Describe Charlotte in one word. OK, how about one sentence?
Bet you can’t. And that’s probably because Charlotte — including the city’s citizens, elected officials, business types and more — has no idea who or what it is.
Hell, Charlotte doesn’t even have a unique nickname: Cincinnati is the Queen City, too. Chicago is the Windy City, Los Angeles is La-La Land and New Orleans is the Big Easy, even if it is a little windblown and water logged after Hurricane Katrina. And Charlotte, well … crickets are chirping.
But screw a nickname — what about an identity?
You ever notice that whenever it’s time to build something new or rearrange Uptown (again), a delegation of politicians head to some other city to get a blueprint? In hip-hop, that’s called being a biter.
Even when you log on to www.visitcharlotte.com and look at the list of 101 things to do in Charlotte, 98 of them are outside of the Queen City. OK, that’s a bit of a stretch, but a number of the activities are outside of the city limits, which makes you wonder: Just what does Charlotte have to offer?
If you listen to people who have just moved here, the city is boring. And if you can find a native Charlottean, then maybe you should play the lottery because that’s sheer dumb luck.
So the question is: How do you define Charlotte?
What Charlotte Used to Be
Charlotte native, lawyer and Mecklenburg County Commissioner Parks Helms has seen Charlotte go from mill town to banking center. Unlike other cities that lose an industry, Charlotte evolved and changed.
Helms: “I think every city has a character that more or less defines its image across the region and across the state and across the nation. Charlotte is a city that has worked very hard to create a good reputation as a good place to live and work and make your home.”
Charlotte stands out to industry and businesses looking to relocate as well. Helms says that similar cities that compete with Charlotte don’t have what this area has.
Helms: “When I compare Charlotte with other comparable cities and comparable populations, I think Charlotte, and I know I’m somewhat biased here, and this region stands out as perhaps the best mid-sized city in the United States to live and work. But I think about places like Tampa, Florida and Louisville, Kentucky and Nashville, Tennessee, that are usually our competitors when it comes to new businesses and industry seeking to relocate. And a lot of this, I think, is because when you have a tradition, historically of the public sector and the private sector working together, it creates an environment that is attractive to creative young people. While at the same time, being a community that is sensitive to our senior population.” And according to Helms, that’s something that isn’t always easy to do.
Helms: “We have been very successful in creating that kind of environment. I remember in the ’50s and the ’60s we were a manufacturing community. We became a distribution center and all of the related transportation needs that go with that kind of a city. Gradually, over the years, the textile industry went off shore and overseas and the mills closed. We had an evolution in the economic backbone of this community. A part of that role has been filled by the banks and financial services community. The leadership of the banks has been involved particularly in the last two decades in partnership with local government, actually redefining the image of this community.”
Charlotte is recognized nationally as a banking center. According to a New York Times report, the Queen City bumped La-La Land and is now the third largest banking center. Good for business, but what about people?
And how much does the fact that Charlotte is a big banking town factor into people’s reasons for moving here?
Moving Here
Charlotte Bobcats grassroots marketing coordinator, Jessica Davis came to Charlotte for the education.
She attended Johnson C. Smith University in the shadow of Uptown and decided to make the best of the professional opportunities that the city offered her after graduation. “I went to high school in Atlanta, and Charlotte, when I first got here, was very dead,” says Davis. “As I started to learn about Charlotte, [the city] really put me in mindframe of Atlanta before the 1996 Olympics. It was big, yet it wasn’t too big. People didn’t mind stopping you and asking ‘where do you go to church?’ Charlotte still had that down-home feel, and that’s what made me stay after graduating in 2002.”
Though Charlotte offers her professional opportunities, the 27-year-old said when it comes to herpersonal life, things are much different.
Davis: “On the personal level, I definitely think that Charlotte has a lot of work to do. The nightlife and the social scene in Charlotte is a lot better than what it was when I got here. But it’s still not at that city caliber that I’m looking for. Charlotte has some catching up to do as far as the nightlife and the social scene. I think the nightlife scene and the social scene is coming along more slowly than some of these high rises that are going up.”
Finding Your Center
Moira Quinn, chief operating office of Center City Partners, says Charlotte can’t be defined without its Uptown, but there is more to the city than tall buildings.
Quinn: “You can move to Charlotte and make a name for yourself. A lot of other cities are closed societies. In Charlotte, there is no secret password; just come in and be willing to give back.”
