Does the Atlanta/Charlotte rivalry make sense?

[liat91]

Originally Posted by ATLMidcity

That statement is the epitome of per bullshit. If you take the people out, every place might as well be Montana. The type of people (and their culture) are what make a city unique.
And how in the hell can anymore reasonably compare NYC to San Diego as CRAWFORD did. And to add insult to injure, say Charlotte is "blacker" than Detroit. Laughable.

In the words of Beyonce, "boy bye".

Montana has a Marta, Buckhead, Uptown and vast deciduous forests? Those things would still stand if people weren’t present. Never seen a place that looks like Missoula in the Piedmont. “99 problems”

[liat91]

Originally Posted by Crawford

You're not reading. Re-read the comment.

It's true. The % AA in Charlotte is higher than in Detroit. Charlotte has a high % black compared to most U.S. metros. Most Southern metros have a higher % black than metros elsewhere in the U.S., because the Southeast, is, by far, the most AA part of the country.

Detroit is black, but the CSA is surely not, and that doesn’t even include Windsor/Essex.

Talk about a city that could gentrify on a mass scale. Philadelphia’s CSA is less white (with the city more) and it’s gentrification is so much more apparent.

[iheartthed]

The percentage black of Detroit's MSA, at roughly 23%, is on the high-end for a large MSA. Atlanta is the only large MSA that is more than 30% black. It along with Baltimore-Washington are the only large regions that have a higher percentage black than Detroit. But Detroit still isn't that far ahead of places like Philadelphia, Houston, and Miami, which are all about 21%.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...an_populations

[jd3189]

Atlanta and Charlotte are very different from one another. Even if one is the “bigger” version of the other, they are still distinct from each other. Census data tells you about the facts, but barely anything about the culture, history, and other unique characteristics of a place. If the actual residents of the cities are saying there are significant differences, how does it make any sense to write that off?

[Omaharocks]

^ Yeah, I've spent considerable time as a consultant in the two cities, and find them very different.

Like anywhere, the suburban areas and overall feel of the metro will feel similar between two cities in the same region, no matter which region they are located.

I'd say for me they are similar/different in roughly the ways that Denver and SLC are similar/different.

Primarily, the intown neighborhoods have a very different vibe, in the ways you'd expect from a regional capital vs a mid-sized city. Atlanta has a lot more street art/murals, walkable-ish streetcar suburbs everywhere, and general grit. The downtown areas feel very different, at least during the day, because GA State is located right downtown and contributes a whole lot of diverse youngsters to the streets. And Marta is a whole different ball game than Charlotte's light rail. But Charlotte feels more polished, easier, more laid back. Personally, I think Charlotte feels much more like Nashville than Atlanta.

[JAYNYC]

Originally Posted by Omaharocks

Charlotte feels more polished ... than Atlanta.

If you're claiming that ^, then I'd love to hear your definition of "polished".

[ScreamShatter]

Originally Posted by JAYNYC

If you're claiming that ^, then I'd love to hear your definition of "polished".

I’ll say it. Charlottes Uptown feels cleaner aesthetically (like planned carefully) and more densely developed on its main Tyron St than similar areas in Atlanta. Atlanta is definitely much bigger and spread out and has a grit to it, whereas most the Charlotte buildings are new as they tore down most of the older buildings. Neither is bad. Both are great cities at different phases of maturity. Charlotte has had the benefit of learning from Atlanta which has decades of rapid growth ahead of Charlottes growth.

Charlottes Uptown def seems more like a Nashville or maybe even Austin-lite than Atlanta. Atlanta feels more like Dallas which boomed around the same time so they share similar attributes and architectures from decades trends that Charlotte, Nashville, and Austin don’t have as much of.

[Capsule F]

I don't know if these cities are notable enough to have a big rivalry.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by liat91

Detroit is black, but the CSA is surely not, and that doesn’t even include Windsor/Essex.

I'm not clear what distinction you're making. The point is that Charlotte was called "lily white" when Charlotte has a higher % black than even Detroit, and most U.S. metros.

Charlotte is a heavily black metro, just not quite as black as Atlanta. No major U.S. metro is as black as Atlanta. Only some smaller metros like Memphis are comparable or greater (and I don't think many would agree than Memphis is more similar to Atlanta than Charlotte is to Atlanta).

