Newport News doing well economically (Virginia Beach, Norfolk: crime, employment, neighborhood)

[damian]

Newport News, Virginia: In the midst of a downturn, Our Town is scoring a lot of high-paying jobs -- dailypress.com


Interesting article

[ToughLuv]

Now that our city will be getting money, Maybe now we can put money into making our city a real city with a real downtown

[Randomdude]

Originally Posted by ToughLuv

Now that our city will be getting money, Maybe now we can put money into making our city a real city with a real downtown

I dont know Toughluv, I think City Center is one of the better "down towns" in the area. It certainly beats Va Beach, which has over twice the population. If Newport News had a few better jobs and better schools, it probably would be the only city in the whole area even remotely worth considering living in.

[telemonster]

That's cool they are bringing in foreign money to manufacturing ops.

Gov't jobs are just welfare. Manufacturing is the real deal.

[ToughLuv]

Originally Posted by Randomdude

I dont know Toughluv, I think City Center is one of the better "down towns" in the area. It certainly beats Va Beach, which has over twice the population. If Newport News had a few better jobs and better schools, it probably would be the only city in the whole area even remotely worth considering living in.

I've never understood why City Center is held so highly on this forum, do you all ever go out there? I imagine most of you are just speaking on hearsay, or just the one or two times you've visited. City Center is dead, there's never anyone out there. Everyone would whether crowd Denbigh, plus there arent any good attractions out there, you can ride through it in less than 5 minutes. That is NOTHING like a real downtown, please dont say that.

[Randomdude]

Originally Posted by ToughLuv

I've never understood why City Center is held so highly on this forum, do you all ever go out there? I imagine most of you are just speaking on hearsay, or just the one or two times you've visited. City Center is dead, there's never anyone out there. Everyone would whether crowd Denbigh, plus there arent any good attractions out there, you can ride through it in less than 5 minutes. That is NOTHING like a real downtown, please dont say that.

Um, my girlfriends parents live in Newport News. Ive been in it, and I pass by it all the time. Ive never been there when a whole lot of people would be there, so I dont know if its "dead" or not, but I do know that my g/f said that almost every night its very busy, and I know from my own two eyes, that its very clean and beautiful, and a wide range of different businesses, shops and restaurants are in it. Granted, its not New York City, but comparitively, to the rest of Hampton Roads, City Center is top notch, especially considering Newport News is the 4th largest city in the area. Norfolk obviously has more to do, and more diverse business, but its dirty, cramped, and crime infested, and parking costs a fortune. Virginia Beach Town Center is a joke from top to bottom, Chesapeake, Suffolk, and Hampton have nothing comparitable and Portsmouths imitation downtown is a clone of Norfolk, except a little newer.

[damian]

Developer targets Oyster Point, Jefferson -- dailypress.com

Interesting article, especially concerning NN transformation from blue collar to white collar. Also, NN becoming retail's entry into the market area over VB and Norfolk

[damian]

Originally Posted by Randomdude

Um, my girlfriends parents live in Newport News. Ive been in it, and I pass by it all the time. Ive never been there when a whole lot of people would be there, so I dont know if its "dead" or not, but I do know that my g/f said that almost every night its very busy, and I know from my own two eyes, that its very clean and beautiful, and a wide range of different businesses, shops and restaurants are in it. Granted, its not New York City, but comparitively, to the rest of Hampton Roads, City Center is top notch, especially considering Newport News is the 4th largest city in the area. Norfolk obviously has more to do, and more diverse business, but its dirty, cramped, and crime infested, and parking costs a fortune. Virginia Beach Town Center is a joke from top to bottom, Chesapeake, Suffolk, and Hampton have nothing comparitable and Portsmouths imitation downtown is a clone of Norfolk, except a little newer.

How is City Center "dead"? Now that the weather is nice, there are people walking all over the place, eating outside- giving vitality to the area. No one is saying that it is a true downtown, the development is barely 5 years old, but over time you will see the whole Oyster Point area become the Peninsula's true downtown. Between all the business, labs, urban developments like Port Warwick and the above one mentioned in the article, in 20 to 30 years, it may well be a downtown in the traditional sense. Light rail is also supposed to run through Oyster Point.

[ToughLuv]

Originally Posted by damian

How is City Center "dead"? Now that the weather is nice, there are people walking all over the place, eating outside- giving vitality to the area. No one is saying that it is a true downtown, the development is barely 5 years old, but over time you will see the whole Oyster Point area become the Peninsula's true downtown. Between all the business, labs, urban developments like Port Warwick and the above one mentioned in the article, in 20 to 30 years, it may well be a downtown in the traditional sense. Light rail is also supposed to run through Oyster Point.

I'll admit its a step in the right direction, but Newport News has alooonng way to go. Alot of trees to be cut down and businesses to be built. I said its dead because it is never busy and if you go out there pass 9pm there wont b a single soul out there. Nothing like a "downtown", there going to have to throw a club out there or something. Until then it will remain irrelevant for the average newport news citizen to go to. But like you said, maybe in 30 years after the light rail and everything is in full rotation it will emerge. I just believe its a slap in the face to the actual Downtown of the city, even though I live much closer to City Center than Downtown. The shipyard is almost downtown newport news exclusively and thats a shame because thats such a great location on the water, so much needs to be done to turn this town around, very backwards.

[Robizzo]

Originally Posted by ToughLuv

I'll admit its a step in the right direction, but Newport News has alooonng way to go. Alot of trees to be cut down and businesses to be built. I said its dead because it is never busy and if you go out there pass 9pm there wont b a single soul out there. Nothing like a "downtown", there going to have to throw a club out there or something. Until then it will remain irrelevant for the average newport news citizen to go to. But like you said, maybe in 30 years after the light rail and everything is in full rotation it will emerge. I just believe its a slap in the face to the actual Downtown of the city, even though I live much closer to City Center than Downtown. The shipyard is almost downtown newport news exclusively and thats a shame because thats such a great location on the water, so much needs to be done to turn this town around, very backwards.

I agree with you the city center sucks for the most part I have never spent a dime there except from buying food from the guy who parks his trailer on cannon in the day time. It's out of the way and the shops are way too niche for me I live real close to CNU but the only reason I go to Oyster point is to hang out with my friends on the top of the parking decks on our motorcycles. Downtown is a real dump the parking situation is horrible and the area is at best scary at night nobody goes down there unless they work the shipyard or you have to pay a ticket.

NN doesn't need to push the blue collar workers out of the city they need to bring in more upper middle class blue collar work instead of the garbage the city has now for employment opportunities most people who live in NN can't afford to live in a decent neighborhood unless they're being supported by the military due to shamefully low wages.

There's alot of work to do here and the slight of hand that the city is trying to pull off by diverting attention towards the city center and trying to hide the pitiful state of downtown and denbigh areas is not helping the people of newport news.