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If you think big picture, there are over 300M people living in America. To have a stable and successful population in WV, you need to attract/retain about 500k good people and have a way for them to make living. That about 1/600 Americans, not that tall an order.
In fact, the raw population you need to attract is small enough to mirco-target it. For instance:
- Attract about 75k people from the D.C. area who like living in the mountains and have the means to telecommute or work from home.
- Convince 100k of the current youth that would otherwise leave that WV is worth the perceived sacrifice to stick around fight for. Sure, it is harder to find a job, your income potential will be less, but the value of living a family and community centered life is priceless for many. Show the kids examples of teachers, workers, business people, etc. that are committed to their communities and making it work on a person level.
- Create 50k new jobs in the state from natural gas and its processing, shipment, storage, etc.
So, right there you have a conceptual plan that specifically targets about half of the 500k in functional human capital the state needs to stabilize itself.
There is no silver bullet that will fix the problems overnight, and there is no clear starting point among residential/commercial/industrial development. The shortcomings in any 2 affect the 3rd. Improvement has to be incremental; 200 new jobs here, a commercial shopping center there, 500 new build or rehabbed structures in that town, and so forth. The state didn't decline overnight, it can't be rebuilt overnight. It will take time and patience.
Cheap flat land and decent schools funded by tax dollars from businesses that build on and employee people to work in their businesses located on that cheap flat land. And modern affordable housing that is usually built in mass on that cheap flat land.
In other words "Geography is Destiny" and I'm not sure who to attribute that quote to but it is true.
So have your class figure out a way to somehow make the terrain of WV usable and affordable.
Or have them figure out the most equitable way to divvy WV up so that the surrounding states can take a piece.
Disagree with you on Corridor H... Corridor H isn't a road to nowhere. Corridor H if it was built and funded when the other corridors were built as was intended... This area would look a lot different today in terms of economic development. We draw tons of tourists from the DC area and corridor H would open up this part of the state more to the huge DC populous. Corridor H is mostly finished aside so stopping now would be like making a cake and stopping right before you put the icing on to add extra icing on another cake. I-68 was originally an ARC corridor as well.
I agree that more work needs to be done all over the state in terms of infrastructure development with highways and upgrading our interstates and we need to open up all areas of our state, and I think we should pass a bond and get to work on them ASAP. The proposed regional airport never had a chance because Yeager and Tri-State didn't want to give up their autonomy despite the fact a regional airport on FLAT land in Putnam County would have longer runways for larger planes and also would have more carriers, flights, and connections. Shame that it never came to fruition, but maybe with enough support it could become viable again.
It was Yeager, Charleston, and Jennings Randolph that kept throwing up the roadblocks. Cabell County, Tri-State, and Putnam county have been overwhelming pro-regional airport since the original plans in the 60s. And they were again for it in the 90s, early 00s
It was Yeager, Charleston, and Jennings Randolph that kept throwing up the roadblocks. Cabell County, Tri-State, and Putnam county have been overwhelming pro-regional airport since the original plans in the 60s. And they were again for it in the 90s, early 00s
Yep, and here's a nice little article detailing the whole thing for those who haven't seen it before.
Stop trying to punish areas that are growing/doing well (currently the state punishes growing areas, takes a dollar away from growing area to give to dying area. Meanwhile if growing area had kept that dollar, it would have resulted in 2 dollars going back to the state. A lot of this is because of hatred and jealousy on the part of certain areas and groups within the state). Instead encourage and help those areas continue to grow and prosper. If they do well, they help raise up the rest of the state (extra tax money, charity, rising tide raises all ships type of thing).
I've heard this mindset before and I'm interested to know, is this just a feeling or is there fact to base it on? I'm not being facetious but would truly like to know. I think all areas could make this claim to some extent at one time or another and I truly think this is part of what hurts this state and creates division and resentment. I'm sure the coal field areas feel that they could have made this claim in the coal boom days with severance taxes and the larger areas feel that they could make this claim now. But other than "feeling" this way, is there actually any truth to it when you look at the actual tax numbers? Is there a source that shows how much each county gives and gets in tax dollars?
If there's not, then I would argue it's just a feeling and this is a mindset that we need to do away with in this state. It doesn't create a cooperative mindset and actually pits areas against each other and makes them more "hateful competitive" rather than "friendly competitive" which again, is not good. This then makes regional differences worse and then makes some areas feel that other areas look down upon them. We have enough of this from outside of this state and surely don't need to do this to each other.
