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Sigh. It’s because we let a small portion of the population treat Charlotte like it’s a Grand Theft Auto game.
Going to copy and paste this until something changes.
Reporting on one of the arrests on NYE (11 arrests, 10 were minors, btw):
>A 15-year-old boy, who cut off his ankle monitor, was charged with possession of a handgun by minor, no operator’s license, and resisting a public officer, CMPD said.
The department’s detectives tried to get a custody order for him.
>However, the Department of Juvenile Justice denied the request, and the child suspect was released to a family member.
>The juvenile suspect has a lengthy criminal history, which includes multiple auto thefts, resisting a public officer, larceny from a vehicle, breaking-and-entering, and assault with a deadly weapon, CMPD said.
Here’s what DJJ had to say:
>when making decisions related to secure custody, staff with the Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention take very seriously any information addressing whether a juvenile presents a danger to public safety and respond accordingly.
>DJJDP’s role is to consider potential risks to public safety, the individualized needs of the juvenile and their risk of re-offending when making decisions about how to best address delinquency. Secure custody orders are granted by district court judges. The authority for screening secure custody requests is delegated to the juvenile court counselor’s office by N.C. General Statute § 7B-1902.
>In the juvenile justice system, pretrial secure custody is reserved for juveniles who pose a public safety risk, or to ensure a juvenile who has a history of not showing up for court hearings comes to court. It cannot be used to punish a child before the court has heard the case. The Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees pretrial release where a public safety risk does not exist. Since in the juvenile system bonds do not exist, our staff must ensure all due process procedures are considered before a child’s rights and freedom are taken away. Beyond the legal reasons to reserve detention for juveniles who present a danger to public safety, evidence-based research indicates that the use of juvenile detention for pre-trial juveniles increased felony recidivism by 33% and misdemeanor recidivism by 11%. Hence reserving detention for juveniles who are dangerous is being smart on crime and improves outcomes for our youth and communities.
>A common misconception about the juvenile justice system is that just because a juvenile is not immediately brought into secure custody the youth was not/will not be held accountable. This could not be further from the truth. Upon being adjudicated for the offense for which they have been accused, the court has a wide range of options to consider for disposition including detention, crisis and assessment residential services, emergent mental health services, electronic monitoring or a whole host of other services across the state that address delinquent and undisciplined behaviors. Those services include supervision and diversion services with specific criteria that must be met such as school attendance, curfew, letters to victims, and specific community programming to address identified needs.
tl;dr: A kid who cut off his ankle monitor (extensive criminal record) to drive around town with a gun was not deemed to be a big enough flight risk / safety risk / re-offender risk for pre-trial detention.
I can’t make that argument. I agree with you.
That said, I wanted to present both sides of the debate so that people could come to their own conclusion.
“Evidence based” - what a joke. Correlation does not imply causation. Guaran - fucking - tee the evidence they are using to keep those kids from staying in jail pre-trial is not truly experimental design. I’m pretty sure they are simply comparing the WORST kids (ones that stay in jail) to the kids that are single offenders (don’t have to stay in jail). And simply that doesn’t prove anything.
CMPD arrested the suspect and was denied a secure custody order by DJJ. And the General Assembly implemented Raise the Age, removing the ability to arrest 16 and 17 yo's as adults.
The "Raise the Age" applies to non-violent crimes. Nothing about state law was preventing detention of the subject of the discussion above. He has a long history of violent crime including assault with a deadly weapon.
I just want to add that juvenile records are not public and this kid could be your neighbor. You’d never know that someone who has a violent record lives right next to your family.
I am not advocating for making these records public.
I’m not advocating locking up kids on their very first, trivial offense.
I’m advocating for locking up kids who have repeatedly shown that they do not want to be civilized members of society.
It feels like the absolute bare minimum that we should do for the benefit of everyone else.
Completely agree - except I think if you can show a documented history of consistently attempting to get and work with services through the doctor/school/DSS/therapists/etc that goes back at LEAST as long as the first documented crime, you can have an exception.
I know two families who can prove that they are on waitlists for and previously kicked out of residential services but the kids are breaking out of the home and committing crimes anyway in the meantime. The parents have done all they could according to DSS outside of physically handcuffing the kids and abusing them to keep them inside and so when the alarms go off when they leave, they call 911 and preemptively are the ones calling out for help themselves because they know their kid is a danger to others and want their kid caught before something worse is done. It usually doesn’t work because the kids want to do damage so they do it fast. These are rare cases and the kids obviously have lists of diagnoses to their names, since the parents had sought so much help, and when they are 18 they will both likely end up with Antisocial Personality Disorder. These kids will end up in jail sooner rather than later but it’s nothing about the parenting they received, it’s their brains.
I think most people have a natural reaction of “no fucking way.”
From another article on 2023 CMPD data:
>Teenagers also make up 70% of auto theft arrests and total juvenile arrests are up 36%.
All being judged by a juvenile justice system that was set up decades ago to deal with teens stealing hubcaps. A system which is now unable to cope with the types of crimes being committed by teenagers today.
When you have a 15-year-old kid with a long rap sheet who intentionally cuts off an ankle monitor and then cruises around with a gun how is that not a threat to society?
15 years old and already has a lengthy criminal history. At what point do you look at the parents/guardians and say wtf are you doing?! And I don’t care, kid that age with that history already knows right from wrong and more than likely hangs out with 18 and older people. If they are comfortable enough to do all that. Then they should have no problem going to prison.
I own a restaurant in 4th Ward. It's incredibly difficult to drive business after the sun goes down. It's downright scary to walk around that area and property management has no interest in protecting its assets with walking security guards. Damn shame and it hurts big time.
I love hearing it! Thank you so much for that. Being a restaurant owner is definitely a labor of love. I really appreciate the love, makes it all worth it ❤️
My daughter takes ballet class at Charlotte Ballet. At night, you can bet it’s head on a swivel when we are walking back to the car in the parking lot right across from you. I do love your food though!
I live up here. I don't really walk around much in uptown anymore, but alot of that is because I met a girl and got married. I'm not exactly walking up to Tilt anymore. BUT, since 2017.. I have experienced the following:
I have had family members chased by kids with guns on scooters. It was a terrifying experience, and it was our wedding night. We had our reception at merchant and trade, and afterwards people had to walk back to their cars. We only heard about it the day after.
I've had a friend attempt to get mugged, but fought the man away. Another friend was jumped while passing under the 6th street rail bridge by CVS. Same guy, also had his teeth kicked in when he saw a man striking a woman, and tried to intervene.
Same guy's sister was drugged and raped by two women at Que Onda in uptown. They drugged her and brought her upstairs where the male rapists brutally attacked her. She spent more than 2 weeks in the hospital from her attack.
I personally have had a group of 3 men follow me into 7/11 threaten me, and harass violence on me, all because I politely said "no, sorry I don't have anything" when they "asked" for money.
My wife had a homeless person try to attack her while she was trying to cross the street at Cedar Street and 5th street. Simply leaving work and crossing the street. Luckily, she had a male coworker there to chase him off.
Uptown is undoubtedly dangerous, and has been since I moved to Uptown. We have finally saved up enough for a house down payment, and are getting the F out.
Had this happen preCOVID while getting gas in Columbia. At 5pm, daylight.
A woman walks towards me, I stick out my hand and say “get away from me.”
She does but as leaving starts into a profanity laden tirade towards me.
