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I lived for several years on Market St. in North Wheeling, and ran a business there. It was once a lovely area, and it made quite a comeback in the 60s and 70s when folks started taking an interest in historic restoration. It was fine until about 1983. By then most of the mills had either closed or seriously scaled down operations. When they tore down Vinyard Hills, that basically did it in. I was on Wheeling Island just today. My younger son lives there. My wonderful hometown is a shell of its former glory. But, if you live in the right areas... as I said earlier "out the pike" Woodsdale, Pleasanton, Oakmont, anywhere near Oglebay Park, it is still a great place to live.
Wheeling has a lot of prostitutes. Wheeling Island floods. I have lived here all my life except for a few years off and on.
I would never live on Wheeling Island unless I had a flood plan to save my stuff before it floods. People have a lot of pit bulls,
around there. Been a lot of knifings on Wheeling Island late at night. Mostly bar stuff. Is mainly African American area on island. other than that. not to bad. Just watch your back be careful and keep your doors locked.
I live in Wheeling and can tell you anything about it for the most part. There are tons of nice streets in Wheeling to live on. I have been all over Pittsburgh and some of the streets in Wheeling easily equal some of the streets in the more affluent neighborhoods of Pittsburgh. Some of the houses in the nicer areas of Wheeling would go for about 400k+ in a Pittsburgh neighborhood like Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, or Mt. Lebanon.
One of the huge problems in Wheeling is the job situation. It's a "very clicky, who you know, and who you're related to" city when it comes to jobs. The gas drilling has not helped at all even though there was a lot of hype that it would. It's 95% out of state workers and all the hotels are filled with them.
Last edited by wanderlust76; 06-28-2012 at 07:21 AM..
I think Wheeling is starting to turn the corner economically. It is now ranked in the Top 20 for small cities for places to do business, and ti believe the side effects of that Marcellus and Utica shale gas and oil are starting to work themselves through the community. I haven't seen as much activity in that area in more than 20 years.
I live in Wheeling and can tell you anything about it for the most part. There are tons of nice streets in Wheeling to live on. I have been all over Pittsburgh and some of the streets in Wheeling easily equal some of the streets in the more affluent neighborhoods of Pittsburgh. Some of the houses in the nicer areas of Wheeling would go for about 400k+ in a Pittsburgh neighborhood like Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, or Mt. Lebanon.
One of the huge problems in Wheeling is the job situation. It's a "very clicky, who you know, and who you're related to" city when it comes to jobs. The gas drilling has not helped at all even though there was a lot of hype that it would. It's 95% out of state workers and all the hotels are filled with them.
Yep Bunch of Bull if you ask Me. If you already didn't have a house you might as well forget it.
All the gas drilling did was RUIN IT FOR THE LOCALS.
I got a Job (decent) with the highway dept, in early 2009. I was going to buy a house but got sick in june 2013.
Had to take my social security.
You cant find an decent affordable place around here for nothing.
(I need a House with a Nice Garage, That will take HUD Voucher. (HUD is Good Pay)
Im so sick of this area anymore It's a Zoo with all the traffic and the rude people on the road and in the stores.
Ruined it for the Locals..
Signed, Not Loving Living Local
Yep Bunch of Bull if you ask Me. If you already didn't have a house you might as well forget it.
All the gas drilling did was RUIN IT FOR THE LOCALS.
I got a Job (decent) with the highway dept, in early 2009. I was going to buy a house but got sick in june 2013.
Had to take my social security.
You cant find an decent affordable place around here for nothing.
(I need a House with a Nice Garage, That will take HUD Voucher. (HUD is Good Pay)
Im so sick of this area anymore It's a Zoo with all the traffic and the rude people on the road and in the stores.
Ruined it for the Locals..
Signed, Not Loving Living Local
I think Wheeling is starting to turn the corner economically. It is now ranked in the Top 20 for small cities for places to do business, and ti believe the side effects of that Marcellus and Utica shale gas and oil are starting to work themselves through the community. I haven't seen as much activity in that area in more than 20 years.
I was hopeful that this assertion was true but from what I could find, it has no merit.
I ran through several other sites that seemed to make a business on such data but they tended to limit the sample to 20 listings and no West Virginia should be in the top 20 of any list because, well, its in West Virginia - a terrible place for anyone to do business because of tax and legal systems.
