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I moved here from VA almost a year ago and with the exception of the school systems this is the best place I've ever lived. The people are very friendly, the employment is decent, the cost of living is great, the culture is not bad, and the food is awesome. To get me to leave will take a pine box. The question that I have is: What's up with all the negativity? Where is the high unemployment and high crime rates that everyone keeps talking about? I live in Greene County between Snow Hill and Kinston and I'm not seeing it. My family and I live in PA for 10 months and 3 weeks after moving in there we got robbed. We also got robbed in Danville, VA. We left a lot of our stuff sitting under a carport here in NC for 7 months because we didn't have any place to put it and no one touched it. I've had to move 3 times in the last 4 years because my husbands work keeps getting sent overseas. The plant that he is currently working at needs over a hundred new employees and can't seem to get qualified applicants, that's not an unemployment issue that's an education issue. So, I was hoping that maybe someone could tell me where all this negativity is coming from because I have yet to see any unemployment problem or crime problem here in NC. Oh, before anyone slams me for saying there is an education problem, there really is an education problem - the schools are teaching the children how to pass tests and nothing else, No Child Left Behind had turned into No Child Gets Ahead. This is not just in NC it's the whole country that has an education problem. I'm homeschooling my son this coming school year and yes I have taught in the public school system and do have a degree. Thank you for your time.
There's plenty of positive news out there,but so many people dwell on the negative.I listen to others complain about how bad the economy is on the Outer Banks,when we're experiencing one of our busiest tourist seasons in history.This year is on track to be a record breaker.Our June unemployment rate was 5% in Currituck county and 6.9% in Dare,well below national numbers.Through July,our real estate market is the best since 2005.You won't hear that on the nightly news.........
I grew up in NC in the fifties and sixties. I have wonderful memories of growing up in Lewisville and Mount Airy, NC. I ended up going to a pretty good college, and spent years in Canada and the last twenty years in Roanoke, Va.
In 2006 we moved back to North Carolina or more specifically Carteret County. It is the most scenic place I have ever lived. The crime we hear about is usually minor compared to what I heard nightly when living in the DC area.
I interview students for college. I have been impressed with ones that I have interviewed from Carteret County.
We just love living here. While it is harder to get a job than it is in Raleigh or Northern Virginia, it is a great place to live and raise a family if you can figure out how to make enough to survive.
There a lot of things that make up for the smaller salaries paid here on the coast.
I have found that a lot of what you see in place is defined by your own attitude and outlook on life. I can appreciate the beauty and diversity of an old rural community while someone else sees nothing but problems.
Having lived in the planned community of Columbia, MD, and here in Carteret County, I would take Carteret County any day over Howard County where Columbia was located.
In Columbia we had someone come into our garage and steal the change from our cars. Our neighbor had someone sneak into his house and steal his wallet.
No place is perfect, but North Carolina and certainly Eastern North Carolina is a terrific place to live.
I guess it's relative and in the eye of the beholder. I have lived in places I "felt" far safer and in a few places where I "knew" I was less safe.
But, in the part of Eastern North Carolina in which I reside, crime, especially property crime, is disproportionately higher than other parts of the state and most similar sized cities in the country. It has a way of making one feel less safe than normal.
Especially compared to my other family members who live in New England, for example, and the worst crime in their town is kids knocking over mailboxes.
Plus, where I live the "gang" element seems to be on the rise and that makes going out on the town and traveling through parts of the city very uncomfortable.
It's relative to where you are and what you expect. I've been here for 4 years and as each day passes I become more and more dissatisfied with my decision to move here.
I researched this area to death and visited here many times before I moved here. But there are just some things that you can't research and it's those things that are getting to me. For example you can't research your neighbors...
I like my music moderately loud. Usually only for a little while on Friday or Saturday evening. Being in my 50's I listen to Classic Rock. I have a house on 1 acre that is 5 miles from the nearest ETJ. In other words I'm out in the country. My next door neighbor is on 3 acres with her house at the furthest point from mine that it can get. The very first weekend we were here she called the cops on us. It seems that in Pitt County your music can't exceed 60 dB in the day time and 55 dB at night. As measured at your property line! Nevermind all of the tractor trailers blasting up and down the road with no mufflers or the next door neighbor that comes out on a regular basis and blasts his 30-06 rifle over and over again for no apparent reason. My music is not allowed to be louder than a whisper at my property line. What is with that?
