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Old 11-06-2012, 10:46 AM
 
Location: Alexandria, VA
15,126 posts, read 27,639,089 times
Reputation: 27199

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Thanks for checking in westsideboy, I was wondering... glad you're okay.
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Old 11-11-2012, 09:13 AM
 
Location: Land of Free Johnson-Weld-2016
6,470 posts, read 16,349,656 times
Reputation: 6518
Quote:
Originally Posted by boomtownfunlover View Post
Cumberland might think about development other than tourism. The city and county could encourage developers to construct senior housing,that is, elevator condos or those single-level duplexes that one can see in Hagerstown. If they ever vacate Alleghany High School that would be a good spot for the elevator condos. Cumberland as a retirement destination! Remember that song Mose Allison used to sing, "Young Man Blues"? The old men got all the money.
No NO and Please NO! Haven't we had enough "Development" all over our state? At least leave one county alone. I guess we "need" another Walmart or (gags) inexpensive vinly-clad townhouse development. But we also need at least ONE inch of the state left w/ trees and somewhat clean water on it. I say somewhat because I understand there's a pollution issue in the county that has to be cleaned up. Or it probably already has been.

Let us say NO to development in Western Maryland. NO. Thanks.
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Old 11-11-2012, 03:15 PM
 
Location: Cumberland
6,948 posts, read 11,210,031 times
Reputation: 6141
Quote:
Originally Posted by kinkytoes View Post
No NO and Please NO! Haven't we had enough "Development" all over our state? At least leave one county alone. I guess we "need" another Walmart or (gags) inexpensive vinly-clad townhouse development. But we also need at least ONE inch of the state left w/ trees and somewhat clean water on it. I say somewhat because I understand there's a pollution issue in the county that has to be cleaned up. Or it probably already has been.

Let us say NO to development in Western Maryland. NO. Thanks.


Who are "us" and "we?" Do you live around Cumberland?

It doesn't sound like it, you don't seem to know the city. The plot of land we are talking about is in the City of Cumberland proper, in a residential neighorhood that has stood for over 100 years. Putting new housing on that spot would be urban renewal in an existing dense city neighborhood; no different than what they try do in Baltimore City.

Last edited by westsideboy; 11-11-2012 at 03:45 PM..
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Old 11-11-2012, 04:26 PM
 
Location: Land of Free Johnson-Weld-2016
6,470 posts, read 16,349,656 times
Reputation: 6518
Quote:
Originally Posted by westsideboy View Post
Who are "us" and "we?" Do you live around Cumberland?

It doesn't sound like it, you don't seem to know the city. The plot of land we are talking about is in the City of Cumberland proper, in a residential neighorhood that has stood for over 100 years. Putting new housing on that spot would be urban renewal in an existing dense city neighborhood; no different than what they try do in Baltimore City.
Whoops. Knee-jerk reaction whenever I see the words "development." I don't live in Cumberland, but I almost bought a house there in the early 2000's.
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Old 11-11-2012, 06:31 PM
 
Location: Cumberland
6,948 posts, read 11,210,031 times
Reputation: 6141
Quote:
Originally Posted by kinkytoes View Post
Whoops. Knee-jerk reaction whenever I see the words "development." I don't live in Cumberland, but I almost bought a house there in the early 2000's.
Yeah, well Cumberland has about 1/2 the population we had back in 1950. Our county has shown a declining population for 6 straight censuses (if you don't count the state prisons being built.)

So we don't have the issue of overcrowding and population explosions like you guys down there. We could use some "development" up our way. If not, we are going to have a very hard time paying for basic services like water line repair, street repaving, replacing our 80 year old public schools, stuff you guys take for granted down there.
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Old 11-12-2012, 04:04 PM
 
Location: Land of Free Johnson-Weld-2016
6,470 posts, read 16,349,656 times
Reputation: 6518
Quote:
Originally Posted by westsideboy View Post
Yeah, well Cumberland has about 1/2 the population we had back in 1950. Our county has shown a declining population for 6 straight censuses (if you don't count the state prisons being built.)

So we don't have the issue of overcrowding and population explosions like you guys down there. We could use some "development" up our way. If not, we are going to have a very hard time paying for basic services like water line repair, street repaving, replacing our 80 year old public schools, stuff you guys take for granted down there.
If the population is shrinking, won't you need fewer schools? Won't the streets be used less, requiring less repaving?
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Old 11-12-2012, 04:32 PM
 
Location: Cumberland
6,948 posts, read 11,210,031 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kinkytoes View Post
If the population is shrinking, won't you need fewer schools? Won't the streets be used less, requiring less repaving?
Sure, but all the schools we have are aging rapidly. We built our first new highschool building since WWII just 4 years ago. We have kids attending highschool in a building built in the 1920s. It is in horrible shape, not suited for the educational needs of the 21st century.

Even with shrinking population, you need to replace buildings as they age. That takes money, which comes from taxes, which comes from people. The economy of our area is weak, median income is low, and poverty is high, there isn't much tax money to build or rehab schools to support our population as it stands now.

