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I think we often simply don't consider the interlocking nature of the economy in that what affects one industry, inevitably affects others. Less coal being sold means less maintenance is needed for coal mining equipment. When those folks lose their jobs, the eat out less at restaurants, put off making medical and dental appointments, buy fewer new vehicles, and so forth.
Losing these 14 jobs will undoubtedly have negative consequences for others too. It tends to have sort of a snowballing effect.
The truth is, I am deeply saddened by the misfortunes that have happened in southern West Virginia. People here used to try to one up each other, and sometimes I do still see that here but it is rare these days. My opinion is that we are all in this together, and should be supportive of each other. This week I have read about the issues at CAMC, and we are all familiar with the situation of coal production in the southern tier, and my point in mentioning this company is that when it rains, it seems to pour because what happens one place affects what happens in another. Obviously this company has issues due to the decline in coal production, but I believe most of the problems there can be traced to that very thing. It just filters down to other areas.
I can assure you, I had no intent of offending anybody, and I regret that the moderator chose to interpret it that way.
I haven't been part of any back and forth here but wanted to comment about statements I have made on the Morgantown board where I have been called out when complaining about roads. Just want to clarify if I say "Charleston" I am generally referring to the clueless people who congregate at our statehouse and not the city per se or it's residents.
I am pretty shocked at Charleston losing population, jobs etc. I think it's a GREAT town. When I was at WVU in the late 80's most of my friends were from there or from out of state. At that time I saw it as big city compared to Morgantown. It was like a smaller version of Pittsburgh within the state to me. There was great nightlife in the city, plenty to do, I remember the Regatta Festival was popular then, the roads were nice and laid out like in a proper city, great people...I could go on and on. This was my perception as a visitor.
I find myself complaining a lot anyway and I hope posters won't take offense. I feel it's mostly due to my age and getting burnt out on things I have seen over and over. Half of my posts I feel like I should preface with "Curmudgeon Alert: Rant Ahead..."
I feel like if Morgantown doesn't get some more road developments in place really soon that at some point the place won't be able to grow anymore. I don't know where the problem lies and who is to blame for it not happening but it is a shame.
On Charleston the assessment from the 1980's pov is right one target. Hard to stomach how far the city has fallen since those days. And I know a lot of people were against the Regatta but it was really the one thing that sort of brought the city together and created a type of vibe and positivity of something to look forward too that we will never have again.
Charleston doesn't really have a personality. Huntington has a personality, Parkersburg has one too and so does Morgantown. Those towns also have some sort of a community feel. Charleston does not have this and it is sad. I think the loss of the middle class to the suburbs has a lot to do with it. Many of our friends that have moved to Putnam County choose to go to family events in Huntington instead of Charleston. As a Charlestonian I'm not trying to pound on Charleston but the city needs leadership and a vision of becoming something better.
As for Mensaguy's post. I've kind of noticed what he's saying. Charleston really kind of sucks in a lot of ways right now and it deserves to be criticized. But I've noticed the trend too. I'm just not sure if you can attribute it to malice or just a lack of knowledge. When someone on here posted that the landlocked Town Center Mall should be repurposed for Industrial use or converted into office space in a city with the highest office vacancy rates in 20 plus years it pretty much told me that the poster of that really had no understanding of the city. And again I'm not against someone making criticism because Charleston really deserves it but at the same time honesty and accuracy are deserved as well.
I feel like if Morgantown doesn't get some more road developments in place really soon that at some point the place won't be able to grow anymore. I don't know where the problem lies and who is to blame for it not happening but it is a shame.
On Charleston the assessment from the 1980's pov is right one target. Hard to stomach how far the city has fallen since those days. And I know a lot of people were against the Regatta but it was really the one thing that sort of brought the city together and created a type of vibe and positivity of something to look forward too that we will never have again.
