Buying or renting?

Questions for today: Are you new to town or moving here? And are you buying or renting?

I'm wondering if the slowing economy and slumping housing market are steering more newcomers to apartments. I want to hear what you have to say.

A colleague is working on a story on this very topic. If you are willing to talk to him about renting instead of buying, email me your name and number and I'll pass it along. Thanks!

This is a wonderful place!

I'm writing about a wonderful place.

OK, readers, just hold on. I'm not talking about Charlotte, but a great place to go in Charlotte with the kiddies.

I'm talking about ImaginOn. At Imaginon, which is free, kids can put on a puppet show, play in a dollhouse listen to stories or take workshops. The $41 million facility opened in 2005 and is home to the children's library and the Children's Theatre of Charlotte. (Note: The Children's Theatre productions are not free.)

For more about ImaginOn and a calendar of events, click here.

Today my husband took off work to hang with our daughter (17 months), because daycare was closed. At my suggestion, they attended toddler story time at ImaginOn. In March, my girl and I had fun at a kids concert there.

The reveiw from today's story time? Here's what Jeff emailed to say about it:

"She liked ImaginOn. Had a hard time sitting still for storytime (which was only 20 minutes) but wasn't too bad. They take little dance breaks, which she liked. We walked around for about 30 minutes afterward so she could push buttons and watch the exhibits do their thing."

I wish I could have gone. The next time daycare is closed, I get to stay home with the kiddo and ImaginOn is a sure bet.

Charlotte: Best City to Live

Charlotte is No. 1 when it comes to places to live, according to Relocate-America's Top 100 in 2008. Two other Carolina cities made the top 10. Greenville, S.C. ranked fourth and Asheville, last year's No. 1, came in seventh.

Relocate-America takes nominations for best city throughout the year. Would you nominate Charlotte? Why or why not? And if not, then what city would deserve your praise?

A reason to not miss the Big Apple?

Are you an ex New Yorker like me who still sometimes misses the city?

Well, check this out.

How do you say Clemson?

Check out this cool thing I just stumbled on: A pronunciaton guide for frequently mispronounced S.C. places. It comes from SCIway.net, which stands for South Carolina Information Highway and is pronounded skyway, by the way.

The guide directs you on pronunciation of 100 places -- from Abbeville (AB uh vul, AB bee VIL) to Yonges (YUNGS) Island -- and gives information on the origin of some names.

In some cases, when there's no clear answer, the site took a poll. Take Clemson. In a poll of 1,155 voters, 57 percent said it's CLEM sun. Meanwhile, 37 percent said CLEMP sun and 6 percent said CLEM zun.

Lancaster is "frequently mispronounced LAN CAS tur." It's really LANG kus tur.

Beaufort is BU fort. "Visitors often confuse this town with Beaufort, N.C., which is pronounced BOW fort."

Some other possible surprises:
Cheddar: SHED ur
Clinton: CLIN nin
Cooper (the river dividing Charleston and Mount Pleasant): COO pur, CUP puh
Monticello: MONT i SELL oh (Not like Thomas Jefferson's home in Virginia, MONT i CHEL oh.)
Trio: TRY oh
Tega Cay: TEE guh

North vs. South Explained

Yesterday I asked if there's a difference in how the North and South celebrate Memorial Day. Today I am addressing the responses.

Some readers think that I too often turn to the North-South debate to generate blog traffic. Not true. In fact, this query was the first North-South-themed entry since I started this blog on Feb. 21. Often, it's readers who take a neutral topic and turn it into a North-South debate. Check out the responses to a March 24 entry about a newcomer from Rochester, N.Y. who called people in Charlotte bad drivers.

I write about what makes living in Charlotte different than anywhere else. In the past, newcomers have noted that Memorial Day is different here than other places they've lived. I'm preparing a column about the history of the holiday and wondered what you readers thought.

One thing that hopefully nobody disagrees with: Memorial Day is a time to spend with family and remember loved ones, no matter where you live.

A question of North vs. South?

Do Northerners and Southerners celebrate Memorial Day differently?

Historians say the South perceived the federal Memorial Day holiday as an observance primarily for Union soldiers and chose to observe their own Confederate Memorial Days. Has that carried over to today -- with more low-key Memorial Day observances in the South and bigger-deal celebrations in the North?

You tell me. I'm searching for answers in time for -- well, Memorial Day. How do you celebrate Memorial Day here or how have you celebrated the occasion in other places you've lived?

I'll raffle off two Starbucks gift cards -- one to a Northerner and one to a Southerner, of course. Just post your comment here and e-mail a copy of it to me along with your name and daytime phone number. You must include your name and phone number to be in the drawing for free coffee. Thanks!

What's a fixture in your neighborhood?