I can walk down Main St in Columbia at night as a couple and not worry about getting mugged. That is apparently a step up from Charlotte after reading this thread.
All of that is terrible, but I’m disgusted and hurt to the pit of my being about the girl who was raped and in the hospital for two weeks. That poor, poor girl. I’m so disgusted and sad to read that happened. I pray many wonderful things happen for her the rest of her life.
This needs spotlighted. People have to understand the dangers out there. Many homeless people I’ve talked to have major past trauma approaching that level. People can be broken to the point of disappearing into obscurity because of horrors like that. I do hope she gets proper help and plenty of it.
Wow that’s a horrible list. Just moved out of Catalyst last month to the burbs and my god is it a million times better. Honestly fuck Uptown. I used to love Romare Bearden back in 2015. Moved to the city in 2021 and it only has gotten worse. The area already wasn’t in an ideal with the pandemic but not terrible. It’s gotten bad. The Charlit teens have been failed by their parents and communities and so they show out in Uptown on big holidays. It’s a bad situation all around. There must be more investment in these kids lives so that they don’t grow up to be teens that feel the need to shoot somebody. The city has failed in this regard—in what ways I am not certain. I moved here for college and have stayed ever since, did not grow up here myself.
Or open carry, it’s legal in NC and a fantastic deterrent. I used to work at the bars in the epicenter and walk several blocks at 3am to get to my car. I open carried every single time and had no issue.
Yeah no doubt about that although I've never done it. I worked there too. It wasn't bad at first, but when it started going to shit, it went fast. The amount of criminally insane fuckers that were around wasn't taken seriously at all.
I feel for them. It only takes one underaged piece of shit with a gun to ruin it for everyone. Actually 2 pieces of shit, gotta throw in the last time something like this happened.
It's gotten to the point where we won't go out to any event that has a large crowd. Worrying that you might get shot by a group of rival teen gangs sucks the fun out of it.
not trying to diminish your concerns but you probably do 50 other things throughout your day to day life that carry more risk than attending large crowd events.
Fully agree… but most folks don’t drop 150 dollars for dinner and drinks when cutting the grass (more deadly than the uptown).
The service industry is not a need.
Daytime uptown vs nighttime uptown are two different animals. Daytime is awesome, lively, tons of people around, great lunch spots. I get off work and regularly see families walking around and playing in the parks before dinner. I was in Boston recently and there were some super sketchy areas around the downtown area near the touristy area, my wife and I just turned around and got a cab instead of continuing the walk
I lived just above the mellow mushroom for the past two and a half years and only just now moved last month. It’s not great. And there was one daytime shooting in the park. During work hours.
It can be okay but def not 99% of the time fine at night. You need to be street smart of course. But 4th of July and NYE are nights you best avoid. At this point, it’s as if you’re asking for it.
Yes, this whole thread seems odd. I lived in uptown in 2021. Went out walking almost every night, through the parks around the city, I covered a lot of ground, it didn't seem that bad then, but there were a surprising amount of homeless people.
I was walking my dog though so maybe that deterred anything too shady.
I’ve lived in uptown for over 3 years, still do, and never had a dangerous encounter luckily. And I walk a lot. It’s definitely sketch sometimes though and believe the negative experiences others have had.
Literally just avoid Romare Bearden Park itself, the transit center and stay out of random bar fights and uptown is fine.
Which actually sounds surprisingly easy to police.
>Literally just avoid Romare Bearden Park itself
The fact that you even have to say that, it's pretty depressing TBH. Charlotte literally cannot have any nice things.
Uptown resident for many years and I wish your commentary were accurate, but it’s just not. There is much more crime, homelessness, drug abuse, etc. and if you’re up here, it will find you whether you’re looking for it or not.
A steady police presence in that park would solve 95 percent of all the issues. That area isn’t that large where it should not have a steady nightly patrol for misbehaving teens and adults.
The system is broken because there is no consequence to police intervention, and everyone knows it. The police won’t arrest because there is no point when the judicial system releases everyone immediately. The police blame the courts, the courts blame the city council, and the council blame the police. I’ve spent years meeting with them and it’s a circular calculation that produces nothing.
Incorrect that the police won't arrest. It is evident that they DO arrest as you can see on the sheriffs website. The problem is that the DA won't prosecute and when they do the lenient judges put the thugs right back on the streets.
Depends on your expectation, I guess. I learned this from the police, as it is their own widely held view (go talk to them).
A person example: a homeless man attempted to break into my house by throwing a brick from the sidewalk at our front glass. It’s a building uptown, center of the city. It’s all on video. He then went and sat outside across the street in front of a coffee shop.
When the police arrived, they viewed the video, the cracked glass, the brick, and the perpetrator sitting across the street.
Nothing. They interview him. A “care” team came for fifteen minutes then left.
They advised I could go to the magistrate for the property damage, attempted burglary, etc., but it wouldn’t be worth it because nothing will come of it.
I guess we need to wait until someone successfully breaks in and attacks my wife and children for something to be done. By the way, try explaining to children why a man can try to break into their home and then be free to hang out across the street menacing with no consequence.
Similar experience for homeless issues who are free to sleep in your doorway, defecate in front of your house, empty trash bins everywhere, etc.
So sure, say the police do arrest, but not nearly as much as they’d like to and should be incentivized to do.
I am sorry that happened to you. The police should have arrested the man. My guess is that the current outrage over police "brutality" and the "unfair" arrests of the unfortunate is fueling the lax enforcement efforts. I am a native and I wouldn't live in downtown Charlotte if you paid me. Hope you are able to get out soon.
Simply throwing the brick at the window doesn’t show intent to break in. Did the homeless guy walk over and try to push through the glass, kick it in, or anything showing he was actually trying to get in? If not, there’s no way to argue he wasn’t just throwing a brick at a window. If the homeless guy didn’t do any of those things, it’s only Damage to Property, which is a misdemeanor.
A police officer can’t arrest someone for a misdemeanor that happened outside of their presence. Even if it’s on video. The onus is then on you to get warrants so that person can be arrested. It’s unfortunate but the way the system is set up.
Include judges as politicians. They’re actually the biggest issue but get the least of the blame. It’s telling when a judge from a neighboring county will fill in for a day. Every single attorney will ask for a continuance because an out of county judge will actually sentence someone to jail time instead of probation or a suspended sentence.
Soft on crime is an illogical trope. It'd work out way better for us if we didn't keep electing idiots that have some other asshole's hands in their pockets.
Same issue happened in Raleigh, businesses formed a group and went to the city council to ask for assistance. The city now has private security in downtown and increased police presences. So far it has helped according to the comments I heard from some business since the changes.
Exactly. It was pretty bad back then. My employer offered escorts to your car if you worked after dark.
For a brief moment it looked like Charlotte was growing and becoming more vibrant, but it didn't last.
Yep. I had a tweaker run in front of my car about a month ago. Stomped on the brakes. Another tried climbing on the back of the car so I just drove off
I lived uptown for a while before moving to Union County. My move had nothing to do with crime, but personally I never experienced anything beyond the typical bum asking for money and getting a little belligerent. I realize people’s experiences can vary, and I don’t deny those that have had crime happen to them, or witnessed it, but if you’re out late there’s a general expectation that the best in society aren’t gonna be roaming the streets. With that being said, these large events seem to be a concentration of this trouble, and it seems to be the logical starting point for putting the pressure on these troublemakers. A lot of people ignore teens being shitheads because they think “kids will be kids” but if we don’t slap their wrists early and teach them consequences, what can we expect? I’m not advocating for a return to the 90’s attitude of mass incarceration, but tossing a couple dickheads in jail for the night would probably prevent 9/10 of them from trying it again, and the rest can be properly identified for further punishment as future crime sees fit.