Charleston doesn't really have a personality. Huntington has a personality, Parkersburg has one too and so does Morgantown. Those towns also have some sort of a community feel. Charleston does not have this and it is sad. I think the loss of the middle class to the suburbs has a lot to do with it. Many of our friends that have moved to Putnam County choose to go to family events in Huntington instead of Charleston. As a Charlestonian I'm not trying to pound on Charleston but the city needs leadership and a vision of becoming something better.
As for Mensaguy's post. I've kind of noticed what he's saying. Charleston really kind of sucks in a lot of ways right now and it deserves to be criticized. But I've noticed the trend too. I'm just not sure if you can attribute it to malice or just a lack of knowledge. When someone on here posted that the landlocked Town Center Mall should be repurposed for Industrial use or converted into office space in a city with the highest office vacancy rates in 20 plus years it pretty much told me that the poster of that really had no understanding of the city. And again I'm not against someone making criticism because Charleston really deserves it but at the same time honesty and accuracy are deserved as well.
I agree. And, I believe I did say something about repurposing the CTC, but my intent was just to throw possibilities out there for replacement of lost retail, which is really under attack all over the country. You are correct that I hadn't considered the office space vacancy rate. Sorry about that. We've been fortunate in Morgantown in that regard, but a lot of it has to do simply with the fact that we are in growth mode.
As to the Morgantown's continued growth, most of it will continue to take place outside city limits, where there is better access to the roads you mentioned. Most of the future developments inside the city will be through The University (because the locals for some strange reason resist a lot of private development in the city... probably to try to keep competition down). University development in the future within the city will be horizontal instead of vertical for the most part, which will definitely p*ss off some of the locals who want to retain the small town feel and are very opposed to building high rise buildings. A compromise will likely put most of those along the Mon River, which is slated for significant redevelopment in the coming years.
I'm not sure I agree with you when you say Charleston doesn't have a personality. Wheeling, Huntington, Parkersburg, Martinsburg, and Morgantown all have distinct personalities like you mentioned, but Charleston is the only city among those you mentioned (Fairmont and Clarksburg would be others) that are purely West Virginian in character. All the rest, and to a degree Fairmont and Clarksburg too, have strong influences from other states.
I feel like if Morgantown doesn't get some more road developments in place really soon that at some point the place won't be able to grow anymore. I don't know where the problem lies and who is to blame for it not happening but it is a shame.
On Charleston the assessment from the 1980's pov is right one target. Hard to stomach how far the city has fallen since those days. And I know a lot of people were against the Regatta but it was really the one thing that sort of brought the city together and created a type of vibe and positivity of something to look forward too that we will never have again.
Charleston doesn't really have a personality. Huntington has a personality, Parkersburg has one too and so does Morgantown. Those towns also have some sort of a community feel. Charleston does not have this and it is sad. I think the loss of the middle class to the suburbs has a lot to do with it. Many of our friends that have moved to Putnam County choose to go to family events in Huntington instead of Charleston. As a Charlestonian I'm not trying to pound on Charleston but the city needs leadership and a vision of becoming something better.
As for Mensaguy's post. I've kind of noticed what he's saying. Charleston really kind of sucks in a lot of ways right now and it deserves to be criticized. But I've noticed the trend too. I'm just not sure if you can attribute it to malice or just a lack of knowledge. When someone on here posted that the landlocked Town Center Mall should be repurposed for Industrial use or converted into office space in a city with the highest office vacancy rates in 20 plus years it pretty much told me that the poster of that really had no understanding of the city. And again I'm not against someone making criticism because Charleston really deserves it but at the same time honesty and accuracy are deserved as well.
Charleston has had a vibrant personality in the past but between 1990 and 2000 a big chunk of that personality moved to Putnam County. Another chunk has been moving down the corridor. People moved out of Charleston not because of drugs or crime or anything like that, which is often held up as the reason. People moved out of Charleston because of the County/City arrangement.
Let me explain. Charleston has very tiny city limits and always has. While it has expanded them on occasion, usually these are for reason like adding a shopping center or when Capitol High School was built - never houses. Businesses that have a huge stable tax base are held onto by the county for the revenues at the expense of the city when the reason those businesses are here in the first place is the City. Examples of that are Yeager Airport, the Army Guard base, the Air National Guard base and the National Guard Armory. All of those tax dollars flow into the county but the city is their reason for being here and provides them with essential services.
