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Old 07-17-2012, 04:18 PM
 
Location: Portsmouth, VA
6,509 posts, read 8,447,520 times
Reputation: 3822

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There seems to be a lot of confusion from the outside about Virginia Beach. It usually seems to fall into one or a few different categories. Either people do not know how large Virginia Beach is, how many neighborhoods are in Virginia Beach or cannot believe that the city, for the most part, is safe.

Does anyone realize that Virginia Beach is just one city out of seven? I've seen outsiders talk about Virginia Beach like it is just the city and a bunch of suburbs. Outside of coming to City-Data, looking it up in Wikipedia, or Googling Virginia Beach how will anyone know that it is just a small part of the metropolitan area, and not just one big city.

How do I tell someone about a bad neighborhood in Virginia Beach? There are neighborhoods with a poorer or richer population than others. There are demographics that you can use to describe the neighborhood, but I do not know of an "unsafe" neighborhood in Virginia Beach. If there are murders in this city I never hear about them. Virginia Beach might be good for theft, robbery, rape, or petty crimes, but the type of problems people want to avoid, I just do not associate with the city.

Virginia Beach is the type of place, that you can do everything you want in your own neighborhood. This isn't a small town where you have to go into other neighborhoods if you do not want to. There are 15 different zip codes, 160,000 homes and apartments, homes for less than $97,000 and homes for more than 1.9 million. It is a diverse city.

Virginia Beach is often compared to Norfolk. It has 16 zip codes. It has over half the inventory than Virginia Beach has. There are also homes for less than $97,000 and more than 1.9 million (though not as much). The median home value is less than Virginia Beach though.

If you want a nice neighborhood, but do not have "nice neighborhood money", just move to Virginia Beach. A neighborhood as nice will cost you a lot more in Norfolk. The trade off in Norfolk, is that Norfolk is more urban. Things are built closer together. You may be able to walk, or take the bus or a cab, or now a train, as opposed to merely drive. And since it is a "real city" there is real crime that goes along with that. If crime keeps you up at night, just stay in Virginia Beach.

It is a matter of choice. Both cities have things to do, both are accessible and both have something for everyone. You will need a car in Virginia Beach. I would never recommend that anyone that is planning on utilizing public transportation move to Virginia Beach. But that is the cost of that "Virginia Beach lifestyle" until it is built up and there is more of a demand for public transportation. Virginia Beach is like that typical Midwestern suburb that has the occasional bus roll through once an hour. That bus may or may not run after 9 pm, and it may or may not get you to your destination within an hour. You will probably have to transfer, and you may have to transfer again. You also have areas you simply are not going to get to by bus, probably because of NIMBY that did not want their property values to depreciate, or whatever. It is a way of life in America.

There are even Black people in Virginia Beach. I see forums on City-Data where people talk about interracial relationships, or if their kids will be teased or whatever. I don't see that as being a problem in a city that is 18% Black. So Virginia Beach has everything most cities have, it is just spread out and you have to travel a bit farther to get to it.

If you are still on the fence, chose Chesapeake. Chesapeake is like the both of best worlds, and a blend of the worst of Norfolk with the best of Virginia Beach. I do not know how Virginia Beach has become a science project. I guess after living here for a while it seems to speak for itself. I apologize if I have come across as curt but it gets annoying after a while ...

Last edited by goofy328; 07-17-2012 at 04:26 PM..
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Old 07-18-2012, 08:35 AM
 
1,209 posts, read 2,619,865 times
Reputation: 1203
You are absolutely right that most folks, outside of the Military, do not have a good idea of what this area is like or how the 7 cities are related. Because VB lacks a major sports team, major university, or nationally recognizable company headquartered here... a lot of folks aren't exposed to it outside of the immediate area.

You are also right that VB is actually a pretty decent place to live. I submit my case:

VB, in 2010, had the second lowest violent crime rate per capita of any city in the U.S. with a population over 250,000 people. Lower than Honolulu, San Jose, San Diego, Raleigh, Portland, or Seattle.

United States cities by crime rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

While not as diverse as some other major metros, Virginia Beach has enough diversity that nobody needs to feel uncomfortable around here. And certainly nobody around here gives a crap about biracial children because they are everywhere. Out of my close group of friends, 8 out of 10 are in what would be considered a mixed-race marriage or relationship (myself included). According to 2010 census, the demographics are as follows (please excuse any rounding error where it doesn't add up to exactly 100%):

Non-Hispanic White = 64%
Black = 19%
Asian = 6%
Hispanic = 6%
Mixed or other = 6%

Virginia Beach, Virginia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Great Schools . org puts Virginia Beach public schools in the top 5 for cities with populations over 300,000 people.