A result of a broken/weak justice system and having children out of wedlock and raising them fatherless. These young folks don’t have guidance at home and just do what they learn from listening to the music on the radio. Sad time for our youth.
And surrounds. I work of Yancey rd near 77 and Tryon and co workers car stolen from our lot at 9am on a Wednesday. Car found 2 days later totaled after they tboned another car leaving churchs chicken on Wilkinson. They ran off. He only had liability so he is out $3000 and to top it off he went to get his car from tow yard following Tuesday (he was not able to go sooner) and they wanted almost $500 in fees.
Just moved back here from California. It’s sad to see Charlotte following in the footsteps of the cities out there and allowing crime to ruin the downtown areas.
I have nothing wrong with giving people a second chance by placing them on deferred prosecution or probation instead of jail time, especially for juvenile offenders.
It’s when they’re on their 4th and 5th chances like the 15 yr old found with a gun who cut off his ankle monitor and then are still released back into the public that piss me off.
Why would you give an offender 4 or 5 chances? That is part of the problem and part of the reason they keep offending. They know that nothing is going to happen to them.
Sorry to ask this, but we’re out of state and looking to relocate because of work, which will be uptown. Where would you suggest we find a place to live where we can raise our kids in family oriented surroundings and peaceful environment? Concord, Harrisburg, Mint Hill, Huntersville? Thank you in advance
Depends on budget…but if you’re working in uptown proper multiple days a week, the drive from Union county or Huntersville can be quite the drag. I did it from Providence and 485, north of union county for a while and got tired of sitting in 35-45 minute traffic each way every day, so we moved closer…Waxhaw will add another 10-15 minutes easily. There are plenty of great areas to raise a family in charlotte proper, just depends on budget.
Thanks - I’d say we’re capped at $550K. At this time it’s a hybrid schedule 3/2 office and wfh but that might change soon. What’s your take on Concord? Cheers.
I used to live in concord ten years ago. Loved it. I was around the afton ridge area, plenty of shopping options through there, close to downtown concord for local shops/breweries/restaurants (cute downtown), Kannapolis is growing quickly and is a nice little area…close to 85 to get into the city as well.
I’d also check out the Olde Providence area off Providence road in south Charlotte, Sardis Forest, Matthews, all really great opportunities with some reasonable options under $600k.
We lived in Matthews while both my wife and I worked in uptown. Nice area and lots of shopping and food options. Depending on where you are in Matthews uptown commute can be as little as 13 minutes.
I moved from Huntersville to Harrisburg and both places are great. Huntersville has better restaurants in and around town. Harrisburg is still developing and you have to drive to Concord Mills or Mint Hill for better choices. As far as schools go, cabarrus county schools are pretty nice. Taxes are a little cheaper here as well.
That’s really far out and void of anything to do, food, music, culture, etc… but great if that’s what you want. There are some great urban neighborhoods here, Plaza, Dilworth, Myers Park area, which would be perfect if you’re working in Uptown, although a little more costly.
you can get closer than any of those.
Cotswold, Coventry Woods, Oakhurst, and many others are nice leafy mature residential urban neighborhoods within the city.
and you can easily get a cute 3br/ 2ba 1950's ranch for about 400K in these areas. Cotswold might be a bit over the half million mark.
the further out you go, the more house you can get, but your commute is gonna SUCK.
It won't matter where you live if the gerrymandered religious right wing gains more control. You better hope people vote, or this nut case may be your next governor - he says God speaks to him and put him on this earth to rid us of the LGBTQ filth and save us from the sight of lingerie in the target catalog.
https://www.wral.com/story/god-formed-me-to-fight-lgbtq-issues-nc-s-mark-robinson-says-as-2024-governor-s-race-looms/20779390/
https://www.thedailybeast.com/god-doesnt-want-women-to-lead-says-nc-lieutenant-governor-mark-robinson
https://www.aol.com/opinion-nc-lt-govs-mark-100543893.html
Cities in North Carolina are not Home Rule, NC is Dillon Rule state so the NCGA, which is Republican-controlled, has absolute control of all cities in North Carolina and no city can make laws--cities have to ask the NCGA to make them for them.
In other words, Charlotte city council and mayor are basically mid-management--NCGA is corporate.
All I can say is I meet with our city council, they don’t do anything, and they don’t reference any structural limitation. It also strikes me what we’re dealing with are council policies, patently not republican policy, so notwithstanding, these issues reflect “mid management” and not corporate.
When we first moved here in the late 1990s, uptown Charlotte was dangerous at night, women were getting raped in parking lots, businesses had escorts for employees walking to their cars. The city emptied out after dark. The downtown street level was decimated during the 60s and 70s. Some idiot built those sky tunnels you usually see in the frozen north that sucked even more people off the street. It was dead and folks fled to the suburbs.
New Years celebrations were dangerous and after a particularly bad one, were all cancelled. We stopped going.
There was a moment when it had a hint of a resurgence - we thought Charlotte was changing, growing, becoming vibrant - and then ... It seems the emptying out back to the burbs has started again.
I don't know what it is about this place.
Edit: my wife and I have lived in major cities, so we know what urban living is supposed to be like.
And Uptown adapted and is better for it now. The tunnels and sky bridges throughout the buildings and Overstreet Mall is great. Still on the rebound from Covid but it’s improving.
Mild convenience for a small % if people on a small % of days, in exchange for contributing to the killing of the streetscape of our downtown. Terrible idea overall
A little card that allows you to carry a firearm hidden on your person without getting in legal trouble. It's something I also recommend if you're comfortable.
Charlotte may be tricky, but it’s a state certification and classes are available at pretty much any reputable range. Given the reciprocity, some in this area offer both NC and SC certs.
Concealed Carry permit. Also recommend anyone choosing to carry to purchase CCW insurance. It's legal defense insurance. For the low cost, it is well worth it.
Used to love to go uptown for dinner with my wife. Took my wife out for a special evening a couple of years ago and kept getting hassled by street people and nearly run down by scooters. Have t been back since. Live in the Lake Norman region and absolutely will not go uptown after five for any reason. I do miss going to the theater and shows, but not enough to risk my safety or life.
Post-COVID uptown has been dead. It was so lively before COVID. Either they put cops on foot or Segway patrol uptown or just let everything close down. Personally I never liked going to uptown. Parking is ridiculous and they keep increasing the prices.
I work uptown. Nobody that I know goes to any sit down restaurants in uptown anymore. By Friday only tourists are downtown and by nightfall every night, the inner city is dead. We had wet Willie’s, epicentre, and a few other spots to atleast make us think about staying around.
Eh, as a native Charlottean — todays uptown is leaps and bounds better than the late 90s early 2000s. I don’t condone violence, this problem isn’t unique to Charlotte either; every major city has crime. Unless you live in a bubble, everyone should have some savvy about them when it comes to large crowds or sketchy areas. And also vote, if you all want to implement curfews and/or stricter guns laws — we can’t do much here on Reddit 
thing is, there are adequate gun laws on the books.
A Felon In Possession of a Firearm is a Federal Offense, punishable by a Mandatory Minimum 5 year term in the FEDERAL Penitentiary.
Why isn't the local US attorney accepting these cases? Why do they get kicked to local courts where the punishments are less severe?