Changing these hateful mindsets toward each other would be a good place to start. I think this would then lead to a change in attitudes between the rural and urban areas in the state. As others have stated, I agree that the typical government mindset in this state is to hold the power of the cities back. This is largely because we have a vast majority of our law makers who are from rural areas and don't understand the challenges our cities face. When combined with rural areas having a distrust and general dislike for urban areas, this leads to a lack of support in government.
A prime example of this is the recent failure of the historic tax credit legislation. Currently set at 10%, an increase to 25% (to match surrounding states) could not muster enough support in the house to pass. The cities are much more likely to see the benefit of this legislation but the rural areas likely don't see what's in it for them. It also seems that our lawmakers don't understand that 75% of something will always be more than getting 90% of nothing. Another good example is Home Rule. Opponents spoke of the doom and gloom and altogether bad things that would happen when cities had a little more control. It's been almost 10 years and nothing bad has happened yet. The state is currently in trouble but it's not because some power was given to our cities 10 years ago but I'd argue that our current issues would be less if Home Rule had been instituted 30 years ago.
If we could start with a mindset and policy change in these 2 areas, I think it would be a great place to start. Give our cities the ability to grow and see what happens from there.
You ask a heavy question-- based on topography alone, West Virginia is at an extreme disadvantage compared to neighboring states. If you factor out this obvious point, the following could be options:
(1) State politicians need to accept the reality that the glory days of coal, steel, etc are over. This has been the case since at least the 1980s but for some reason it has yet to sink in.
(2) Corporate income tax rates could be lowered-- West Virginia isn't off the charts at 6.5% but when other states like Virginia, Georgia and Kentucky are at 6%, and places like Pennsylvania and Maryland are above 8%, a reduction could possibly help. In addition, many states have to provide tax abatements to relocating businesses- finding a way to create funding for this would be beneficial.
(3) Pump additional funding into education awareness/ higher education- West Virginia has one of the lowest rates of residents with a college degree and this is a huge drawback for companies looking for places to expand or relocate. I am not sure if is spillover from the days when you could drop out of high school and get a job in the mines 'just like dad and grand daddy did' or just general apathy towards higher education but it is a serious problem.
Continued investment in tourism is a good idea, if anything else to continue to promote the state- however, the rate of return is limited when you consider most of the jobs will be low wage.
Disagree with you on Corridor H... Corridor H isn't a road to nowhere. Corridor H if it was built and funded when the other corridors were built as was intended... This area would look a lot different today in terms of economic development. We draw tons of tourists from the DC area and corridor H would open up this part of the state more to the huge DC populous. Corridor H is mostly finished aside so stopping now would be like making a cake and stopping right before you put the icing on to add extra icing on another cake. I-68 was originally an ARC corridor as well.
I agree that more work needs to be done all over the state in terms of infrastructure development with highways and upgrading our interstates and we need to open up all areas of our state, and I think we should pass a bond and get to work on them ASAP. The proposed regional airport never had a chance because Yeager and Tri-State didn't want to give up their autonomy despite the fact a regional airport on FLAT land in Putnam County would have longer runways for larger planes and also would have more carriers, flights, and connections. Shame that it never came to fruition, but maybe with enough support it could become viable again.
Agreed. If Corridor H is a 'road to nowhere' then so is Interstate 68- the road is busy from Morgantown to the Cheat Lake/ Mon-Fayette Expressway (another big 'road to nowhere') interchange and then virtually empty all the way to I-70.
The concept of the 'Midway Airport' might have made sense in the 1960s when Teays Valley was largely farmland and federal funding much easier to secure-- fast forward to the present day, nearly all of the flat/ easily accessible land in Teays Valley has been developed and the funding is no longer available. The site proposed in the late 1990s and early 2000s was in Lincoln County (not on flat land) and farther from Charleston, which already has ample air service to the majority of major Eastern and Midwestern air hubs. Even when combined, the two metro areas do not produce a market large enough to justify major increases in air service and certainly not flights to West Coast destinations.
Last edited by NOVAmtneer82; 05-07-2017 at 09:12 PM..
Agreed. If Corridor H is a 'road to nowhere' then so is Interstate 68- the road is busy from Morgantown to the Cheat Lake/ Mon-Fayette Expressway (another big 'road to nowhere') interchange and then virtually empty all the way to I-70.