Today I wrote about Talley's Green Grocery in Dilworth closing. Some regulars who live near there consider it a neighborhood fixture. Other shoppers there yesterday said they can't wait for bigger rival Whole Foods to come in 2009.

Anyhow, today I want to hear about fixtures in your neighborhood. What's something that defines where you live? Post it here.

How walk-able is your hood?

My colleague Amy Rainey just reminded me of a cool Web site that measures how walk-able your neighborhood is. Go to www.walkscore.com and enter your address.

My South Charlotte neighborhood scored a 40 out of 100. And that's about right. Walking our dog around the hood is a fun way to meet and greet the neighbors. But it's about a 10 or 15 minute walk to the Archdale light rail station from my house. And my husband and I have walked to dinner just once and crossing South Boulevard wasn't fun.

I entered my old Dilworth address, where we rented before we bought our house and where we walked to dinner all the time. Score: 83.

I also submitted my old NYC address. Score: 92. I was surprised it wasn't 100. My apartment in Astoria, Queens was just a couple blocks from the subway. I was in easy walking distance of everything I wanted -- movies, dry cleaners, restaurants, bars, grocery, coffee shops, nail salons, etc.

How does your hood score and how does it compare with other places you've lived. Check it out. It's fun.

I'm not a hat person but I'm wearing one here

On Saturday, colleague Olivia Fortson and I headed to Young Affiliates of the Mint's Derby Days. To read about the event, click here.

I had a great time checking out the dresses, seersucker suits and hats. Everybody looked so Springy and festive. I never wear hats. But I make an exception for Derby.

Here's a photo of Olivia and me. I'm wearing the pink shades.

I went home to watch the big race on TV with my husband Jefferson. We met and married in Lexington, Ky., a.k.a. horse country, and covered three Derbies together. This year I think we were both glad not to be there in person to watch the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby. What a sad ending when the No. 2 finisher, Eight Belles, broke her front ankles and had to be put down.

Know a better bird's-eye view of uptown skyline?

A reader named Sandy asked me about the perch with the best bird's-eye view of uptown Charlotte. See what I found out by reading today's column. Click here.

Also, got a better suggestion? Post it here. Thanks.

Hear me on the radio

Today show travel editor Peter Greenberg last Saturday did his radio show -- Peter Greenberg Worldwide -- from the Ballantyne Resort. He asked me to be on to talk about Charlotte and the U.S. National Whitewater Center, which I had recently written about because of the Olympic trials there.

Anyhow, I just got the link to the broadcast. Want to hear it? Here's how:

Go to http://www.iradionow.com/, enter log-in -- info@iradio.com, and enter password -- 24824. Click on Travel and Peter Greenberg Worldwide. Select the April 26 show. I appear in the second hour. Mayor Pat McCrory is in the first hour.

Do it soon. I have no idea how long this guest log-on will work.

Nothing to complain about Charlotte commute?

This just in: Forbes.com ranks the 10 U.S. cities with the worst commutes. Charlotte didn't make the list. Should it have?

Click the link above the read the story. Here are the 10 worst cities, according to Forbes.com:

10. San Francisco
9. Los Angeles
8. Houston
7. Washington
6. Tampa
5. Dallas
4. Orlando
3. Miami
2. Detroit
1. Atlanta

Pain at the pump?

This morning I got a call from Krista Terrell, spokeswoman for the Arts & Science Council.

"I'm so excited. I just had to share this with you," she said.

Krista took the Lynx light-rail line to work uptown for the first time this morning. She was excited to report that it ran smoothly and was more convenient for her than she thought it would be. She didn't think driving to the I-485 station from her home in Steele Creek would make sense. Why not just drive to work?

But she's getting tired of paying nearly $4 a gallon to fill up her Honda Accord. In fact, she doesn't even fill the tank. She stops at $30 or $35 because that's all she can stomach at one time.

So this morning she has her husband leave the house at 7:45 a.m. and he drops her at the I-485 station at 8 a.m. She buys a ticket and the train leaves at 8:15 a.m. She takes the train to the Time Warner Arena station and after a short walk gets to work around 8:35 or 8:40. All told, it took her about 10-15 minutes longer than driving would have, she said. But it's worth it to save some gas money, she said. And now Terrell plans to do it two or three times a week.

Turns out it works well to have her husband drop her off on his way to work in Ballantyne. "It was easier than I thought," Krista said.

I still haven't tried light rail. I have it in my head that it would be too hard with a baby who my husband drops off at daycare and who I have to pick up at night. How would that work? Am I wrong?

Plus, I don't live as far away from uptown as Krista. Her commute to work is about 16 miles, double mine. And I need my car for work.

Are you taking the train to and from work? How's it working out? What do you think?