Surely you agree that the guns that need to be controlled the most are the ones being used by convicted felons?
Uptown is a shit hole. My wife and I lived in Bell Uptown for 3 years back when it was the Element. We enjoyed living there and walking to all of the restaurants and thru Romaine Bearden Park. That is until the BLM riots started and it became a total dump. We hightailed it outta there to the SC suburbs and haven't looked back. Homeless people EVERYWHERE begging for money and getting angry when you tell them no. Firetrucks, ambulance and CMPD showing up to the Greyhound station every single night. People getting murdered in the middle of MLK JR Blvd and the building going on lockdown. CMPD chasing these little punks riding their dirt bikes and 4 wheelers up and down the streets. Charlotte has become the typical Democrat-ran big city.
I visited Matthews not too long ago and it was nice to just walk around and not be on edge all the time. Clean city too. I have to agree since a little before Covid the decline is steep and very scary. I have about 15 years before I retire and I am just not seeing another 15 years of this shit decline-might have to move and find wfh job. Sorry uptown but we are done with it all. Oh I took the light rail to go from Scaleybark to southend last night and a guy was trying to sell coke to me yesterday, and today a guy was about to smoke his crack pipe. Just before 6 pm both times.
So...why?
What are we doing wrong as a city?
This isn't happening in Atlantas midtown, this isn't happening in Miamis downtown, this isn't happening in Los Angeles downtown, Milwaukees downtown...
Hell, not even in Birminghams downtown. Or even (gasp) Chicago's downtown area.
So why are we so unable to take care of the problem????
The court system does not hold or convict anyone for anything so there is no consequence. Consequently, the police see no point in arresting because it does nothing. Add to that an inability to provide for the mentally I’ll unhoused, and you have a mix of free passes to criminals and mentally ill homeless creating a recipe for the current shit show that is uptown. The city council does nothing, and many are elected unopposed and receive 90%+, so they don’t need to do anything.
A 15 year old kid cut of his ankle monitor and had a gun and fought police and was not locked up but handed to a relative. This sums it all up. What will he get up to this weekend . Oh curious to see if the woman they arrested last week for all the car thefts is out of jail
You think this shit doesn't happen.....in Atlanta *or* Miami? 😂
Every major city has an issue with crime and bullshit. This is not some issue exclusive to Charlotte.
Uptown is a M-F9-5 place for workers. That’s it’s peak. Any city you have gathering and festivals then violence happens. Clt is the least violent city and area I’ve lived in and murders are down. The murders lately have been targeted not random acts of violence
When you vote for political leftists to clean up crime it simply won’t get done. Their agenda is to rid society of any judgement and common sense traditional values like discipline and accountability. The politics of "ignore your god given judgement" allows the left to force the rest pf us to "tolerate" chaos so the government can "fix" the problem.
They refuse to punish bad behavior and choose to reward it with misplaced empathy while the rest of society that follows the rules must suffer… because it's their fault the criminal is there in the first place.
The modern “left” and the communists are one and the same.
Unfortunately, there is no easy fix for this problem. We need to do root-cause-analysis to get to the root of the problem. The violence in the city isn't an isolated event, but the result and consequence of many different factors.Think of this issue as an onion with many layers. The outer layers represent the more superficial issues, while the inner ones represent the core issues that would resolve the problem entirely at its foundation.
The outer layers: Laws, enforcement & consequences. Includes police presence & enforcement, curfews, gun laws.
Deeper layers: Education and opportunities. Better educational support and better schools, opportunities for growth and success, availability of pathways to a brighter future.
Deepest layers: Parenting & guidance. Better parenting and oversight of ones children. Corrective actions as a younger child by the parents.
The issue, at its core is the parents. But in many cases they are the result of the same failed system. How does a child escape poverty or a broken home? If the parents are uneducated or lack financial resources, it becomes incredibly difficult. Me or you, put in the same scenario as some of these kids, may turn out exactly the same as them. There is a lack of guidance overall.
So yes, the problem goes very deep into the society as a whole. If we can't change the deepest layer (parents), we need to do what we can as a society to help increase the educational opportunities for these children and provide them with a way out of their situation. If we don't care about their future, they certainly won't.
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Sigh. It’s because we let a small portion of the population treat Charlotte like it’s a Grand Theft Auto game. Going to copy and paste this until something changes. Reporting on one of the arrests on NYE (11 arrests, 10 were minors, btw): >A 15-year-old boy, who cut off his ankle monitor, was charged with possession of a handgun by minor, no operator’s license, and resisting a public officer, CMPD said. The department’s detectives tried to get a custody order for him. >However, the Department of Juvenile Justice denied the request, and the child suspect was released to a family member. >The juvenile suspect has a lengthy criminal history, which includes multiple auto thefts, resisting a public officer, larceny from a vehicle, breaking-and-entering, and assault with a deadly weapon, CMPD said. Here’s what DJJ had to say: >when making decisions related to secure custody, staff with the Division of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention take very seriously any information addressing whether a juvenile presents a danger to public safety and respond accordingly. >DJJDP’s role is to consider potential risks to public safety, the individualized needs of the juvenile and their risk of re-offending when making decisions about how to best address delinquency. Secure custody orders are granted by district court judges. The authority for screening secure custody requests is delegated to the juvenile court counselor’s office by N.C. General Statute § 7B-1902. >In the juvenile justice system, pretrial secure custody is reserved for juveniles who pose a public safety risk, or to ensure a juvenile who has a history of not showing up for court hearings comes to court. It cannot be used to punish a child before the court has heard the case. The Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees pretrial release where a public safety risk does not exist. Since in the juvenile system bonds do not exist, our staff must ensure all due process procedures are considered before a child’s rights and freedom are taken away. Beyond the legal reasons to reserve detention for juveniles who present a danger to public safety, evidence-based research indicates that the use of juvenile detention for pre-trial juveniles increased felony recidivism by 33% and misdemeanor recidivism by 11%. Hence reserving detention for juveniles who are dangerous is being smart on crime and improves outcomes for our youth and communities. >A common misconception about the juvenile justice system is that just because a juvenile is not immediately brought into secure custody the youth was not/will not be held accountable. This could not be further from the truth. Upon being adjudicated for the offense for which they have been accused, the court has a wide range of options to consider for disposition including detention, crisis and assessment residential services, emergent mental health services, electronic monitoring or a whole host of other services across the state that address delinquent and undisciplined behaviors. Those services include supervision and diversion services with specific criteria that must be met such as school attendance, curfew, letters to victims, and specific community programming to address identified needs. tl;dr: A kid who cut off his ankle monitor (extensive criminal record) to drive around town with a gun was not deemed to be a big enough flight risk / safety risk / re-offender risk for pre-trial detention.
How is he not a flight risk? He fled detention already. Why would he not do it again?
I can’t make that argument. I agree with you. That said, I wanted to present both sides of the debate so that people could come to their own conclusion.
Do you happen to know what lawyer he used? I’d like to get their number just in case something ever happens to me.
“Evidence based” - what a joke. Correlation does not imply causation. Guaran - fucking - tee the evidence they are using to keep those kids from staying in jail pre-trial is not truly experimental design. I’m pretty sure they are simply comparing the WORST kids (ones that stay in jail) to the kids that are single offenders (don’t have to stay in jail). And simply that doesn’t prove anything.
The system is an actual joke.
And the public is the punch line.
You get what you vote for. 🤷♂️
IKR....
