte sucks tepid a$$.
Charlotte is like being in Dante’s 8th circle of hell.
Charlotte is self-aggrandizing. Furthermore, muck like working for a bank or corporation, Charlotte, which relies heavily on the banking industry, has sucked the soul out of the city and everything and everyone.
Piggy backing on the lack of soul, Charlotte is also lacking a sense of community. I understand that many of us are transplants but we should still be able to embrace our home as one community but it just doesn’t seem possible here. I was born in Ohio but raised in Hickory, NC from a young age. So not sure if that means I’m a Yankee or what that makes me. I moved away from Charlotte in 2015 for Green Bay, WI which also wasn’t for me then ended up in St. Pete, FL which was horrendous. I figured Charlotte has to be better than this so I came back but boy do I regret it. Looking for a way out and a new city to try.
So many of the new cities have been ruined or made unlivable… We are considering a move out of the country or closer to Charleston.
Only 5 more? Really? Though you are right on the money, I venture to say you could expand this a lot. Please keep this going, as I feel vindicated in my thoughts and need to know there are kindred spirits out there:)!
Ha, I think I will add on every year…I am at 15 in two posts.
How about some reasons to like Charlotte? I am, unfortunately, stuck here for a while, so I need some reasons to be more positive about this wretched place. I really am trying, but it’s hard – really hard!
It is close to other fun places like Charleston. Best thing about Charlotte is leaving Charlotte.
Thing about Charlotte is that it is a dreamworld of exclusion for these bankers/financiers… a place Mike Davis describes in Evil Paradises: ‘where the rich can walk like gods in the nightmare gardens of their deepest and most secret desires.’ Charlotte is what Norwegian urbanist Jonny Aspen calls zombie urbanism, a neat and tedious stage set, regurgitating global clichés about modern urban life, ‘in which there is no room for irregularity and the unexpected.’
Charlotte is run by the banking industry and real estate developers and the politicians in their pockets who are only invested in raising property values, destroying the soul and character and history of Charlotte, all in name of profit. It’s just sad that this overheated market demands that a city with character and history has to be sacrificed fully for short-term profit based on the latest market-driven trends and fads.
In addition, these bankers/financiers/politicians in control transform mixed-income neighborhoods into “luxury” living –the overpriced swanky but mediocre restaurants and boutiques — and the same chain stores one can find at any outlet mall across the country. They are an oligarchy; they embody the norm that the rich should rule — they direct a new kind of governance of public spaces by creating ‘discretely manicured spaces’ as playgrounds for kidult consumers, the millenials, who have internalized norms of proper behavior and keep watch over others to make sure they conform to the rules. When public spaces are semi-privatized, given over to zombie urbanism, they no longer belong to the public. They may look pleasant on the surface, with benches, umbrellas, and public art installations/commissioned street art, but they conceal a darker intention: they are meant to control the people and the spaces of the city. They increase inequality.
I am not going to accept this theory. There ae plenty of great banking cities that have a lot of character. New York, Tokyo to name a few. These cities always have had a great banking system, yet have a ton of character.
Bankers and private companies don’t ruin cities, governments do.
I posted this on the original 10 reasons, but wanted to recreate my thoughts here as well.
I am a 30+ professional and have lived all over the US, including growing up in the very dissimilar South and Central Floridas, New York City and upstate New York, Houston and the Bay Area. I relocated to Charlotte for a professional opportunity and very quickly came to regret my decision. I moved here for a job and was hoping that the city would offer a balance of a good economy with a high standard of living and some degree of a [younger] culture and social engagement. I could not have been more wrong. Charlotte is a zombie land with no personality and no character. While the level of life (salaries, homes, etc…) is high, the quality of life is abysmal. There is simply nothing to do culturally and socially. A few areas, like NoDa and South End, are slowly coming up thanks to new apartments that are being built to attract a younger crowd – mostly young professionals – but even then the only entertainment in town is bars and drinking. Sure, we have a ballet company, a symphony orchestra, a few museums, the Panthers and the Hornets, but other than that, the quality of life is non-existent. The city is not at all walkable as it is primarily an overgrown suburb and even though you do have sidewalks, many of them terminate and do not interconnect. The minuscule downtown, which for some unexplained reason is called “uptown”, is a collection of offices and skyscrapers that are empty on weekends, propped up by a couple of bars and pubs. The uptown streets are full of homeless folks, some with apparent mental issues and you can’t help but sympathize with them.
