Rocky Mount is a nice city!!!!!! (Raleigh, New Bern: neighborhood, buying, theater)

[clydefrogg]

how long have you been in Rocky Mount and do you go out at night ? I dont live there but ive worked there for 3 years and its tough. I have seen a stabbing a shooting and many more crimes. The police officers that respond to my calls say they tell their wives not to shop after dark.

You are right its to late for Rocky Mount they want it to be all gangs now and thats what it is.The police are scared to do anything and the gangs have taken over.

Right now most of Rocky Mounts younger people live off of shoplifting. They have food stamps WIC and what they can lift.Some do it for their parents whos unemployment has run out.Yet out of all the job applications i review and send out for a drug test no one can seem to pass and if they do they cant pass the back ground check.What does this say about the city?

You dont have a clue!!!!!

[roy in nc]

Originally Posted by ZeusAV

One thing that hurts these Eastern NC communities a lot is their utility rates. I have some family that still live in Kinston and their utility bills alone usually are higher than my entire rent+utilities,internet, and cable here in Charlotte all combined.

Just creates a continuous cycle of poverty. Industries and businesses don't want to locate there either with such ridiculously high utility rates.

I strongly recommend that anyone interested in facts and reality, check into utility rates for yourself in "Eastern NC communities". The above and similar statements, while believed and often repeated, are not factual.

[vervenerve]

Hello! I've read through the majority of the thread and while it seems like there are some considerations, I'd prefer some up-to-date news about this city. I currently live twenty minutes away from Baltimore City, not the best city in the world but certainly not the worst. I've never lived in North Carolina but I'm moving down for a job in Roanoke Rapids.

What are the restaurants available? The recreation? I'm young and I've been told this city could "offer me more" than living in Roanoke Rapids. What has changed in the last few years?

[Hamish Forbes]

Live in Roanoke Rapids rather than commute. Think about the cost of commuting (not just the price of gasoline, but also the maintenance and life cycle of your car) and the amount of time you would be wasting each day, not to mention the frustration and the additional danger that comes with added exposure to traffic. You'll be fine in Roanoke Rapids.

Rocky Mount is a mixed bag. For sure, though, it is a small-potatoes town compared with Baltimore -- the two places have next to nothing in common except for the general problems of decay.

[vervenerve]

Hamish, do you live in Roanoke Rapids? I'm not overly concerned about the drive, or commuting considering my relocation distance. I'm also interested in the community and whether or not I'd be finding places with good libraries, acceptable restaurants, etc. I'm not a big shopper or a big spender, so a smaller town is fine, but libraries don't tend to be well stocked in smaller towns (and then if they have the county-wide transfer system, how well is it maintained, etc?)

[Hamish Forbes]

Originally Posted by vervenerve

Hamish, do you live in Roanoke Rapids? I'm not overly concerned about the drive, or commuting considering my relocation distance. I'm also interested in the community and whether or not I'd be finding places with good libraries, acceptable restaurants, etc. I'm not a big shopper or a big spender, so a smaller town is fine, but libraries don't tend to be well stocked in smaller towns (and then if they have the county-wide transfer system, how well is it maintained, etc?)

Hi, Vervenerve -- no, I live in Raleigh, and visit both RM and RR from time to time. I hope that someone who actually lives in RR will comment.

I don't feel comfortable with he kind of "city bashing" that you sometimes see on this forum. That notwithstanding -- neither RM nor RR is, in my opinion, a great place to live, although both are acceptable. RM is not that much better than RR, so my recommendation not to commute. In my opinion (and it's only that, one person's opinion), the difference wouldn't be worth the trouble.

As an aside: I grew up in Baltimore, too, and have lived in NC for more than 40 years, by choice, and have been very satisfied. However, if you are looking for a Metropolitan Baltimore kind of life, I am a little afraid that you will feel like you have been dropped on the surface of the moon in either RR or RM. There is nothing like the Enoch Pratt library system, Johns Hopkins, Little Italy, the Harbor, Lexington Market, edible seafood, Towson, NCAA lacrosse, Mount Vernon, etc. etc. in either RR or RM, or anywhere conveniently nearby. My thought is not to make things worse by beating yourself with a daily commute on I-95 until you adjust a little to the changes.

Speaking of restaurants -- wait til you have your first "Maryland Style Crab Cake" in either RR or RM.

