Top 5 Things You Love (or Hate) about HR

[lammius]

Whether you love the area or hate it you came to this forum to talk about it. Try to assemble a list of 5 reasons you love or hate Hampton Roads/Norfolk/Va Beach/Tidewater/SEVA/etc.

[okinawatyphoon]

Like: (not in any order)

1. Norfolk's downtown (my first)

2. Climate....you get all 4 seasons

3. Military bases

4. Family oriented

5. Good mix of urban and rural

Dislike:

1. Constant bickering between cities for surpremacy

2. Lack of unification

3. No rail mass transit (i.e. monorail, lrt, etc)

[lammius]

Good list. Here's mine:

Likes:

1. Climate. I miss those mild winters

2. Cost of Living

3. Gorgeous/majestic bodies of water everywhere

4. History. Loved taking trips to W-burg, Jtown, plantations, etc.

5. Good seafood

Dislikes:

1. Lack of Transit. I hate having to drive everywhere down there.

2. Lack of a network of older, dense, walkable neighborhoods outside downtown. Density falls off pretty quickly

3. Lack of recognizable ethnic/cultural neighborhoods

4. Problem of regional unity/identity crisis

5. Area's relationship (chiefly political) to the rest of the state.

[krdarden]

Good list.  Here's mine:

Likes:

1. Climate.  I miss those mild winters

2. Cost of Living

3. Gorgeous/majestic bodies of water everywhere

4. History.  Loved taking trips to W-burg, Jtown, plantations, etc.

5. Good seafood

Dislikes:

1. Lack of Transit.  I hate having to drive everywhere down there.

2. Lack of a network of older, dense, walkable neighborhoods outside downtown.  Density falls off pretty quickly

3. Lack of recognizable ethnic/cultural neighborhoods

4. Problem of regional unity/identity crisis

5. Area's relationship (chiefly political) to the rest of the state.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My top 5 likes are:

1. Diversity of area, we are one of the most intergrated areas in the country!

2. The potential of this area to grow into a major metropolitan area.

3. The weather has seasons and snow means, in most cases, an unexpected day off

4. Wealth of sports talent! This region is uncanny for producing superstars in sports and we are constantly highly looked upon in the sports world.

5. Natural resources and history. By far the most historic region in this country!

Now my 5 dislikes:

1. Although we are one region, there are many who would rather us be a backwater community still living in the 1950's!

2. Too many NIMBY 'ers who are selfish and only wants what is best for them with no regards for what is best for the area.

3. Cities and counties are separate entities which makes it hard for us to grow like the cities in North Carolina.

4. Too conservative, politics seems to dictate everything that happens in this region.

5. Pat Robertson! Enuff said on that!

[Former Resident of HR]

5 likes in no particular order:

1. The Western half of Norfolk with old neighborhoods like Ghent, Colonial Place, Larchmont, etc.

2. Climate: we get the seasons but not too much of any one

3. Proximity to the OCEAN and rivers

4. ORF: easiest airport to get in and out of most of the time

5. Norfolk's new downtown, a very clean city for the US.

dislikes:

1. Religious right and its might here

2. The conservative, overly 'colonial' architechture that dominates, esp in suburbs

3. Way way way way way too much sprawl and lack of cohesive planning

4. lack of a nice park system in Norfolk (compared to Richmond, DC, etc)

5. Jet noise... THAT'S WHY I DON'T LIVE NEAR OCEANA!!!!

(just a little suggestion to all the whiners out there who are part of CCAJN or "cajun" as they have the nerve to call themselves: sell now while the market is hot and move on with your life )

[JohnnyCockfight]

The Good:

1. The water (ocean, bay, rivers, etc.)

2. The pace of life (not too fast, not too slow)

3. The weather

4. Proximity of airports (Norfolk, NN, Richmond)

5. The pirates (arggh matey)

The Bad:

1. The f*^*ing traffic!

2. Lack of bars (partly the state's fault w/ its laws)

3. Poor girl-to-guy ratio

4. VDOT

5a. Suburban sprawl & strip-malls

5b. Too much ghetto

[cityhopper]

no specific order

The Good:

1. Growth/Opportunity (Great projects coming to the Peninsula and Southsie. Higher paying job opportunities all around. Can get a nice home at a forgiving price)

2. THE WATER

3. Weather (Great mixture of 4 seasons)

4. Location (Richmond, DC, Philly, NY in a suitable drives distance)

5. Semi-metro appeal

The Bad:

1. Traffic (I will say the traffic is no where near as bad as ATL)

2. Requires Car

3. HR is more of a term than a way of life (The area is not really connected)

4. Lack of identity (Outsiders probably correlate HR with Bases)

Once you live in HR and live in other areas, you appreciate so much that you may have taken for granted before. I certainly did.