Unlike every other place I have lived – and other cities nearby – Charlotte has no personality or character. There are towns and cities where you feel 100% at home. There are others where you feel absolutely out of place. In Charlotte, you don’t feel anything at all. It certainly is not the South in the same way Charleston (or even its smaller cousin Greenville) is. It is not the progressive South-West in the way that Houston – an amalgam of cultures, business and social scenes – is. It is not the young and the dynamic North West that is Portland, OR.
That said, there are a few places and establishments in Charlotte which, to me, make it half-livable and enjoyable, and inspire a glimmer of hope that the city may be changing. A few institutions which valiantly attempt to salvage the reality of the boring “old-money / don’t enter my driveway” upper-middle-class suburbia that reluctantly co-exists with the destitute and economically challenged areas throughout the city. These places and institutions include the Charlotte Symphony, the City Ballet, the Opera Carolina, and the White Water Center. The Waverly area – a new development in the south of the City – is home to a number of great restaurants, common areas, new apartment complexes that attract retirees, families and young professionals. Lake Norman and Lake Wylie are both beautiful as well.
To ensure that your quality of life in Charlotte matches your level of life, however, you will need to go out of the city. And you will need to go far. The nearest beach is at least 3-4 hours away. Charleston – a great Southern town with a personality and character that are both traditional yet young – is about 3 hours away. The Blue Ridge parkway and some of the most amazing waterfalls and hikes you will experience are 2 hours away.
In conclusion, Charlotte may be beautiful in most places and you will definitely be comfortable. But, you will slowly sink into a daily existence that dulls your senses, lowers your sense of wonder and in the process frustrates the **** out of you. It will ultimately inspire you to move or to constantly drive away seeking excitement and life, only to return to a place where you can put your head on the pillow before waking up the next morning only to get into your car for a painful commute that will lead to a paycheck that enables your painfully slow existence in this yet-to-figure-out-who-i-am type of a city.
“Charlotte has no personality or character”, couldn’t have said it better myself. I agree with you there are some establishments that help it, no place is all bad. IT is just the lack of Soul and personality that wear on me. Maybe I am turning into a grouchy old man, but everything new, like in South End is all hype and a rip off. Some of the old school restaurants (Beef and Bottle comes to mind) are great, but few and far between.
Loved your last paragraph, you might need to ghost write my third edition!
One thing I would add to my earlier review – to my surprise Charlotte is the only city I have lived in and travel to that does absolutely nothing to create a sense of community and to raise people’s spirits during the holidays. Christmas, Hanukkah and New Years feature absolutely no – i repeat 0 – decorations other than a couple of trees throughout town. It is sad and abysmal.
This 4th of July my wife and I decided to drive to the South Park mall area, thinking the amphitheater / band shell would be an attraction filled with people, perhaps a band and a fireworks display. Absolutely nothing! It was as dead as can be. The best fireworks were the ones put together by our neighbors in south Charlotte. It’s shocking how poorly this city is run.
IT is one of the worst Christmas/holiday cities I have been too. Very few decorations either on homes, businesses, or city property.
“Bankers and private companies don’t ruin cities, governments do”
I understand that you work for a bank/finance industry and feel like you have to be loyal to that industry,
However, in Charlotte, the government IS run by the banking/finance industry, thus they are as complicit in ruining Charlotte; it s an oligarchy. Plus, the point of that diatribe is the privatization or the semi-privatization of the public spaces, which creates inequality: the elitism, classicism, ageism, racism. More importantly, the increase in crime because of the inequality.