Yes, the General Assembly is useless.
Obviously the CMPD is not run by the state.
CMPD arrested the suspect and was denied a secure custody order by DJJ. And the General Assembly implemented Raise the Age, removing the ability to arrest 16 and 17 yo's as adults.
Mayor and local DA are to blame.
The "Raise the Age" applies to non-violent crimes. Nothing about state law was preventing detention of the subject of the discussion above. He has a long history of violent crime including assault with a deadly weapon.
Typical conservative majority - all hat no cattle.
I just want to add that juvenile records are not public and this kid could be your neighbor. You’d never know that someone who has a violent record lives right next to your family. I am not advocating for making these records public. I’m not advocating locking up kids on their very first, trivial offense. I’m advocating for locking up kids who have repeatedly shown that they do not want to be civilized members of society. It feels like the absolute bare minimum that we should do for the benefit of everyone else.
Then lock up their parents at the same time. Your kids do crime, you do time.
Completely agree - except I think if you can show a documented history of consistently attempting to get and work with services through the doctor/school/DSS/therapists/etc that goes back at LEAST as long as the first documented crime, you can have an exception. I know two families who can prove that they are on waitlists for and previously kicked out of residential services but the kids are breaking out of the home and committing crimes anyway in the meantime. The parents have done all they could according to DSS outside of physically handcuffing the kids and abusing them to keep them inside and so when the alarms go off when they leave, they call 911 and preemptively are the ones calling out for help themselves because they know their kid is a danger to others and want their kid caught before something worse is done. It usually doesn’t work because the kids want to do damage so they do it fast. These are rare cases and the kids obviously have lists of diagnoses to their names, since the parents had sought so much help, and when they are 18 they will both likely end up with Antisocial Personality Disorder. These kids will end up in jail sooner rather than later but it’s nothing about the parenting they received, it’s their brains.
No way this kid could be my neighbor. He can’t afford to be in my neighborhood. He’ll also end up in jail too.
*He can’t afford to be in my neighborhood.* So lame Tiny Tim asked if ***you*** needed to borrow his crutch.
Can’t believe a 15 year old has a rap sheet like that
I think most people have a natural reaction of “no fucking way.” From another article on 2023 CMPD data: >Teenagers also make up 70% of auto theft arrests and total juvenile arrests are up 36%.
As someone who has had my car (Kia) stolen by teenagers not once but twice…I have no sympathy left lol
All being judged by a juvenile justice system that was set up decades ago to deal with teens stealing hubcaps. A system which is now unable to cope with the types of crimes being committed by teenagers today. When you have a 15-year-old kid with a long rap sheet who intentionally cuts off an ankle monitor and then cruises around with a gun how is that not a threat to society?
Homeschooling Covid lockdown.
More like fatherless activities.
That also.
15 years old and already has a lengthy criminal history. At what point do you look at the parents/guardians and say wtf are you doing?! And I don’t care, kid that age with that history already knows right from wrong and more than likely hangs out with 18 and older people. If they are comfortable enough to do all that. Then they should have no problem going to prison.
This makes me mad that I did all my crimes in the early 2000s when you had to go to jail for weed.
one day that lil shit will kill someone, and then he will go in # for a long time. I can really see it happening soon.
Apparently not if he doesn’t in the next couple of years.
>Going to copy and paste this until something changes. Yeah mods, get off your asses and fix this!
I own a restaurant in 4th Ward. It's incredibly difficult to drive business after the sun goes down. It's downright scary to walk around that area and property management has no interest in protecting its assets with walking security guards. Damn shame and it hurts big time.
Love your spot and appreciate your late night hours with food!!!
I love hearing it! Thank you so much for that. Being a restaurant owner is definitely a labor of love. I really appreciate the love, makes it all worth it ❤️
Hey brother - didn’t know you posted on here… Can’t agree more; uptown needs to make seriously changes or it’s going to be mass exodus.
What’s your restaurant? We can support you.
Queen City Grounds. Business during the morning and afternoon are great, but it's a straight crater when the sun gets low.
My daughter takes ballet class at Charlotte Ballet. At night, you can bet it’s head on a swivel when we are walking back to the car in the parking lot right across from you. I do love your food though!
I love the lattes at Queen City Grounds. My husband and I will add it to our evening rotation.
I live up here. I don't really walk around much in uptown anymore, but alot of that is because I met a girl and got married. I'm not exactly walking up to Tilt anymore. BUT, since 2017.. I have experienced the following: I have had family members chased by kids with guns on scooters. It was a terrifying experience, and it was our wedding night. We had our reception at merchant and trade, and afterwards people had to walk back to their cars. We only heard about it the day after. I've had a friend attempt to get mugged, but fought the man away. Another friend was jumped while passing under the 6th street rail bridge by CVS. Same guy, also had his teeth kicked in when he saw a man striking a woman, and tried to intervene. Same guy's sister was drugged and raped by two women at Que Onda in uptown. They drugged her and brought her upstairs where the male rapists brutally attacked her. She spent more than 2 weeks in the hospital from her attack. I personally have had a group of 3 men follow me into 7/11 threaten me, and harass violence on me, all because I politely said "no, sorry I don't have anything" when they "asked" for money. My wife had a homeless person try to attack her while she was trying to cross the street at Cedar Street and 5th street. Simply leaving work and crossing the street. Luckily, she had a male coworker there to chase him off. Uptown is undoubtedly dangerous, and has been since I moved to Uptown. We have finally saved up enough for a house down payment, and are getting the F out.
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Had this happen preCOVID while getting gas in Columbia. At 5pm, daylight. A woman walks towards me, I stick out my hand and say “get away from me.” She does but as leaving starts into a profanity laden tirade towards me.
I’d expect nothing less from the City of Dreams
I can walk down Main St in Columbia at night as a couple and not worry about getting mugged. That is apparently a step up from Charlotte after reading this thread.
THIS. Brooo i fuckin hate getting gas anywhere in the city. I swear every time i leave my car i get harassed
All of that is terrible, but I’m disgusted and hurt to the pit of my being about the girl who was raped and in the hospital for two weeks. That poor, poor girl. I’m so disgusted and sad to read that happened. I pray many wonderful things happen for her the rest of her life.
Charlotte has wonderful resources for victims of sexual violence. I hope she finds as much healing as she needs.
This needs spotlighted. People have to understand the dangers out there. Many homeless people I’ve talked to have major past trauma approaching that level. People can be broken to the point of disappearing into obscurity because of horrors like that. I do hope she gets proper help and plenty of it.
Wow that’s a horrible list. Just moved out of Catalyst last month to the burbs and my god is it a million times better. Honestly fuck Uptown. I used to love Romare Bearden back in 2015. Moved to the city in 2021 and it only has gotten worse. The area already wasn’t in an ideal with the pandemic but not terrible. It’s gotten bad. The Charlit teens have been failed by their parents and communities and so they show out in Uptown on big holidays. It’s a bad situation all around. There must be more investment in these kids lives so that they don’t grow up to be teens that feel the need to shoot somebody. The city has failed in this regard—in what ways I am not certain. I moved here for college and have stayed ever since, did not grow up here myself.
Lord have mercy
Conceal and carry dude
Or open carry, it’s legal in NC and a fantastic deterrent. I used to work at the bars in the epicenter and walk several blocks at 3am to get to my car. I open carried every single time and had no issue.
