A rapidly growing city in the Southern Piedmont of North Carolina. Nicknamed the "Queen City" after Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg in 18th century Prussia, Charlotte has about two million residents living in and around the area, and is headquarters for major banks Wachovia and Bank of America. The NASCAR Hall of Fame is also set to be in Charlotte. Lowes Motor Speedway is a trademark of the city, characterizing the city's heritage for stock car racing. Charlotte is also home to many NASCAR drivers. Charlotte is also home to the NFL's Carolina Panthers, and the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats, both of which are fairly new organizations, resulting from the rapid growth of the city. Charlotte used to be home to the NBA's New Orleans Hornets, which left town after a dispute between ownership and the city over a new arena. After the dispute, Charlotte petitioned the NBA for a new franchise, and built a multi-million dollar Uptown arena for the new team. The Charlotte Hornets were originally named for the city's fierce rebellion during the American Revolution. General Cornwallis called Charlotte a "Hornet's Nest of Rebellion". Charlotte is quickly becoming another Atlanta, a system of poorly planned roads and randomly placed neighborhoods that result from a booming economy, also known as urban sprawl. Crime and corruption among the Charlotte police plauge the city, another ill side-effect of a quickly growing city, although the wealthy areas of the city remain exempt from these problems. Schools in Charlotte range from mediocre to just plain bad. The overall educational system in Charlotte is declining because the schools can't keep up with all the growth. The exception is UNC-Charlotte, which has no affilation with the Charlotte educational system, which is a decent place to go to college if you aren't in college for the social scene. Culture in Charlotte is almost non-existant, with a few exceptions. A stretch of road called North Davidson (abbrevated NoDa among locals) is a plot of Asheville in Charlotte. There are a few good places to see live music in Charlotte, including Verizon Wireless Ampitheather, Tremont Music Hall, The Milestone, with a plethora of smaller venues directed more towards local talent. Overall, Charlotte is a nice city on the outside, but has problems on the inside.