First, I have no loyalty to the Banks or any industry. Corporations are Soul sucking, I just don’t blame them since they can’t use force (like Government). Second, you ae saying a lot of buzz words and seem to blame it on the Banks.
I really doubt the Banks can in anyway be linked to an increase of crime.
I agree with what’s being said , both by you and the commenters, on the most part, on hating on Charlotte. But it seems like you hate on Charlotte but not on the banks or finance industry who is responsible for tearing down the old buildings–the old buildings that had or represented the city’s character and soul-, which the city now clearly lacks–in place of all these soulless glass condos and offices.
Or maybe you have finally grown loving Charlotte and embrace economic elitism since the post on the “Top Ten Things you hate about Charlotte is now deleted.
Banks are an easy target. NY, Tokyo and plenty of other cities all are big Banking hubs but they didn’t turn out like Charlotte
This article speaks to me on a religious level. I’ve been here for a year and half and absolutely hate it. Mainly because of the shit and overpriced food, and fact the city has the city has the same amount of culture as a frat house after a tailgate .
You’re doing gods work.
Most folks in Charlotte are ignorant and close-minded. Nothing intellectual about this “city”. It’s all about consumption. Residents are treated as consumers anot as citizens. Charlotte wants to be important and a relevant city like L.A. ,S.F. NYC … that CLT copies everything form those cities, even to the protests–nothing sincere or genuine about Charlotte. Also, folks in Charlotte think and act as if they’re all that, nothing but a bunch of bourgees or boujees (not a typo).
Sucks that because of the pandemic and the subsequent economic conditions, it is now harder to move away from this shitehole.
You speak the truth, especially about how nothing is sincere in Charlotte. The copy everything from the restaurants to the useless trolley cars.
Charlotte overall has no soul. It’s a generic brand city. There are small, small pockets that feel like a city with character. But they are very few in number and unaffordable.
South End is not one of those neighborhoods with character. It’s a post-college helicopter-parented suburban kid’s version of a city. The majority of restaurants are chains or incredibly overrated. It’s overrun with self-interested Techbros and Instagramgals. Most are getting some form of supplemental funding from the parents. Then with help (directly or indirectly) from the parents, they snag ideal real estate and drive up house prices significantly. While we’re at it…
Housing and condos. For a city that feels 80% suburbia and is built accordingly, the glut of condo construction seems counterintuitive. Yet it makes sense because it’s the only affordable “housing.” Want a yard and live close to work? Good luck. A decent tiny 2-bedroom house will go for $400-500k. Other cities are worse, but Charlotte doesn’t have the density to justify.
Density. There is no desire to uphold zoning or a sense of neighborhood. A bunch of high density four-story townhouses can sprout up next to your one story bungalow. A high-rise eye sore can be built across the street from your two-story. Good luck fighting developers. Developers run the city but complain about government restrictions.
The jobs. Charlotte boasts of its great economy but the jobs are all large corporate finance institutions. Fine for some people, but it’s a stifling culture for people who want to actually improve things and make an impact. The bland corporate finance jobs will help explain the city’s lack of character and soul.
I’m not one to complain about transplants (I am one), but if Charlotte did have character at one time, the transplants certainly didn’t embrace it. I’ve lived in other parts of the US and I enjoyed getting to know the locals and the long-timers. It’s tough meeting those people being that the city is a transplant majority. I like learning about a place’s identity. Charlotte seems to have none.
There is nothing in that comment I can argue with… compared to some many other places, Charlotte has no personality of its own. It is an empty shell.
