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@GHO, you should come home, AZ seems like a crazy place, Sarah Palin is now your neighbor.
lol I know... freakishly enough actually I'm moving to Scottsdale in like a month and thats where she is. I hear Bristol bought a place in Chandler though..haha The Palins have moved to Phoenix. Maybe I'll run into her and teach her about maps, global relations, or reality for that matter haha.
If having Palin and McCain here isn't enough... we had to deal with that epic dust storm... WOW... that was crazy. I do believe I will be heading back to the east coast to a blue state after grad school. If I survive Sarah Palin and the dust storms
well CT, I appreciate your kindness, intelegence, and life experiences I really do. But I think your missing my point. Charleston has filled offices full of white collar jobs that represent the region, aswell as bank headquarters, large scale law firms (atleast 50), still thousands of people employed by Dow, Dupont, Bayor, and the Stamping Plant. CAMC has 6,000 workers alone, plus the other two large hospitals that employee atleast 1,500 each. And that's not including the dozens of health clinics, doctors offices, cancer screening centers, and other medical affiliated jobs. The state house is not as crudy of a place to work as you think it is, reguardless of how it was when you were in state government. The DEP is here, as so is the federal court house.
I mentioned my favorite restaurants, but not anywhere near the hundreds that call the city home. There is no possible way to count them because there is atleast a hundred on the East End alone. And I named the places I did because of their uniqueness to Charleston alone. The people here are happy!
I mention Hawks Nest/ New River Gorge because when people come to Charleston, they normally make the voyage over there. There are so many places I've missed though like Kanawha Falls, Kanawha State Forest, Sunrise, The Heritage Towers African American History Museum, The Craik-Patton House, The South Charleston Indian Mound, Glen Farris Inn, and so much more that are in or around Charleston.
And Kanawha County is not as big as you make it out to be, although it is large. I consider most of the county Charleston because most of the county's population lives in the urban areas. From East Bank to Winfield, and Elkview to Alum Creek is Charleston.
"And really now, Teays Valley and Hurricane as "suburbs" of a 50,000 town from 25miles away? Hmmmm. I think Huntington can lay as much claim to those places as Charleston."
If you don't think those communities are suburbs of Charleston, then just ask a few of the residents where they shop, work, and play. Of course they are and they make up a big chunk of the 300,000 people that are in the metro area.
I'm telling you, Charleston has a healthy life, and will see large scale growth in the next 20 years. And to some degree has in its Putnam County brother.
I love Morgantown. My family has owned season tickets to WVU football games for 15years, and has been a big part of our life. I love the University and the campus, but would not live there if they were going to pay me 30g more a year. I love Charleston because it is beautiful, clean, friendly, modern, historical, and just charming. Parkersburg, Wheeling, Morgantown, Huntington, Beckley, and Clarksburg are not even in the same ballpark when it comes to lifestyle and city life. I hope I never have to call any other place home! Ever!
Same to you CT, I enjoy our discusions and hope you always stick to your guns on matters that are important to you! I would love to invite you down here some time to a lunch on the house to the restaurant of your choice. I would be glad to give you a tour of our beautiful city. And maybe next time I'm in Mtown I'll look you up, and you can treat me to a tour!
I will agree with you about one thing here. Wheeling, Huntington, and Parkersburg have suffered more than Charleston due to the exodus of heavy industry jobs, due to the relative stability provided by the (albiet relatively low wage) state government jobs in Charleston. Still, the historic district in Charleston is small when compared to that in Wheeling and the parks are not nearly as nice. Parkersburg and Huntington have a much more robust river presence and Huntington has a better educational structure.
I'm a retired state worker. I think I have a better feel than most for just how lucrative working for West Virginia state government happens to be. You have to get pretty high up in the organizational structure in WV state government to make even the kind of money ordinary state workers make in most other states. Our workers in West Virginia languish for years at 20 to 32thousand dollar per year jobs and are thrown 500 dollar raises every once in awhile like a dog is thrown a bone. Teachers do a little (but not a whole lot) better. You could make the case that public sector retirement is much better, and I will certainly agree with that. In fact, that might be a Charleston strong suit since it has a relatively older population.