[JManc]

Vermont is 'lily white', Charlotte is not.

[JAYNYC]

Originally Posted by ScreamShatter

I’ll say it. Charlottes Uptown feels cleaner aesthetically (like planned carefully) and more densely developed on its main Tyron St than similar areas in Atlanta. Atlanta is definitely much bigger and spread out and has a grit to it, whereas most the Charlotte buildings are new as they tore down most of the older buildings. Neither is bad. Both are great cities at different phases of maturity. Charlotte has had the benefit of learning from Atlanta which has decades of rapid growth ahead of Charlottes growth.

Charlottes Uptown def seems more like a Nashville or maybe even Austin-lite than Atlanta. Atlanta feels more like Dallas which boomed around the same time so they share similar attributes and architectures from decades trends that Charlotte, Nashville, and Austin don’t have as much of.

If you (or the poster who initially suggested it) are saying Charlotte is cleaner (newer streets, less litter, etc.), or perhaps even has buildings with a more modern feel than Atlanta's, I get it.

But to me, "polished" is synonymous with "cosmopolitan" or "world-class", and Charlotte doesn't compare to Atlanta by that measure.

i.e., NYC is far more "polished" than Charlotte, regardless of how many trash bags and old dilapidated buildings line most of its streets.

[JAYNYC]

Originally Posted by JManc

Vermont is 'lily white'

+Montana
+Wyoming
+North Dakota
+South Dakota
+Idaho

[ScreamShatter]

Originally Posted by JAYNYC

If you (or the poster who initially suggested it) are saying Charlotte is cleaner (newer streets, less litter, etc.), or perhaps even has buildings with a more modern feel than Atlanta's, I get it.

But to me, "polished" is synonymous with "cosmopolitan" or "world-class", and Charlotte doesn't compare to Atlanta by that measure.

i.e., NYC is far more "polished" than Charlotte, regardless of how many trash bags and old dilapidated buildings line most of its streets.

It’s more the former — nothing related to culture or cosmopolitan vibes as NTC/Atlanta are in a different league than Charlotte in those areas.

[Omaharocks]

^ Yeah, the former. Polished meaning, less scruffy, better kept infrastructure. Some could interpret polished as more bland, but sometimes in Atlanta if looks as if nobody maintains anything in the public sphere.

[ATLMidcity]

If Charlotte is similar to Atlanta, please indicate what Charlotte has that is similar to the following:

State Capital
Buckhead - a large CBD within the city limits
Midtown - a large CBD adjacent to downtown
The Beltline - an urban trail wholly within the city limits
Atlantic Station - a highrise city-within-a-city enclave
MARTA - a subway
The Apparel Mart -
Underground - an underground shopping & entertainment district (under renovation)
Ponce City Market - a multi-level retail/housing/office destination
Tyler Perry Studios - a black-owned studio complex
TV shows casting your city
TV & Film industry
Piedmont park - our version of NYC's central park
Centennial Olympic Park - a central park surrounded by tourist attractions
An Aquarium
A College Hall of Fame
A Skyview (Ferris wheel)
Downtown tourist district
CNN
The Fox
Historic Fairlie Poplar - downtown neighborhood comprised of historic buildings
Atlanta University Center - a collection of HBCUs
Iconic Black leaders - MLK, Jr., Andrew Young, Joseph Lowery, etc.
Downtown/Midtown Universities - GA Tech, GA State, SCAD
Highrise student housing in the CBD
Music Midtown - a diverse outdoor music festival
Large Office districts outside of city limits - Perimeter, Cumberland/Galleria

And, the f'ing Big Chicken and the greasy ass Varsity for good measure.

[Crawford]

I think this thread has pretty much reached the end. It's a bunch of Atlanta homers trolling because they're size queens and offended that Atlanta is compared to a smaller city, as if NYC isn't similar to Philly, Chicago isn't similar to Milwaukee, LA isn't similar to SD, Paris isn't similar to Lyon, London isn't similar to Birmingham, etc.

When your argument is "Atlanta doesn't have similarities to Charlotte because Tyler Perry doesn't live there and there's no 'apparel mart'" I think the discourse has bottomed out. I guess since Birmingham doesn't have Boris Johnson or even an "apparel mart" it's probably more comparable to Ulan Bator.

