Possibly Moving To Portsmouth/Advice?

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by ORFian

My condolences.

I have in-laws who live over there. The schools are awful, retail is non-existent, borders one of Norfolk's worst areas (Berkeley) but still people get suckered in because it is in "Chesapeake". It should be called "East Craddock".

I think you're talking about what real estate agents tell people. The landlord didn't come at me with that per se, but he state that it was in an "up and coming area". And there were a few improvements over the years that I was there. But those improvements never came to my block. In retrospect, when half of your neighborhood is refurbished it should tell you something.

In my opinion, South Norfolk should have remained separate and allowed the rest of the county to form on it's own. Doesn't seem as though Chesapeake has done much for them because it still feels like it's own city, and it still has a lot of the social issues of a major city, as small as it is.

I guess it works out for them because they would have to pay Chesapeake for services otherwise, and what little they do have would be more expensive. Plus they did get two libraries out of the deal. It needs more amenities. Seems like Chesapeake is trying to develop it into an OldeTowne or something, as they allowed a miniature midrise apartment complex that did not work out, and they put in the fancy 1920s street lights and brick sidewalks, etc. I'm surprised that the houses are still standing.

I'm all for urban renewal. Eviscerate the authenticity of the place and move on. It is not 1950s anymore. Tear everything down and build tall apartment complexes and quadruple the density there. Instead of $600 a month, raise it to $1,300 a month. The reason The Gateway did not work out is because it was a solo effort. A respectable effort would have removed that entire block. Most of those houses are going to fall apart anyway they look like tenements in Chicago from 100 years ago.

That flooding on Bainbridge is epic. Are there other parts of Chesapeake that close to sea level? People talk about Norfolk flooding. I was once flooded in South Norfolk, couldn't see the sidewalk. I wasn't on the ground anyway so it never reached my house; at least they have sense enough to get you off of the ground in Chesapeake and Norfolk. I still don't understand why they don't do that in Virginia Beach a bad enough storm comes through here and the water is inside of your house in Virginia Beach.

Diggs Town might be worse than Berkeley. Then again, sometimes Diggs Town is quiet but Berkeley isn't. You never know in Norfolk it is a roll of the dice.