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Actually was thinking about this last night, although nearby places (Greenville, Winterville, Wilson) may be more desirable, to say Rocky Mount is in the top 10 is a GIANT stretch, maybe the top 500, but definitely not the top 10. I have been to Rocky Mount SEVERAL times, the mall is full of shoppers, and EVERY restaurant is packed, and going out during the day, I never felt scared at all (coming from a young 100lb white girl who was raised in an ultra-suburban part of NJ). I think the results of this are severely scewed, and if Rocky Mount is that "impoverished" compared to all the rest of the U.S., the U.S. is in mighty good shape.
Okay, I think you are missing out on what poverty means. Poverty is not about malls, shoppers, and packed restaurants or whatever else you see five miles from the freeway. It's about low income, lack of health coverage, food stamps, medicaid, unemployment, etc. As for us that live here, we know what it's like. Also, it's not about color, it's about being poor. So next time, there is no need to give us your race and weight info. It doesn't give your comment more credibility.
Okay, I think you are missing out on what poverty means. Poverty is not about malls, shoppers, and packed restaurants or whatever else you see five miles from the freeway. It's about low income, lack of health coverage, food stamps, medicaid, unemployment, etc. As for us that live here, we know what it's like. Also, it's not about color, it's about being poor. So next time, there is no need to give us your race and weight info. It doesn't give your comment more credibility.
Get ready for one of my long, drawn out posts that justify my OPINION and my OPINION only:
- First of all I am very familiar with Rocky Mount, so it's not what I see 5 miles from the freeway. The reason I do not LIVE in Rocky Mount is we needed a rental close to immediately and there weren't any available in Rocky Mount (we are blessed we got one at all). I go to Rocky Mount 1-2 times per week, my dad goes pretty much every day.
- Why don't crowded restaurants and malls mean anything? If so many people are on food stamps, why is it impossible to eat anywhere in Rocky Mount any day of the week without a ridiculous wait? Why all these people on food stamps are going out to eat is a completely different discussion though, and I don't want to go off on a tangent.
- Rocky Mount has industry, and anyone who tells you otherwise. Main plants for Hospira, Cheesecake Factory and MANY others that I can name upon request are located there. There is a University (although not as large as ECU or UNC-CH, a University), 2 CC's amongst many other things. There are many, many, many other places with much, much, much less.
- My demo's DO matter. Not to increase my credibility though. My opinion of a safe place might be slightly scewed if I was a 300lb, male who was a nationally recognized Tae-Kwon-Do Champion. Demographics are ALWAYS relevant.
As I said, this is one opinion against another, and they are really only opinions. I can see if this was NC cities, but I will stick by my opinion, saying that throughout the U.S. Rocky Mount is in the top 10, that is an exaggeration.
Jackie I feel that I have offended you and I apologize. That said, our restaurants are not filled with the statistics that have my city below the poverty level. We are talking about residents within the city limits of Rocky Mount, not Nash County. I never said that there were so many people on food stamps. I was simply stating that the % of the population of those on food stamps is a factor in determining poverty level. Other than Hospira, most of the bigger employers in this area are paying Cheesecake factory wages, not FedEx or UPS wages. And this University that you speek of almost shut their doors two years ago because of lack of funds which is why they were begging to become part of the UNC system. We could on forever but lets not. I have lived here too long to lose this debate. I care about my city and maybe making this dreadful list will get the powers that be to wake up and make some much needed changes.
Rocky Mount is about missed opportunity...close to two major highways and never capitalized like it should have. The rest of Nash County is pretty nice, actually. I like the Red Oak/Nashville side of the county - that's where the money is in that county.
Jackie I feel that I have offended you and I apologize. That said, our restaurants are not filled with the statistics that have my city below the poverty level. We are talking about residents within the city limits of Rocky Mount, not Nash County. I never said that there were so many people on food stamps. I was simply stating that the % of the population of those on food stamps is a factor in determining poverty level. Other than Hospira, most of the bigger employers in this area are paying Cheesecake factory wages, not FedEx or UPS wages. And this University that you speek of almost shut their doors two years ago because of lack of funds which is why they were begging to become part of the UNC system. We could on forever but lets not. I have lived here too long to lose this debate. I care about my city and maybe making this dreadful list will get the powers that be to wake up and make some much needed changes.
No, you haven't offended me at all lol! I do think it would be very beneficial for NC Wesleyan to become part of the UNC system, the first time I visited RM I actually thought it was. Plus there are only three UNC schools East of Raleigh out of the 19 (ECU, UNC-W, and UNC-Elizabeth City which has very low enrollment that isn't even in the same ballpark as ECU or UNC-W), so if they could make NC Weslyan ECU/UNC-CH size I think it would do wonders for RM, and I think there would be a very good amount of enrollment. RM does have potential, and that is all I was trying to prove.