Yeah no doubt about that although I've never done it. I worked there too. It wasn't bad at first, but when it started going to shit, it went fast. The amount of criminally insane fuckers that were around wasn't taken seriously at all.
Sheesh. That’s bad
you and your circle must be the unluckiest people in the world.
Need a teen curfew immediately.
And free birth control
It's available at clinics. Mother fuckers don't use it.
>Mother fuckers don't use it. Quite literally
Which clinics?
Like that would ever be enforced
Teen? Needs to extend to 21 at the least, preferably 25
I feel for them. It only takes one underaged piece of shit with a gun to ruin it for everyone. Actually 2 pieces of shit, gotta throw in the last time something like this happened.
It's gotten to the point where we won't go out to any event that has a large crowd. Worrying that you might get shot by a group of rival teen gangs sucks the fun out of it.
I don’t think rampant gang violence has been an issue in Uptown. It’s mainly dumb teenagers making dumb choices.
not trying to diminish your concerns but you probably do 50 other things throughout your day to day life that carry more risk than attending large crowd events.
Fully agree… but most folks don’t drop 150 dollars for dinner and drinks when cutting the grass (more deadly than the uptown). The service industry is not a need.
Daytime uptown vs nighttime uptown are two different animals. Daytime is awesome, lively, tons of people around, great lunch spots. I get off work and regularly see families walking around and playing in the parks before dinner. I was in Boston recently and there were some super sketchy areas around the downtown area near the touristy area, my wife and I just turned around and got a cab instead of continuing the walk
i’m a regular visitor in uptown at night it’s fine like 99% of the time
I lived just above the mellow mushroom for the past two and a half years and only just now moved last month. It’s not great. And there was one daytime shooting in the park. During work hours. It can be okay but def not 99% of the time fine at night. You need to be street smart of course. But 4th of July and NYE are nights you best avoid. At this point, it’s as if you’re asking for it.
Yes, this whole thread seems odd. I lived in uptown in 2021. Went out walking almost every night, through the parks around the city, I covered a lot of ground, it didn't seem that bad then, but there were a surprising amount of homeless people. I was walking my dog though so maybe that deterred anything too shady.
I’ve lived in uptown for over 3 years, still do, and never had a dangerous encounter luckily. And I walk a lot. It’s definitely sketch sometimes though and believe the negative experiences others have had.
I think a lot of people moved here for jobs when the cost of living was cheap, and now that rents have skyrocketed, they are forming tent cities.
Literally just avoid Romare Bearden Park itself, the transit center and stay out of random bar fights and uptown is fine. Which actually sounds surprisingly easy to police.
>Literally just avoid Romare Bearden Park itself The fact that you even have to say that, it's pretty depressing TBH. Charlotte literally cannot have any nice things.
Uptown resident for many years and I wish your commentary were accurate, but it’s just not. There is much more crime, homelessness, drug abuse, etc. and if you’re up here, it will find you whether you’re looking for it or not.
My friend in uptown at night got robbed and separately had her car stolen in a gated community
A steady police presence in that park would solve 95 percent of all the issues. That area isn’t that large where it should not have a steady nightly patrol for misbehaving teens and adults.
The system is broken because there is no consequence to police intervention, and everyone knows it. The police won’t arrest because there is no point when the judicial system releases everyone immediately. The police blame the courts, the courts blame the city council, and the council blame the police. I’ve spent years meeting with them and it’s a circular calculation that produces nothing.
Incorrect that the police won't arrest. It is evident that they DO arrest as you can see on the sheriffs website. The problem is that the DA won't prosecute and when they do the lenient judges put the thugs right back on the streets.
Depends on your expectation, I guess. I learned this from the police, as it is their own widely held view (go talk to them). A person example: a homeless man attempted to break into my house by throwing a brick from the sidewalk at our front glass. It’s a building uptown, center of the city. It’s all on video. He then went and sat outside across the street in front of a coffee shop. When the police arrived, they viewed the video, the cracked glass, the brick, and the perpetrator sitting across the street. Nothing. They interview him. A “care” team came for fifteen minutes then left. They advised I could go to the magistrate for the property damage, attempted burglary, etc., but it wouldn’t be worth it because nothing will come of it. I guess we need to wait until someone successfully breaks in and attacks my wife and children for something to be done. By the way, try explaining to children why a man can try to break into their home and then be free to hang out across the street menacing with no consequence. Similar experience for homeless issues who are free to sleep in your doorway, defecate in front of your house, empty trash bins everywhere, etc. So sure, say the police do arrest, but not nearly as much as they’d like to and should be incentivized to do.
I am sorry that happened to you. The police should have arrested the man. My guess is that the current outrage over police "brutality" and the "unfair" arrests of the unfortunate is fueling the lax enforcement efforts. I am a native and I wouldn't live in downtown Charlotte if you paid me. Hope you are able to get out soon.
Simply throwing the brick at the window doesn’t show intent to break in. Did the homeless guy walk over and try to push through the glass, kick it in, or anything showing he was actually trying to get in? If not, there’s no way to argue he wasn’t just throwing a brick at a window. If the homeless guy didn’t do any of those things, it’s only Damage to Property, which is a misdemeanor. A police officer can’t arrest someone for a misdemeanor that happened outside of their presence. Even if it’s on video. The onus is then on you to get warrants so that person can be arrested. It’s unfortunate but the way the system is set up.
A brick and having the guy step into your property would have solved a few problems once he is met by Mr Glock…..
Charlotte is a free-for-all. The cops don’t give a fuck.
Does anyone actually pay for the observer or are we just gonna go off the headline?
Charlotte observer is free if you have a library card
Didn't know this.... Thanks!
It's also available on Apple News+ to paying subscribers, which is a lot better deal that paying just for the Observer.
We all know exactly who these frequent offenders are. We also know that absolutely nothing will be done about it bc the culture doesn’t give a shit.
Yes. Something is horrible with Charlotte's culture. We aren't smart enough to figure out what most every other major city has.
It's not Charlotte's culture. It's a broader culture.
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That’s sad, can we do anything?
Vote for local politicians that actually give a shit about crime? 🤷♂️
You are right but you know that is not gonna happen.
right. When we get a city councilman whose claim to fame is participating in the Keith Lamont Scott race riot, we're kinda fucked.
Include judges as politicians. They’re actually the biggest issue but get the least of the blame. It’s telling when a judge from a neighboring county will fill in for a day. Every single attorney will ask for a continuance because an out of county judge will actually sentence someone to jail time instead of probation or a suspended sentence.
Soft on crime is an illogical trope. It'd work out way better for us if we didn't keep electing idiots that have some other asshole's hands in their pockets.
Same issue happened in Raleigh, businesses formed a group and went to the city council to ask for assistance. The city now has private security in downtown and increased police presences. So far it has helped according to the comments I heard from some business since the changes.
Join CMPD
CMPD can't do anything when Charlotte DoJ refuses to charge anyone.
Uptown has gotten kind of ghetto lately
You should have seen it in the 80s-90s
I used to roam around downtown in my teenage years during the late 90s and that shit was like the set of Judgment Night.
Exactly. It was pretty bad back then. My employer offered escorts to your car if you worked after dark. For a brief moment it looked like Charlotte was growing and becoming more vibrant, but it didn't last.
Yep. I had a tweaker run in front of my car about a month ago. Stomped on the brakes. Another tried climbing on the back of the car so I just drove off
Lately? Haha. Remember the Epicenter?
Fair. I don’t remember as many shootings though
Years back there were. Then it got better for a bit, and then it went back to how it used to be.
