Is Northern VA really all THAT cosmopolitan? (Norfolk, Richmond: hotel, neighborhoods)

[01va571]

I am not a fan of Northern Virginia............. In short, it is allot different. I mean really, most of the area is mansions, and upper class areas that are constantly expanding, more people relocate to Northern Virginia from all over the country, which in return causes a strange mix of attitudes and cultures. There is a good amount of Korean, Chinese, El-Salvadorian, Honduran, Indian, Pakistani, West African residents and communities. Most people I know at least don’t associate themselves with the rest of the state for whatever reasons they may be. Everything is at a much faster pace, which seems to increase more and more every 5 years I noticed. Most people cant drive, I mean they drive horrible. I dont know what else to tell ya, but in a nutshell, thats nova for ya.

[tenken627]

Northern Virginia is a suburb. Why compare that to a city like Richmond?

Would you compare Henrico County with Washington D.C.?

[jbird82]

Originally Posted by tenken627

Northern Virginia is a suburb. Why compare that to a city like Richmond?

Would you compare Henrico County with Washington D.C.?

Northern Virginia is far more than just a suburb. Over a million people live and work in Northern Virginia alone and it has two cities with populations over 100,000. Arlington alone has a population comparable to Richmond and Alexandria is not far behind.

Northern Virginia is cosmopolitan in the sense that it has world class shopping, many job opportunities and one of the most diverse, affluent populations in the world.

I see alot of members on this forum dog Northern Virginia for one reason or another, but people come here for a reason. I came here for the job opportunities that Northeast PA couldn't provide.

[540_804]

Originally Posted by jbird82

Northern Virginia is far more than just a suburb. Over a million people live and work in Northern Virginia alone and it has two cities with populations over 100,000. Arlington alone has a population comparable to Richmond and Alexandria is not far behind.

Arlington and Richmond's populations are almost identical (Arlington has a slight edge actually and is twice as dense [population]).

Alexandria on the other hand has only 70% of the population of Richmond. (Though to be fair its about 3 times as dense).

[The reason I include density is because population densities could be used to infer a lot about how cosmopolitan an area is..though alone it is certainly not enough to make any judgment].

And Northern VA's population is actually closer to 2.5 million. [Wikipedia: This figure includes the exurban Clarke, Fauquier, Spotsylvania, Stafford and Warren counties, as well as the independent city of Fredericksburg. Together, these jurisdictions account for 377,809 residents. The combined population of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudon, Prince William counties and the independent cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, Manassas, and Manassas Park is 2,055,014, which is 26.89% of Virginia's estimated population in 2006.]


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One thing of interest that I've noticed a lot in this thread: It seems as if the discussion of cosmopolitanism often looks to materialistic measures as indicators of being cosmopolitan or not. In my opinion, that has very little to do with anything (a little, but not much).

For the most part I haven't given my direct, full opinion on the subject in this thread, as to not offend anyone or cause trouble.

But heres my opinion:

Northern VA is NOT cosmopolitan.
(Neither is Richmond or many other places in VA [had to include that to be fair])

Is that a bad thing? Well..its not a good thing for sure.
But an area is not necessarily any less of a good place to live and learn because its not 'cosmo'.
If we were to be honest, not many places are truly cosmopolitan.

You can't build cosmopolitanism or create it (like many areas try to do).
Plus the word "cosmopolitan" has been used as a marketing tool so much that it carries little value anymore. All of the new developers promise an urbane, cultured, 'cosmopolitan' experience. Nothing more than pre-fabricated, big-box sub-urbanism covered with a facade of artificial 'culture' and quasi-urbanity. Now its simply a basis for bragging and boasting about why your community is better than others (a bit ironic, no?).

