Morgantown??? (Charleston, Huntington, Martinsburg: transplants, cul-de-sac, apartments)

[ypsicats]

My partner and I are considering a move to the Morgantown area. Can anyone comment on the social, political and economic status of the city and sourrounding area? We are coming from Ann Arbor, Michigan as big pharma refugees.

[GottaHerdOn]

Morgantown is a vibrant small city. I personally think you would love it. Ecomonically it is a gold mine. The fastest growing city in WV actually. Its home to WVU the largest university in the state. Socially, well there is something for everyone. Drinking, dining out, movies, arts, culture. It truely is a great city and I think you and your partner would love it

[creemarie]

Originally Posted by GottaHerdOn

Morgantown is a vibrant small city. I personally think you would love it. Ecomonically it is a gold mine. The fastest growing city in WV actually. Its home to WVU the largest university in the state. Socially, well there is something for everyone. Drinking, dining out, movies, arts, culture. It truely is a great city and I think you and your partner would love it

Morgantown is a very nice place to live; I grew up there and also went to WVU. There is a lot to do there, and it has a lot going for it. However, Berkeley County/Martinsburg is the fastest growing city in the state. Their population is up 28.5% since 2000 and Monongalia County/Morgantown's population is up 3.5% since 2000. (from the US Census Bureau: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/54000.html)
Just wanted to clarify!

[FlipperX]

Originally Posted by creemarie

Morgantown is a very nice place to live; I grew up there and also went to WVU. There is a lot to do there, and it has a lot going for it. However, Berkeley County/Martinsburg is the fastest growing city in the state. Their population is up 28.5% since 2000 and Monongalia County/Morgantown's population is up 3.5% since 2000. (from the US Census Bureau: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/54000.html)
Just wanted to clarify!

I dont even consider Morgantown a WV town. Theres way too many transplants due to the university. Im all for native areas be it way deep in the outback of Wyoming, Mingo, and MACK-Dowell or the Amazonian tribal sections. I cant stand cul-de-sac suburbanite types. they are way too synthetic minded, materialistic, and living in a fantasy world.

[WVUPharm2007]

Originally Posted by ypsicats

My partner and I are considering a move to the Morgantown area. Can anyone comment on the social, political and economic status of the city and sourrounding area? We are coming from Ann Arbor, Michigan as big pharma refugees.

It's roughly the same type of town, actually. I assume you are looking at a job over at Mylan? If so, it's a great company to work for. I did a rotation there for pharmacy school and I can say they genuinely take care of their employees.

Socially, it's a college town first and foremost. Always something to do at 2AM on High Street. Kind of a Bohemian feel during the school year on campus. Some people consider it a suburb of Pittsburgh - and the local speech and culture are very similar to the Steel City. If you want to head to the city to hit up Dave & Busters or whatever, Pittsburgh is 70 miles up I-79.

Politically it's a grab bag. The townies tend to be conservative, the college kids and those who migrated tend to be more liberal and socially progresive. If you are a conservative or liberal, you will easily find a group to hang out with.

Economically, it was rated as the #5 small town and the #9 town of any size for doing business by Inc. Magazine in the US. (LINK to Inc magazine) In 15 years it will be the biggest city in WV.

Any more questions, feel free.

[tbailey1138]

Originally Posted by WVUPharm2007

In 15 years it will be the biggest city in WV.

So in 15 years, Morgantown is going to gain 22,000+ people within the city limits? From 2000-2005 Morgantown gained 1,483 people which is a good growth rate. At that growth rate if maintained, Morgantown will gain just under 4500 people over the next 15 years, making it the third largest city in WV but still over 16,000 people behind Huntington and Charleston. It could be possible though if Morgantown incorporates Star City, Westover, Sabraton, Granville, Cheatlake and a few other unincorpoated areas, which isn't likely to happen. Morgantown already can't handle the current traffic woes with under 30,000 people so it would be a nightmare if that did happen. Growth for WV is great, but be realistic. You are also making the assumption that none of the larger cities will see any growth at all. This is already not true as Huntington and Charleston are seeing the economic growth needed for a new increase in population. Morgantown is a nice place, but don't downplay the other cities in the state and their potential.

[WVUPharm2007]

Morgantown is going to absorb many of the outlying areas, I guarantee you. And the MSA, at the very least, will grow greatly. Morgantown has more potential than any other town in the state. You are right about one thing though, the infrastructure sucks.

[beth ann]

I went to WVU... and Morgantown was a great college town....but, to live there now as an adult....no way!

Outside the University, get ready to see alot of obese, heavily tattoed peole who may or may not have all their teeth...most likely their nouns and verbs do not agree, either.

[tbailey1138]

WVUPharm2007, the Morgantown area does have a lot of potential but it's the lack of infrastructure in the city that will inhibit it's growth. Morgantown will likely try to incorporate many of the areas listed above but they have tried and failed in the past as these areas wish to maintain their own identity. And if they do incorporate all of those areas, maintaining the roads, etc. in such a large area would be a daunting task. You are right, the Morgantown MSA(pop. 114,501) will likely see a lot of growth but it will have to gain a lot to catch up with the Huntington MSA's 286,012 and Charleston MSA's 307,763 if you are claiming it will be the largest MSA as well. And as far as infrastructure goes, Huntington and Charleston have the most potential for growth as they are pretty much the only cities in the state with a lot of flat land to work with. That and the fact that they are both set up to handle 80,000+ people. Also, as Beth Ann stated above and speaking from experience, Morgantown offers a lot for WVU students but once you graduate the city itself doesn't have a lot to keep people there. Most of the new construction in the area relates to WVU and while the residents do benefit from some of this growth, they are often largely forgotten. Just read in the Morgantown paper over the weekend that some of the residents feel they are losing their town to the university and they feel there is almost nothing they can do about it. The writer of the letter pointed out that since WVU's population is at 27,000 people, students far outnumber the adults who are citizens and nearly outnumber the residents all together. So as a resident, be ready to deal with a lot of WVU growth, sometimes at the cost of the city.

[creemarie]

WVUPharm, Morgantown is hardly a suburb of Pittsburgh. How many people do you know that actually LIVE in Morgantown and WORK in Pittsburgh? Not enough to claim that Morgantown is a suburb of Pittsburgh, that's for sure!

And as for your claims that Morgantown is going to be the largest city in the state in the next 15 years is ludicrous. Morgantown had better consider incorporating 75% of the county in order to live up to that. They can't even handle the population they have now, what makes you think they will be able to handle 20,000+ more people?

I used to live in Morgantown, I lived most of my life there. It's a nice place to live, but if you aren't affiliated with WVU or work at Mylan, there aren't many good paying jobs available. That's part of the reason I left, I couldn't find a job. I have a B.S. in Interior Design (from WVU), so I shouldn't have had a hard time finding a job in the metropolis that is Morgantown. But no, when most of the population is students and most of the new construction is apartments and condos, built for high turnover, there isn't much of a market for someone like me. Which brings me to one of the other reasons I left. There is NO affordable housing, in a convenient location, in Morgantown. My husband and I wanted to live in a house-- not a condo, or an apartment, or a townhouse-- we wanted a single family dwelling with a yard. Those are few and far between, since Morgantown seems to be able to only build multi-family housing. So, that's the other part of why we left (we also had much better job offers elsewhere in the state, but that's irrelevant to this topic).