Thanks and population change to HR (Virginia Beach, Norfolk: section 8, transplants, home)

[leighland]

Thank you all for advice on the great fabulous happy time we spent on Southside. As you know, we spent quite a lot of time with extended family stationed on the Peninsula in the past and we love the area more and more each trip.
So I was thinking it will be years before we are able to plan to move to HR or back to SoCal
I see lots of tourists from everywhere visiting HR when I am there.
I am worried that the area will be run over by Northerners/Canadiennes/others moving to escape weather and taxes in their home states but still wanting certain cultural/politics and materials in HR. I am worried that these people will move en masse and demand the area change to their Own Private Idaho, so to speak.
In San Diego, people talk about moving to SoCal to 'reinvent themselves in the California lifestyle' only to leave after 4 years because they are poor and SoCal natives are more interested in designer jeans and Beiber, not yoga-yoohoo-selfinvention crap.
Do you worry that HR will be something its not in 10 years, like for example a bastion of 70 yo Progressive NYers searching for good bagels?

[The Dissenter]

Originally Posted by leighland

Thank you all for advice on the great fabulous happy time we spent on Southside. As you know, we spent quite a lot of time with extended family stationed on the Peninsula in the past and we love the area more and more each trip.
So I was thinking it will be years before we are able to plan to move to HR or back to SoCal
I see lots of tourists from everywhere visiting HR when I am there.
I am worried that the area will be run over by Northerners/Canadiennes/others moving to escape weather and taxes in their home states but still wanting certain cultural/politics and materials in HR. I am worried that these people will move en masse and demand the area change to their Own Private Idaho, so to speak.
In San Diego, people talk about moving to SoCal to 'reinvent themselves in the California lifestyle' only to leave after 4 years because they are poor and SoCal natives are more interested in designer jeans and Beiber, not yoga-yoohoo-selfinvention crap.
Do you worry that HR will be something its not in 10 years, like for example a bastion of 70 yo Progressive NYers searching for good bagels?

Absolutely not. Hampton Roads has nowhere near an attractive enough job market or anything else to bring in a overwhelming Yankee population. The local officials down there are bent on making sure the status quo stays. Hampton Roads will be exactly the same in 10 years.

Not saying all that to bash HR. It is my hometown, I know it all too well.

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by leighland

Thank you all for advice on the great fabulous happy time we spent on Southside. As you know, we spent quite a lot of time with extended family stationed on the Peninsula in the past and we love the area more and more each trip.
So I was thinking it will be years before we are able to plan to move to HR or back to SoCal
I see lots of tourists from everywhere visiting HR when I am there.
I am worried that the area will be run over by Northerners/Canadiennes/others moving to escape weather and taxes in their home states but still wanting certain cultural/politics and materials in HR. I am worried that these people will move en masse and demand the area change to their Own Private Idaho, so to speak.
In San Diego, people talk about moving to SoCal to 'reinvent themselves in the California lifestyle' only to leave after 4 years because they are poor and SoCal natives are more interested in designer jeans and Beiber, not yoga-yoohoo-selfinvention crap.
Do you worry that HR will be something its not in 10 years, like for example a bastion of 70 yo Progressive NYers searching for good bagels?

I think it has already happened. You never really know where anyone is from down here.

Its part of life,and part of the evolution of a city. Virginia does what she wants to do, and is not easily influenced. Blame New Yorkers if you want; it was really her idea.

[Serenity2019]

Originally Posted by goofy328

I think it has already happened. You never really know where anyone is from down here.

Its part of life,and part of the evolution of a city. Virginia does what she wants to do, and is not easily influenced. Blame New Yorkers if you want; it was really her idea.

You mean if I move back to my home (Va. Beach) Tidewater, I will not even feel like there are others that are natives of Tidewater?! I know there has to be some areas full of locals that grew up there like the North area of VB - Chick's beach, Lynnhaven Colony, Bayville, Chesapeake Beach, King's Grant, Little Neck, Aragona, Bayside. I know these places and there are locals / natives in these areas.

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by coastalbum

You mean if I move back to my home (Va. Beach) Tidewater, I will not even feel like there are others that are natives of Tidewater?! I know there has to be some areas full of locals that grew up there like the North area of VB - Chick's beach, Lynnhaven Colony, Bayville, Chesapeake Beach, King's Grant, Little Neck, Aragona, Bayside. I know these places and there are locals / natives in these areas.

Yeah absolutely. I am not saying that there are not pockets of locals down here. Particularly in the housing projects around here where you have generations of locals or some of the older, more established neighborhoods but there are a lot of transients like myself that are not native to the area. I would say that about half of the people I've ran into down here, in my short time since 2005, are natives and half are not. You also have natives that have left and returned, because their family is still here.

