Moving from Wichita to Hampton area

[Alicia Bradley]

She probably meant sleazy-looking people, not people of a particular race. I *am* black and from the Midwest (Davenport, IA, but I spent a lot of time in Kansas City - including the Kansas side - growing up). I live in NoVA now (was in Prince George's County, MD, from '06 to '08, though), and I know exactly what the OP means. A lot of people in the DC area and NoVA honestly just don't look very good, regardless of their race. Speaking particularly of African Americans, if you want to see some very attractive, well-dressed ones, head to Chicago or Atlanta.

[Valeria29]

Originally Posted by Alicia Bradley

She probably meant sleazy-looking people, not people of a particular race. I *am* black and from the Midwest (Davenport, IA, but I spent a lot of time in Kansas City - including the Kansas side - growing up). I live in NoVA now (was in Prince George's County, MD, from '06 to '08, though), and I know exactly what the OP means. A lot of people in the DC area and NoVA honestly just don't look very good, regardless of their race. Speaking particularly of African Americans, if you want to see some very attractive, well-dressed ones, head to Chicago or Atlanta.

This is basically what I meant. It's definitely not an issue of race. It's more or less an issue of self respect and manners.

[BrianLMA]

"Hi I'm moving my family to Hampton VA in may/june of next year. I am a RN and cant seem to get anyone to quote a starting salary without filling out applications first. My Husband and I have a 11 year old son who participates in all sports here, especially football and baseball. I pray there are little leagues here.Can anyone help us."

Pamela, I'd recommend starting a new topic asking about RN pay in the area instead of asking about it in the middle of another thread. Maybe do the same for your sports question. I can tell you that there are some State championship high schools teams. Phoebus HS in Hampton has won several State football championships the past few years and Poquoson HS just won back to back baseball State Championships.

[Hopeful pamela]

Oh thank you so much I didnt realize I had done that, also thanks for your reply.

[UHgrad]

Originally Posted by Valeria29

This is basically what I meant. It's definitely not an issue of race. It's more or less an issue of self respect and manners.

I never said anything about race, and I stand by my suggestion of Poquoson as a place with good schools, reasonable amenities, and without many "questionable demographics".

[pilotshinjiikaru]

Originally Posted by Valeria29

I will have a job offer that I need to answer yes or no to soon (in about a week) and I would appreciate some feedback from any people living in the Hampton area. I'll be moving from Wichita, KS. I've heard some bad reviews of the Hampton Roads area on this website... I've driven around NN, Norfolk, and VB a little bit already - I'm getting kind of scared b/c I saw mostly big box stores, urban decay, and questionable demographics. I'll drive up around York area and check out more of newport news tomorrow, maybe it will be better. Even though Wichita is in the middle of the midwest, I'm starting to feel like I've been taking some of its characteristics for granted. It has its fair share of big box stores and sprawl/decay, but I was able to find the good spots and it turned out OK for me. They've got a lot of great grocery stores, the roads are fairly cyclist friendly, plenty of yoga classes, good YMCA's, a few good cafes, very little traffic... Things that I would look for around Hampton would be:

A YMCA that's not scary
Coffee shops that aren't starbucks that you can hang out in for hours
Yoga studios
...I'll think of some others later and follow up.

Your not gonna find all of that in the Hampton Roads area. The Midwest is completely different from the Mid Atlantic East Coast. Although there are exceptions (quite a few mansions) alot of Norfolk and Newport News neighborhoods have issues with crime. There's a few nice ones but you gotta contend with the fact that you'll be living in a nice house but within a 5min drive from the ghetto. In terms of cycling.... you really not gonna find much in Hampton Roads, there's not really much in terms of cycling infrastructure (bike lanes, good roads with low traffic) except the "boardwalk" like area of Ocean front in Virginia Beach. It has a extremely wide bike path along the beach for tourism purposes. And around the Northeast sections of Virginia Beach I do sometimes see cyclists and it is an extremle scenic area but its alot of one lane roads so traffic can be scary. But im not a cyclist so I cant say definitively.

However Virginia Beach has a nice series of really upscale Recreation centers, on par to top end national chain gyms. Their all inside their designated neighborhoods. The one I use to go to was near Cox High School. So that cover's probably your YMCA and yoga class requirement.

[Randomdude]

Originally Posted by Valeria29

This is basically what I meant. It's definitely not an issue of race. It's more or less an issue of self respect and manners.

Its a stretch to apply the term "demographics" to a persons manners or clothing style.