[Jerseyman4]

No order:

Likes:

1. Its where the north meets the south and/or vice versa

2. Virginia Beach's Sandbridge area

3. Abundant of restaurants to choose from (especially seafood)

4. Friendly people

5. There are things to do

Dislikes:

1. Similar to NJ, a lot of traffic

2. Crime in some areas of Norfolk and Newport News

3. It was a four hour drive from where i was living in North Carolina. Gas was not $3 back then.

4. CBBT is $12 (was $10 at the time i was frequently visiting there)

5. The sprawl outside of the Hampton Roads Beltway

[Glassoul]

Whether you love the area or hate it you came to this forum to talk about it. Try to assemble a list of 5 reasons you love or hate Hampton Roads/Norfolk/Va Beach/Tidewater/SEVA/etc.

The Good:

1: Friendly People - I never thought about this until I spent considerable periods living outside of the South.

2: Downtown Norfolk - big enough to support good restaruants and the arts. Not so big to be a traffic or parking nightmare.

3: The Water - I spent many summers on the family boat and they are some of my favorite childhood memories.

4: Generally well-run city and state governments, not overly liberal or conservative. You can't appreciate this until you live elsewhere.

5: Colonial (everywhere) and Victorian (Portsmouth/Norfolk) architectures and the long history of the region.

The Bad:

1: Humidity and relatively short spring/fall seasons.

2: Traffic in the tunnels almost all the time and over the interstates during rush-hour.

3: Lingering racial problems and large disparity between rich and poor.

4: NIMBY - It has not gotten out of hand here like some other places in the country/western world. Hopefully it stays that way.

5: Those who think Virginia Beach is the only city in the region and think the world ends when I-264W does...

[vdogg]

5: Those who think Virginia Beach is the only city in the region and think the world ends when I-264W does...

That's hilarious.

[johnk812]

L

[urbanvb]

Hey, what happened to your posting?

[Chesapeake Pirate]

OK, I will jump in here three months behind everyone.

My main likes:

1. Living in downtown Norfolk with convenient access to work for both my wife and I (without using the interstates or tunnels:), church, shopping, restaurants, etc.

2. Proximity to my alma mater, East Carolina University in Greenville, NC.

3. Good number and variety of reasonably priced golf courses.

4. Cultural and general fun opportunities such as Norfolk Forum, Virginia Stage Co., various theaters, ODU events, Town Point Park events, etc.

5. Nice weather-I was raised in NY and grew to hate equally snow and the length of our driveway.

Dislikes:

1. The needless duplication of services and the parochialism of the political structure caused by our contiguous Seven Cities.

2. Being located at the dead end of I-64. We need an interstate connection along the coast and we need one to Raleigh.

3. Having to explain to people outside Virginia what and where Hampton Roads is.

4. Inability of our state politicians to effectively serve the transportation needs of the southeastern corner of VA.

[urbanvb]

Let me add my .02 dislike (it's more like a pet peeve really). Here in VB I have noticed quite a few times that while sitting at a red light which then turns green the person in front sometimes is not paying attention and just sits there - stopped at a green light. The strange thing is no one beeps or anything! Yesterday, as the 4th car back, I almost missed the light cycle. C'mon folks, pay attention. And if you are behind such a person be 'courteous' and give a small beep or something.

Ok, I feel better now.

[johnk812]

haha - Yeah, I think it just go too insulting. I get too wound up when I'm here. I took it back. I guess not soon enough.

Here's the calmer, gentler list

LIKES

1) Norfolk. Ghent, Freemason, Downtown, etc. It's the cultural center for me.

2) Virginia Beach. I don't think I'd like this area as much if it weren't for all that sand and surf. I like all the other 5 cities ok, just not as much as Norfolk or VA Beach. They stand out is all I'm saying.

3) Traffic. I happen to think it's actually good. Go live in a bigger city and come back. You'll see.

4) Norva. The best live music venue I've been to and I've been to many and many and many. The sound is awesome.

5) Harbor Park. I've only been once, but I was blown away. We're lucky to have all this waterfront to play with too. N-Telos is mightly fine as well. I guess I should just say the WATERFRONT.

I have plenty of likes and could go on.

DISSES - (warning, my dislikes are lame!)

1) Lack of national identity. I'm not sure how important this is really. It was part of the fun living in Philly to be from somewhere people actually heard of for a change.

2) Lack of a major newspaper with "Hampton Roads" in the title. That could help with our identity.

3) "Hampton Roads" is what? I live here and understand it. I'm tired of explaining it to other people. I still just say I'm from Norfolk..."ah ah, you know, close to Virginia Beach."

