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I know a girl who lives in God's Country, WV she wakes at 3:30am every morning to get to downtown DC on public transportation by 7?. Ridiculous. I got tired of NOVA, so I moved 1,600 miles away and bought a 2,500 square foot house for less than 200,000$.
LOL The US is hardly overpopulated. If it weren't for the immigrants coming to this country our population stats would look more akin to Japan and Italy, (teetering towards negative decline). Both aforementioned countries have many problems directly attributable to their aging populations, sky rocketing health costs, declining working age population, and a growing negative relationship between working tax payers and retired pensioners. This is definitely not the situation that the US wants to be in. We have enough issues currently.
lol yes... looks like someone doesn't know about the 2.1 rule, and the negative consequences the United States would face if the birthrate fell below that number. Caucasian Americans are already having under that number. If it wasn't for minority Americans having 3-4 kids each on average we would be under the 2.1 replenishing rate.
America is also one of the lowest populated countries in terms of our physical size. Our population density is not that high at all, people just tend to live clustered together along the coasts, alluding to over population.
Here is an interesting fact. Did you know West Virginia has a higher population density than these states listed below? We have 75.3 people per square mile. The US average is 86.2 people per square mile. New Jersey the most densly populated state has 1,171.1 per square mile while at the other end of the spectrum Wyoming has 5.4 and Alaska has 1.2 people per square mile.
Vermont
Minnesota
Mississippi
Arizona
Arkansas
Iowa
Oklahoma
Colorado
Maine
Oregon
Kansas
Utah
Nevada
Nebraska
Idaho
New Mexico
South Dakota
North Dakota
Montana
Wyoming
Alaska
Last edited by GottaHerdOn; 05-27-2010 at 08:34 AM..
lol yes... looks like someone doesn't know about the 2.1 rule, and the negative consequences the United States would face if the birthrate fell below that number. Caucasian Americans are already having under that number. If it wasn't for minority Americans having 3-4 kids each on average we would be under the 2.1 replenishing rate.
America is also one of the lowest populated countries in terms of our physical size. Our population density is not that high at all, people just tend to live clustered together along the coasts, alluding to over population.
Here is an interesting fact. Did you know West Virginia has a higher population density than these states listed below? We have 75.3 people per square mile. The US average is 86.2 people per square mile. New Jersey the most densly populated state has 1,171.1 per square mile while at the other end of the spectrum Wyoming has 5.4 and Alaska has 1.2 people per square mile.
Vermont
Minnesota
Mississippi
Arizona
Arkansas
Iowa
Oklahoma
Colorado
Maine
Oregon
Kansas
Utah
Nevada
Nebraska
Idaho
New Mexico
South Dakota
North Dakota
Montana
Wyoming
Alaska
Wow, that really does make one think. It does make sense however when one truly thinks about it. The northern plains region is massive, and the population there miniscule.
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What you are experiencing in the Eastern Panhandle is most certainly NOT unique to your particular area. Here in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area of Northeastern Pennsylvania so many NYC transplants are moving here that our population has actually grown now for the past two years after many decades of steep decline. The adjacent Pocono Mountains are becoming paved over for strip malls, McMansions, etc. in the same manner that the Lehigh Valley of PA, Eastern WV Panhandle, South Central PA, etc. are all becoming. Housing prices throughout the BosWash Corridor are simply ludicrous now, and people are indeed making four- or five-hour round-trip commutes in order to afford their families a comfortable lifestyle. Soon you'll be able to drive from Portland, Maine southwards to Fredericksburg, Virginia, hundreds of miles away, without seeing a single tree if exurban growth continues in the way it has been.
I don't agree completley with your take on pennsylvania,luzerne and lackawana counties are actually losing people, yeah some people have moved to a few parts of pa but not that many and much of central, western and northern pa are losing people.
Perhaps if we had more sensible zoning policies that allowed for higher densities along with much higher fuel taxes like they have in other countries people wouldn't live so far from their jobs. I think it's socially irresponsible to live far away from a job just so one can have a bigger house.
I sincerely appreciate your need to tell me the way I should live.
I live in the panhandle and commute to Tysons. I love it here. People are more friendly. They aren't in as much of a hurry. They are less concerned about how expensive their car is. Women wear less makeup. People talk to each other, maybe because they mostly speak the same language? I know my neighbors. Oh yeah, they also generally don't want to engineer my life in the name of "social responsibility."
I grew up in the Northern Virginia and worried about what I was moving to five years ago. I love it here. I wouldn't move back to NoVa now. This is a better place.