Do you not want to live around transients? There seems to be a big difference between the transients from the Northeast and the West, that feel that HR is 30 years behind and is never good enough, to the transients from the Midwest like myself that see HR as a nice place to live without a lot of the social issues they had to deal with back home. Not all transients are the same.

[Serenity2019]

Originally Posted by goofy328

Yeah absolutely. I am not saying that there are not pockets of locals down here. Particularly in the housing projects around here where you have generations of locals or some of the older, more established neighborhoods but there are a lot of transients like myself that are not native to the area. I would say that about half of the people I've ran into down here, in my short time since 2005, are natives and half are not. You also have natives that have left and returned, because their family is still here.

Do you not want to live around transients? There seems to be a big difference between the transients from the Northeast and the West, that feel that HR is 30 years behind and is never good enough, to the transients from the Midwest like myself that see HR as a nice place to live without a lot of the social issues they had to deal with back home. Not all transients are the same.

Thanks man. I know there are locals there, as I have friends I still visit that grew up there, as well as my family that still lives there. I prefer to live with the locals if I move back, at least a primarily local native area. I am nice to everybody, I just want my local neighborhood to have some locals at least. I left and may return because I have family there too. I get along here where I live because it is so similar to Tidewater, Va. It is also '30 years behind' here in Charleston, Sc where I live, so I am used to it

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by coastalbum

Thanks man. I know there are locals there, as I have friends I still visit that grew up there, as well as my family that still lives there. I prefer to live with the locals if I move back, at least a primarily local native area. I am nice to everybody, I just want my local neighborhood to have some locals at least. I left and may return because I have family there too. I get along here where I live because it is so similar to Tidewater, Va. It is also '30 years behind' here in Charleston, Sc where I live, so I am used to it

That's cool. Not everyone needs a "cutting edge" city like NY or LA. I have no problems with Tidewater, I think there is something here for everyone. There probably are still locals in your old neighborhood. Tidewater isn't exactly the same as it was when I first moved here, and I've only been here since 2005. They've built a lot of new mid-rise complexes, like 4 stories, all over the place some in Chesapeake, some in Virginia Beach, some in Norfolk. They tore down the projects in Portsmouth and replaced it with Section 8. They put in a TCC campus in Portsmouth. Norfolk has a new 6 story library, and Virginia Beach has a second main library in conjunction with TCC. The Tide is the new light rail system in Norfolk. Virginia Beach is increasing density through Town Center, and will increase density throughout the entire Northern side of that city. Skyscrapers that did not exist back in 2005 are popping up.

So the area is becoming more "northern" in that sense, and there are a lot of new transplants. I would not say that the area has lost its character, but I haven't been here long enough to have a realistic point of reference. There are a lot of buildings that didn't exist previously, all over the place, particularly in Norfolk and Virginia Beach. I still think Tidewater is a good mix for those looking for some urbanity but not the overwhelming sense of urban you get in cities like NY, LA, Atlanta, etc. Something for everyone.

[Serenity2019]

Originally Posted by goofy328

That's cool. Not everyone needs a "cutting edge" city like NY or LA. I have no problems with Tidewater, I think there is something here for everyone. There probably are still locals in your old neighborhood. Tidewater isn't exactly the same as it was when I first moved here, and I've only been here since 2005. They've built a lot of new mid-rise complexes, like 4 stories, all over the place some in Chesapeake, some in Virginia Beach, some in Norfolk. They tore down the projects in Portsmouth and replaced it with Section 8. They put in a TCC campus in Portsmouth. Norfolk has a new 6 story library, and Virginia Beach has a second main library in conjunction with TCC. The Tide is the new light rail system in Norfolk. Virginia Beach is increasing density through Town Center, and will increase density throughout the entire Northern side of that city. Skyscrapers that did not exist back in 2005 are popping up.

So the area is becoming more "northern" in that sense, and there are a lot of new transplants. I would not say that the area has lost its character, but I haven't been here long enough to have a realistic point of reference. There are a lot of buildings that didn't exist previously, all over the place, particularly in Norfolk and Virginia Beach. I still think Tidewater is a good mix for those looking for some urbanity but not the overwhelming sense of urban you get in cities like NY, LA, Atlanta, etc. Something for everyone.

Thanks man. I don't want or care about urban! People are always saying that like Urban, what is that??
Ol' Tidewater is what I am used to and it is very similar to where I live now in Charleston. Thank you for giving me the updates on the changing Tidewater. I don't like much the fact that many transplants are moving there, but that's ok as long as there are still those natives that like a little southern suburban coastal city.