Charleston: Modern opinions by long term residents - add here. (Wheeling: apartment, low crime)
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I was born and raised in Charleston, but left in the mid-1980s after leaving high school. It's been a number of years since I've been back, even for a visit.
The topic has come up in the past about specific neighborhoods that are good and bad, but I'd like to get a discussion going by long-term residents of Charleston who have a good sense of seeing both sides of anything, as to what they think of Charleston now, compared to then (whenever then may be for you in younger years).
There are actually a good number of native born West Virginians who leave, but who eventually come back "home" as they get older. This could come in handy for Charlestonians who are weighing in at returning back to Charleston, or perhaps another location in WV, eventually.
Ok, what I remember: My family lived in a home in the flats area near Main Street and Glenwood Avenue, in the late 1960s to early 1970s. That neighborhood then was a walkable area filled with women with baby strollers, kids on bikes and skates, and older couples taking an evening walk. From there, we moved to the West Avenue/Orchard Street area off of W. Washington, and stayed there until the very early 1980s - at that time, it was a desirable family area with well-kept homes and low crime. The East End at that time was known as the "bad" section of town, with the West End and all of Kanawha City being desirable places to live. Town Center Mall was just opening for business. From that point, we moved a few miles out for 3 years, before I moved to Georgia after graduating from high school.
Ok, according to my Sister and Mother who both live up there, the West Side is now horrible, the East Side never did improve, half of Kanawha City should be avoided, and the only "halfway decent" areas to live are South Hills or select parts of Kanawha City that are shrinking. They talk on the phone about "constant" drug-related stabbings, muggings, murders, and more, and honestly sometimes make the place sound more dangerous than where I live now (Atlanta), and Atlanta is pretty darn bad. However, neither my Sister or Mother have ever lived elsewhere, or for that matter, rarely have ever even traveled out of the greater metro Charleston area - so in my opinion, their views might be tarnished a bit due to lack of exposure to other places, and the fact they're like many and what they see on a nightly newscast shapes their entire perception of an area.
So... for those of you who have lived in Charleston for a good number of years (let's say at least 15-20 and longer): How do you remember the City from years ago, and what in your objective opinion is it like now? Not as bad as some suggest? Worse? Add your thoughts, keep it clean, objective, and non-confrontational. It will help the many Charlestonian-born who see this who are considering a move home, perhaps.
Addition of a photo:
Taken by myself in the mid-1980s of Capitol Street, right after the renovations that redid the building facades, plantings of new trees, etc...
Well Greg, I have lived in the Charleston metro my entire life! 19years LOL, but I feel I know alot about the local history and how things were back when I was really young!
The East End of Charleston is about 2/3rds great, and of the bad 3rd only 50% of that is "bad"! So we are talking 1/6th of the East End being an unsafe place! The 2/3rds that's great is in a stage of urban renewal that is called Eastend Main Street. This has be a huge success, as new business has come and the neighborhoods in that part of town have developed into beautiful places to live. From Washington St. South toward the river, it is wonderful!!!
http://www.charlestonareaalliance.org/eastendmainstreet/default.aspx (broken link)
The West Side od Charleston is also seeing an urban renewal project. This part of town still needs some improvements! Alot of new business is here too, but this is also an area where there is alot of drug traffic! Each street in this part of town is different because some there are beautiful mansions, while others there is nothing but slum! http://westsidemainstreet.org/
All of Kanawha City and South Hills are fine! I've never hear bad things about these two neighborhoods.
I remember when the Washington St. area of the East End was so bad that you didn't feel safe to walk on the sidewalk, but now it is one of the most cultured parts of town with bookstores, coffee shops, restaurants, and other new stuff!
Well Greg, I have lived in the Charleston metro my entire life! 19years LOL, but I feel I know alot about the local history and how things were back when I was really young!
You mean... 3 or 4 years ago? LOL (sorry, had to).
Thanks for the links, though. You are what I'd call a modern Charlestonian, though. At your age, you only know first hand what it is today - you'd have to be at least in your later 30s to be able to do a "I remember when, and compared to now", type of thing. But it does sound like you're well on your way to being a participating part of the community, though - and that's a really good thing.
From today's Gazette. Charleston is hardly Atlanta. The crime stats by neighborhood will be out next week. Beautiful picture of Capitol St.
