And what good does that really bring?
The sort of street cred that youâre jealous of Charlotte for?
Also, a more basic question: would you like to really think and talk about the pros and cons of Charlotte and Raleigh as âcities that matterâ? Or did you just want to complain with a public audience? Thereâs nothing wrong with either option; I just want our expectations to be clear, here.
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Iâd like to talk about the pros and cons.
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Have considered just going ahead and moving to CLT? What is keeping you in Raleigh?
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Let me just say this, many students at UNCC, including the previous Student Body President have told me that UNC Charlotte is extremely invested in becoming the âbigger NC Stateâ.
I like the city. I just hate that we got passed up for an MLS team and seem to have no civic will to take Charlotte on.
We could be better than Charlotte if we had the motivation to do so. We could even be a Cincinnati if we wanted to but we lack that motivation.
Enrollment numbers arenât king. Look at Georgia State. They have way more students than any other college in GA. But theyâre far from the first college you think of there.
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I think that like Atlanta, Charlotte was in the right place at the right time with the right business leaders (read money) 
I hate to say it, but you lost me when you described Charlotte as the âjewelâ of North Carolina in another one of your posts. As a someone who was born/raised in Raleigh and visited all over this state growing up, there are so many great parts to this great state and I think calling Charlotte the âjewelâ is a hell of a stretch.
Agreeing with a lot of others on here, they have a nicer skyline and better rail system at the moment going for them. However I wouldnât trade the next 2-10 year outlook of Raleigh for whatever Charlotte has going on. Thereâs so many thing but off the top of my head I could think of:
- New skyscrapers being built
- Dorothea Dix being built
- Downtown South
- Apple/Google effect - I donât think we realize how big this will be on potential future corporate expansion yet
Iâm sure others could keep this list going but my coffee hasnât kicked in yetâŚ
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This should give the Triangle pause. Charlotte as a metro is out for blood and livability rankings and a Stanley Cup might not save us.
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What does it mean to take Charlotte on? What are we not motivated to do? What metrics are you trying to optimize and exploit?
I really think the existence of and activity in this website and community should be enough to say the motivation is there, and the Triangle is simply trying to play a different game than Charlotte. Thereâs no one, objective, absolute way to be âbetterâ as a bigger, more influential city. With different main industries (banking/pro sports vs tech/life science/college sports), I just donât think itâs possible to make apples-to-apples comparisons between the two cities, so that competition doesnât make sense to me in the first place.
I think the post I made in the business expansion thread makes a case that we should be treating Boston, San Diego, and Seattle as our competitors instead. After all, thatâs also where weâre actually pulling residents and jobs away from.
But to get back on âtopicâ(?) and to Charlotte, @Kanatenah mentioned in another thread:
What are your criteria for a âbetterâ city? Livability indices? (If so, which ones? The AARPâs can be biased against Raleigh since we donât have as many older people here due to our recent growth) Venture capital investments? Size of schools (which isnât a good metric for âgoodnessâ of schools, like @atl_transplant said)? OrâŚ?
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I would 1000% not move to Charlotte for the same pay and housing prices. Coming from Atlanta, I do not think Charlotte actually has such a âbetterâ reputation. I always saw it as want to be ATL. Where Raleigh has its own vibe and is doing something a little cooler and different.
If your only way of judging cities is Major League Sports, then why donât you move to St. Louis or Kansas City?
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Or Cleveland. Pittsburg, Cincinnati. Take your pick. There is much more to a city then major league sports teams.
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Charlotte has very little character, in my opinion. Amenities, sure, but it really could be any other boring American city. It has a couple unique neighborhoods (NoDa, for example), but beyond that itâs just insanely generic.
I envy their transit and sports teams, yes, but there is nothing else about that city that appeals to me. Itâs a playground for bank bros with mediocre, overpriced bars and restaurants that have zero local feel to them. I would move to nearly any other city in North Carolina before Charlotte.
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And we do actually have a major league sports team. There is no NHL in Charlotte 
My sister moved here last week from the northern burbs of ATL, and there are a lot of things she is really excited about. She was really impressed by how many great venues we have for seeing music here, and she wants to see the Canes, an NC State Football game, and the Womenâs Soccer team.
She was also blown away by the deal she got at an apartment just off Glenwood South. She has never been able to afford living near a downtown before, so she is really really excited about all that. Her dog is a big deal to her, so she is excited about our dog parks and greenway too.
If you take someone around town and show them the idea of downtown south, what is being built at North Hills, Smokey Hallow, the whole East End & Iron District stuff, and how many places there are to get good food and drinks around⌠there is a lot to be excited about. Its not like this place is being left behind right now.
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Hey guys we have some good discussion about it over in the âShow off things from other citiesâ thread! Show Off Things From Other Cities
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@dtraleigh wants us to follow his guidelines and stay on topic, per usual.
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Long time lurker, first time poster hereâŚand 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 âblandââŚ
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 âpersonalityâ of Raleigh so to speak, etc.
Most donât want to acknowledge the fact that municipal growth will inherently bring about the things that a lot on this site dislike about Charlotte: âblandâ corporate drones, sprawl, traffic, and what Iâve seen some on here call âsoullessnessâ. Every large city in the US has these positives, and these negatives⌠the negatives donât 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.
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Sorry Leo, weâve been making your job difficult the last 24hrs. Sometimes we get a little carried away. ă˝(ââĄâ)ďž
Nice first post and perspective. CheersâŚ
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