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Location: Sunny Phoenix Arizona...wishing for a beach.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by havin fun
Last night, on local NBC affiliate, it was announced that studies show that by 2030 NC population will increase by 50%. They likened it to the entire population of the state of South Carolina moving into NC. They also said that NC is NOT prepared to handle the influx. Schools, roads, entire infrastructure, cannot be prepared in time to meet future demands. Parts of NC are already experiencing MAJOR "growing pains".
What state is not going to have that kind of growth in 23 years and why? Where do you go to get away from the population explosion? The west coast?
Location: Partisanship Is An Intellectual/Emotional Handicap
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RobertBallard
Thanks for your candor. I kind of figured that was the case.
Yesterday a long thread about whether North Carolinians welcomed transplants was locked. Within that thread several posts expressed sentiments similar to yours. Other posts on the thread claimed that the exclusivity that you witnessed was totally untrue.
I have been here for eight years (originally from New Jersey) and to tell you the truth, I believe there's definitely some truth to it.
Since I have moved here I have had two boys with a North Carolinian woman. So both my boys are NC-born. Her father is friendly with me and we're relatively close (but that took quite some time). But the rest of her family which is an enormous family, makes me feel like an outsider; even after eight years. Incuding her mother.
Sadly and luckily, after eight years my closest friends down here are my longtime best friend (from New Jersey since we were 17/18 years old) who just moved down here recently, and my other friend who moved down here with me; eight years ago. Both are originally from New Jersey.
I've tried to make friends with husbands of her friends and neighbors; not one of them have any interest being friends with this transplant.
Then there's an elderly woman who is originally from California, who we have become close to, through mutual friends of her's. She has tried everything to make firends down here, but no NC-born people will even bother to get to know her. They call her when they want her to come to their church and donate money, and that's it. She never hears from them for any other reason.
So we bring our kids over to her house (she adores our boys) and take her out to eat and do stuff with her. She's 69 years old and she's lonely. I love the woman. She's intelligent, kind, personable, has a warm heart and has a good sense of humor. Yet not one NC-born person gives her the time of day. Explain that!
The only NC -born person who has eagerly embraced me since I moved here, is the woman that we rented a house from in Concord, back in 2003.
She immediately embraced me and became a wonderful friend, much more than the the father-in-law (it took years for him to even have a full conversation with me). And she still is to this day! We still call her regulary and visit with her. She's the sweetest, warmest and friendliest person I have ever met. She's 90 years old, now.
When I first moved here, I worked regular jobs like everyone else. For the first two years of working here, I could not make any real friends. No one wanted to watch football on Sunday, no one wanted to come over and watch movies....or go out and throw the ball around......or play golf......or do anything, really.
I am very fortunate now to work from home for a publisher who is from out of state. So at this time the job market in NC is irrelevent to my making a living. But if I was not doing this work, I'd probably be looking to get the hell out of here. Who knows, I still may.
That's what worries me about moving to the South from IL/IA is the hidden old boys networks and family networks. That doesnt work up here very well and we definitely promote diversity (yes, even in Iowa they are TRYING to get a diverse population here). I have not heard about too much in NC but in Alabama and Georgia that's how it goes for sure based on talking to others in those states.
The US Census projects that by 2030 North Carolina will become the 7th most populous state with 12,227,739 residents. Believe it or not, I think that with proper thought and planning NC could retain much of its beauty and appeal and not look much different from the way it looks today.
I completely agree with you here, but the key words are "proper thought and planning." And from an article I read on this same issue, they pretty much said they WON'T plan for the growth. That confused me. Why wouldn't they??
maryCh... thanks for the reply. Best of luck with your move, and I can completely understand how difficult it can be to live in a rural county.
and to both maryCh and NMyTree... I'm sorry people haven't been more friendly and welcoming. I think there is definitely a misconception that people here are more accepting and sweet; they are when you're passing through or on vacation, but they're less likely to open their "circle" to outsiders actually moving here. That's probably in part because they don't like change in any form. My boyfriend's family lives in a smaller town in eastern NC; I'm from Durham, but even when I visit them, I feel like an outsider. I'm "big city" there. There's some perspective for ya
Anyway, I totally got this thread off track. Carry on!
Can we possibly be prepared for that kind of growth? I wonder if any areas of the country have ever grown as fast as NC is projected to grow. San Francisco Gold rush? Homesteaders in the Plains?
I know Northern Virginia exploded, and Dallas metro and others grew very fast, but we're talking about an entire STATE!
EDIT: mm's map shows that 91 of the 100 NC counties will grow by at least 10% by 2030. More than half of NC counties will grow by more than 25%. The US growth rate is only 3-4%.
Nj experienced growth like that. NJ used to be a lot of farmlands and forests. Until the 80's when everyone in NYC decided to leave to get away from the crime and provide a better life for their families. I know people that live 1-2 hours away from Manhattan into NJ and commute everyday to work. I believe their growth was more then what is projected in NC. Because it was the entire north part of NJ, the entire central part of NJ and now it is starting to spead into the southern areas.
I just want to add something that might give people from other states moving to NC another thought. Actually ya'll are not alone with this problem.
Even if you were born and raised in NC it would not matter. Moving from one area of NC to another you are still considered an "outsider" when you get there. Especially moving from a urban to a rural area. You were either called "city" or "country". I don't know how many times in my life I was called "city boy" when visiting friends in rural areas. When I moved to a less populated area I also found it hard to break into the "club". As far as finding a job back then you really needed to know somebody to even get considered.
If you really think about it, you will find this "outsider" problem almost everywhere you go. I do not think it is just confined to NC.
Anytime you have a rural area that demographically has not seen change in decades, and all of a sudden has a huge influx of people especially in the last 5-10yrs. rendering the infrastructure totally inadequate, then complaining about how terrible it is, with “outsiders” being the reason it is so, then there will be problems. Plus all of the other stereotypical and not so stereotypical problems that arise with cultural and traditional differences. Also, let us not forget the huge illegal immigrant problem that faces rural NC. How many TV/movies have you seen where the small town sheriff notices a stranger in town and asks him what he is doing there. In low populated areas where everybody knows everybody "outsiders" get noticed. Rural NC is no different. North Carolinians are afraid their state will turn into one of those states that the people are escaping from and I don't mean escaping the weather. On this forum most are NOT moving because of weather. Most of the posts I have read are from people leaving their present state because of crime/gangs, traffic, taxes, nobody speaks English and so on. Guess what. What the people of NC were fearful of, is coming true.
All of those things ARE frightfully on the increase since the boom started in rural NC and it is getting worse, not better. Personally, I am for a moratorium in Brunswick County on all new housing developments until the infrastructure can at least catch-up.
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