[bigstick]

Originally Posted by ATLMidcity

If Charlotte is similar to Atlanta, please indicate what Charlotte has that is similar to the following:

State Capital
Buckhead - a large CBD within the city limits
Midtown - a large CBD adjacent to downtown
The Beltline - an urban trail wholly within the city limits
Atlantic Station - a highrise city-within-a-city enclave
MARTA - a subway
The Apparel Mart -
Underground - an underground shopping & entertainment district (under renovation)
Ponce City Market - a multi-level retail/housing/office destination
Tyler Perry Studios - a black-owned studio complex
TV shows casting your city
TV & Film industry
Piedmont park - our version of NYC's central park
Centennial Olympic Park - a central park surrounded by tourist attractions
An Aquarium
A College Hall of Fame
A Skyview (Ferris wheel)
Downtown tourist district
CNN
The Fox
Historic Fairlie Poplar - downtown neighborhood comprised of historic buildings
Atlanta University Center - a collection of HBCUs
Iconic Black leaders - MLK, Jr., Andrew Young, Joseph Lowery, etc.
Downtown/Midtown Universities - GA Tech, GA State, SCAD
Highrise student housing in the CBD
Music Midtown - a diverse outdoor music festival
Large Office districts outside of city limits - Perimeter, Cumberland/Galleria

And, the f'ing Big Chicken and the greasy ass Varsity for good measure.

You left out the Zoo, and a stunning Botanical Garden.

[bigstick]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I think this thread has pretty much reached the end. It's a bunch of Atlanta homers trolling because they're size queens and offended that Atlanta is compared to a smaller city, as if NYC isn't similar to Philly, Chicago isn't similar to Milwaukee, LA isn't similar to SD, Paris isn't similar to Lyon, London isn't similar to Birmingham, etc.

When your argument is "Atlanta doesn't have similarities to Charlotte because Tyler Perry doesn't live there and there's no 'apparel mart'" I think the discourse has bottomed out. I guess since Birmingham doesn't have Boris Johnson or even an "apparel mart" it's probably more comparable to Ulan Bator.

You are correct, it has reached the end, 5 million threads ago, which is about the difference in population.....

[L41A]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I think this thread has pretty much reached the end. It's a bunch of Atlanta homers trolling because they're size queens and offended that Atlanta is compared to a smaller city, as if NYC isn't similar to Philly, Chicago isn't similar to Milwaukee, LA isn't similar to SD, Paris isn't similar to Lyon, London isn't similar to Birmingham, etc.

When your argument is "Atlanta doesn't have similarities to Charlotte because Tyler Perry doesn't live there and there's no 'apparel mart'" I think the discourse has bottomed out. I guess since Birmingham doesn't have Boris Johnson or even an "apparel mart" it's probably more comparable to Ulan Bator.

Just because someone doesn't follow lockstep with your thinking/opinion don't make them homer. Sure there are surface levels similarities, many of which have been pointed out - many which can be found about any number of cities which has also been pointed out.

Some folk here seem to think the two cites are the same but most folk think they can be quite different on the surface level of which I am one.

I like Charlotte. I tend to like something about any place. And Charlotte ain't a bad place to be compared against unless you are the typical SSP poster consumed with population density, cost of living, GDP, Sunbelt, recent growth stereotypes they have built in their minds and encamped in that logic and can't think pass it.

[L41A]

Originally Posted by Omaharocks

^ Yeah, I've spent considerable time as a consultant in the two cities, and find them very different.

Like anywhere, the suburban areas and overall feel of the metro will feel similar between two cities in the same region, no matter which region they are located.

I'd say for me they are similar/different in roughly the ways that Denver and SLC are similar/different.

Primarily, the intown neighborhoods have a very different vibe, in the ways you'd expect from a regional capital vs a mid-sized city. Atlanta has a lot more street art/murals, walkable-ish streetcar suburbs everywhere, and general grit. The downtown areas feel very different, at least during the day, because GA State is located right downtown and contributes a whole lot of diverse youngsters to the streets. And Marta is a whole different ball game than Charlotte's light rail. But Charlotte feels more polished, easier, more laid back. Personally, I think Charlotte feels much more like Nashville than Atlanta.

Agreed. Good synopsis of the vibe/feeling of the cities which is ONE of the significant surface level differences of the two cities.