Just my two cents worth. Good luck, whatever you decide.

[BradfromNO]

It's funny, Wire 120 has 56 posts, and they seem to be all in this thread. I think that maybe someone at some time wronged him
in or from Rocky Mount. That is my only explanation. I have lived in a lot of rough towns, New Orleans, Memphis, Jackson, MS...
I admit I do not like being in and around a ghetto-scene. But I also know one thing about NC in general, and while it might seem
racist, it really isn't. NC has a reputation in my mind of having the most wonderful blacks I have found in the US. When I was
stationed in Goldsboro, I met a lot of great black people, and when they opened their mouths, this wonderful NC drawl and kind
and soothing words came out. It taught me that people are always gonna be people. In NO, the blacks had developed a style
of speaking that turned me off early in life, what people once tried to call ebonics. In NC, people just talked like North Carolinians.
I will grant you this was the 1980s, and times have definitely changed. Rap came from nearly nothing to a worldwide genre and
culture of hate, crime and misogyny. What was good and pure in it died with old school hip hop to me. Kids today are scary bad.
And the desparate people are ever more desparate. Those who won't work will steal. I am not blind. But I also think people tend
to WAY overstate crime when it's really just based in fear of others.


But I digress. Yes, times are tough and people are changing. But if I had to live anywhere as a white guy among a town that
was 60+% black, I'd rather do it in NC than anywhere in the US. If you want people to say off your property, get a dog that YOU
select and not your wife or child. Don't get a yorkie or a kickapoo or a whatever. Live where you want to live, cause believe me,
if you don't want to live somplace, chances are they don't need you.

Sorry, as I read on I find more ammo. It's funny, city-data is such a window on the world. By it's very nature, you get SUCH a
cross section of people. You have people that probably live in fear everywhere they go raining down judgement on places when
they really should be admitting that they are not comfortable anywhere they go. If a cop patrols down their street 4 times an
hour they might be willing to take a stroller out for an hour a day before they go back inside and lock all the doors. And then
you have other people who are too busy living life to be scared by potential crime, or a sideways look from a person walking
down their street. One of the biggest critics of the early thread complains about crime and blight and that there are no good
restaurants there. Another person says, well, you have to look for them, but they are there. It's the same everywhere.
In Memphis there are no shortages of locally originated restaurants, but some of the most talked about food among the locals,
most people would never find, because they would never be in a position to drive by that place...Cozy Corner...look it up on
the Guugle maps, it's off North Parkway. Tell me if you would EVER go in there. EXCELLENT BBQ, smoked cornish hens, ribs are
a little chewy for my taste, but it's a good place. But my point is, some people couldn't find a good restaurant if they tried.
Dooky Chase in New Orleans is a fantastic example.

Meridian MS is another prime example of what was going on here in the early pages of this thread. Virtually a mirror image of
Rocky Mount demographically, economically, etc. A lot of city-data doubters couldn't live there. They would just be too scared.
OR too sure of everything they thought being RIGHT. I lived there for ten years, ten great years. I cannot AFFORD to live outside
the people. I can't RUN AWAY from people who are not like me. I was never targeted by theives, never shot at, I enjoyed
the full range of cultural offerings, lived a good and fun life. By the standards of the people holding court in the origins of this
thread, I was in a dying city where no one should ever go. Pfft, BS.

[BradfromNO]

Originally Posted by ninaspirit

In addition, the job market is NOT very fair as you say. Once they know you are not from the south you are lucky
to get a job in Wal-Mart. I was stationed there in 1967 and nothing has changed. They are not receptive to outsiders.

As a few people have tried to say in a beliveable manner, no offense, but this statement sounds odd to me. To my ears, when you say this,
it seems that you are basically saying that since you are NOT from there, then you are likely more intelligent or somehow more fit to receive
a job than a local, which you rightly state, also have a tough time finding a job. But it would also seem that you are on the final stretch of
your employment history and would likely have a tough time finding a job ANYWHERE, given the dramatic loss of middle-class jobs that has
transpired in the past 5 years. If you were in the military in 1967, then you are 65+, am I right? Like I said, how can you accurately judge
the fairness of the job market under those circumstances?

In the end though, you are right, jobs are scarce. But read the papers, things are tough all over, and NC was espeecially hard hit by Mexico
and India taking jobs that people used to hate, sure, but at least they could GET.