There’s nothing genuine about Charlotte. Every neighborhood is deemed historic, when uptown was a marketing play to make it seem more safe, historic southend was a marketing play to get people to move there (used to be barbed wired fencing and only reason to go there was for drugs), and now LOSO or lower south end is a marketing play to get people to gentrify the crap part down south blvd. The ridiculous part of this is Uptown is 1.1 miles in width whereas south end + LOSO equals 3.5 miles in width. It literally makes no sense for an area to be triple the size of center city, except this is a suburban wasteland where people think that dropping 500k townhomes and a brewery in the middle of the ghetto makes the area cool. To put it in perspective south end ends at sycamore, then a new area called sedgefield starts, but sedgefield doesn’t sell 500k townhomes so the marketing development gods refer to everything as south end even as we get near pineville. Ballantyne developers did it years ago. Ballantyne is small so they came up with ballantyne east and west and now that area starts at the end of park rd and goes all the way to the south Carolina border just so developers could see 600k cookie cutter vinyl homes.
In short, Charlotte is a cultural waste land that tries to hard. Nothing authentic, no unique indentity. Only cool areas are Dilworth, Elizabeth, Noda, Plaza, Myers Park / Selwyn. Otherwise it’s suburbia hell, where it’s all chains and bunch of transplants that helicopter parents are paying for everything as their kids work 50K a year jobs living in 1600 a month apartments. No one cares about anything here besides beer, and the city delivers through no culture activities and selling it’s soul for the same cookie cutter development.
The best one is “we are now the 15 biggest city in the US, surpassing San Francisco”.. it doesn’t mean anything when youre not calculating per capita by sq miles of the city. If you did that we’d be out of the top 40. To literally compare ourselves to any cities not named Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Jacksonville is not accurate. You can’t even compare us to Pittsburgh because at least there’s good schools and museums there. Asheville NC is a better city than Charlotte.
End rant
J-Bee again with more thoughts…
Charlotte is a perfect blend of New England snobs and Mid-Atlantic assholes topped with heavy amounts of Midwestern* Mayo.
*Midwestern = anything west of the Appalachians, north of the Ohio, and east of the Missouri; Buffalo to Pitt to Cincy to St Louis to KC to Minneapolis to Milwaukee to Chicago to Detroit.
It’s like Charlotte had no idea so many people were going to be moving here. Even though for 25 years and more, they’ve been bragging about how fast they’re growing. Oh, maybe come with a plan for dealing with the influx of humans with human needs?? Instead of bragging about how many people are moving here and implying it means that it’s awesome here?? Because it is not awesome here.
Housing here sucks. Low inventory. Low-quality construction. Overpriced. Ever-increasingly unaffordable. Characterless homes and neighborhoods. Once people get theirs, they shrug their shoulders, monitor home values, and stop giving a crap about housing, so nothing gets done about it (I admit this includes me). No road, transit, or pedestrian infrastructure to support old housing, current housing, and increasing sprawl. Two choices: live close to everything or live close to absolutely nothing.
Driving here sucks. The drivers suck. The transit system sucks. The lack of pedestrian amenities sucks. There is a serious lack of thoughtful planning for highways, roads, sidewalks, trails, etc. The street and highway signage are awful.
The drivers here …ugh. They can’t use signals. They can’t merge onto a highway going faster than 25 MPH. They intentionally run red lights. They turn left in front of oncoming traffic and you have to slam on your brakes. They literally stop in the middle of traffic if they suddenly realize they need to move over one or more lanes to turn or exit. They stop multiple lanes of traffic to make a three-point u-turn. They park on the wrong side of the road facing the opposite way. They go 45 on a nearly empty 60 MPH highway and then go 50 on a busy 35 MPH residential street.
My god Charlotte is so overrated. Then all I hear all day from people is how fantastic it is here. Sure, I guess maybe if you grew up isolated in a white suburban bubble I could see why you love it. On top of everything, Charlotte isn’t even that big of a metro! But people act like it’s a Top 10 metro!
One more thought … I can’t wait until Charlotte’s “high quality of life” status plummets when they realize shoe-horning in endless condos, townhomes, and cookie-cutter granite-counter-topped apartment complex monstrosities into a city infrastructure that can’t support high density housing and its pedestrian and transportation traffic demands.
