So you hate Hampton Roads? What do you suggest to better it? (Virginia Beach: transplants, city hall)

[Coconut1]

Originally Posted by UHgrad

The devil is in the details

And when you don't like the details somebody provides, you simply pretend they said certain things just to get your little digs in.

[UHgrad]

Originally Posted by Coconut1

And when you don't like the details somebody provides, you simply pretend they said certain things just to get your little digs in.

I included quotes in every statement I made. If thats the best you got I must be doing a pretty good job.

[Coconut1]

Originally Posted by UHgrad

I included quotes in every statement I made. If thats the best you got I must be doing a pretty good job.

I'm not talking about this thread. I've only been skimming your posts since I saw what you did on others.

[UHgrad]

Originally Posted by Coconut1

I'm not talking about this thread. I've only been skimming your posts since I saw what you did on others.

sounds kinda creepy but OK

[GuyinSFCA]

Several things might help to boost the area:

1. Build a larger, world class airport. Perhaps the Federal government could give Oceana to VB to do this, or better yet, bulldoze some of the bad areas near ORF and expand it. A large airport almost always brings in conventions, lots of travelers, and corporate offices. It would be nice to fly into Norfolk directly from large cities rather than to always change planes somewhere else.

2. Build a commercial cruise ship terminal in downtown Norfolk.

3. Think of another name for the area. No one seems to know what "Hampton Roads" is outside of the immediate area. Most of the time on the National news they refer to it as the Norfolk area or they just call the entire area Norfolk (or sometimes VA Beach).

4. Build trendy restaurants, shops, etc. in Ocean View and exploit the urban waterfront beaches that aren't found in a lot of other cities. Ocean View would be a prime location for a trendy upscale artist community.

5. Bulldoze the slums! The first thing anyone driving up Granby street sees in the ghetto formerly known as Wards Corner.

Until the area attracts creative talent, innovative companies, and it has a world class infrastructure, it will continue to have a difficult time being any more or less than what it is today. It is very unfortunate because it could be an incredible area with all of its deep water ports, prime location and moderate weather.

[UHgrad]

Originally Posted by GuyinSFCA

Several things might help to boost the area:

1. Build a larger, world class airport. Perhaps the Federal government could give Oceana to VB to do this, or better yet, bulldoze some of the bad areas near ORF and expand it. A large airport almost always brings in conventions, lots of travelers, and corporate offices. It would be nice to fly into Norfolk directly from large cities rather than to always change planes somewhere else.

2. Build a commercial cruise ship terminal in downtown Norfolk.

3. Think of another name for the area. No one seems to know what "Hampton Roads" is outside of the immediate area. Most of the time on the National news they refer to it as the Norfolk area or they just call the entire area Norfolk (or sometimes VA Beach).

4. Build trendy restaurants, shops, etc. in Ocean View and exploit the urban waterfront beaches that aren't found in a lot of other cities. Ocean View would be a prime location for a trendy upscale artist community.

5. Bulldoze the slums! The first thing anyone driving up Granby street sees in the ghetto formerly known as Wards Corner.

Until the area attracts creative talent, innovative companies, and it has a world class infrastructure, it will continue to have a difficult time being any more or less than what it is today. It is very unfortunate because it could be an incredible area with all of its deep water ports, prime location and moderate weather.

These seem like pretty good ideas (maybe not the oceana part but that is a different debate), some of which are already taking place.

I am sure that they would love to bulldoze the slums but that is politically pretty hard to do. There are a lot of secondary issues that come up and you have to figure out a place for those people to go.

We already have a cruise ship terminal in Norfolk, I am not sure if this is what you mean or if you envisioned something bigger though? It has been moderately successful but a lot of folks still go down to florida for their Caribbean cruises.

Cruise Norfolk | A convenient downtown pier and a location that allows "cruising close to home" in Norfolk, Virginia.

Correct me if I am getting the wrong impression here, but it seems like a lot of people's frustration is not that the area sucks but rather what it is vs what it could be.

It is like a smart kid in school that slacks off and gets average grades but has the potential to get straight A's vs an average kid that works hard to get those same grades. You get frustrated with that smart kid more than the other kid even though they are generally producing the same results.

People see the prime mid-atlantic location, the bay, rivers, and ocean, the deep water port, the numerous beaches, the mild climate etc... and feel like it could be so much more than just a military town with a small urban core, a resort area, and a lot of suburbs.

[Lethal2007]

Originally Posted by GuyinSFCA

5. Bulldoze the slums! The first thing anyone driving up Granby street sees in the ghetto formerly known as Wards Corner.

These are actually nearly completely engulfing the down town area as well. You drive along St. Pauls going toward waterside, slums to your left. You drive up Monticello, and you have Huntersville on the right, until you hit Park Place on the left.

[GuyinSFCA]

Originally Posted by UHgrad

We already have a cruise ship terminal in Norfolk, I am not sure if this is what you mean or if you envisioned something bigger though? It has been moderately successful but a lot of folks still go down to florida for their Caribbean cruises.

I am envisioning something much more robust, including major high-end hotels, etc. in the immediate area. With its prime mid-Atlantic location, Norfolk's waterfront could be so much more than it is today.

One of the core problems in the area is the low incomes. With lower incomes, the area cannot attract the higher-end retail, hotels, etc. that might help elevate the region. Local talent gets siphoned away to other metro areas in search of opportunties, and HR is only left with mostly lower paying jobs for its civilian workforce.

I remember in the mid-1980's Norfolk seemed to be making a comeback. Ward Corner was alive with activity, and I don't remember a lot of crime around ODU then. I don't know what happened, but looking at the drop in population, it appears the people with good jobs left for the safety of the suburbs of Chesapeake and Suffolk, but the low income people stayed put, thereby increasing their percentage of the population in the city.

There is probably some cause for hope for the area. The National trend in larger cities now seems to be people returning to the urban core, and the far out exurbs are becoming the new slums. That is already happening here in the SF Bay area where I live. It will take a little longer for this trend to come to mid sized cities like Norfolk, but I do think it could happen, especially in the future if gas prices soar. The convenience of living in a city during periods of high fuel costs is hard to beat, and energy prices are unlikely to drop in the coming future.

[Coconut1]

Originally Posted by GuyinSFCA

crime around ODU

Much of the crime is drug related. I've heard that the recent shooting was drug related. Apparently he (the kid that was killed) was a dealer.

There are some 'innocent' crimes (not motivated by anything like drugs; only one guilty party) but the vast majority have seemingly been between two guilty parties.

[UHgrad]

Originally Posted by GuyinSFCA

There is probably some cause for hope for the area. The National trend in larger cities now seems to be people returning to the urban core, and the far out exurbs are becoming the new slums. That is already happening here in the SF Bay area where I live. It will take a little longer for this trend to come to mid sized cities like Norfolk, but I do think it could happen, especially in the future if gas prices soar. The convenience of living in a city during periods of high fuel costs is hard to beat, and energy prices are unlikely to drop in the coming future.

I think there is a push already for people to move back to downtown norfolk... but energy prices could definitely accelerate that process. The major issue folks are having is that there are not a lot of affordable and safe areas down there. The nice areas are pretty nice (in my opinion) but also expensive (not SF Bay kind of expensive but high for the wages here) and the sketchy places are cheap but they are really sketchy. There is a movement right now to revitalize Park Place and you are starting to see a lot of educated younger people moving into the area and getting involved in civic league meetings and neighborhood beautification projects. I think that is the way to go, you will never be able to bulldoze that place since it is on the National Register of Historic Places.