Instead of worrying about which area is more cosmopolitan we can only try to be cosmopolitan on an individual level. An area is not inherently cosmopolitan. Instead an area is only cosmopolitan when it is inhabited by a group of like minded "world citizens" (pardon the stolen generic buzzword). It has nothing to do with how much money they make or where they shop or the population. Even 'diversity' alone can not guarantee cosmopolitanism. An area is only as cosmopolitan as its citizens.


By the way, this is not talking down on any area. As stated before, I love Northern VA. I love Richmond. And most importantly, I love Roanoke, Virginia. (LOL..its my hometown of course!). I would gladly call any of those places "home".

[Richmonder27]

Originally Posted by normie

My god, I hope not.

What I love about the people I know in NOVA is how down-to-earth they are. I know people in Loudoun who have serious money, the type of people who own a dozen or more horses and a few dozen acres of land. Yet you see them out them gardening, not afraid to get dirt on their hands. They take pride in being regular people... regular people who just happen to have a ton of money. You see them driving to Home Depot in their jeans and without makeup... and when they get to Home Depot they chat with me while we're standing in line. They don't sneer down their nose at me, even though I'm just wearing jeans and no makeup. Like some of you apparently would.

Of course, I do have a few neighbors who're obsessed with expensive clothes and the latest fashions. I probably have neighbors who sneer at their neighbors' clothes. After all Loudoun's diverse, we have a little of everything. If that's what you consider cosmopolitan, well I'm glad we don't have that many people like that because they don't really contribute much to the community.

You don't see them volunteering for the fire department or helping the boy scouts collect cans for the food drive. You don't see them out in their yards playing football with kids. You don't see them hiking or kayaking or working in a garden. They're too busy worrying about their designer duds.

You can have 'em. They contribute to the tax base when they go shopping I guess, but other than that the sort of people who are "cosmopolitan" in the way you describe are mostly pompous asses. In my opinion, of course.

Yer forgetting that Loudoun has only recently become truly part of "Northern Virginia"- by that I mean the DC Metropolis. And certainly Western Loudoun as well as Clarke and Faquier are on the very very fringe.

[Richmonder27]

Originally Posted by popalnet

I told you that I was going to post some photos, but I figured out after wasting a few minutes trying to upload photos that it's not worth my time. I've uploaded photos before, but you just don't get it.

Compared to Richmond, Nova is so cosmo that your head will spin. I could keep going on and on, but I think I will just end it by claiming that you are a confused Dumbazz! Give me some of that stuff that you are smoking. Haaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaahhaaaaaaahahah!

Im talking about the culture and people of Northern Virginia. Not what those ugly buildings look like.

Richmonders have an old refinement that most places in Northern Virginia could never live up to- not even 50 years ago when it was still a relatively Southern area. Now, Northern Virginia is just a bland place. The people are not bad- they can be nice. Its just there's nothing distinctive about it.

People call it a 'suburb". It was never that before. Isnt it sad that Northern Virginia has to rely on DC- a city across the river, in another state to uphold any cultural identity of its own?

[Richmonder27]

Originally Posted by 540_804

Arlington and Richmond's populations are almost identical (Arlington has a slight edge actually and is twice as dense [population]).

Alexandria on the other hand has only 70% of the population of Richmond. (Though to be fair its about 3 times as dense).

[The reason I include density is because population densities could be used to infer a lot about how cosmopolitan an area is..though alone it is certainly not enough to make any judgment].

And Northern VA's population is actually closer to 2.5 million. [Wikipedia: This figure includes the exurban Clarke, Fauquier, Spotsylvania, Stafford and Warren counties, as well as the independent city of Fredericksburg. Together, these jurisdictions account for 377,809 residents. The combined population of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudon, Prince William counties and the independent cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, Manassas, and Manassas Park is 2,055,014, which is 26.89% of Virginia's estimated population in 2006.]


----------------------------------------------
One thing of interest that I've noticed a lot in this thread: It seems as if the discussion of cosmopolitanism often looks to materialistic measures as indicators of being cosmopolitan or not. In my opinion, that has very little to do with anything (a little, but not much).