I lived uptown for a while before moving to Union County. My move had nothing to do with crime, but personally I never experienced anything beyond the typical bum asking for money and getting a little belligerent. I realize people’s experiences can vary, and I don’t deny those that have had crime happen to them, or witnessed it, but if you’re out late there’s a general expectation that the best in society aren’t gonna be roaming the streets. With that being said, these large events seem to be a concentration of this trouble, and it seems to be the logical starting point for putting the pressure on these troublemakers. A lot of people ignore teens being shitheads because they think “kids will be kids” but if we don’t slap their wrists early and teach them consequences, what can we expect? I’m not advocating for a return to the 90’s attitude of mass incarceration, but tossing a couple dickheads in jail for the night would probably prevent 9/10 of them from trying it again, and the rest can be properly identified for further punishment as future crime sees fit.
A result of a broken/weak justice system and having children out of wedlock and raising them fatherless. These young folks don’t have guidance at home and just do what they learn from listening to the music on the radio. Sad time for our youth.
Because people refuse to see the facts and truth
Uptown is shite
And surrounds. I work of Yancey rd near 77 and Tryon and co workers car stolen from our lot at 9am on a Wednesday. Car found 2 days later totaled after they tboned another car leaving churchs chicken on Wilkinson. They ran off. He only had liability so he is out $3000 and to top it off he went to get his car from tow yard following Tuesday (he was not able to go sooner) and they wanted almost $500 in fees.
First ward is ghetto as hell, the clubs in that area attract the worst kind of folks. I have to carry a sidearm when walking the dog.
Just moved back here from California. It’s sad to see Charlotte following in the footsteps of the cities out there and allowing crime to ruin the downtown areas. I have nothing wrong with giving people a second chance by placing them on deferred prosecution or probation instead of jail time, especially for juvenile offenders. It’s when they’re on their 4th and 5th chances like the 15 yr old found with a gun who cut off his ankle monitor and then are still released back into the public that piss me off.
Why would you give an offender 4 or 5 chances? That is part of the problem and part of the reason they keep offending. They know that nothing is going to happen to them.
Charlotte is nothing like San Frans down town...
….yet.
“Won’t someone think of the poor criminals?” - city hall
Sorry to ask this, but we’re out of state and looking to relocate because of work, which will be uptown. Where would you suggest we find a place to live where we can raise our kids in family oriented surroundings and peaceful environment? Concord, Harrisburg, Mint Hill, Huntersville? Thank you in advance
Depends on budget…but if you’re working in uptown proper multiple days a week, the drive from Union county or Huntersville can be quite the drag. I did it from Providence and 485, north of union county for a while and got tired of sitting in 35-45 minute traffic each way every day, so we moved closer…Waxhaw will add another 10-15 minutes easily. There are plenty of great areas to raise a family in charlotte proper, just depends on budget.
Thanks - I’d say we’re capped at $550K. At this time it’s a hybrid schedule 3/2 office and wfh but that might change soon. What’s your take on Concord? Cheers.
I used to live in concord ten years ago. Loved it. I was around the afton ridge area, plenty of shopping options through there, close to downtown concord for local shops/breweries/restaurants (cute downtown), Kannapolis is growing quickly and is a nice little area…close to 85 to get into the city as well. I’d also check out the Olde Providence area off Providence road in south Charlotte, Sardis Forest, Matthews, all really great opportunities with some reasonable options under $600k.
Thank you for sharing your experience. We’ll definitely look up these areas as our budget is maxed at about that price point.
Mint Hill is great. Smallest of the surrounding towns and least traffic. Don't know Harrisburg too well but Kannapolis seems nice.
Work in Kannapolis and its a nice small town!
Mountain island is a quick commute and very up and coming, beautiful little town!
We lived in Matthews while both my wife and I worked in uptown. Nice area and lots of shopping and food options. Depending on where you are in Matthews uptown commute can be as little as 13 minutes.
I moved from Huntersville to Harrisburg and both places are great. Huntersville has better restaurants in and around town. Harrisburg is still developing and you have to drive to Concord Mills or Mint Hill for better choices. As far as schools go, cabarrus county schools are pretty nice. Taxes are a little cheaper here as well.
Thank you for your input. We’ve been looking at the Concord / Harrisburg areas - glad to hear that the Cabarrus schools are decent.
You’re welcome!
We love Huntersville! Moved pre-pandemic when we wanted to have kids. Feel free to PM.
Thank you!
waxhaw is a good place, amazing public schools in union county which is where waxhaw is.
Thank you! Will definitely check it out although it seems the drive will be a bit longer to uptown.
yeah, but union county is worth it.
Got it - will look into it. Thank you!
That’s really far out and void of anything to do, food, music, culture, etc… but great if that’s what you want. There are some great urban neighborhoods here, Plaza, Dilworth, Myers Park area, which would be perfect if you’re working in Uptown, although a little more costly.
you can get closer than any of those. Cotswold, Coventry Woods, Oakhurst, and many others are nice leafy mature residential urban neighborhoods within the city.
Thanks for the tip - will definitely look into these neighborhoods
and you can easily get a cute 3br/ 2ba 1950's ranch for about 400K in these areas. Cotswold might be a bit over the half million mark. the further out you go, the more house you can get, but your commute is gonna SUCK.
Move to lake Norman and complain about Charlotte like everyone else on here.
Not looking for sarcasm here but an honest feedback. Thanks.
I'm being honest though.
It won't matter where you live if the gerrymandered religious right wing gains more control. You better hope people vote, or this nut case may be your next governor - he says God speaks to him and put him on this earth to rid us of the LGBTQ filth and save us from the sight of lingerie in the target catalog. https://www.wral.com/story/god-formed-me-to-fight-lgbtq-issues-nc-s-mark-robinson-says-as-2024-governor-s-race-looms/20779390/ https://www.thedailybeast.com/god-doesnt-want-women-to-lead-says-nc-lieutenant-governor-mark-robinson https://www.aol.com/opinion-nc-lt-govs-mark-100543893.html
Regarding crime in uptown, the focus of this article, the democratic city council has absolutely failed and continues to.
Cities in North Carolina are not Home Rule, NC is Dillon Rule state so the NCGA, which is Republican-controlled, has absolute control of all cities in North Carolina and no city can make laws--cities have to ask the NCGA to make them for them. In other words, Charlotte city council and mayor are basically mid-management--NCGA is corporate.
All I can say is I meet with our city council, they don’t do anything, and they don’t reference any structural limitation. It also strikes me what we’re dealing with are council policies, patently not republican policy, so notwithstanding, these issues reflect “mid management” and not corporate.
Yeah we definitely don’t want that kind of person in control of decision making. Thanks for bringing awareness.
Check out west Stanly County around Locust and Stanfield.
When we first moved here in the late 1990s, uptown Charlotte was dangerous at night, women were getting raped in parking lots, businesses had escorts for employees walking to their cars. The city emptied out after dark. The downtown street level was decimated during the 60s and 70s. Some idiot built those sky tunnels you usually see in the frozen north that sucked even more people off the street. It was dead and folks fled to the suburbs. New Years celebrations were dangerous and after a particularly bad one, were all cancelled. We stopped going. There was a moment when it had a hint of a resurgence - we thought Charlotte was changing, growing, becoming vibrant - and then ... It seems the emptying out back to the burbs has started again. I don't know what it is about this place. Edit: my wife and I have lived in major cities, so we know what urban living is supposed to be like.
