Useful to have a mental map of the city
Here is the central core, aka “uptown”
Uptown was built aligned to the railroad tracks, not the compass – Tryon Street (originally US 29) is “Main Street”, like Michigan Avenue in Chicago or Broadway Avenue in New York. Trade Street is a more minor street that was the route (US 74) that ran from the Atlantic Coast up to the mountains and toward Tennessee, but was never the importance of the New York to Atlanta traffic (now I-85). US 21 was another important pre interstate highway – it was the road up to the West Virginia Turnpike and Pittsburgh and the upper Midwest from the East Coast of Floida, the route now I-77. Charlotte was and is a major logistics hub for a reason, despite not having a navigable river.
Notable things in Uptown – Bank of America HQ, former Wachovia HQ (now Wells Fargo), Duke Energy HQ, County Courthouse, City Hall, Time Warner Arena, Convention Center, Police HQ, Federal Reserve bank (branch of the Richmond District), and lots of high rise residential buildings packed with refugees from New York City and New Joisey.
Wider view of the near South side showing Myers Park and South Park
The area you saw on Tuesday night. The red dot is where the shooting happened. This area is an area for off campus housing for UNC-Charlotte – the school is mostly a commuter school and has limited dormitory housing on the campus.
And yet a wider shot of the city
Alma Adams is the US House member from the 1st Congressional District which represents most of Mecklenburg County – when the court forced district lines to be redrawn, she decided to move to Charlotte!s 4th ward on 10th street
She is calling for a civil rights investigation despite the police chief and shooter being black, but here is her summary
“Charlotte is a wonderful city,” Adams said. “It’s a great community and this has really tainted us. The headlines that we’re getting about our city is not what we’re used to, not what we need and, certainly, it’s really not who Charlotte is.”
Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article103473357.html#storylink=cpy
Thursday, the activists decided to have a little protest at SouthPark Mall, hoping to provoke an incident or intimidate rich white (and black) people.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/special-reports/article105165461.html
South Park has not one connection to the case. It is not where the shooting happened, it is not a government office – it is a place where people buy wedding rings and Chick-fil-A sandwiches and iPhones.
And it is accessible using public transit.