4 ms·

> We asked the economist David Albouy to rank these metro areas for us with an index he uses to measure how much people would be willing to sacrifice, in terms

> We asked the economist David Albouy to rank these metro areas for us with an index he uses to measure how much people would be willing to sacrifice, in terms of housing costs and commutes, to live in desirable places. On that basis, we cut Charlotte, N.C. My experience being that neither housing costs nor commute times being horribly bad around CLT - this bums me out. It's actually a great city with lots of nature around it, ATL is 4hr drive, housing costs in nearby areas (Fort Mill, SC e.g.) aren't anywhere near as bad as say Atlanta suburbs. It's not NYC to be sure - culture wise not very hip but I did not think the mid-career experienced people Amazon would be hiring would mind that at all. Maybe the NYT was too literal when they considered CLT or maybe I don't understand what exactly the sacrifice would be in terms of housing costs and commutes.

cjslep 9y ago
I spent the first 18 years of my life growing up in Charlotte during the 90s and 00 housing and bank boom, and have revisited friends there fairly often since. Can't say I am rooting for Amazon to locate a HQ there. Downtown has never really had any appeal for an under-21 besides Discovery Place (is that even still around?) which is more geared for the pre-13 age group. Post-21 more recently it seems to have been revitalized but having been spoiled by Raleigh, still feels sterile and kind of bland. Even in NoDa, where all those creative people have already been priced out of that community. I'm definitely still colored by my hatred of bland suburbia of that city, which afforded teenagers absolutely nothing to do except shop or watch movies in the theatre. It really is geared for the traditional suburban parent types through and through. Compared to other parts of NC with a diverse cultural scene (Asheville and Raleigh) Charlotte drops the diversity for an increased price. It also has the unfortunate location of being inside NC, whose state politics have been anything but sane the past half decade, and the local college is also overshadowed heavily by Chapel Hill, Duke, and State in the Triangle area. That's the metro area I would expect Amazon to pick over Charlotte, as there's a lot of non-hip tech companies already established there. And even a few hip ones like Epic Games.
- santaclaus 9y ago
  More importantly, the BBQ in the Triangle is superior to that of Charlotte.
jcrben 9y ago
The criteria that Charlotte failed is cultural edginess. Meaning how much people are willing to accept a high housing cost and commute in exchange for being in a cool place. I agree that it should stay in the running. I'd like to see more tech in the south - there's too much on the West Coast.
SmirkingRevenge 9y ago
CLT beats Denver in housing costs and traffic/commutes handily, so I'm similarly confused -those are poor reasons to eliminate CLT currently. The nature around Denver definitely beats CLT though, especially if you like mountain sports, but NC also has beaches.
- JPKab 9y ago
  I spent a lot of time living in NC. Charlotte is just meh. It's not a quick drive to beaches (hours) , and it's an hour or more from the mountains. The business culture is banking oriented, the downtown/city center is crime-ridden, and it's heavily suburbanized. The airport is good. That's it. Otherwise Asheville or Raleigh would both be better. Asheville is a non-starter due to it's small size though.
JPKab 9y ago
Denver based software guy here: I used to live in North Carolina. My son was born there, and it's where I met my wife. Charlotte is a terrible place for Amazon. The weather isn't remarkably good, gay employees can't get married, the public schools are shit thanks to the state, the traffic is bad, and it's culturally not noteworthy. Sorry. It's just not a good location. Raleigh could do it, but isn't big enough, and again, not a culturally attractive spot. In fact, I think the lack of gay marriage rights kill both Austin and Charlotte.
- seanmcdirmid 9y ago
  > gay employees can't get married Is this still true? I thought the Supreme Court decision applied to the whole country?
  - JPKab 9y ago
    I'm a moron. Forgot about the SC decision. Still, the state gov't isn't kind to LGBTQ people.

cjslep 9y ago

I spent the first 18 years of my life growing up in Charlotte during the 90s and 00 housing and bank boom, and have revisited friends there fairly often since. Can't say I am rooting for Amazon to locate a HQ there. Downtown has never really had any appeal for an under-21 besides Discovery Place (is that even still around?) which is more geared for the pre-13 age group. Post-21 more recently it seems to have been revitalized but having been spoiled by Raleigh, still feels sterile and kind of bland. Even in NoDa, where all those creative people have already been priced out of that community. I'm definitely still colored by my hatred of bland suburbia of that city, which afforded teenagers absolutely nothing to do except shop or watch movies in the theatre. It really is geared for the traditional suburban parent types through and through. Compared to other parts of NC with a diverse cultural scene (Asheville and Raleigh) Charlotte drops the diversity for an increased price. It also has the unfortunate location of being inside NC, whose state politics have been anything but sane the past half decade, and the local college is also overshadowed heavily by Chapel Hill, Duke, and State in the Triangle area. That's the metro area I would expect Amazon to pick over Charlotte, as there's a lot of non-hip tech companies already established there. And even a few hip ones like Epic Games.

santaclaus 9y ago
More importantly, the BBQ in the Triangle is superior to that of Charlotte.

jcrben 9y ago

The criteria that Charlotte failed is cultural edginess. Meaning how much people are willing to accept a high housing cost and commute in exchange for being in a cool place. I agree that it should stay in the running. I'd like to see more tech in the south - there's too much on the West Coast.

SmirkingRevenge 9y ago

CLT beats Denver in housing costs and traffic/commutes handily, so I'm similarly confused -those are poor reasons to eliminate CLT currently. The nature around Denver definitely beats CLT though, especially if you like mountain sports, but NC also has beaches.

JPKab 9y ago
I spent a lot of time living in NC. Charlotte is just meh. It's not a quick drive to beaches (hours) , and it's an hour or more from the mountains. The business culture is banking oriented, the downtown/city center is crime-ridden, and it's heavily suburbanized. The airport is good. That's it. Otherwise Asheville or Raleigh would both be better. Asheville is a non-starter due to it's small size though.

JPKab 9y ago

Denver based software guy here: I used to live in North Carolina. My son was born there, and it's where I met my wife. Charlotte is a terrible place for Amazon. The weather isn't remarkably good, gay employees can't get married, the public schools are shit thanks to the state, the traffic is bad, and it's culturally not noteworthy. Sorry. It's just not a good location. Raleigh could do it, but isn't big enough, and again, not a culturally attractive spot. In fact, I think the lack of gay marriage rights kill both Austin and Charlotte.

seanmcdirmid 9y ago
> gay employees can't get married Is this still true? I thought the Supreme Court decision applied to the whole country?
- JPKab 9y ago
  I'm a moron. Forgot about the SC decision. Still, the state gov't isn't kind to LGBTQ people.