Morgantown Has Changed (Charleston, Huntington, Fairmont: apartments, dorms, living in)

[cry_havoc]

Originally Posted by tbailey1138

Normally you note that the draw of an area is bigger than just city limits, is that not convenient to use on this case?



Seeing as how Mon County is 100 square miles larger than Cabell County, the results don't match your method of thinking in that case.



As you may or may not know, those ARE the most up to date statistics. They only do an economic census every 5 years and 2007 was the last time. They will begin collecting data for 2012 next year and the results likely won't be available until after 2015. And the 2007 results are after all of the new development with University Town Center and Suncrest Town Center was well on its way as well. Huntington has also seen a lot of new retail growth. Any speculation of one area surpassing another is just that until new data is released.



When one states an area is the economic center of the state, to me that means the state economy revolves around it. No city really suits that bill but the one that comes the closest in my opinion would be Charleston due to being the capital.

Tim please it is outdated irrelevant info. I'm glad Walmart sales are high in your county but this is a pointless discussion.

[CTMountaineer]

Originally Posted by tbailey1138

Normally you note that the draw of an area is bigger than just city limits, is that not convenient to use on this case?



Seeing as how Mon County is 100 square miles larger than Cabell County, the results don't match your method of thinking in that case.



As you may or may not know, those ARE the most up to date statistics. They only do an economic census every 5 years and 2007 was the last time. They will begin collecting data for 2012 next year and the results likely won't be available until after 2015. And the 2007 results are after all of the new development with University Town Center and Suncrest Town Center was well on its way as well. Huntington has also seen a lot of new retail growth. Any speculation of one area surpassing another is just that until new data is released.



When one states an area is the economic center of the state, to me that means the state economy revolves around it. No city really suits that bill but the one that comes the closest in my opinion would be Charleston due to being the capital.

First of all, Cabell wasn't part of this discussion. You brought that into play. I have seen more recent economic indicators, but don't remember where off the top of my head. And, Tim, there is no way all those Suncrest Town Center developments were included. Most of them just opened up within the past 18 months. But, I agree with you that any such comparison is pure speculation and am surprised to see you chime on on this. We have generally stayed away from comparing Morgantown to Huntington for obvious reasons.

As to your assertion that Charleston is the business center of our state, I have to say balderdash. It might have more business "within" state boundaries than any place else because it is the most isolated of the state's towns in terms of proximity to larger cities, but there is no way business interests in Charleston have even a significant effect anywhere north or east of Sutton. It is very rare to see any activity in this region in any way related to Charleston, and it is regularly related to Pittsburgh. The same could be said for any place from Sistersville northward in the Ohio Valley including the entire Northern Panhandle, and for any place in the Eastern Panhandle. Actually, I doubt there is a whole lot of commercial interaction between Charleston and Huntington since the two areas are roughly the same size and Huntington is closely tied to towns in Kentucky and Ohio economically. I can't imagine much that you couldn't get in your area that you would have to go to Charleston to obtain.

Now, Charleston is the nominal headquarters of the largest bank in West Virginia, but that bank is actually controlled by Wheeling interests and has very significant operations in other parts of the state too. Having a headquarters office in one place does not in any way mean most of the economic activity takes place there.

[RVAtoCNC]

Yall can crow over Morgantown all you want. Yes, it is a vibrant small town area. Yes, it's the home of WVU and all that comes with having a major university in your town. But get a grip. Morgantown is a town, it's not a major city/metro area. It's a rather healthy (because of WVU) medium size town - that's it. It's not Charleston which is a small city and by far the most metropolitan and economically developed area of WV - - not that that's saying much, but MorganTOWN is just that - a town with a healthy small economy due to WVU. Get over yourselves.

[cry_havoc]

Originally Posted by RVAtoCNC

Yall can crow over Morgantown all you want. Yes, it is a vibrant small town area. Yes, it's the home of WVU and all that comes with having a major university in your town. But get a grip. Morgantown is a town, it's not a major city/metro area. It's a rather healthy (because of WVU) medium size town - that's it. It's not Charleston which is a small city and by far the most metropolitan and economically developed area of WV - - not that that's saying much, but MorganTOWN is just that - a town with a healthy small economy due to WVU. Get over yourselves.

I agree morgantown is not a huge metro area but it is the biggest city in wv. Also the most economically developed. Charleston is not even second.

[RVAtoCNC]

Originally Posted by cry_havoc

I agree morgantown is not a huge metro area but it is the biggest city in wv. Also the most economically developed. Charleston is not even second.

Huh?

[tbailey1138]

Originally Posted by CTMountaineer

We have generally stayed away from comparing Morgantown to Huntington for obvious reasons.

Believe me, not trying to start that up again. Just responding to a gross overstatement involving the entire state which you yourself disagreed with as well.

[CTMountaineer]

Originally Posted by RVAtoCNC

Yall can crow over Morgantown all you want. Yes, it is a vibrant small town area. Yes, it's the home of WVU and all that comes with having a major university in your town. But get a grip. Morgantown is a town, it's not a major city/metro area. It's a rather healthy (because of WVU) medium size town - that's it. It's not Charleston which is a small city and by far the most metropolitan and economically developed area of WV - - not that that's saying much, but MorganTOWN is just that - a town with a healthy small economy due to WVU. Get over yourselves.