I will also give you that you have more lawyers in Charleston than maybe anywhere in the world, but you actually think that is an asset? Interesting. I never realized that Charleston still had 300,000 people in its metro area. I thought statistics said it was in the 200K range, but those designations are highly arbitrary. Morgantown, for example, is located just 5 miles from the more than 2 million person Pittsburgh Metro Area on the Fayette County side.
I will agree with you about one thing here. Wheeling, Huntington, and Parkersburg have suffered more than Charleston due to the exodus of heavy industry jobs, due to the relative stability provided by the (albiet relatively low wage) state government jobs in Charleston. Still, the historic district in Charleston is small when compared to that in Wheeling and the parks are not nearly as nice. Parkersburg and Huntington have a much more robust river presence and Huntington has a better educational structure.
I'm a retired state worker. I think I have a better feel than most for just how lucrative working for West Virginia state government happens to be. You have to get pretty high up in the organizational structure in WV state government to make even the kind of money ordinary state workers make in most other states. Our workers in West Virginia languish for years at 20 to 32thousand dollar per year jobs and are thrown 500 dollar raises every once in awhile like a dog is thrown a bone. Teachers do a little (but not a whole lot) better. You could make the case that public sector retirement is much better, and I will certainly agree with that. In fact, that might be a Charleston strong suit since it has a relatively older population.
I will also give you that you have more lawyers in Charleston than maybe anywhere in the world, but you actually think that is an asset? Interesting. I never realized that Charleston still had 300,000 people in its metro area. I thought statistics said it was in the 200K range, but those designations are highly arbitrary. Morgantown, for example, is located just 5 miles from the more than 2 million person Pittsburgh Metro Area on the Fayette County side.
I think the urban population is 200k, and Greater Charleston is 300k. The area is made up of all of Kanawha County, most of Putnam County, some of Boone Conty, and some of the other counties around.
And yes law offices provide great paying jobs and I see them as a good thing. I think people also forget how big banking is here. Chase, BB&T, SunTrust, Huntington, and a couple others have large employment numbers here. United Bank and City National are headquartered here. Sudenlink, Frontier, Colombia Gas, Brickstreet, and McJunkin also call Charleston home. Not to forget that Dow has a regional headquarters here.
The Mid-Atlandtic Technology Research and Inovation Center (MATRIC) has seen growth. With IBM looking into locating there because of the abundance in technology and a qualified workforce. Plus the facilities are state of the art.
Another thing is the Capital Market is much more than the average farmers market, that is outside. The Inside has a seafood market, meat market, wine shop, Holl's Chocolate shop, Capital Roasters Cafe, Bulk food store, and a great local grocery store called the Purple Onion. There is also a really nice Italian restaurant called Soho's.
Morgantown's trail is nice, and alot longer than Charleston's river trail. But there is plans for a bike path that connects Saint Albans with Downtown, and then on to Coonskin Park. The path would run along side the SC Mound, then across the old rail bridge into the West Side where it will help the progress being made there. Then the trail will run on old tracks right into downtown beside the Capital Market. I think the future goal is to link Huntington into the picture through Teays Valley and Hurricane.
Charleston's Historic district is from downtown all the way to the capital, so I'd say its pretty big. The area has some of the best church architecture inside the state. The mansions along Virginia St. are breath taking, and there is several parks, playgrounds, gardens, and greenspaces in this part of town. Along Washington St. There is several great eateries, stores, and spas that are all included in the community with the hardware stores, pharmacy's and other neighborhood places. This part of town is also getting a new park that will feature an art circle, and a water playground for the kids. This is also Charleston's art district with dozens of murals dedicated to music, history, and Charleston culture.
Charleston's West Side seems to be a place for new business as several new offices, banks, restaurants, stores, and other tyes of private development take place. Magic Island is in my opinion the best park in Charleston and is on the West Side. It hosts numerous sporting events both on and off its shores. Its the closest thing we have to a beach.