This city takes its “high quality of life” status for granted. They don’t factor in the quality of life when trying to “plan” the city’s future (aka let developers run the city). In 20 years Charlotte’s quality of life will be for the very few and privelaged.
The problem with some of these annoying transplants in this town is that so many of them come from these dying rust belts in the north and Midwest. They come down to this young blossoming city in the south and they think it’s the shit! And then they think they’re the shit because they’re here! They’re always trying to get a leg up on where they came from and everyone new they happen to meet in their newly adopted city. It’s so pathetically full of people who think they’re the shit…but clearly ARE NOT! If it weren’t for these tool bags…probably wouldn’t be that bad of a place!
So many of them will also pay top dollar to for a mediocre atmosphere.
I love this post and I’m so glad you wrote it Man in Flight! I agree with so many of the comments here about Charlotte. There’s no culture whatsoever, infrastructure sucks, housing is completely laughable in terms of pricing and quality, the banking/corporate job market…snore, the food/restaurant industry is a joke (be very careful on yelp if you are looking at reviews), the number of breweries……also how many more churches do we need? Am I the only one who is annoyed by the Jesus Saves signs? Why not build more affordable housing instead…………
But what I dislike most of all about Charlotte is the culture. Like many others that have noted before me, Charlotte has no culture. However, there is a culture here that reeks of segregation, racism, ignorance, and sexism 🙂 And it is everywhere! It’s so obvious too yet there is so much denial about it from the locals and the transplants who reign from the Mid-West and Upper East Coast ; all who commonly share a rather pale and pasty complexion…hmm………
I know there are so many places in this country that are worse than Charlotte, but my goodness I have never met so many uncultured and unworldly people in my life lol. Perhaps it is the privileged/entitled upbringing of this Bay Area/ California transplant that has me angrily peering down on such behavior but ugh……to be around people who don’t even know that Africa is actually a continent of nations and not a country….is completely upsetting and that yes, it is safe to eat fully cooked pork belly.
I’m so sick of people leaving useless yelp reviews or hearing people say this restaurant is authentic when really it’s watered down bland Americanized ethnic food. Like how do you know it’s authentic Mexican food? Because the menu was written in Mexican. Yes that last sentence you just read read, I heard someone say that in real life…..this city is a joke.
As an Asian American, and especially as an Asian American female who grew up in the west coast, my experiences of racial discrimination I have felt in Charlotte and the observations I have seen is so different compared to what I felt back home or living in the DC Area. What is happening now to many Asian Amercans is a completely different conversation…..
What I can say from my experiences here in the “lovely” Queen City was that there were a number of people who had no problems telling me that I spoke great English, especially for an Asian. I know there will be some ignoramus who will say what’s the big deal or so what, stop being so sensitive? Did you study American History you ass hat? Asians have been here here since the 1850s……and if your want to go further back, we should talk about the Filipinos who came to California during the 1580s. Let’s go even further back and talk about the Native Americans who came from Asia over 24,000 years ago…. I digress but point being these idiots here clearly think minorities or people of color are not American! At the same time we shouldn’t be surprised because this is NC right? This is the south after all, surprise surprise.
The constant staring but no speech…..weird, oh my god why are people giving me such dirty looks when I don’t even know them (all before covid by the way)? I have been to restaurants and places where I was given looks to show how unwelcomed I was. When I’m out in public with my white husband, I’m never acknowledged. People will say hi to my husband and will greet him but they don’t do the same to me. My husband will introduce me as his wife to these people but they only will have conversations with him….It’s laughable when I go out and see clumps of people who only have friends of their same race and avoid talking to other individuals that don’t look like them…
It’s also laughable and completely heart breaking when white colleagues or even people you don’t know are comfortable talking trash in front of you, about how disgusting your people are (pre-covid…) and completely oblivious to how derogatory/ offensive the C word is for Asians and but they say it anyway! How people use the word “Dark” here if there are too many people of color present…..what the F*ck is wrong with these people here?