Top public schools: Large U.S. cities - Virginia Beach, Va. | GreatSchools

Park Score ranks VB number 7 for the best city park systems with the most number of parks per 10,000 residents in the country.

The Best City Parks Systems in America - Neighborhoods - The Atlantic Cities

And HR, in 2010, had the second lowest income inequality rating of any metro over 1 million people. That means that we are the second most egalitarian metro in the country, trailing only Salt Lake City Utah.

http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/acs-16.pdf

Add to that a mild climate and miles of waterfront (ocean, river, lake, and bay)... and you really can't complain too much. Sure it has gotten a little to expensive since the housing bubble, it is bland (lacking in character), there are not a lot of trendy restaurants or night clubs, and it is a little spread out if you want to take advantage of everything... but all and all it is a pretty nice city to live in. It is actually most everything that people say they want without the pretentiousness that come with living in a lot of other nice cities.

Last edited by UHgrad; 07-18-2012 at 08:46 AM..
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Old 07-18-2012, 11:35 AM
 
3 posts, read 30,064 times
Reputation: 13
Nice post OP. I think you've summed up Va Beach quite nicely.
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Old 07-20-2012, 08:25 AM
 
Location: Coastal South Carolina
6,417 posts, read 1,429,027 times
Reputation: 5286
Great write up. I agree with all , and I am a native of Va. Beach, lived there 30 years , went to Princess Anne High School, went to Old Dominion University. Would like to move back....
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Old 07-20-2012, 09:44 AM
 
Location: From TX to VA
8,578 posts, read 7,072,529 times
Reputation: 8175
I agree with Goofy and UHgrad. Both are correct. The only thing I can add is that whether or not a neighborhood is 'bad' can be subjective. 'Bad' to one person may seem tolerable to another. I guess it's all in how you look at it.
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Old 07-20-2012, 10:51 AM
 
Location: Portsmouth, VA
6,509 posts, read 8,447,520 times
Reputation: 3822
Quote:
Originally Posted by LilyLady View Post
I agree with Goofy and UHgrad. Both are correct. The only thing I can add is that whether or not a neighborhood is 'bad' can be subjective. 'Bad' to one person may seem tolerable to another. I guess it's all in how you look at it.
Absolutely.
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Old 07-23-2012, 09:29 PM
 
4 posts, read 23,678 times
Reputation: 15
Virginia Beach is a much cleaner & safer city than Norfolk. VB has issues as any city but,VB is cheaper than Norfolk when it comes to taxes,etc. & Norfolk is a very dirty city. The City of Norfolk is very stingy when it coms to road improvements.
I made the mistake of moving from VB to Norfolk about 5 or 6 years ago & what a contrast.
Norfolk's city fathers are interested in one thing & that is to collect revenue any way they can from you.
They had been sending me notices saying i owed back taxes from a period when i moved back to VB a couple of years earlier. It took them about three years to get their act together to realize they had made a mistake.
Thank god i moved back to VB where the streets & air are cleaner.
So long Norfolk.
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Old 10-08-2012, 08:15 PM
 
16 posts, read 36,326 times
Reputation: 42
One of the best things about Virginia Beach, which I have not seen mentioned here, is that it is the home of the best psychic in America, the late Edgar Cayce. The headquarters he built called the Association for Research and Enlightment is here! I have been a member for over 25 years and it has inspired my choices when creating the good in my life. I am certain everyone who discovers it will agree with me, too.
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Old 10-09-2012, 04:08 AM
 
Location: Anchorage, Alaska
3,840 posts, read 4,510,328 times
Reputation: 3089
Salaries are low and housing/rent is high. I doubled my pay stepping off the plane in Alaska and pay $548 a month for what would run me around 1200 in VB.

I miss some things about life in HR but the pay isn't one of them!
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Old 10-09-2012, 04:41 PM
 
Location: Norfolk, VA
154 posts, read 388,381 times
Reputation: 72
One reason Virginia Beach isn't that well known as a city is that it would be considered a county in any other state due to Virginia's annexation laws and numerous independent cities. It is very suburban. Comparing it to Norfolk is comparing apples to oranges as Norfolk has urban issues that are found in any actual city. Virginia Beach is more like a Henrico County or a Fairfax County.
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