What CAN Hampton Roads support (Virginia Beach, Chesapeake: leasing, crime, house)

[goofy328]

After all of the negativity about what Hampton Roads can't do, I want to know what is possible for this region.

• We can't support professional sports teams
• We can't support high-end shopping centers
• We can't support skyscrapers
• We can't support light rail
• We can't support a subway system
• Portsmouth can't support tolls

To hear all of these pundits tell it this is just a broke down, working class metro region that can't support anything someone has to pay more than $25 to do. May as well just go the movies and make the best of it, but only at noon when tickets are only $4!


Is it true that the area lacks the diversity in which even a thousand people could be called upon to support something different, weird, eclectic and unique? Is the place that pedestrian?



In the past, Virginia Beach could not support a convention center. Town Center was too rich for our blood. Yet it was built and it turned out to be a success.

[xGrendelx]

I think I'm with you. I don't really get why people think HR is so lacking that it can't have anything nice. Some things will always have people who are against it (like light rail, new developments, etc.), but it doesn't mean the region can't do it. Light rail has exceeded everyone's expectations. Town Center, while I can't stand it personally, is always packed with people going to the clubs/bars/restaurants. Sure, HR is a mostly working class area and I like that. I don't see it as a hindrance. I'm not an expert on the economics of sports, but everyone I know, working class or not, has said they would support a professional team here.

[VA Yankee]

Perhaps you should pose the question to each city because the region can/will not cooporate towards a joint project.

[Coconut1]

Originally Posted by goofy328

What CAN Hampton Roads support

Wal-Mart?











Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[Caladium]

It seems to me that if flooding is a big issue, what the area should support is an impressive and artistic water barrier system.

Something like they have in the Netherlands--only better. And artistic--it has to be an architectural statement that would define the region much like the Eiffel Tower does, so it would draw tourists.

Maybe even something that could be visited by tourists. Picture something like gondolas that would be rented out on the structure, that tourists would ride between a few observation decks. Something colorful that would be featured in post cards and travel magazines.

Bring in more tourist dollars and other projects become easier to support. Plus, you would eliminate the flooding issues.

[poloi3eai2]

What Hampton Roads needs is jobs outside of the Military of Gov't sector. HR needs more large businesses/corporations to be headquartered in the area to bring in more professionals and keep our young professionals in Hampton Roads. Talented and skilled professionals don't flock to Hampton Roads for jobs. Most young college grads flock out of Hampton Roads to DC and NY for better opportunities.

Hampton Roads is slow to build new groundbreaking projects because lack of disposable income amongst the population. The majority of the population consists of families it's unlikely they will flock to high end restaurants, buy season tickets to a local pro team, or go on shopping at Saks 5th Ave.

You mention the VB Towncenter, that one is suprisingly successful but there are other towncenters in Portsmouth, Chesapeake, and Newport News that struggle to bring people in and keep businesses leasing their space.

For the OP, Macarthur Center is considered a "high end" shopping center. It used to have more high end stores but alot of them didn't succeed and the mall was already in decline in the mid 2000's. I remember there used to be a Dollar Store, mom & pop flea market type stores, and many vacancies. After the initial shiny and new appeal wore off, it's emphasis on high end turned away much of the population which consists of middle class families and military who don't care to spend $150 on a pair of jeans.

[Randomdude]

Originally Posted by goofy328

After all of the negativity about what Hampton Roads can't do, I want to know what is possible for this region.

• We can't support professional sports teams
• We can't support high-end shopping centers
• We can't support skyscrapers
• We can't support light rail
• We can't support a subway system
• Portsmouth can't support tolls

To hear all of these pundits tell it this is just a broke down, working class metro region that can't support anything someone has to pay more than $25 to do. May as well just go the movies and make the best of it, but only at noon when tickets are only $4!


Is it true that the area lacks the diversity in which even a thousand people could be called upon to support something different, weird, eclectic and unique? Is the place that pedestrian?



In the past, Virginia Beach could not support a convention center. Town Center was too rich for our blood. Yet it was built and it turned out to be a success.

Hey man, the only time I ever go to a movie is the $4 matinees!

Anyway, I dont think we cant support anything. I dont think we could support any pro sports teams, outside of maybe football, which isnt as dependent on the immediate population.