South Hills is another excelent community within city limits. Home to the Bridge Road shopping village, where there are several nice stores and restaurants. Also there are paths for hiking and biking, and its close to Sothridge Center. And there is also Kanawha State Forest within a few minutes. This is also the most expensive place to live in WV. I believe the average salary in this area in 95g.
Kanawha City is another totaly different community within Charleston. The town has beautiful tree topped neighborhoods, lots of shopping and dining, and great public and private schools. This area is also growing and has seen alot of new housing and retail in the last few years. Highland Hospital is building a new 4 story wing onto there hospital, and CAMC is building a cancer center on the site of the old ballpark.
I didn't even mention downtown, and if you could name four communities within Morgantown's city limits that has as much as one of these, then I'd be ready to talk.
Last edited by Chriscross309; 07-08-2011 at 11:24 AM..
lol I know... freakishly enough actually I'm moving to Scottsdale in like a month and thats where she is. I hear Bristol bought a place in Chandler though..haha The Palins have moved to Phoenix. Maybe I'll run into her and teach her about maps, global relations, or reality for that matter haha.
If having Palin and McCain here isn't enough... we had to deal with that epic dust storm... WOW... that was crazy. I do believe I will be heading back to the east coast to a blue state after grad school. If I survive Sarah Palin and the dust storms
I think the urban population is 200k, and Greater Charleston is 300k. The area is made up of all of Kanawha County, most of Putnam County, some of Boone Conty, and some of the other counties around.
And yes law offices provide great paying jobs and I see them as a good thing. I think people also forget how big banking is here. Chase, BB&T, SunTrust, Huntington, and a couple others have large employment numbers here. United Bank and City National are headquartered here. Sudenlink, Frontier, Colombia Gas, Brickstreet, and McJunkin also call Charleston home. Not to forget that Dow has a regional headquarters here.
The Mid-Atlandtic Technology Research and Inovation Center (MATRIC) has seen growth. With IBM looking into locating there because of the abundance in technology and a qualified workforce. Plus the facilities are state of the art.
Another thing is the Capital Market is much more than the average farmers market, that is outside. The Inside has a seafood market, meat market, wine shop, Holl's Chocolate shop, Capital Roasters Cafe, Bulk food store, and a great local grocery store called the Purple Onion. There is also a really nice Italian restaurant called Soho's.
Morgantown's trail is nice, and alot longer than Charleston's river trail. But there is plans for a bike path that connects Saint Albans with Downtown, and then on to Coonskin Park. The path would run along side the SC Mound, then across the old rail bridge into the West Side where it will help the progress being made there. Then the trail will run on old tracks right into downtown beside the Capital Market. I think the future goal is to link Huntington into the picture through Teays Valley and Hurricane.
Charleston's Historic district is from downtown all the way to the capital, so I'd say its pretty big. The area has some of the best church architecture inside the state. The mansions along Virginia St. are breath taking, and there is several parks, playgrounds, gardens, and greenspaces in this part of town. Along Washington St. There is several great eateries, stores, and spas that are all included in the community with the hardware stores, pharmacy's and other neighborhood places. This part of town is also getting a new park that will feature an art circle, and a water playground for the kids. This is also Charleston's art district with dozens of murals dedicated to music, history, and Charleston culture.
Charleston's West Side seems to be a place for new business as several new offices, banks, restaurants, stores, and other tyes of private development take place. Magic Island is in my opinion the best park in Charleston and is on the West Side. It hosts numerous sporting events both on and off its shores. Its the closest thing we have to a beach.
South Hills is another excelent community within city limits. Home to the Bridge Road shopping village, where there are several nice stores and restaurants. Also there are paths for hiking and biking, and its close to Sothridge Center. And there is also Kanawha State Forest within a few minutes. This is also the most expensive place to live in WV. I believe the average salary in this area in 95g.
Kanawha City is another totaly different community within Charleston. The town has beautiful tree topped neighborhoods, lots of shopping and dining, and great public and private schools. This area is also growing and has seen alot of new housing and retail in the last few years. Highland Hospital is building a new 4 story wing onto there hospital, and CAMC is building a cancer center on the site of the old ballpark.