If you want to blow up 1/2 the city, then sure we would have less roads to pave. As it is, the city's geographic size is the same, but with 1/2 the people, which means less tax money. Still the same amount of roads, still subject to freeze/thaw cycle and normal wear and tear, which is more now in 2012 than in 1960, despite population loss, simply because more people own cars.

Same with water pipes. They wear out and need replaced, and so long as the geographic footrprint of the city and county is the same, the amount of pipes to replace stays the same too.

These expenses don't shrink proportionally with the population. They become a harder burden for us to bear. I am surprised you don't remember the sorry condition of the streets when you were looking to buy in town. It is one of the complaints we hear most frequently from visitors.

We need people up here. Our county peaked out at about 89,000 people, we are down to about 68,000 now (excluding prisoners.) Trust me, there are plenty of trees and scenic beauty up this way, our county could add 5-10k people to help sure up our community's tax base without jeopordizing this.
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Old 11-12-2012, 06:37 PM
 
Location: Land of Free Johnson-Weld-2016
6,470 posts, read 16,349,656 times
Reputation: 6518
Quote:
Originally Posted by westsideboy View Post
Sure, but all the schools we have are aging rapidly. We built our first new highschool building since WWII just 4 years ago. We have kids attending highschool in a building built in the 1920s. It is in horrible shape, not suited for the educational needs of the 21st century.

Even with shrinking population, you need to replace buildings as they age. That takes money, which comes from taxes, which comes from people. The economy of our area is weak, median income is low, and poverty is high, there isn't much tax money to build or rehab schools to support our population as it stands now.

If you want to blow up 1/2 the city, then sure we would have less roads to pave. As it is, the city's geographic size is the same, but with 1/2 the people, which means less tax money. Still the same amount of roads, still subject to freeze/thaw cycle and normal wear and tear, which is more now in 2012 than in 1960, despite population loss, simply because more people own cars.

Same with water pipes. They wear out and need replaced, and so long as the geographic footrprint of the city and county is the same, the amount of pipes to replace stays the same too.

These expenses don't shrink proportionally with the population. They become a harder burden for us to bear. I am surprised you don't remember the sorry condition of the streets when you were looking to buy in town. It is one of the complaints we hear most frequently from visitors.

We need people up here. Our county peaked out at about 89,000 people, we are down to about 68,000 now (excluding prisoners.) Trust me, there are plenty of trees and scenic beauty up this way, our county could add 5-10k people to help sure up our community's tax base without jeopordizing this.
Sorry to hear you are upset, as I've enjoyed being a fellow CD'er of yours over the years.

I wasn't planning to live in the city. I didn't even know there was one until you posted about it.

I was looking at large lots, since my goal was to get acreage. The extent of my searching was looking at houses online and talking to a guy who lived out that way tell me about the area. Maybe those were outside the city? I'm pretty sure the area was Cumberland. I never did visit in person.

To be honest, I would never consider living in a high-density area outside of an employment-rich urban locale w/ decent public transportation. I'm an immigrant, and I am afraid of starvation. My minimal goal is to always be able to feed myself.

That's either arable land and livestock, or employment. Preferably both. I know the state has a welfare office up there, but other than that, what's doing as far as employment options?
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Old 11-12-2012, 07:35 PM
 
Location: Cumberland
6,948 posts, read 11,210,031 times
Reputation: 6141
Quote:
Originally Posted by kinkytoes View Post
Sorry to hear you are upset, as I've enjoyed being a fellow CD'er of yours over the years.

I wasn't planning to live in the city. I didn't even know there was one until you posted about it.

I was looking at large lots, since my goal was to get acreage. The extent of my searching was looking at houses online and talking to a guy who lived out that way tell me about the area. Maybe those were outside the city? I'm pretty sure the area was Cumberland. I never did visit in person.

To be honest, I would never consider living in a high-density area outside of an employment-rich urban locale w/ decent public transportation. I'm an immigrant, and I am afraid of starvation. My minimal goal is to always be able to feed myself.

That's either arable land and livestock, or employment. Preferably both. I know the state has a welfare office up there, but other than that, what's doing as far as employment options?

Not upset, the community is what it is. I want better for it, but I play the cards I am dealt.

I would say it gets frustrating after awhile trying to explain to people that not all of Maryland is wealthy, dense, growing, and quickly being overdeveloped. There is a 2-county region in this state is part of Appalachia; rugged mountains, 70% forest cover, coal mines, economic stagnation, depopulation, the whole bit. Very, very different than downstate Maryland.

Nothing personal, but I don't ever hear anyone from Allegany County offering up opinions on how downstate Maryland should develop, let alone argue whether or not the communities have the right to develop and grow if they wish. Yet so many people downstate not only have very strong opinions about what our area should and shouldn't be, but know nothing about us and don't bother to take the time to visit and learn.
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Old 12-10-2012, 09:25 AM
 
2,290 posts, read 3,815,046 times
Reputation: 1746
any news in Western MD, westsideboy?
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