Anyway. She doesn't just call on me. There is another guy that is 1/4 mile from her house that she called on last weekend. And the worst part is this woman doesn't even live here full time. She only shows up to feed her horse. She does have an old shack there that a person could inhabit if they spent some money on it. But she likes to show up on Friday and Saturday evenings and sit on her back porch to watch her horse walk around. And God help you if she can hear one musical note.
It's not just her. Racisim runs rampant out in the country. And you don't have to be black to be discriminated against. Anyone that is different from these locals gets a title and is always second or not considered at all. Me? I'm the Damn Yankee.
They're also untruthful and don't trust anyone as far as they can throw them.
They're totally lacking in any kind of community spirit. I tried to organize our little grouping of about 125 homes into a community association. No dues or anything like that. Just a unified voice to try to get some improvements done. Some of my goals were to get the roads paved and try to get cable TV (which is only a short distance away) brought to our area. Not one single person would have anything to do with it. Huh? You don't want to improve your life by even a tiny bit?
And it's not just me. The black caucus in Greenville has this same problem. Recently the black leaders there called the state of affairs in Greenville a State Of Emergency and called out a community wide meeting to discuss the issues and try to formulate a plan. There are tens of thousands of blacks in the Greenville area. They couldn't even get 40 people to show up and of those that did none of them were political leaders. Yeah, that showing real community spirit.
I could go on and on all day but I won't. My part of Eastern Carolina is a nice place to visit but I don't want to live here.
Richard, I concur. This is a really schizophrenic area in which we live. A lot of lip service is given to southern hospitality and community and we want "you new people" to come here. But, I hate to say I am reminded daily by locals in not too subtle ways that I am always going to be an outsider.
The locals talk about wanting to building up the community but then when businesses do well they bad mouth them and double the rents of businesses around them. ( Yes, I have seen this firsthand.) Putting businesses out of business. How the heck is that good for the community?
And, don't get me started on racism...this area needs to do a flippin group hug and get over all this crap. Every time something happens it is because of this group and that group and that group and this group. OMG, already! And, talk about schyzo...a local police chief has worked hard to focus on community policing approaches and other things in the community. But, then an official gets arrested under dubious circumstances and the same community he is trying to help asks for his ouster... what?!
I could go on and I am not lying when I say I really wish this area was a better place in which to live...there are parts of it I LOVE. But, I am done trying. I have started planning my exodus and hope to be out by next summer.
It's relative to where you are and what you expect. I've been here for 4 years and as each day passes I become more and more dissatisfied with my decision to move here.
I researched this area to death and visited here many times before I moved here. But there are just some things that you can't research and it's those things that are getting to me. For example you can't research your neighbors...
I like my music moderately loud. Usually only for a little while on Friday or Saturday evening. Being in my 50's I listen to Classic Rock. I have a house on 1 acre that is 5 miles from the nearest ETJ. In other words I'm out in the country. My next door neighbor is on 3 acres with her house at the furthest point from mine that it can get. The very first weekend we were here she called the cops on us. It seems that in Pitt County your music can't exceed 60 dB in the day time and 55 dB at night. As measured at your property line! Nevermind all of the tractor trailers blasting up and down the road with no mufflers or the next door neighbor that comes out on a regular basis and blasts his 30-06 rifle over and over again for no apparent reason. My music is not allowed to be louder than a whisper at my property line. What is with that?
Anyway. She doesn't just call on me. There is another guy that is 1/4 mile from her house that she called on last weekend. And the worst part is this woman doesn't even live here full time. She only shows up to feed her horse. She does have an old shack there that a person could inhabit if they spent some money on it. But she likes to show up on Friday and Saturday evenings and sit on her back porch to watch her horse walk around. And God help you if she can hear one musical note.