For the most part I haven't given my direct, full opinion on the subject in this thread, as to not offend anyone or cause trouble.

But heres my opinion:

Northern VA is NOT cosmopolitan.
(Neither is Richmond or many other places in VA [had to include that to be fair])

Is that a bad thing? Well..its not a good thing for sure.
But an area is not necessarily any less of a good place to live and learn because its not 'cosmo'.
If we were to be honest, not many places are truly cosmopolitan.

You can't build cosmopolitanism or create it (like many areas try to do).
Plus the word "cosmopolitan" has been used as a marketing tool so much that it carries little value anymore. All of the new developers promise an urbane, cultured, 'cosmopolitan' experience. Nothing more than pre-fabricated, big-box sub-urbanism covered with a facade of artificial 'culture' and quasi-urbanity. Now its simply a basis for bragging and boasting about why your community is better than others (a bit ironic, no?).

Instead of worrying about which area is more cosmopolitan we can only try to be cosmopolitan on an individual level. An area is not inherently cosmopolitan. Instead an area is only cosmopolitan when it is inhabited by a group of like minded "world citizens" (pardon the stolen generic buzzword). It has nothing to do with how much money they make or where they shop or the population. Even 'diversity' alone can not guarantee cosmopolitanism. An area is only as cosmopolitan as its citizens.


By the way, this is not talking down on any area. As stated before, I love Northern VA. I love Richmond. And most importantly, I love Roanoke, Virginia. (LOL..its my hometown of course!). I would gladly call any of those places "home".

I agree. My piont is that people from Northern Virginia like to peg themselves as Cosmoplitan- as if they are above the rest of the Commonwealth. When their overal arrogance lack of manners and rudenesss, to me is anything but. Truly cosmopolitan people don't have anything to prove.

[popalnet]

Richmond is so dingy and ugly looking. But to some people dingy and ugly means pretty. Like the old saying, your trash is someone elses treasure.

Richmond -ugghh! So nasty and depressing to look at.

Richmonder, quit being so jealous about Northern Virginia. Do you see people from Northern Virginia post stuff about Richmond? No because Northern Virginians know Richmond sux! haaaaaaaahaaaaahaaaahaa.

[Alanboy395]

Originally Posted by popalnet

Richmond is so dingy and ugly looking. But to some people dingy and ugly means pretty. Like the old saying, your trash is someone elses treasure.

Richmond -ugghh! So nasty and depressing to look at.

Richmonder, quit being so jealous about Northern Virginia. Do you see people from Northern Virginia post stuff about Richmond? No because Northern Virginians know Richmond sux! haaaaaaaahaaaaahaaaahaa.

And the rest of us Virginians know Northern Virginia sux! HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Coming from a Southern VA native, u owe me Richmonder . )

[popalnet]

Originally Posted by Alanboy395

And the rest of us Virginians know Northern Virginia sux! HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Coming from a Southern VA native, u owe me Richmonder . )

I'm glad that the rest of Virginians think that about Northern Virginia. I'm so glad to hear that because that means that Northern Virginia is not like the rest of Virginia. Haaaaaaaaaaahaaaahaaahahahah!!!

Let me guess Alanboy. You live in Northern Virginia but you can't wait to move out. Let me guess where. Could it be LA? SF? NYC? Chicago? No. It's some country hickville town in Tenesee or Alabama or some other country state! Haaaaahaaahahahahahah!!

If that is your liking, no wonder you, Richmonder27, and the other country folks hate Northern Virginia. Haaaaaaaaahaaahahahahaha!!

I'm going to get a heart attack from laughter! I can see you guys using straw from your hay collection to floss your teeth between missing teeth. Trying to get that southern smoked pork out of your mouths.

Please move out of Northern Virginia and move to your country hickville place and listen to Alan Jackson all day long. Haaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaahaaaaaahaaaaaahahahah!!