Wilson, NC (Raleigh, Greenville, Rocky Mount: leases, crime rate, houses)

[shanvan70]

I currently live in Colorado and I have a job interview later this month in Wilson NC. I am trying to find out as much as I can about Wilson before my interview. If there is anyone on this board that has any information or suggestions on how I might get more information please let me know.

[mm34b]

Here's some demographic facts on the City of Wilson form the U.S. Census Bureau.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/37/3774540.html

[Bethanytedder]

Well, Wilson in my opinion is just a place in North Carolina. I live about 25 miles from there. It is in Wilson County near the coastal areas. Hurricanes are a problem when we have them but this year has been unusually quiet. We are nearly half way through the season and are yet to even have a hurricane form. But we did get a little off all three tropical storms that have formed but they were nothing to write home about. I am still holding my breath because I know like childhood this will not last. I can't really think of a single outstanding thing about Wilson except you can't use sofas on your porch for patio furniture. Someone was posting about a city ordinance about this earlier. I would imagine that it is like most normal southern towns. You are either born there, marry someone who was born there or perhaps you get transferred there. Now there is a Firestone plant in the town that people literally do their best to work at and the pay for North Carolina is excellent so I am told. The Heart of Wilson is the historic district and it has some older buildings that might be of interest to you. As for the hospital, stay out of there. Insist on Greenville some 30 miles to the northeast of Wilson. I am serious. I had two family members die because of malpractice associated with the place. The first one involved a 78 year old man that was dating my older sister (she is in her late 60's now). He was climbing a ladder to get a limb off a tree that was hit by Hurricane Bonnie. He slipped, fell and they took him to Wilson Memorial. They didn't find anything wrong and sent him home. 15 minutes later, his blood pressure starting dropping and he bled out from a nick in his femoral artery from a minor fracture of the pelvis. That was in 1998. Sometime later, my niece's husband was in a pool hall and he and another man exchanged words. The husband was sitting on the corner of a pool table when the man swung a pool stick at him and he lost his balance and fell on the concrete floor. They took him to Wilson and declared that he had too much to drink and sent him home. The next afternoon he started having seizures and they took him back to Wilson. By then it was obvious he had a subdural hematoma of the brain (bleeding and swelling in the brain) and they attempted to transfer Robert to Goldsboro. He died enroute at the age of 42. And I could go on and on. But these are two cases that I have direct personal knowledge of.

[RaleighRob]

Bethany makes a point about the hurricanes. If you live in Wilson, whatever you do, don't live near any rivers or big streams that are likely to flood!

[NCKatie]

There are no rivers running through Wilson but streams and creeks are plentiful. Parts of Wilson flooded during Hurricane Floyd. One of the famous BBQ restuarants was completely underwater as were other businesses and homes that ran along creekbeds. Rocky Mt, Tarboro, Princeton and other areas were hit harder by flooding than Wilson I think. But tell that to someone that lost their home or business here.

I live in Wilson, you can pm me with any questions you may have.

edited to add that flooding in Wilson IS NOT common. The only time to my knowledge that flooding occured was during Hurricane Floyd. We were caught off guard as much as anyone else living in a 100 to 500 year flood zone. I don't anticipate it being a regular concern here. But never say never.

[clodhopper]

Wilson was/is the epicenter of tobacco production and marketing in the US. It took a big hit economically beginning in the 90's when the US tobacco market really started to go down. Now, with the end of the quota/stabilization programs (price supports), US grown leaf production is taking off as Wilson tobacco enters the world export market at competitive prices.
Just read in the paper last week that there is 100% more tobacco grown in Wilson Co. than just 10 years ago.

No matter what one's opinion of tobacco is, Big Tobacco is back in Wilson and probably here to stay this time. Tobacco money will really drive the economy in this area in years to come.

I've lived either in Wilson or the surrounding county for the better part of the last 22 years. Met a farm girl and settled down. It's really NC in a nutshell, the best and the worst of the South. Economically it is poised to trend upward. Socially...probably could be described as not terribly sophisticated. But some super folks live here.

My advice would be to find a nice place out in the county and enjoy country life. The town itself is pretty basic, not terrible but not wonderful?

[Kimberly27893]

Wilson, NC is a town of right at 50K people about 50 miles Southeast of Raleigh and 25 miles Northwest of Greenville. It is an extremely depressed town with published unemployment rates of 12.7%, but a quick look around town will show the real number is closer to 30%. The median income for an individual is $21K per year while the median household income is $31K.

While the prices for a family home are extremely affordable in Wilson, the municipality controls all utilities in the area that charge extraordinarily high rates. The price per kwh for electricity is $.1436 while the price per therm for natural gas is over $1.57. The winter of 2009-2010 boasted utility bills that exceeded over $1250 for many residents for multiple months. These outrageous rates led to demonstrations and public outcry that attracted attention from lawmakers in Raleigh. Wilson's utility rates are among the highest in the state of North Carolina because of poor decisions made many years ago have been compounded by excessive spending by civic leaders. Wilson owns a small percentage of 2 nuclear power plants; however, they also purchase all their power through NCEMCA who purchases it from Electricities who purchases it from Progress Energy. This means their are 3 middle men between the producer and the consumer. Each entity adds their own profit margin which results in the excessively high bills citizens pay.

In addition to high utility rates, high unemployment, and below average paying jobs, Wilson boasts an extremely high crime rate for a city of it's size. While every town faces crime, Wilson has several gangs that have popped up in recent years. It is not uncommon to receive automated phone calls from the police department about crime waves warning residents to lock their cars, and not open their doors to strangers. Drugs are rampant in Wilson, and this combined with the gangs really makes the crime rate soar.

Medical facilities are very sub-par with most residents choosing to drive to Greenville or Raleigh for treatment. The mall is a ghost town that has lost 2 anchor stores in four years, and has more empty storefronts than occupied ones. Sears who has been in Wilson for over 47 years closed it's store this year, and several other long time mainstays of the mall have also allowed their leases to lapse and closed their doors or moved to another location.

Several businesses have moved in and out of Wilson in recent years. Farm Fresh grocery store lasted for a little over 8 months, and Home Depot barely made it one year before closing the doors of their new construction building. Roses Department Store is one of the newest business ventures to move into Wilson, and it is on a 90 day contract refusing to sign a lease for longer periods of time because of the flailing Wilson economy.

Night life in Wilson is none existent. Other than restaurant bars, there are only 2 other bars in the town. One is a private club with watered down drinks and high covers and the other is a sports bar better known for their wings than their alcohol.

I moved to Wilson 3 years ago, and if I had known then what I know now I would have chosen a different town. Greenville's job market is not much better than Wilson's; however, it has a lot more going for it. Raleigh has one of the fastest growing economies in the country and it is only 45 minutes north.

[zthatzmanz28]

We are amazed that small communities are able to control utilities and jack prices. Selma has a similar situation with electric...why are they allowed to be the distributor of electric and they do not even have a power plant?

[jmellc]

I grew up a few miles south of Wilson and worked there in tobacco warehouses and with an electrical contractor. That was some years ago, in the mid 70's. I still go there occasionally for BBQ at Parkers or Bill's, 2 of the best BBQ restaurants on Earth. The Creamery and Gold Park Grill were 2 great fast food places. Doug's Dog House and Cliff's Drive In were good places, but I think they are gone now. LaTorre was a good sub shop, near Parkwood. Don't know if it's still there. Monticello was a great little family owned cafe. Godwin's BBQ was a great place downtown. I smoked in those days and bought a carton of Winstons every payday for $2.95 at The Cigarette Hut on 301. I don't think $2.95 would even buy a pack of store brand smokes any more. Glad I quit.

I met some good people there, but Wilson was somewhat of a cliquish town back then, hard to get acquainted with people. I lived in the next county but would stay after work sometimes and go out on the town. It was hard to connect with people in clubs or bars, etc. Even casual conversations were hard to come by. Most places I went in other towns, it was easy to find people to talk with. People there didn't want to talk with you if they didn't already know you. That may have changed over the years. My wife lived there for a couple of years and thought pretty much the same thing. But I run into people from Wilson around here and they are very sociable.

I don't doubt what some others have said about Wilson having hard times. Even then, they were hurting some from I-95 bypassing 301, that cut off part of the traffic from Wilson to Rocky Mount. Several years ago, a new loop on 95 cut off Wilson altogether, I think. Big Tobacco was the lifeblood in those days and kept farmers & other tobacco people coming in & out. But that has changed everywhere now, with tobacco being marketed in different ways than before.

[jmellc]

Originally Posted by zthatzmanz28

We are amazed that small communities are able to control utilities and jack prices. Selma has a similar situation with electric...why are they allowed to be the distributor of electric and they do not even have a power plant?

My small town of Pikeville was and is the same way. They buy power from Progress Energy & resell. NC allows towns to do that. Rates are higher that way & I don't know if the towns really make any $, as they have to maintain their own subsystem. I don't know if the power co. shares in that expense; I don't think so.

I do remember dealing with Wilson's Utility Dept. when I did electrical work there. If we were working on a house and needed power cut or restored, they were usually there pretty quickly.