I would be interested in seeing what source you have for Wheeling being in the top 20. We could use the good news.
I ran through several other sites that seemed to make a business on such data but they tended to limit the sample to 20 listings and no West Virginia should be in the top 20 of any list because, well, its in West Virginia - a terrible place for anyone to do business because of tax and legal systems.
I would be interested in seeing what source you have for Wheeling being in the top 20. We could use the good news.
Well there you have it, the Chamber of Commerce has their ranking and as usual has their heads stuck where the sun doesn't shine. Judging from the objectivity of most of the Chambers I have come in contact with, anything they endorse has to do with who is giving them the most money.
Here is what most of them totally ignore. Potential. That is related to proximity to large population centers and in northern West Virginia the potential for oil and gas related developments which are sure to come online when the Monessen (PA) cracker facility comes on line, and the Beech Bottom cracker to be build across from Moundsville starts producing in a few years. Any objective analysis would also consider average ages and educational levels of residents, the depth and scope of available higher education offerings, and population health data as well as population trends. It's obvious that the folks at the Chamber have been spending too much time in the wrong chamber.
Looking at their methodology, they ignore the fact that city limits play a small role in an area's prospects, and they fail to take into consideration permanent but fluctuating temporary residents such as college students. If they are using 50,000 as a cut off point, but counting only "permanent" residents, they have deeply flawed statistics. In many communities, more people live just outside their city limits than inside them too. But if people are actually going to pay attention to what they say, I'd look for hundreds of new residents and businesses in areas they endorse and look for them soon. I know they don't take bets on things like that, and I am not a betting person, but I wish they did because I'd be at the front of the line to do it.
Last edited by CTMountaineer; 05-23-2019 at 11:42 AM..
Well there you have it, the Chamber of Commerce has their ranking and as usual has their heads stuck where the sun doesn't shine. Judging from the objectivity of most of the Chambers I have come in contact with, anything they endorse has to do with who is giving them the most money.
Here is what most of them totally ignore. Potential. That is related to proximity to large population centers and in northern West Virginia the potential for oil and gas related developments which are sure to come online when the Monessen (PA) cracker facility comes on line, and the Beech Bottom cracker to be build across from Moundsville starts producing in a few years. Any objective analysis would also consider average ages and educational levels of residents, the depth and scope of available higher education offerings, and population health data as well as population trends. It's obvious that the folks at the Chamber have been spending too much time in the wrong chamber.
Looking at their methodology, they ignore the fact that city limits play a small role in an area's prospects, and they fail to take into consideration permanent but fluctuating temporary residents such as college students. If they are using 50,000 as a cut off point, but counting only "permanent" residents, they have deeply flawed statistics. In many communities, more people live just outside their city limits than inside them too. But if people are actually going to pay attention to what they say, I'd look for hundreds of new residents and businesses in areas they endorse and look for them soon. I know they don't take bets on things like that, and I am not a betting person, but I wish they did because I'd be at the front of the line to do it.
I agree on a lot of what you say here. Charleston has a miniscule city limit and this combined with a lengthy commute from Putnam, Boone, Lincoln and Clay counties each day adds another ding to the capitol's rating. I am sure this affects Wheeling too. It is also has a small footprint and it is not easy to get into the city due to geography.
Oddly, Huntington, which would not be affected by either of these issues, does not make some of the lists. Of all of the cities in West Virginia has the best geography for growth - what are those people doing so wrong?
Morgantown gets a lot of benefit from having WVU there.
Parkersburg should have a better rating too, but doesn't.
I actually like Wheeling's set up, very old world, very charming.
But, these ratings are based on what is there in these locations, not what could be there. Potential has little impact, actual is the basis. No city in West Virginia should be a good place on any rating list for a business to start. We have horrendous tax structures and hostile corruption.
Oddly, Huntington, which would not be affected by either of these issues, does not make some of the lists. Of all of the cities in West Virginia has the best geography for growth - what are those people doing so wrong?
Most of these ratings look at the MSA statistics actually, not just city limits. So it includes areas outside city boundaries. Huntington is actually still listed in the large cities/MSAs rather than small cities. That’s the case for Forbes at least. With the Chamber list, the Huntington MSA is too big for the small cities list as 250,000 is the upper limit and they appear to have only looked at the top 55 large cities.
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