Non-city residents do not want to be incorporated into the city and the county wants to keep them to bolster revenue through the property taxes. So the reason all those people moved to Putnam and now Boone, Lincoln and Logan counties...those areas have newly built, well made, affordable homes in new communities that are not stuck with aging infrastructure or a collapsing community because the city has pulled in the poor through federally funded housing projects.
So long as Kent Carper and his two peers in the Commissioners office have their sway, Charleston will be a dying fruit of what could have been. it will die more and more each year and eventually the county will go with it. But, by then those doing the harm will be dead and it will be their children or grand children that deal with the mess.
As the OP has stated, living in close proximity with reasonably priced good quality housing is a major desire but cannot be obtained in the current environment and that is the fault of the government. Jones has been a 4 term disaster but the villain is Carper. Together it has put the city and eventually the county on a slippery slope.
But, there are a few signs of hope. Downtown at night is starting to feel very "southern" with live music spilling out into the street, open air dining and a few lofts and condos projects have quietly opened. The East End is becoming something in the slowest of steps, but it is progress.
The first sign that city has staunch leadership will be when it votes to annex Forest Hills and Elk Hills. It is odd the a 'city' school sits on a piece of property that had to be annexed to be classed as a city school and that half of its student come from outside the city.
So many problems here and yet the city survives. It must take a lot to kill this place because God knows we have elected people intent on doing so and given them more than enough tools to do it.
Charleston has had a vibrant personality in the past but between 1990 and 2000 a big chunk of that personality moved to Putnam County. Another chunk has been moving down the corridor. People moved out of Charleston not because of drugs or crime or anything like that, which is often held up as the reason. People moved out of Charleston because of the County/City arrangement.
Let me explain. Charleston has very tiny city limits and always has. While it has expanded them on occasion, usually these are for reason like adding a shopping center or when Capitol High School was built - never houses. Businesses that have a huge stable tax base are held onto by the county for the revenues at the expense of the city when the reason those businesses are here in the first place is the City. Examples of that are Yeager Airport, the Army Guard base, the Air National Guard base and the National Guard Armory. All of those tax dollars flow into the county but the city is their reason for being here and provides them with essential services.
Non-city residents do not want to be incorporated into the city and the county wants to keep them to bolster revenue through the property taxes. So the reason all those people moved to Putnam and now Boone, Lincoln and Logan counties...those areas have newly built, well made, affordable homes in new communities that are not stuck with aging infrastructure or a collapsing community because the city has pulled in the poor through federally funded housing projects.
So long as Kent Carper and his two peers in the Commissioners office have their sway, Charleston will be a dying fruit of what could have been. it will die more and more each year and eventually the county will go with it. But, by then those doing the harm will be dead and it will be their children or grand children that deal with the mess.
As the OP has stated, living in close proximity with reasonably priced good quality housing is a major desire but cannot be obtained in the current environment and that is the fault of the government. Jones has been a 4 term disaster but the villain is Carper. Together it has put the city and eventually the county on a slippery slope.
But, there are a few signs of hope. Downtown at night is starting to feel very "southern" with live music spilling out into the street, open air dining and a few lofts and condos projects have quietly opened. The East End is becoming something in the slowest of steps, but it is progress.
The first sign that city has staunch leadership will be when it votes to annex Forest Hills and Elk Hills. It is odd the a 'city' school sits on a piece of property that had to be annexed to be classed as a city school and that half of its student come from outside the city.
So many problems here and yet the city survives. It must take a lot to kill this place because God knows we have elected people intent on doing so and given them more than enough tools to do it.
One small thing to mention here. National Guard facilities do not pay taxes, no matter where they are located. They are owned by state government.
One small thing to mention here. National Guard facilities do not pay taxes, no matter where they are located. They are owned by state government.
Not the facility, but all of the vendor activity, construction and of course their payroll, which is the biggest draw.
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