Roanoke: What are your favorite and least favorite things? (Norfolk: transplants, loan)

[Gardner222]

So many people approaching the mid years are escaping these big cities!! I think there are lots of younger, educated people
would love to live in Roanoke who cannot because the higher paying jobs are in you guessed it DC, Charlotte, Atlanta, etc.
I think one's choice of where one desires to live depends on one's age. Roanoke will always be limited by its terrain as far as
how Huge it becomes. From my observation, becoming a Huge area is something Roanoke does not aspire! The Big Cities
rarely make the Best Places To Live Lists. Odd?

[Watchful]

Originally Posted by cumbriabeval

I have heard Salem may be a close-knit community and perhaps not very welcoming to outsiders. Any truth to that?

I have only been here a couple of years - and my impression is that Salem has a HUGE amount of civic pride and a HUGE amount of school pride - I don't so much get the impression of it being "closed to outsiders" however. They just enjoy seeing themselves as SALEM - and not as an extension of Roanoke. (Historically it also pre-dates Roanoke!)

One of the funnier things to me is that the Roanoke County courthouse is located in Salem even though Salem is NOT in Roanoke County.

(That makes no sense to this lifelong Texan - haha - but in Virginia - towns are part of the county but cities are not - and Salem became a city in 1967 - which removed it from being a part of the county - but the courthouse remained there.)

[Gardner222]

The Virginia city/county issue has not helped Roanoke, Richmond, Lynchburg, etc from attracting new jobs, revenue over the
past decades. The founding fathers did not believe America should be a nation of Big cities and this original concept has
always conflicted with reality. The Roanoke Valley voted against consolidation of the localities in 1969 and this vote I believe
changed the focus of what Roanoke was to become. Salem is an older locality with much local pride and it is a City which means
it cannot annex land in Roanoke County for expansion. Roanoke City cannot annex land of the County also. What all of this means here is that when outsiders see Roanoke for a new Company, residence they only see statistics for Roanoke City
as far as income, crime, education data. In essence, Roanoke County does NOT exist!! They see the small City of Salem and
Roanoke and think it is out in the wilderness. Added to the confusion, Virginia focuses All of its resources toward Northern
Va which is growing at double digits, soaking up the state budget but in turn generates the revenue for the rest of the state,
The state legislature is dominated by NoVa legislators and there is no voice heard from SW Va which has so much potential.
Va Tech also contributes its resources in other areas of the state beside the Roanoke area. I guess the status quo will
prevail here as Va is one of the top states somehow, due to its proximity to DC. I guess the City/County issue works for
NoVa and that is all that matters, no?

[Veneficus]

Originally Posted by loveautumn

IMO, going from Houston to Roanoke area would be quite a shock. Houston, being a huge metro area with all the amenities close by, and Roanoke is limited and isolated. But that might be OK with you!

I'm from the NYC area and generally find everything here that I could there, just on a smaller scale.

Except real butchers.

[Veneficus]

Originally Posted by Gardner222

The Virginia city/county issue has not helped Roanoke, Richmond, Lynchburg, etc from attracting new jobs, revenue over the
past decades. The founding fathers did not believe America should be a nation of Big cities and this original concept has
always conflicted with reality. The Roanoke Valley voted against consolidation of the localities in 1969 and this vote I believe
changed the focus of what Roanoke was to become. Salem is an older locality with much local pride and it is a City which means
it cannot annex land in Roanoke County for expansion. Roanoke City cannot annex land of the County also. What all of this means here is that when outsiders see Roanoke for a new Company, residence they only see statistics for Roanoke City
as far as income, crime, education data. In essence, Roanoke County does NOT exist!! They see the small City of Salem and
Roanoke and think it is out in the wilderness. Added to the confusion, Virginia focuses All of its resources toward Northern
Va which is growing at double digits, soaking up the state budget but in turn generates the revenue for the rest of the state,
The state legislature is dominated by NoVa legislators and there is no voice heard from SW Va which has so much potential.
Va Tech also contributes its resources in other areas of the state beside the Roanoke area. I guess the status quo will
prevail here as Va is one of the top states somehow, due to its proximity to DC. I guess the City/County issue works for
NoVa and that is all that matters, no?

