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Old 04-14-2016, 12:36 PM
 
Location: Queen Creek, AZ
7,297 posts, read 12,201,696 times
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I was wondering, would you consider Virginia Beach to be a suburb of Norfolk, despite being larger?

In the past, I would have, however, in recent years Virginia Beach is becoming more of a core city and has become less dependent on Norfolk by having more of its own employment center. In addition, there has been an increase in entertainment and amenities in the city that one doesn't really have to go to Norfolk to have fun.

So, would you really consider Virginia Beach a suburb of Norfolk?
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Old 04-14-2016, 09:01 PM
 
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There's really no place that's a suburb of any other place in Hampton Roads.

It's 7 cities that have their own industries and cultures.

The only exceptions would be York County and Poquoson, which are suburbs of Hampton and Newport News. Without the 7 cities, they would be farmland.
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Old 04-14-2016, 11:08 PM
 
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From people that live in the area you'll get many different opinions.

From people outside the area you'll get "Where?!" Flying in and out of the airport people still say "Welcome to Norfork," which says a lot about the importance of the area on a national scale... the name isn't even pronounced correctly.
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Old 04-15-2016, 01:39 AM
 
Location: Richmond, VA
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It may be changing. But for all intents, Virginia Beach is the wealthy, neighboring county-equivalent to an adjacent urban counterpart - a pattern that is really found throughout the U.S. The only difference is that VB has incorporated as a city (after consolodating with the former Princess Anne county in 1963). Right now, if we're completely honest, VB is no more urban than Fairfax, which has Tysons, Reston, etc. VB is an attractive place, but is it really poised to stand on its own?

People talk about merging the 7 cities into a some politically unfeasible singular or regional entity, but really if you could just bring together Norfolk and VB and you end up with a central city almost as large as Jacksonville, that's denser and has a metro of 1.7 million. Area needs to get the respect it deserves, but broken up and competing within itself like it is, I feel it just continues to fly under the radar.
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Old 04-15-2016, 06:42 AM
 
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I always saw VB as the Fairfax of HR but a lot of people who live in HR paint a different picture. Specifically that VB is one of the biggest reasons the region isn't growing economically and holding the region back overall. Which if that's the case they're definitely not similar to Fairfax.
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Old 04-15-2016, 08:42 AM
 
Location: Danville, VA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NOVA_guy View Post
I always saw VB as the Fairfax of HR but a lot of people who live in HR paint a different picture. Specifically that VB is one of the biggest reasons the region isn't growing economically and holding the region back overall.
I have relatives that live in Norfolk and VA Beach and they pretty much tell me the same thing and the times that I've been there, I've gotten the same vibe. VA Beach doesn't seem to play well with others, especially if VA Beach Treasurer John Atkinson's attitude towards others is any indication.
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Old 04-15-2016, 01:32 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LM117 View Post
I have relatives that live in Norfolk and VA Beach and they pretty much tell me the same thing and the times that I've been there, I've gotten the same vibe. VA Beach doesn't seem to play well with others, especially if VA Beach Treasurer John Atkinson's attitude towards others is any indication.
No actually if you study your history Norfolk was always the city that never played well with the other cities and it has cost the region dearly. Let me offer just a few examples. Va Bch wanted to build a large arena years ago and Norfolk forbid it saying it would take away business from scope. Then Va Bch wanted to build a large world class zoo, again Norfolk forbid it because again it would hurt their crappy little zoo. There were even plans to build a large state of the art NASCAR track in VaBch....Norfolk killed those plans real quick also.....That's just three of many many different disagreements between the two cities

Now if you don't know the history between the two cities I'm sure you are asking yourself how can one city control what another city does. Very simple. Norfolk held Va Bch hostage for many years. You see Va Bch had to buy their water from Norfolk, that was their only option they had until Va Bch built the pipe line to lake Gaston and was able to supply both their residents and businesses with water controlled by them and not another city.

So for many years if Norfolk didn't like any plans that Va Bch had they would threaten to stop selling Va Bch water. So for years VaBchs hands were tied by Norfolk when it came to bring in businesses etc. Even today years later Va Bch government still has a bad taste in their mouth about how Norfolk treated them and I dont think they will ever play fair together

Now dont think it was just VaBch and Norfolk that could not work together Norfolk did the same thing to both Portsmouth and Chesapeake also so there is no love loss between those cities and Norfolk either. And the water I speak of, well they screwed Suffolk also. Most all the lakes in Suffolk are owned by the city of Norfolk

Now dont get me wrong the local cities got Norfolk back which of course hurt the region big time also. Back in the late 70's - early 80's when Norfolk was really struggling to find itself (again lol) they decided to try and become known as a large banking/Financial District and tried to entice all the large banking institutions to build/locate downtown. Well it just so happens a small little city back then known as Charlotte NC had the same plan as Norfolk.

Both cities did their best ( wining and dining) to bring in the large corporations but of course any large corporation is going to do allot of planning and research before deciding on an area to relocate to including discussing their plans not only with the host city but the surrounding cities also. Time they other cities offered their opinions on how cut throat Norfolk was the large banking institutions didn't even give Norfolk a second look and most all of them relocated to Charlotte NC.

So you can blame whatever city you wish but today Norfolk is still a podunk little town and Charlotte NC is the second largest banking capital in all of the US....So yes, Charlotte NC can thank the local Southside cities of Hampton Roads Virginia for some of the success they have today.

So that's a quick history lesson on why the cities can't work together on the south side. And no matter how much you wish the local cities would work together it's never going to happen. Instead of the area having one pro team they would rather each have their own minor league teams etc. If you can't deal with that then you should be living somewhere besides Hampton Roads because it's never going to change.

Last edited by rtandc; 04-15-2016 at 02:02 PM..
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Old 04-15-2016, 01:44 PM
 
Location: Hampton Roads, VA.
867 posts, read 1,388,116 times
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Pure bullshhhh!!!! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^




And to answer the question, no...VA Beach is not a suburb it is its own city.
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Old 04-15-2016, 02:04 PM
 
1,477 posts, read 5,988,725 times
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What's BS about it...I lived though it.....debate it with facts...I will wait....go ahead do your research, you will find I am right and then you will feel so stupid for making that post

Last edited by rtandc; 04-15-2016 at 02:24 PM..
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Old 04-15-2016, 02:23 PM
 
Location: Hampton Roads, VA.
867 posts, read 1,388,116 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rtandc View Post
What's BS about it...I lived though it.....debate it with facts...I will wait....go ahead do your research, you will find I am right....
How bout you start with proving the first paragraph...since you lived it.
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