Thanks for the link - I do think that visible patrols do have somewhat of an impact on crime. Some criminals are brazen enough to do something right in front of a cop in broad daylight, but others are more on the edge, and even a slightly increased chance they might get caught by a patrol, will deter them from doing something... if the are is again, heavily, and visibly, patrolled.
Charleston certainly isn't Atlanta, but sometimes if there is any kind of a real crime problem, it might not matter. For example, there are single neighborhoods in Atlanta that are the size of the entire downtown Charleston area or larger - if they have higher crime, and a section of Charleston of that same size has higher crime, your chance of being a victim of crime might (per capita) be the same in either city, regardless of the city's overall size. Sometimes it's just random chance, and other times it's because in some smaller cities the density of criminals per capita is actually larger than in the larger cities. I've seen examples of people who will leave a larger high crime city to move someplace smaller and "safer", only to become a victim of a crime shortly after the move.
Charleston and Atlanta are very similar in ONE aspect - the both have three interstate highways that run through the cities. This allows for a good bit of "pass-through" crime. I know from reading the Gazette online that there are some arrests at least, of crooks who are from other larger metro areas who are doing their "business" in Charleston. Same here - we get criminals from Miami, NYC, etc due to the highway system.
But again, reality and perception can be two different things, which is why it's good here to hear from actual long term residents on their perspective on Charleston as it is today.
Last edited by atlantagreg30127; 03-02-2011 at 09:14 AM..
Charleston neighborhoods do seem to be seeing some improvements. Most notably the East End area between Elizabeth Street and Ruffner along Washington Street East. There are new businesses moving to those areas of town. The worst section of the East End in my opinion is the area near Roosevelt Center where the police station took over the old middle school. Lot's of shut down old homes and suspicious street walking people in that area all hours of the day and night.
West Side is the worst part of town in the flats. But up along Edgewood Road and in the hills, it's still pretty nice all the way to Cato Park.
KC is nice along the river and Noyes Ave and up through to UC. But out South Park Road, there is a lot of bad activity in a concentrated area.
South Hills is still a very nice area. No problems there.
I'm not from Charleston, and these days I hardly ever go there, but I once worked for the State of WV and had to go there frequently. Also, my ex is from Kanawha County, so I'm familiar with the town from the mid 60s through the early 80s. I was in Charleston in January for a basketball game.
In some respects, although the town has lost probably 40% of its population since the 70s, Charleston is a more livable city than it used to be. I'm not kidding when I say in the 70s it was hard to find a restaurant in town that served even beer, and compared with Wheeling (which had a party district that was hopping 16 hours a day) the sidewalks rolled up around 9pm. That isn't the case today. There is a much imprived night life there, which I can only assume means the Bible belters have a little less influence on local happenings.
As an outsider, my sense is the place isn't nearly as safe as it was once. I don't know if that's perhaps because it isn't as prosperous (a lot of the industrial jobs have disappeared), or because of a drug culture. I really don't know much about the residential areas, so no comment there. In many respects I think the situation in Charleston is similar to my hometown of Wheeling. Declining industry has led to gradual decline. It wasn't quite as drastic in Charleston due to the presence of state government, which acted somewhat as a buffer.
Some time ago, someone in here posted a site where a local Charlestonian had posted pics of "tiny homes in Kanawha City". Very neat looking little homes that many people have refurbished. The pics can be seen here on his photo pages.
Does anyone know exactly what area of Kanawha City these are in? I didn't see it listed on that photo page and I don't ever remember seeing these at all when I was growing up. I do notice that several of the homes do have burglar bars on the doors, however, so am also wondering if those who know where they are have comments about the crime in that particular area. In this particular case, a cousin of mine who moved away long ago is thinking of returning but wants an "apartment sized free standing home" and these look great, but like myself, she's been gone a while and neighborhood crime is a concern, too.
Asked my sister and she also wasn't even aware these places exist, but she again, kinda lives in her own little eco-system, too.
I think those houses are along Washington Ave., Venable Ave., and Lancaster Ave. on the hill side of KC
In discovering what the name of those streets were, I noticed that google updated its overhead pics of the Kanawha Valley! I'm one happy Nerd! LOL
I think you're right about most of them. The two story brick with the upstairs porch is on the other (river) side of McCorkle. It was just on the market. I'm pretty sure it was Staunton.
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