I can handle the douchebags of the DMV area and the stick in their ass types of NYC, but the south….Charlotte…. this is different. They want to stay ignorant in their own little bubbles and eat their plain food with salt and pepper and act as if the world revolves around them. It is truly strange how so many people are proudly ignorant and racist here………..and if you like to educate yourself on national and global affairs, cultures, people…and love traveling the world somehow people like myself are weird.
I have talked to other people of color about their experiences living here (Asian, Hispanic, African American, Middle Eastern, etc.), and they all said the same thing! Clearly, there is something going on with this ultra conservative close-minded culture in Charlotte. My husband and I want to move out of Charlotte to avoid raising our future bi-racial children in such a close minded and ignorant environment.
The whole we have mountains and beaches statement that I always hear from the locals is so asinine. It’s not in Charlotte you dumb ass! You have to drive to the mountains and to the beaches which takes hours. Once again as a entitled/privileged Bay Area/California Transplant, this doesn’t impress me. But in general, east coast beaches are incomparable to the west coast, especially Hawaii in my absolute humble opinion 😉
So, as you can tell, I do not like Charlotte at all. But a small part of me does feel for some of the locals who are priced out. This city and state is their home and they want to live here, continuously with the generations of family members before them. Despite my rants, I’m grateful to have met a few but incredibly wonderful and kind individuals in the thick hay of insufferables and degenerates in this so called Queen City.
Cheers to all those before me with their passionate and truthful laments. May we all find a better place to reside and not in this bumf*ck of a town.
Thank you for this. Good to know I am not alone with this. I frequently say this and even have commented about the discrimination and segregation, but people either don’t seem to notice it or turn a blind eye on it. I’ve made similar comments in 2019 in the original post https://maninflight.com/top-ten-things-i-hate-about-charlotte-nc. Am still here because I got stuck or only stuck around because of the pandemic. I was hoping that Charlotte would evolve or get better, but it’s the opposite–it’s devolved and gotten worse. Needless to say, Charlotte is no queen city, more like sheen, smoke-and-screen, or asinine city.
All of you do us all a favor….get on a flight and go to your preferred city of choice. I’ve lived in NYC (gross overrated hell hole), Atlanta (you feel lucky if you wake up without a stray bullet piercing through your walls in the night), and Portland (my hometown). I can tell you Charlotte is not even half of things you pseudo-intellectual wind bags say it is. Why live in a city you despise? Why not try and either leave or create the things in that city you feel it lacks? Instead you’ll resource to batching about it online because you’re either too stupid to move or not creative enough to make a difference.
First, Welcome to my Blog…be sure to Subscribe! I can hear you slamming your fist on your copy of Axios Charlotte right now. Why Tramon are reading this from a brewery? I actually live outside of the city now, which helps, but doesn’t stop most of my complaints. Although my job is here and my house, this is not my home…I will leave. To your point these other places are bad as well, New York is unlivable, and I wouldn’t even visit Portland. These places are terrible, but they have something Charlotte doesn’t, that is personality. Charlotte is bland and soulless, that is evident from the food and culture. I have been all over the world, this city just doesn’t measure up.
I fucking hate Charlotte. There is nothing here. It’s sucks, like literally sucks. If you have ever been or lived in a town that has substance, Charlotte is the fucking worst place ever. Uh
Can’t argue with that
Living here is like degrading
I moved away just under 3 years ago. I miss the trees on our property, but that’s it. The city I now live in is full of culture and soul (and lots of traffic). No place is perfect, but there is way better that Charlotte – I hope you get out soon.
Well, we have lots of traffic yet no soul. I do have a plan to escape, not soon enough just yet.
The city has no personality, its fake… like someone pretending to have something of substance, lol, i thought I was the only one who had this opinion.