Quinn says 50,000 people move to Charlotte every year.
“I live here but I’m not impressed”
“Charlotte is generic,” says Keith Cradle, program coordinator for the Male Involvement Program at the Mecklenburg County Health Department.
Cradle: “Charlotte doesn’t really have an identity, they don’t have a signature dish or food or a place that people really congregate. It’s not a tourist destination. People call me all the time to come and visit, but they’re coming to visit me. You know, if I lived in Vegas, folks would be like ‘I’m coming to Vegas’ and now you’re a by-product of them coming to Vegas.”
The White Plains, N.Y., native says college drew him to Charlotte in 1992. And when he arrived, he wasn’t used to stores closing early, a club scene that didn’t keep the party going all night and having to be in at a certain time because there was nothing to do.
Cradle: “It was very slow, and it took a lot to get used to. This was a culture shock for us to learn to get in early. But that was the early 1990s.”
But he’s stayed in the city for 15 years because he loves his job; when he wants to have a good time, he gets the hell out of dodge.
Cradle: “What kept me here was the fact that Charlotte was still growing, and it gave people a chance to be a part of that fabric. And all of my friends stayed, so for me it was an opportunity to create a family and a community away from New York that I enjoyed and just got comfortable with.”
Plus, he says, with so many transplants moving to the city, they’ve brought their cultures with them and have helped to change Charlotte from slow-moving to a faster-paced medium-sized city.
“It’s a lot easier to live here now,” he says.
NoDa business owner Daron “Jaz” Vincent is already planning his exit strategy.
Vincent: “Charlotte has done a really good job of attracting people from the outside. It attracts a lot of artists, but it is challenging for them.”
While Charlotte may want the artists and people who give the city character, Vincent says there isn’t a lot of support for the arts once the artists get here.
With the city’s growing population, Vincent says you would think that the cultural scene would be vibrant and people would want something to do all week, but not in Charlotte. He can describe the city in one word: “corporate.”
In the next two to three years Vincent plans to head down to Orlando, Fla.
Why?
Vincent: “I feel like it’s time for me to slow my pace down and Charlotte is growing so fast that it’s getting away from communities. I like small businesses and going to see jazz two or three times a week.”
Vincent says he wants to be able to walk out his front door and know his neighbor’s name, walk down the block and know the people he’s going to meet on the street.
“You just don’t see that here,” he says.
A Wholesome City
Mayor Pro Tem Susan Burgess says Charlotte has an identity, and she hears about it every time she goes out of town.
Burgess: “[People say] we’re a wholesome city, a good place to live and we’re pro business.”
According to Burgess, Charlotte is the city that really opens its arms to newcomers and makes it easy for them to join in the fabric of the city.
“Most cities aren’t as welcoming as we are,” she says.
Davis says she believes that Queen City is a great place to raise a family, but she sees herself leaving and coming back.
Davis: “Charlotte is the perfect place to raise a family, but as far as making a name for yourself outside of the financial industry, you’re kind of limited. With me being in professional sports, I think I can come back to Charlotte. I don’t think I’ll be able to stay here and flourish because there are only so many opportunities here in professional sports.”
Quinn: “The wonderful thing about Charlotte is its rich tapestry. It’s a place where family, faith and tradition count. But we make room for the new.”
Charlotte resident Joseph Hart would take issue with Quinn’s take on the Q.C.
Hart, an artist and father of two, says, “Charlotte has an old mentality with new energy.”
And the city just doesn’t know what to do with that new energy, he contests.
Hart: “It’s still the politics of the North Carolina Bible belt. You look around and have the same people running the show, sucker-ass Pat McCrory and Duke Power.
“Charlotte’s not growing that fast; it’s just getting more congested. Where are the Boys and Girls clubs? Where are the activities for kids? If you’re not involved with one of these churches, then there’s nothing for your kids to do.”
Diversity At Work?
Angeles Ortega-Moore, executive director of the Latin American Coalition, has been in Charlotte for 11 years — which in some circles means she’s a native. But Ortega-Moore says Charlotte can sometimes seem like a prepubescent teenager.
Ortega-Moore: “Charlotte is an up-and-coming city that has growing pains but a bright future. A lot of times teenagers are self-centered and don’t look at how things affect other people. We as a community don’t really appreciate or acknowledge how it takes people serving us to survive. A lot of those benefits are coming from the immigrant community.”
