Amazon’s HQ2 has Charlotte doing all kinds of navel gazing, via the Uptown Paper of Record:

One intangible that may have hurt Charlotte is that it’s not seen as hip as places such as Nashville and Austin, said Leary, the Crescent executive.

“Charlotte needs to work on its cool factor,” he said. Efforts to highlight the city’s craft beer scene could help it compete with cultural heavy-hitters like Nashville, known for country music, and Austin, with it’s “weird” vibe and music festivals, Leary added.

Omar Kazzaz, a Charlotte-based logistics consultant who has been following the Amazon bidding, said another intangible likely held Charlotte back. It’s tough to define, but he said he feels the difference when he walks down the street in a place such as New York City and hears a dozen different languages and accents. He calls it a “global mindset.”

Gosh I hate to think that all the hard work Charlotte’s pit into being hip and cool yielding such rejection and sadness. And I really hate to think about the pall that would cover the Queen City should the Panthers bail out. I don’t think that will happen, but you never assume in today’s world….