BTW, I was stationed in NC, too, back in the early 80s. You are correct, people were not very friendly and you now why? Well, hell, you
knew why THEN. You had money, they had none. The military is resented in almost every town they are based in. Goldsboro was merely
tolerant of us. Shopkeepers were the only people who didn't outwardly resent us. But I LOVED the area. I didn't let that get me down.

[theatregirl16]

So, i've read through this whole forum, and I have a few things to say. Number one, I have lived in Rocky Mount for 16 years, and still continue to live there. So, based on the fact that I am 16, I've been here my whole life. I would also like to say that unlike some people, I am NOT negative about living in Rocky Mount. Sure, I'm not oblivious to the crime that goes on around me. And there's a lot of it, mind you. But even though we have a high crime rate, it's rare that it ever comes around people who choose a higher level of living. I currently go to a public school, and I'm not one of the lower-educated kids. I'm currently 3rd in my class, and will be the only person from my school attending Governor's School this summer, which is an elite 5-week school for only the truly academically gifted. So I'm not coming on this forum as some stupid teenager. People say that our public school's students can't hold up among the rest of our state's public schools, and I am proof of that being incredibly false. One of our students also got accepted to Harvard. Our schools are great, as long as you actually put some effort into it. The reason our schools get bad reputations is because of those few students who don't care. As for the area, sure, there are some places I wouldn't go to alone. But I actually work in the theatre that is in Downtown Rocky Mount, and I never feel any danger whatsoever when traveling by myself. The solution to these "ghetto" areas? Don't go to them. Stay where you feel comfortable. It almost seems like an incredibly logical answer. My mom actually grew up in what was concidered "the ghetto" as the only white family in that neighborhood. She later grew up to graduate 3rd in her class, get her batchelor's in biochemistry, master's in education, and then later her doctorate in education. Her brother did the exact same thing, except in ministry. So good things do come out of the ghetto, and I'm proud to be the daughter of someone who once lived in Rocky Mount's ghetto. I go to the restaurants all the time, and I don't see any issue with that.
I'm going to close this and say that I'm proud to live here. You may have your opinions, but I've lived here all my life, and I wouldn't choose anywhere else where I could grow up.

[Tenne]

Originally Posted by theatregirl16

So, i've read through this whole forum, and I have a few things to say. Number one, I have lived in Rocky Mount for 16 years, and still continue to live there. So, based on the fact that I am 16, I've been here my whole life. I would also like to say that unlike some people, I am NOT negative about living in Rocky Mount. Sure, I'm not oblivious to the crime that goes on around me. And there's a lot of it, mind you. But even though we have a high crime rate, it's rare that it ever comes around people who choose a higher level of living. I currently go to a public school, and I'm not one of the lower-educated kids. I'm currently 3rd in my class, and will be the only person from my school attending Governor's School this summer, which is an elite 5-week school for only the truly academically gifted. So I'm not coming on this forum as some stupid teenager. People say that our public school's students can't hold up among the rest of our state's public schools, and I am proof of that being incredibly false. One of our students also got accepted to Harvard. Our schools are great, as long as you actually put some effort into it. The reason our schools get bad reputations is because of those few students who don't care. As for the area, sure, there are some places I wouldn't go to alone. But I actually work in the theatre that is in Downtown Rocky Mount, and I never feel any danger whatsoever when traveling by myself. The solution to these "ghetto" areas? Don't go to them. Stay where you feel comfortable. It almost seems like an incredibly logical answer. My mom actually grew up in what was concidered "the ghetto" as the only white family in that neighborhood. She later grew up to graduate 3rd in her class, get her batchelor's in biochemistry, master's in education, and then later her doctorate in education. Her brother did the exact same thing, except in ministry. So good things do come out of the ghetto, and I'm proud to be the daughter of someone who once lived in Rocky Mount's ghetto. I go to the restaurants all the time, and I don't see any issue with that.
I'm going to close this and say that I'm proud to live here. You may have your opinions, but I've lived here all my life, and I wouldn't choose anywhere else where I could grow up.

Great post. It is very true, anywhere you live it is all about how you apply yourself. We do have great teachers and great opportunities for extracirricular acitivies. Rocky Mount is great. Easy commutes, friendly people, a beautiful downtown (in the making), and the perfect spot to travel from.