I didn't even mention downtown, and if you could name four communities within Morgantown's city limits that has as much as one of these, then I'd be ready to talk.
I think for research and technology it isn't even close. There is $180 million in sponsored research (and rapidly growing) going on just at The University ever year. In addition to research at The University, there is the National Energy Technology Lab as well as Milan Pharma, which is heavily invested in research. You have all the resources of a major university located here, so research is a natural.
Morgantown is not the same type of town as Charleston, and has no designs of being such. We don't have as many 20 story buildings, and it would be hard to get permission to build one here. We want to maintain more of a college town feel to the place. There are more company headquarters in Charleston, but we have MedExpress here as well as Gabriel Brothers (both employ hyundreds) and a significant (though not overwhelming) number of legal offices spread out over the area. The backbone of our town is the 30,000 student national university located here with it's nearly 8,000 employees, together with the 9,000 healthcare workers and Milan Pharma, which also employs thousands.
Except for mining (coal and limestone) and power plant generation, our industry is of the light variety. Interestingly, those firms tend to employ about as many folks as the heavier but not labor intensive chemical industry.
We have some nice communities here, but in my opinion the nicest are South Park (inside the city limits) and Cheat Lake (outside), with lots of expensive homes. Lacking the large historic district of Wheeling and Charleston, we are seeing a large amount of new construction to house the hundreds of research personnel and others who are moving here. We have the kinds of food outlets you mentioned in Charleston, but they are not as concentrated as you have them there. Our seafood shop and best seafood restaurant in in the Senaca Center. The restaurants are sort of scattered but there is a concentration of various types including two excellent restaurants on High Street. It is eclectic and you can sure find enough great places to eat within walking distance of The University.
Our historic district is not as large as that in Charelston either, but Charleston's is not as large as Wheeling's. You have to remember, our town was basically a college town with 12,000 permanent residents 40 years ago while Charleston was a thriving manufacturing center with 80,000 residents. It is natural that the historic section would be larger. The problem for you is it represents history more than current reality. Whlie Charleston has lost 30,000 permanent residents Morgantown has gained 20,000 permanent residents. Our historic areas are largely overwhelmed with growth. In fact, the town designed for 12,000 residents is bursting at the seams with 32,000 and most of the current activity is taking place outside of the city limits.
You mentioned United Bank, and I know they have their headquarters there, but did you know the bank is essentially controlled by the same Wheeling native/resident that owns the Pittsburgh Pirates, Seven Springs Mountain Resort, and several newspapers? he recently bought Centra Bank in Morgantown too.
We do have a couple glaring needs here. We need a Whole Foods Supermarket (it would be an instant success in this university city), a Trader Joes, and a Waffle House. All of those would be successful quickly, but it would seem the issue is the space and location in which to put them. Thing is, you can pretty much put in a business here and it is going to be a hit.
Some guy from Charleston came here a few months ago and bought an old gas station that had been sitting vacant. He spent some time rennovating it and made some minor alterations, opening a "Dairy Castle". He has more business than he knows what to do with.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Waterlilly has since retired in Oregon and died of old age whilst the Morganhole v. Chucktown argument rages on and on.
Morganhole and Chucktown both stink compared to coastal cities in Oregon and many, many other places around the country - just face the facts, quit arguing, and move on...............
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Waterlilly has since retired in Oregon and died of old age whilst the Morganhole v. Chucktown argument rages on and on.
Morganhole and Chucktown both stink compared to coastal cities in Oregon and many, many other places around the country - just face the facts, quit arguing, and move on...............
My hunch is anywhere you are located stinks just a little more thanks to your presence.
Unemployment in Charlotte, NC = 10.4%
Unemployment in Morgantown, WV = 6.3%
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Maybe I'll run into her and teach her about maps, global relations, or reality for that matter haha. 
I would be glad to give you a tour of our beautiful city. And maybe next time I'm in Mtown I'll look you up, and you can treat me to a tour!