The sad thing I've noticed is that the Shennandoah Valley of Virginia and West Virginia both seem to be getting lots and lots of people from D.C./Baltimore area and points north and east, and is getting too "gentrified" for me. I personally like the area of Virginia southwest of Roanoke, particularly toward the Tennesse line (Abingdon/Bristol/Marion region, the area oriented toward the Tri-Cities Tn/Va. area), partly because relatively close to Ky. from where I'm from and familiar with this area, but also partly has much the same scenery as Shennandoah Valley and Northern Va./W.Va. mtns without all the D.C./etc. ex-pats and not as many subdivisions and strip malls marring the landscape (though, unfortunately, that area does have some, too), with a little more untamed feel to it.
First...the EP is not next to DC. It's in the historic mountains that for the good of the enivornment, and representing historical value, should be preserved.
Now...some development is understandable.
However....Ashburn is ridicoulous.
It should not completely remake the community from one of clean, rural beauty to ugly, strip mall sprawl.
Do you want mile after mile of subdivisions and neon lights?
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a delicate thing and it would be sad to see them be nothing more than a line between strip mall a and b.
I've been in Eastern W.Va. panhandle several times, to me doesn't even seem like most of the rest of W.Va. (sure doesn't feel much like Huntington or Charleston or Matewan!), is a very pretty area, but seems to be inundated by D.C. and points north and east ex-pats, if ya' want to use that term. Still I think of it as a nice place, but give me New River Gorge anytime.
The sad thing I've noticed is that the Shennandoah Valley of Virginia and West Virginia both seem to be getting lots and lots of people from D.C./Baltimore area and points north and east, and is getting too "gentrified" for me.
You can add Pittsburgh to the list too. When the Steelers were in the Superbowl I can recall seeing a number of places in and around Martinsburg that were selling that Myron Cope/Terrible Towel in support of the Steelersdespite Martinsburg being in Redskin Country.not too mention posters of "Big Ben" ( Steeler's QB ) it sure seemed they were everywhere.
Last year my cousin who was working for Direct TV told me that around the Eastern Pandhandle there is no shortage of those who want the local Pittsburgh TV stations rather than DC or Baltimore, and many of them get them as well ( having a Pittsburgh address and pay your bill online ). Come to think of it I seem to recall some movement not that long ago by those who wanted to pick up the Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette in the area too but that has yet to happen ( and I doubt it will too ). Plus I have seen ads in the paper for local bus trips from Martinsburg to Kennywood...ah there is a lot of "Pittsburgh" in the Eastern Panhandle.
You can add Pittsburgh to the list too. When the Steelers were in the Superbowl I can recall seeing a number of places in and around Martinsburg that were selling that Myron Cope/Terrible Towel in support of the Steelersdespite Martinsburg being in Redskin Country.not too mention posters of "Big Ben" ( Steeler's QB ) it sure seemed they were everywhere.
Last year my cousin who was working for Direct TV told me that around the Eastern Pandhandle there is no shortage of those who want the local Pittsburgh TV stations rather than DC or Baltimore, and many of them get them as well ( having a Pittsburgh address and pay your bill online ). Come to think of it I seem to recall some movement not that long ago by those who wanted to pick up the Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette in the area too but that has yet to happen ( and I doubt it will too ). Plus I have seen ads in the paper for local bus trips from Martinsburg to Kennywood...ah there is a lot of "Pittsburgh" in the Eastern Panhandle.
There are folks with Pittsburgh roots all over the mid-Atlantic. That dates from the collapse of the big industry up there.
During the football season, it's just about equal parts Redskins, Ravens and Steelers out here.
The sad thing I've noticed is that the Shennandoah Valley of Virginia and West Virginia both seem to be getting lots and lots of people from D.C./Baltimore area and points north and east, and is getting too "gentrified" for me. I personally like the area of Virginia southwest of Roanoke, particularly toward the Tennesse line (Abingdon/Bristol/Marion region, the area oriented toward the Tri-Cities Tn/Va. area), partly because relatively close to Ky. from where I'm from and familiar with this area, but also partly has much the same scenery as Shennandoah Valley and Northern Va./W.Va. mtns without all the D.C./etc. ex-pats and not as many subdivisions and strip malls marring the landscape (though, unfortunately, that area does have some, too), with a little more untamed feel to it.
I am with you, but I have to work in northern virginia for my career. If I could move farther from this place I would, but the panhandle is the farthest I can get. I also despise gentrification and hope the panhandle does not change. I hope the people who move here do so because they like it here, not just for price or utility.
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