Long time lurker, first time poster here…and as a happy Raleigh citizen of the past 6 years and a Charlotte native, I wanted to chime in on this Charlotte vs Raleigh debate. And I think this post is a good one to respond to as it accuses Charlotte of being ‘bland’…
Jason makes some very valid points, as so do those defending Raleigh (and denigrating Charlotte). However, I think a lot of folks on this site skew towards liking certain aspects of Raleigh that will inherently be changing or shrinking as a percentage of the total of what the city will have on offer to residences in the future; think uniqueness of neighborhoods, livability, local establishments, an alignment towards certain industries, the “personality” of Raleigh so to speak, etc.
Most don’t want to acknowledge the fact that municipal growth will inherently bring about the things that a lot on this site dislike about Charlotte: “bland” corporate drones, sprawl, traffic, and what I’ve seen some on here call ‘soullessness’. Every large city in the US has these positives, and these negatives… the negatives don’t replace the positives, but they do make the positives look smaller in comparison.
Charlotte has many, if not all the positives that Raleigh has (and some additional ones as Jason mentions) and yes, it also has many of the negatives that come with being a larger city as well.
To me, the Charlotte vs Raleigh argument reeks of parochialism and lack of acknowledgment about how growth happens and what it brings, both positive and negative. I think we would be better served looking to Charlotte for inspiration and lessons learned. And to think about how the two cities can bring NC to a place of appropriate recognition on the national level.