Keep Charlotte ‘Starched’


Long time, no Naked City. Too many candidates for editorial board members to research, too little time. More and better items to come tomorrow, I vow. I’ve been tucking tidbits aside. But here’s a quick one now.

Architect/planner Tom Low was talking with Citistates Report writer Curtis Johnson last summer, thinking about Charlotte’s bank-town soul. As it happened, he was wearing a “Keep Austin Weird” hat. That city has built a national reputation as a place where eccentrics and local color are both tolerated and celebrated — not exactly the reputation Charlotte has. We’re more of a starched-shirt kind of city. What would Charlotte’s version of “Keep Austin Weird” be, Low wondered. Johnson quipped, “Keep Charlotte Starched.” And thus, a movement was born. Or to be more accurate, a movement may be born or not, depending.

Low has launched — well, he’s trying to launch — a “Keep Charlotte Starched” movement. There’s a Keep Charlotte Starched Web site, as well as some stickers, if you’re really keen on the idea.

But without one of our two banks, will Charlotte remain so starched? “How can we keep Charlotte starched?” Low asks. I’ll ask, do we want to? Best three comments win a KCS sticker.