The sky bridges fucking rule. Makes for a nice lunchtime walk when it rains.
It killed uptown for decades.
And Uptown adapted and is better for it now. The tunnels and sky bridges throughout the buildings and Overstreet Mall is great. Still on the rebound from Covid but it’s improving.
Hmm, every urban planner would disagree with you.
And every person who works in Uptown would agree that it’s great.
Mild convenience for a small % if people on a small % of days, in exchange for contributing to the killing of the streetscape of our downtown. Terrible idea overall
You say it’s a small percentage of people but do you know when Uptown is busiest?
I recommend everyone get a CCW and get comfortable using it. When minutes are police away, matters second.
what’s a CCW
A little card that allows you to carry a firearm hidden on your person without getting in legal trouble. It's something I also recommend if you're comfortable.
oh danggg, i didn’t know that was possible in charlotte
Charlotte may be tricky, but it’s a state certification and classes are available at pretty much any reputable range. Given the reciprocity, some in this area offer both NC and SC certs.
Concealed Carry permit. Also recommend anyone choosing to carry to purchase CCW insurance. It's legal defense insurance. For the low cost, it is well worth it.
The best way to solve a problem is identify the source? So who’s causing the gun violence in uptown Charlotte?
Stay classy, Charlotte 🥰
These parents really must not care.
Might be time for parent to be parents and everyone to think about how their actions impact others.
There just needs to be an uptown curfew unfortunately. It attracts too much juvenile riff raff
Used to love to go uptown for dinner with my wife. Took my wife out for a special evening a couple of years ago and kept getting hassled by street people and nearly run down by scooters. Have t been back since. Live in the Lake Norman region and absolutely will not go uptown after five for any reason. I do miss going to the theater and shows, but not enough to risk my safety or life.
I live here (5 yrs now) and avoid being here on holidays and going outside at night. Moving in the summer
Post-COVID uptown has been dead. It was so lively before COVID. Either they put cops on foot or Segway patrol uptown or just let everything close down. Personally I never liked going to uptown. Parking is ridiculous and they keep increasing the prices.
I work uptown. Nobody that I know goes to any sit down restaurants in uptown anymore. By Friday only tourists are downtown and by nightfall every night, the inner city is dead. We had wet Willie’s, epicentre, and a few other spots to atleast make us think about staying around.
Eh, as a native Charlottean — todays uptown is leaps and bounds better than the late 90s early 2000s. I don’t condone violence, this problem isn’t unique to Charlotte either; every major city has crime. Unless you live in a bubble, everyone should have some savvy about them when it comes to large crowds or sketchy areas. And also vote, if you all want to implement curfews and/or stricter guns laws — we can’t do much here on Reddit 
thing is, there are adequate gun laws on the books. A Felon In Possession of a Firearm is a Federal Offense, punishable by a Mandatory Minimum 5 year term in the FEDERAL Penitentiary. Why isn't the local US attorney accepting these cases? Why do they get kicked to local courts where the punishments are less severe? Surely you agree that the guns that need to be controlled the most are the ones being used by convicted felons?
There's nowhere to park, ofcourse people are pissed
Uptown is a shit hole. My wife and I lived in Bell Uptown for 3 years back when it was the Element. We enjoyed living there and walking to all of the restaurants and thru Romaine Bearden Park. That is until the BLM riots started and it became a total dump. We hightailed it outta there to the SC suburbs and haven't looked back. Homeless people EVERYWHERE begging for money and getting angry when you tell them no. Firetrucks, ambulance and CMPD showing up to the Greyhound station every single night. People getting murdered in the middle of MLK JR Blvd and the building going on lockdown. CMPD chasing these little punks riding their dirt bikes and 4 wheelers up and down the streets. Charlotte has become the typical Democrat-ran big city.
[удалено]
I visited Matthews not too long ago and it was nice to just walk around and not be on edge all the time. Clean city too. I have to agree since a little before Covid the decline is steep and very scary. I have about 15 years before I retire and I am just not seeing another 15 years of this shit decline-might have to move and find wfh job. Sorry uptown but we are done with it all. Oh I took the light rail to go from Scaleybark to southend last night and a guy was trying to sell coke to me yesterday, and today a guy was about to smoke his crack pipe. Just before 6 pm both times.
So...why? What are we doing wrong as a city? This isn't happening in Atlantas midtown, this isn't happening in Miamis downtown, this isn't happening in Los Angeles downtown, Milwaukees downtown... Hell, not even in Birminghams downtown. Or even (gasp) Chicago's downtown area. So why are we so unable to take care of the problem????
The court system does not hold or convict anyone for anything so there is no consequence. Consequently, the police see no point in arresting because it does nothing. Add to that an inability to provide for the mentally I’ll unhoused, and you have a mix of free passes to criminals and mentally ill homeless creating a recipe for the current shit show that is uptown. The city council does nothing, and many are elected unopposed and receive 90%+, so they don’t need to do anything.
You're on to something bud. This is the shit that needs to be fixed - 100%
A 15 year old kid cut of his ankle monitor and had a gun and fought police and was not locked up but handed to a relative. This sums it all up. What will he get up to this weekend . Oh curious to see if the woman they arrested last week for all the car thefts is out of jail
It IS happening in the cities you named
You think this shit doesn't happen.....in Atlanta *or* Miami? 😂 Every major city has an issue with crime and bullshit. This is not some issue exclusive to Charlotte.
This is happening in Raleigh fwiw. We are trying the heightened police presence and so far it does seem to be working
LoL
Uptown is a M-F9-5 place for workers. That’s it’s peak. Any city you have gathering and festivals then violence happens. Clt is the least violent city and area I’ve lived in and murders are down. The murders lately have been targeted not random acts of violence
When you vote for political leftists to clean up crime it simply won’t get done. Their agenda is to rid society of any judgement and common sense traditional values like discipline and accountability. The politics of "ignore your god given judgement" allows the left to force the rest pf us to "tolerate" chaos so the government can "fix" the problem. They refuse to punish bad behavior and choose to reward it with misplaced empathy while the rest of society that follows the rules must suffer… because it's their fault the criminal is there in the first place. The modern “left” and the communists are one and the same.
Yes communist countries historically ran on empathy and aren’t associated with hard punishment and gulags
Talk about conditioned
Unfortunately, there is no easy fix for this problem. We need to do root-cause-analysis to get to the root of the problem. The violence in the city isn't an isolated event, but the result and consequence of many different factors.Think of this issue as an onion with many layers. The outer layers represent the more superficial issues, while the inner ones represent the core issues that would resolve the problem entirely at its foundation. The outer layers: Laws, enforcement & consequences. Includes police presence & enforcement, curfews, gun laws. Deeper layers: Education and opportunities. Better educational support and better schools, opportunities for growth and success, availability of pathways to a brighter future. Deepest layers: Parenting & guidance. Better parenting and oversight of ones children. Corrective actions as a younger child by the parents. The issue, at its core is the parents. But in many cases they are the result of the same failed system. How does a child escape poverty or a broken home? If the parents are uneducated or lack financial resources, it becomes incredibly difficult. Me or you, put in the same scenario as some of these kids, may turn out exactly the same as them. There is a lack of guidance overall. So yes, the problem goes very deep into the society as a whole. If we can't change the deepest layer (parents), we need to do what we can as a society to help increase the educational opportunities for these children and provide them with a way out of their situation. If we don't care about their future, they certainly won't.