The concept of the 'Midway Airport' might have made sense in the 1960s when Teays Valley was largely farmland and federal funding much easier to secure-- fast forward to the present day, nearly all of the flat/ easily accessible land in Teays Valley has been developed and the funding is no longer available. The sites proposed in the late 90s and early 2000s were in Lincoln County (not on flat land) and farther from Charleston, which already has ample air service to the majority of major Eastern and Midwestern air hubs. The two metro areas combined do not produce a market large enough to justify major increases in air service and certainly not to West Coast destinations.
That's not correct. The busiest part of I-68 isn't in WV, it is in Maryland.
The peak traffic density in terms of average annual daily traffic on I-68 in West Virginia is 32,900 vehicles per day at the interchange with I-79 in Morgantown. The traffic gradually decreases further eastward, reaching a low point at 14,600 vehicles per day at the Hazleton exit.
In Allegany County, the vehicle count increases to 28,861 in LaVale, and to the freeway's peak of 46,191 at the first US 220 interchange (exit 42) in Cumberland. East of Cumberland
Ok, then I will re-phrase my comment to the following: 'the road is busy from Morgantown to the Cheat Lake interchange and also for a few miles in and around Cumberland, MD and then virtually empty all the way to I-70'- my apologies for the error and I should've included Cumberland since I've driven through there a million times on my way from to and from Morgantown.
I've heard this mindset before and I'm interested to know, is this just a feeling or is there fact to base it on? I'm not being facetious but would truly like to know. I think all areas could make this claim to some extent at one time or another and I truly think this is part of what hurts this state and creates division and resentment. I'm sure the coal field areas feel that they could have made this claim in the coal boom days with severance taxes and the larger areas feel that they could make this claim now. But other than "feeling" this way, is there actually any truth to it when you look at the actual tax numbers? Is there a source that shows how much each county gives and gets in tax dollars?
If there's not, then I would argue it's just a feeling and this is a mindset that we need to do away with in this state. It doesn't create a cooperative mindset and actually pits areas against each other and makes them more "hateful competitive" rather than "friendly competitive" which again, is not good. This then makes regional differences worse and then makes some areas feel that other areas look down upon them. We have enough of this from outside of this state and surely don't need to do this to each other.
Changing these hateful mindsets toward each other would be a good place to start. I think this would then lead to a change in attitudes between the rural and urban areas in the state. As others have stated, I agree that the typical government mindset in this state is to hold the power of the cities back. This is largely because we have a vast majority of our law makers who are from rural areas and don't understand the challenges our cities face. When combined with rural areas having a distrust and general dislike for urban areas, this leads to a lack of support in government.
A prime example of this is the recent failure of the historic tax credit legislation. Currently set at 10%, an increase to 25% (to match surrounding states) could not muster enough support in the house to pass. The cities are much more likely to see the benefit of this legislation but the rural areas likely don't see what's in it for them. It also seems that our lawmakers don't understand that 75% of something will always be more than getting 90% of nothing. Another good example is Home Rule. Opponents spoke of the doom and gloom and altogether bad things that would happen when cities had a little more control. It's been almost 10 years and nothing bad has happened yet. The state is currently in trouble but it's not because some power was given to our cities 10 years ago but I'd argue that our current issues would be less if Home Rule had been instituted 30 years ago.
If we could start with a mindset and policy change in these 2 areas, I think it would be a great place to start. Give our cities the ability to grow and see what happens from there.
I wish there was a source to see all the tax money in and out. That sure would be interesting. But easiest and quickest example is the state of roads in the Morgantown area, we have the #1/#2 fastest growing areas in the state but we have absolutely the worst roads in the entire state. No arguing about that fact, multiple studies prove it and anyone who drives the roads knows that. The DOH canceled a bunch of projects here last year and this year to put some money towards the road to no where down at the old abandoned mine.
Also the state fleeced the money from the Longview power plant agreement that was supposed to stay in mon county (over a million a year), but the state took all of that money away to be used by the state instead
The original budget agreement this year would have taken the top 3 largest percentage amount of money away from mon county school system. Not dollar amount but percentage.
The list goes on and on, and I'm sure someone in the eastern panhandle can chime in on the crap going on there. A large portion of the southern half doesn't even view it as part of the state, even though they help pay a large portion of the bills.
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