But the rest (outside of subways, since I think the water table might be too high), I dont think there is anything stopping us from supporting it. Why couldnt we support sky scrapers? Currently, we have about 10 different areas all of our business are spread across.....why couldnt we convince them to centralize?

I think light rail could survive just fine if carefully planned.

Additionally, I think this area is highly untapped to its possible potential.

First step is calling up Charlotte and Raleigh, and follow their blueprints on how to attract business and talent, and build a smallish city into a thriving metro on the rise.

I think the biggest problem this area has is just being "content". We know our problems, but we usually just ignore them, or hope they go away, or down play them, instead of actively trying to solve them.

I mean, what exactly does New York City have that we dont, geographically speaking?

[UHgrad]

Maybe the question should be... what do the majority of residents in Hampton Roads want to support? I think we can support most anything you mentioned, as Randomdude said, except maybe the luxury boxes at a pro sports event and any kind of underground mass transit. But do the majority of residents care about those things or see any significant value from adding them?

We are mostly blue collar, what is wrong with that? This area is always gonna be a large tourist and military area, that is just the way it is, and those two things to provide plenty of jobs and are cornerstones of the local industry. Look at the other major industries around here... the port, agriculture, healthcare, and some manufacturing. Still mostly blue collar. The majority of white collar jobs are govt contractors (DOD and NASA), Education, and some of the simulation and modeling centers in the area. I agree that we could benefit from more of those kinds of jobs.

In terms of attracting more businesses and "talent" to the area, I think Charlotte may be a tough compare because they were built on the financial industry mostly (the wall street of the south). I don't know that you can just duplicate that locally.

I think Raleigh, however (as suggested), is a great example of how you can have mostly suburban development and still attract a lot of good jobs. They don't have rail, they have sprawling suburbs, downtown Raleigh is not particularly dense or full of high rises and RTP is a sprawling business park with lots of green space. Yet they are able to attract a lot of good high tech good paying jobs to the region because of the excellent research universities nearby, low cost of living, and favorable tax rates as far as I can tell. There was nothing particularly special about Raleigh that brought people there, it was not some trendy hipster destination with flash mobs and protests going on all the time, just good jobs bringing smart people there as far as I can tell.

The moral of that story to me is that if you have challenging and good paying jobs, smart people will come and fill them, then your place becomes cooler. So we need to focus on bringing more of certain types of jobs to the region... bottom line. There is nothing else that needs to be said about that. How you do that best is up to economists to figure out but all of this attracting the "creative class" nonsense that Fraim is spouting at meetings needs to go. Festivals don't attract jobs, art doesn't attract jobs, all of these things are great but we need good paying professional jobs... you attract them and everything else falls into place.

The Fall of the Creative Class

sorry, not my most coherent post, I jump around a bit... but hopefully you can get my point.

[poloi3eai2]

Hampton Roads is complacent and slow to built shiny new things because of our stable economy. Hampton Roads was never a bad place or needed dire improvement so there's not much yearning for creative solutions like you see in New Orleans now. Also with the majority of locals working for the Gov't or Military, locals earn good respectable salaries earning up to 200k at the most, but nobody is striking it rich, creating startups, and bringing in more talent like Silicon Valley.

There are things that can be improved in Hampton Roads but it's never been BAD like Detroit, New Orleans, or once crime ridden parts of New York, DC, LA. We're pretty lucky our economy hasn't been hit hard from the recession. I would like to see more white collar jobs outside of gov't and military related though.

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by Caladium

It seems to me that if flooding is a big issue, what the area should support is an impressive and artistic water barrier system.

Something like they have in the Netherlands--only better. And artistic--it has to be an architectural statement that would define the region much like the Eiffel Tower does, so it would draw tourists.

Maybe even something that could be visited by tourists. Picture something like gondolas that would be rented out on the structure, that tourists would ride between a few observation decks. Something colorful that would be featured in post cards and travel magazines.

Bring in more tourist dollars and other projects become easier to support. Plus, you would eliminate the flooding issues.

Flooding is occasional, and once in a blue moon. This place is not New Orleans, and it is not underwater. While I do agree that there is a flooding issue, it is not enough of an issue to build infrastructure.

Ironically, the areas that deal with flooding, are the areas where we house our poor that could not afford the tax revenue it would take to solve the issue.