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Yes, they will be recalibrated to what's refered to as "Block Format". One light turns green, the next one turns red, once that light turns green, the next one turns red, and so on. This will create a uniformed traffic flow, unlike the "Switch as you please" format that the lights are programmed to now. -mmccul
WV is such a beautiful state, and I think it is quite sad to see you folks so excited about sprawly, big box, low scale chain retail.
Berkeley County has already swrawled and not smartly either.
In 20 years the county has grown from 25k to 100k.
Still, no zoning.
Their heel is the tax issue too. With Maryland and Virginia right next door, many folks travel there so they don't have to pay the sales tax. This was the death nail for Chatfield Taylor and his Outlet Malls, which are now in Maryland, the Martinsburg Mall, which seems to go downhill daily. Hagerstown and Winchester offer more with less sales tax, and I hope the same does not bode for Spring Mills.
I travel the majority of the state monthly and most of WV does not consider Berkeley and Jefferson County WV anymore, just an extension of Washington DC.
WV is such a beautiful state, and I think it is quite sad to see you folks so excited about sprawly, big box, low scale chain retail.
Just curious, what exactly is high scale chain retail in your eyes? I'd be more concerned about West Virginia's Government considering demolishing our peaceful, natural mountains to fuel America's need for energy. And you're concerned about a shopping center, I think that's quite sad.
P.S. Sales tax has nothing to do with it. You must not live here to know that Martinsburg has very little retail, that's why people drive out of state to shop.
Berkeley County has already swrawled and not smartly either.
In 20 years the county has grown from 25k to 100k.
Still, no zoning.
Their heel is the tax issue too. With Maryland and Virginia right next door, many folks travel there so they don't have to pay the sales tax. This was the death nail for Chatfield Taylor and his Outlet Malls, which are now in Maryland, the Martinsburg Mall, which seems to go downhill daily. Hagerstown and Winchester offer more with less sales tax, and I hope the same does not bode for Spring Mills.
I travel the majority of the state monthly and most of WV does not consider Berkeley and Jefferson County WV anymore, just an extension of Washington DC.
Like I said before, Maryland sales tax is 6% on everything where as WV is 6% and now 3% on food, Virginia has raised it's rate to 5%.
State Sales Tax Rates (http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/sales.html - broken link)
I live in Berkeley County and my tags still say West Virginia, my friends and family still consider me living in West Virginia, so I don't know how you can say that we are not considered to be West Virginia's. I wouldn't of moved here if I was considered to be a DC suburb, that is what we moved away from?
All I know is that the people that I have come into contact with on a daily basis have been really nice. Totally different than what I was used to, that is one of the reasons that brought us to West Virginia.
That is why I am proud to say I live in West Virginia
Urbanization is happening across the globe. Saying that Martinsburg is part of D.C. and not West Virginia is like saying Jersey City, NJ is part of New York. (state, that is). This has been brought up in many Berkeley County threads. I think I might create a new thread discussing why people think Berkeley County is part of D.C. so we can get this and other threads cleared from this ongoing debate. -mmccul
Like I said before, Maryland sales tax is 6% on everything where as WV is 6% and now 3% on food, Virginia has raised it's rate to 5%.
State Sales Tax Rates (http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/sales.html - broken link)
I live in Berkeley County and my tags still say West Virginia, my friends and family still consider me living in West Virginia, so I don't know how you can say that we are not considered to be West Virginia's. I wouldn't of moved here if I was considered to be a DC suburb, that is what we moved away from?
All I know is that the people that I have come into contact with on a daily basis have been really nice. Totally different than what I was used to, that is one of the reasons that brought us to West Virginia.
That is why I am proud to say I live in West Virginia
Wow! Poo.
I knew old Martin O' was working hard to destroy Maryland by increasing the gas tax, doing away with the flat income tax and creating an increased percentage income tax, and now he has broadbased increased the sales tax!
With this, you are correct, North Berkeley will definately benefit.
As far as Mmccul's PS: No, I don't live in Martinsburg now, I am there monthly, family is there, lived there for 26 years, family for over 200, so I can say I know maybe a thing or two about the town
Sales Tax my friend does have much to do with it. Now, with Maryland's hurt being Berkeley's gain, things on the north side will change. In the past, Martinsburg and even Jefferson was always hurting due to the sales tax issue. The Outlet's were the best example ever, that's the old mills by the way that now house the County offices.
When the Interwoven's were remodeled and the Outlets opened Berkeley was awash in DC weekend shoppers. I remember Raleigh Street and Queen being full of traffic. Then off Exit 29 in Hagersbush, The Prime opened, closer to DC in some sense, less tax, and the traffic shifted. Next stop for the Martinsburg Outlets? Bankruptcy. Back in the day we used to call it the Martinsburg shift, downtown goes down, Berkely Plaza booms, Berkely Plaza goes down, Edwin Miller Booms, then Inwood goes up and down, then we shift to Edwin Miller Extension Not much on growth, just the same type of business under a different name., thus the Martinsburg shopping shift.
All in all it is good to see know that with the Maryland change, Spring Mills should see long term prosperity. Something tells me Maryland in in for long, long, term hurt. It is almost a reversal. Used to be that Berkeley paid "sales tax issue" for Charleston rule, thus we could not compete with Winchester to the South and Hagerstown to the North, now Washington County is stuck in the dismal arms of far left government of Annapolis or should we say the shackles of Montgomery and Prince George County.
So, it is good to see some good news for The B'urg.
Urbanization is happening across the globe. Saying that Martinsburg is part of D.C. and not West Virginia is like saying Jersey City, NJ is part of New York. (state, that is). This has been brought up in many Berkeley County threads. I think I might create a new thread discussing why people think Berkeley County is part of D.C. so we can get this and other threads cleared from this ongoing debate. -mmccul
Simple,
Berkeley and Jefferson County were placed by the Census into the Washington DC Metro Statistical area. That is where the main WV joke comes from.
Also, travel down to Central WV, Charleston even, you will find the difference is night and day to Berkeley. When I do business in Charleston and Bluefield my customers always joke " How's your folks doing in DC"
Yes, by georgraphical terms and state boundries, Berkeley and Jefferson are in and belong to the state of West Virginia, however, you will find more commonality with DC than WV for the area, not to mention of the 97,000 folks in Berkeley now, it's probably safe to say that 50%+ are transplants from the DC/Balt/NVA area. Heck, before Manchin removed the registration transfer tax from cars, I used to think I was in Maryland considering most of the cars never changed their tags.
Also on a lighter note, when I lived in South Jersey we used to state that anything above I-195 was New York.
Yes, I agree. I can tell you first hand that our schools are being filled with students from D.C., Balti, Maryland, etc. At my previous job, I had to sit-in on a class at a Berkeley County middle school (won't mention which one) and they were having a class discussion about growth in the area. The teacher at one point asked the class, "How many of you were actually born in this area?" I expected most of the class to raise their hand, and I was blown of my seat when I saw that only two out of a class of about thirty raised their hands. This middle school, I also noticed, was very culturally diversed...but I won't get into that. -mmccul
If you guys would like, I can start an official thread about Berkeley County growth and such. Nothing personal, I just would like this thread to stay more on its original topic, The Commons. -mmccul
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Not much on growth, just the same type of business under a different name.