If the county had the cities dysfunctional government and failed public schools I would not have moved here.

I'm happy that Roanoke city is separate from the county.

[Watchful]

To me, the city/county thing is quirky but I'm not sure it's that big a negative factor in economic development. The number of metro areas that have consolidated city/county services is still rather small. And there is frequently a huge discrepancy between the population of the core city and the population of the metro area. Example:
Roanoke City population 97,032 Metro Roanoke population 312,331
Portland, Maine city population 66,194 Metro Portland, ME population 519,900 (numbers from 2010 via Wikipedia)

I would like to see us be the Roanoke-Blacksburg metro area rather than having these two separate. Would only make sense in my not-so-humble opinion!

[Gardner222]

Same here, I spent the last 30 years in D.C. I have found so much ignorance about Roanoke from people who have never been
here! Oddly, Virginians who live in the northern and Hampton Roads area seem to have pre conceived prejudices about the
SW part of our state, of which Roanoke is located. Unlike other parts of the state, western Va is heavily Caucasian, Protestant,
more regional accents, mostly English spoken and few foreign born. Roanoke City is changing from that model but the surrounding counties remain Anglo. I don't think people from outside Va know the vast diversity in Va. I do wish we had a real
delicatessen and more casual restaurants would stay open later. A good Greek restaueant here would be ideal. Oh well!!

[Gardner222]

Originally Posted by Veneficus

If the county had the cities dysfunctional government and failed public schools I would not have moved here.

I'm happy that Roanoke city is separate from the county.

With little economic development in Roanoke County going on there, especially commercial, Roanoke County relys on 87%
of its revenue on the real estate tax. The County schools are better than the City but financial pressures loom due to the
economy. The next school year should be interesting to see what the Board of Supervisors do about closing schools, layoffs.

[Gardner222]

Originally Posted by Watchful

To me, the city/county thing is quirky but I'm not sure it's that big a negative factor in economic development. The number of metro areas that have consolidated city/county services is still rather small. And there is frequently a huge discrepancy between the population of the core city and the population of the metro area. Example:
Roanoke City population 97,032 Metro Roanoke population 312,331
Portland, Maine city population 66,194 Metro Portland, ME population 519,900 (numbers from 2010 via Wikipedia)

I would like to see us be the Roanoke-Blacksburg metro area rather than having these two separate. Would only make sense in my not-so-humble opinion!

From my humble view, there are simply too many "economic development" agencies here promoting this area for new investment. We were told Roanoke County is NOW getting serious about economic development(That will be the day)!!
Roanoke City knows it cant do much as there is no land for expansion, so the focus is only downtown. The Roanoke
Regional Partnership is a joke as it doesnt know what its role is with all of the competing governments!
Roanoke County has spent over $60m on the failed Explore Park over the past decades touting new jobs, tourism and
today its a hiking trail! Roanoke City wasted millions on a failed new stadium years back. The City & County have seperate
police, fire departments. The list goes on but nothing will change of course. Yes, I would like to see Roanoke-Blacksburg
become one metro. I believe Blacksburg & Roanoke want it, after all we now have the Roanoke-Blacksburg airport now, with
a NEW manager who looks like he wants the airport to grow. Btw, Tourism spending here is breaking records which is great news!

[Veneficus]

Originally Posted by Gardner222

With little economic development in Roanoke County going on there, especially commercial, Roanoke County relys on 87%
of its revenue on the real estate tax. The County schools are better than the City but financial pressures loom due to the
economy. The next school year should be interesting to see what the Board of Supervisors do about closing schools, layoffs.

The NS families leaving will be a tough blow to recover from.

I think another school closing may be in the future; my money is on Clearbrook.