No, you haven't offended me at all lol! I do think it would be very beneficial for NC Wesleyan to become part of the UNC system, the first time I visited RM I actually thought it was. Plus there are only three UNC schools East of Raleigh out of the 19 (ECU, UNC-W, and UNC-Elizabeth City which has very low enrollment that isn't even in the same ballpark as ECU or UNC-W), so if they could make NC Weslyan ECU/UNC-CH size I think it would do wonders for RM, and I think there would be a very good amount of enrollment. RM does have potential, and that is all I was trying to prove.
NC.W will never be apart of the UNC System. They tried to become apart of it, but Erskine didn't bite. Which I am glad. The last thing we need is another UNC-P to feed. They did get a partnership from ECU and NCSU to setup satellite campus there.
I think growth in Greenville, and to a lesser degree in Wilson has come at the expense of RM, and a few other cities in eastern NC - a bit of a brain-drain effect perhaps. Greenville has been the 3rd or 4th fastest growing city (percentage-wise) in the state for a number of years.
The question is what RM is going to do about this statistic. Denial and simple civic boosterism aren't enough. About a decade ago, demographers projected that Edgecombe County would soon have the swiftest population decline in NC, and it was mostly met with denial, and then the population numbers - as though on cue - began to fall. Low-wage service and factory jobs don't really substitute well for industries that mostly aren't around anymore, and that is the limitation of luring in a plant with incentives, or trying to play up the transportation virtues in the area with an eye towards reviving old industries.
I recall an article some years ago in the Raleigh N&O, which quoted the then president of the Kinston Chamber of Commerce - Kinston's dubious distinction is that it's the only city with a population greater than 20,000 in NC whose population has steadily (albeit slowly) declined for 30 years now. He bemoaned the steady flow of 'best-and-brightest' to Greenville, The Triangle, Richmond, Wilmington, Charlotte. How to keep entrepreneurs, business developers, young people, creative types, educated people? ECU and Wesleyan (maybe), along with the community colleges will play a part, along with community activists. If there's an abundance of 'boarded up' real estate, are there any renovatable properties, or areas ripe for gentrification? If so, I would bet - in a depressed town - there are probably some good deals to be had - perhaps that could lure a few urban pioneer types from the eastern Triangle or Greenville. A trickle of that isn't nearly enough, but it's a start.
The worst thing that could happen would be city leaders trying to wish this away, out of a sense of wounded pride. That would guarantee that things will become worse. They need to re-think or re-invent a city vision, from the ground up, and that re-think needs to be comprehensive.
Not to mention the fact that Rocky Mount has the highest unemplyment and crime in the state as well. So you see why Rocky Mount was at least a candidate to be on the impoverished list.
Either Jackie was trolling here, or she hasnt been to Rocky Mount since the 1970s.
I was in Rocky Mount last summer. I stayed the night in a hotel on my way to the Outer Banks. I would never want to drive through there again!
I was wondering if there was a different part of the city we somehow missed while we drove around looking for a place to get a meal and a few sodas. Jackie seems to be the cheerleader. I've been wondering when she was last there. Maybe it was the 70's!
HAHAHAHA! I have last been there in the, let's see, last weekend! I also stayed there (at the Best Western) many days before I moved to Greenville. And I was no where near being born in the 1970's, and I mean NOWHERE near, my mother hadn't even graduated high school in the 1970's, do the math.
I never said RM was perfect, it isn't, but what it does have is potential. I also said I live in Greenville and I like it way better there, but RM HAS industry (my father works in RM), a college, 2 community colleges, plenty of stores, a mall that in my opinion is slightly better than Greenville etc, etc. It has some things that many other cities would hope for. Again I am NOT saying RM is Nirvana, I am saying with the right people elected it has huge potential, which should count for something. And I could see NC-W turning into a UNC-P, which was a total waste (I never even heard of UNC-P before one of my friends said he was applying there in case for some reason he didn't get into ECU.) But at least the Satellite Campus is a step in the right direction.
As far as finding a place to eat there are plenty of chains (Olive Garden, Applebees, Chilis to name a few), and I don't know the area well enough to know smaller, family-owned places. It isn't "scary" by any stretch, Kinston is more ghetto than RM IMHO. I stand by saying I feel this statistic is a bit of an exaggeration, and there are several cities more worse off than Rocky Mount.
(Sorry this isn't a super-long explanation but refer to my other 10 posts in this thread if you need more info )
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