I have trouble following your reasoning. Morgantown is not Charleston, that much we can agree on, but your assertion that Charleston is somehow more "developed" is off target. It has more heavy industry. It has more state government jobs. But, it is not more developed, nor does it have more people living there most of the year. In fact, Morgantown's population statistics are understated by half most of the year, and by at least 1/3 the rest of the year because the large student populaton is not counted in the population data. In fact, Charleston's population figures are overstated for exactly the same reason. Thousands of people are counted as living in Charleston because their parents carry them on their tax returns as dependents while they are in school when they are actually living in Morgantown, Huntington, and other towns in the state.

Now, does Charleston have some things not found in Morgantown? Yep... it has more of the traditional urban appearance due to the presence of the bank buildings and a larger ethnic area, and it has less of the traditional college town appearance, but it does not have the things that would classify it as being more developed. In fact, Charleston is less developed now than it has been at any time in the past 80 years. Our state does not have any major cities, and Charleston is not near one. Morgantown is not one either, but it is near one and much nearer to others as well. Since Charleston is not near any place that is not within West Virginia, you could make the case that what happens there is all within the state so in that case "within West Virginia" it has more activity. But other towns, Huntington, Wheeling, Martinsburg, Parkersburg have major interactions with areas not within the state so the overall economic activity level is just as great as it is in Charleston.

For some strange reason, people in Charleston are obsessed with this notion that in spite of the obvious fact our state has no real cities theirs just has to be bigger and so forth. We pay taxes to Charleston for which we get comparitively little in return. We have thousands of students from Kanawha. We have many fans from that area of our sporting teams, but in terms of cities we barely know Charleston exists here. It has scant effect on our lives one way or another except that the giant sucking sound we hear is money going there to support their bureaucracy. We get almost no goods, very few services, and essentially no help with anything from that place. It does not serve as any kind of social magnet for us, or as a center for cultural enlightenment... why would it? We have an actual major city just over an hour's drive from here. Most of us don't go to Charleston once every 10 years. We resent the fact that our needs are ignored by a state government that basically saps resources and gives little in return, but we do not have ill feelings toward the people of Charleston or the city itself. What we don't understand is the seemingly endless obsession there with comparing the place to every place else. With the way things have gone there the past few decades that has to result in a mass case of penis envy.

[RVAtoCNC]

Originally Posted by CTMountaineer

I have trouble following your reasoning. Morgantown is not Charleston, that much we can agree on, but your assertion that Charleston is somehow more "developed" is off target. It has more heavy industry. It has more state government jobs. But, it is not more developed, nor does it have more people living there most of the year. In fact, Morgantown's population statistics are understated by half most of the year, and by at least 1/3 the rest of the year because the large student populaton is not counted in the population data. In fact, Charleston's population figures are overstated for exactly the same reason. Thousands of people are counted as living in Charleston because their parents carry them on their tax returns as dependents while they are in school when they are actually living in Morgantown, Huntington, and other towns in the state.

Now, does Charleston have some things not found in Morgantown? Yep... it has more of the traditional urban appearance due to the presence of the bank buildings and a larger ethnic area, and it has less of the traditional college town appearance, but it does not have the things that would classify it as being more developed. In fact, Charleston is less developed now than it has been at any time in the past 80 years. Our state does not have any major cities, and Charleston is not near one. Morgantown is not one either, but it is near one and much nearer to others as well. Since Charleston is not near any place that is not within West Virginia, you could make the case that what happens there is all within the state so in that case "within West Virginia" it has more activity. But other towns, Huntington, Wheeling, Martinsburg, Parkersburg have major interactions with areas not within the state so the overall economic activity level is just as great as it is in Charleston.

For some strange reason, people in Charleston are obsessed with this notion that in spite of the obvious fact our state has no real cities theirs just has to be bigger and so forth. We pay taxes to Charleston for which we get comparitively little in return. We have thousands of students from Kanawha. We have many fans from that area of our sporting teams, but in terms of cities we barely know Charleston exists here. It has scant effect on our lives one way or another except that the giant sucking sound we hear is money going there to support their bureaucracy. We get almost no goods, very few services, and essentially no help with anything from that place. It does not serve as any kind of social magnet for us, or as a center for cultural enlightenment... why would it? We have an actual major city just over an hour's drive from here. Most of us don't go to Charleston once every 10 years. We resent the fact that our needs are ignored by a state government that basically saps resources and gives little in return, but we do not have ill feelings toward the people of Charleston or the city itself. What we don't understand is the seemingly endless obsession there with comparing the place to every place else. With the way things have gone there the past few decades that has to result in a mass case of penis envy.

just be happy WVU is in Morgantown. If it wasn't, it would be Fairmont

[adam36]

...interesting discussion. Thanks, TBailey, for the numbers. I'll follow the numbers - I'm a scientist. That corridor from Kanawha to Cabell would to be more densely packed with people than what we have up north (Clarksburg-Morgantown is farmland). Would you agree with that assessment? I've never been in the southern part of the state, so I'm curious.

[tbailey1138]

Originally Posted by adam36

...interesting discussion. Thanks, TBailey, for the numbers. I'll follow the numbers - I'm a scientist. That corridor from Kanawha to Cabell would to be more densely packed with people than what we have up north (Clarksburg-Morgantown is farmland). Would you agree with that assessment? I've never been in the southern part of the state, so I'm curious.

No problem! I'm a numbers man myself because numbers can't lie and they show no bias. Yes, I would agree that the Charleston to Huntington corridor has more continuous development and is packed with more people than the Morgantown to Clarksburg corridor. I believe that they just readjusted the borders of the Huntington Urban cluster stretching along I-64 to Putnam county and it contains something like 202,000 people in that area of continuous, unbroken development. That made it the largest Urban cluster in the state.