It's not just her. Racisim runs rampant out in the country. And you don't have to be black to be discriminated against. Anyone that is different from these locals gets a title and is always second or not considered at all. Me? I'm the Damn Yankee.
They're also untruthful and don't trust anyone as far as they can throw them.
They're totally lacking in any kind of community spirit. I tried to organize our little grouping of about 125 homes into a community association. No dues or anything like that. Just a unified voice to try to get some improvements done. Some of my goals were to get the roads paved and try to get cable TV (which is only a short distance away) brought to our area. Not one single person would have anything to do with it. Huh? You don't want to improve your life by even a tiny bit?
And it's not just me. The black caucus in Greenville has this same problem. Recently the black leaders there called the state of affairs in Greenville a State Of Emergency and called out a community wide meeting to discuss the issues and try to formulate a plan. There are tens of thousands of blacks in the Greenville area. They couldn't even get 40 people to show up and of those that did none of them were political leaders. Yeah, that showing real community spirit.
I could go on and on all day but I won't. My part of Eastern Carolina is a nice place to visit but I don't want to live here.
Richard, I concur. This is a really schizophrenic area in which we live. A lot of lip service is given to southern hospitality and community and we want "you new people" to come here. But, I hate to say I am reminded daily by locals in not too subtle ways that I am always going to be an outsider.
The locals talk about wanting to building up the community but then when businesses do well they bad mouth them and double the rents of businesses around them. ( Yes, I have seen this firsthand.) Putting businesses out of business. How the heck is that good for the community?
And, don't get me started on racism...this area needs to do a flippin group hug and get over all this crap. Every time something happens it is because of this group and that group and that group and this group. OMG, already! And, talk about schyzo...a local police chief has worked hard to focus on community policing approaches and other things in the community. But, then an official gets arrested under dubious circumstances and the same community he is trying to help asks for his ouster... what?!
I could go on and I am not lying when I say I really wish this area was a better place in which to live...there are parts of it I LOVE. But, I am done trying. I have started planning my exodus and hope to be out by next summer.
Cheers.
I've heard that Cleveland is really nice this time of year!
I guess it's relative and in the eye of the beholder. I have lived in places I "felt" far safer and in a few places where I "knew" I was less safe.
But, in the part of Eastern North Carolina in which I reside, crime, especially property crime, is disproportionately higher than other parts of the state and most similar sized cities in the country. It has a way of making one feel less safe than normal.
Especially compared to my other family members who live in New England, for example, and the worst crime in their town is kids knocking over mailboxes.
Plus, where I live the "gang" element seems to be on the rise and that makes going out on the town and traveling through parts of the city very uncomfortable.
I've been told that Detroit has some very pleasant neighborhoods.
Dusty - you just proved Richard and my points. Well done.
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The people are very friendly, the employment is decent, the cost of living is great, the culture is not bad, and the food is awesome. To get me to leave will take a pine box. The question that I have is: What's up with all the negativity? Where is the high unemployment and high crime rates that everyone keeps talking about? I live in Greene County between Snow Hill and Kinston and I'm not seeing it.
My family and I live in PA for 10 months and 3 weeks after moving in there we got robbed. We also got robbed in Danville, VA. We left a lot of our stuff sitting under a carport here in NC for 7 months because we didn't have any place to put it and no one touched it. I've had to move 3 times in the last 4 years because my husbands work keeps getting sent overseas. The plant that he is currently working at needs over a hundred new employees and can't seem to get qualified applicants, that's not an unemployment issue that's an education issue. So, I was hoping that maybe someone could tell me where all this negativity is coming from because I have yet to see any unemployment problem or crime problem here in NC. Oh, before anyone slams me for saying there is an education problem, there really is an education problem - the schools are teaching the children how to pass tests and nothing else, No Child Left Behind had turned into No Child Gets Ahead. This is not just in NC it's the whole country that has an education problem. I'm homeschooling my son this coming school year and yes I have taught in the public school system and do have a degree. Thank you for your time.
Born in NC, Glad to be back here