Rafael Prieto, editor and publisher of Mi Gente, a local Latino newspaper, says that Hispanics were welcomed to the city in the early 1990s.
Prieto: “Anti-immigration is something that has been created from a national trend. Unfortunately, some local officials are supporting those ideas. What people don’t realize is that many of the big construction projects done in the city in the last 15 years were built by the Hispanic workforce.”
Prieto has high hopes for Charlotte and the Hispanic population in the city.
Prieto: “Charlotte is a vibrant city that is becoming a metropolis. Charlotte is also one of the few cities where agreement has been one of the ways to solve problems.”
Helms: “We have tried and I think there has been a real effort through the community building initiative to break down the barriers between the African-American community and the white community and the Asians and others. Mecklenburg County is diverse, and it is becoming more diverse. I think one of the keys to our success has been that we have embraced that diversity. We have understood that that diversity is a valuable piece of who we are. It’s important that we work hard to attract leaders that epitomize the kinds of qualities of personality and character and hard work that makes us successful.”
Settling in Charlotte
Tiffany Jones, president of the event planning and marketing company Digital Divas, says she’s thought about leaving Charlotte, then she wonders, where would she go?
Originally from New Jersey and a stone’s throw from New York, Jones was used to the fast life, but she wasn’t a fan of the high cost of living in the city. So in one week, she was introduced to Charlotte.
Jones: “I had some friends who lived here and they showed me the best week in the world. We went out every night.”
When she was offered a job with Radio-One Charlotte, Jones jumped on it.
But it was a different scene when she moved here.
Since she’d been in public relations in New York, Jones was used to getting in the hottest parties for free. But from the few parties that she went to when she first arrived in Charlotte, it wasn’t happening.
And then there’s dating.
Jones: “Charlotte is so small that if you date one guy and break up with him and start dating someone else, then you find out that they’re friends.”
For a while, Jones says Charlotte was just going to work and going home. Then she discovered that this is a place where you have to make your own fun.
Jones: “Charlotte is growing and it’s great to be in a city while it’s growing.”
Business owner and new Charlotte resident Eddie Roderick says he and business partner Rob Niccolai moved to Charlotte because of Niccolai’s job. The two settled in NoDa and love the area.
Roderick: “There’s a lot going on. People think it’s slow, but it’s more fast pace than people think. I have to give it credit.”
Coming from Winston-Salem, the Canvas Monkey owners saw that the edgy art they could easily find in downtown Winston-Salem was missing in Charlotte’s arts district.
Roderick: “This area reminded me of downtown Winston-Salem. But it’s smaller. Then when we moved here, we noticed that there wasn’t the type of art we like, that edgy stuff. That’s why we opened this shop.”
Canvas Monkey has been open for six months, and it is a place that allows artists to display their work and sells gift items that you won’t find at, say, Belk.
Roderick: “We also opened up so that new artists could find a space on the wall. That’s basically why we’re here. We offer something a little different than what the galleries around [the city] offer.”
When asked if Charlotte will be a permanent home for he and Niccolai, Roderick pauses.
Roderick: “That’s hard to say. I think it would be OK if we did [stay], but as far as planning on it, that’s not a part of the plan right now.”
Branding Charlotte
Tim Newman, the CEO of the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, has a big job. He leads the people who help to create the city’s image. It just so happens that the CRVA is in the midst of a branding campaign for the city.
Newman: “Charlotte’s got a lot. And the word ‘a lot’ is in Charlotte. It’s sort of like ‘I love New York.’ We’re becoming more of a leisure destination.”
Once upon a time, Charlotte was a place that you came on a business trip. But now with the white water park, professional sports and tons of shopping, people are just coming here to hang out.
Newman: “Historically, people didn’t know the difference between Charlotte, Charleston and Charlottesville. That usually comes from people who are far away.”
But is Charlotte standing out now? Newman says “yes.”
Newman: “My view is Charlotte is the biggest small town in America. We’re a progressive city with traditional values.”
And Helms adds: “Charlotte is alive and growing. It is not dormant; it is not a city that is resting on its laurels. It is a city that is constantly reaching out to improve the opportunity to achieve success.”
This article appears in Jan 9-15, 2008.