4) "The Peninsula" and "South Hampton Roads." I wish the two were a little more spiritually joined. Maybe Norfolk and Hampton could merge to end the argument once and for all, or something. Maybe just sh*tcan The Daily Press. haha

5) I think I'm done at 4. I like it here. I'm cool with it.

[johnk812]

Chesapeake Pirate, you're right on the money. Interstate to Raleigh and along the Coast; wow, now you're talking.

And about "Hampton Roads" as our region name, I almost don't see the point. I don't think many people are using it. If we don't have it printed on maps and across the top of our paper instead of "Virginian-Pilot" it's just not going to stick. If we're going to use it, lets go nuts and use it silly! No more Norfolk International Airport. It's now Hampton Roads International. No more Norfolk Tides. It's now Hampton Roads Tides. If we don't go all out, why bother I say.

[MissSouthNorfolk]

5 things I like:

1) The warm winters, if I want to take my son sliding, we just drive to the mountains three hours for the weekend. I don't want to snowblow it anymore. I'm a Maine girl and miss my state but hate the snow.

2) The economy is much better here with the cost of living. The wages are lower in the northern states, lack of jobs, and well the pay is less than half of what we earn here.

3) The clean beaches and state parks. In Maine they don't clean the beaches and you swim in seaweed, etc. Much warmer waters here too.

4) The interstates and tunnels. Yes, I said it. Back home it's a fight just to widen roads to four lanes and add highways. You all just don't know how hard it is to go back and visit. Here, if I avoid rush hour, can pretty much make it anywhere in reasonable time.

5) The many stores, shopping centers, malls, grocery stores on every corner, and movie theartres. When one store doesn't have something I want, I just drive to the next one. There's only 5 malls in the whole state with very little variety.

6) Public works department. It's great to call in bulk pickups for just about anything and never having to go to the dump. Curbside Recycling program is wonderful. Maine has deposits and you have to take your own bottles in to get your money back. Just stinks.

7) Entertainment. There usually something going on somewhere on the weekends.

Dislikes:

1) The crime here is unbelievable. The stress of wondering if your safe shopping in broad daylight, stopping at a convience store while getting gas, even sitting out on your steps wondering if a drive by is going to happen. In Maine, if there is shots fired, it's because it's hunting season. Since living here, I can tell between fireworks and gunshots. How many bullets are in the clip or what size the clip is. I can actually make a guess to what kind of gun is being used. This is not something I ever thought I would learn in a milliion years. Safety is a big issue.

2) The southern flag flying and people acting like they didn't loose the war. No one up north even talks about it except in history class. Although I do like it here for the history, I just dont' want to relive it.

3) Lack of Universities in the area. We're bigger and more should be offered right here. What we have is great, just need more of it.

4) Housing projects. Too many of them and creats more of a problem then if you spread out the low income housing to different areas.

5) Parking Police. I got a ticket two years ago when my meter ran out and I was 5 minutes late. I was buying something in the shop and was checking out. It was the beginning of October and no one else was around needing to park. but yet they gave me a ticket. I spent a ton of money that day and that's the thanks I get. Like there was't something else that cop coulding be doing. Preventing a crime maybe. Thanks Virginia Beach. My husband and I drove our moving truck here 10 years ago to a neighborhood off Birdneck. It took 18 hours straight. We unloaded our things into the apartment, took the truck back. We finally went to bed for some much needed sleep. When we got up, both of our vehicles have been towed because we hadn't put our appartment stickers on the cars yet. We thought at first that our cars had been stolen. There is no way to know until you call the police to report, only to hear the person laughing on the other end saying no, you were towed. We spent the rest of our honeymoon money bailing our cars out of hock. Needless to say, I don't go to Virginia Beach that often.

6) No lakes in the area.

7) I do agree with the lack of an interstate to Raleigh. That airport is cheaper than here and offers more. It would be nice to get there faster.

8) Not one city wants to invest in some sort of public rail system.

Thanks for letting me vent!

[vdogg]

Let me add my .02 dislike (it's more like a pet peeve really). Here in VB I have noticed quite a few times that while sitting at a red light which then turns green the person in front sometimes is not paying attention and just sits there - stopped at a green light. The strange thing is no one beeps or anything! Yesterday, as the 4th car back, I almost missed the light cycle. C'mon folks, pay attention. And if you are behind such a person be 'courteous' and give a small beep or something.

Ok, I feel better now.

What section of the city were you in? Usually people lay on the horn if i'm a 1/2 second late off the starting block .

[rusthebuss]

6) No lakes in the area.

There are lakes around the area.

8) Not one city wants to invest in some sort of public rail system.

Norfolk is in the final stages of getting light rail. Newport News is trying to get light rail and is in the early stages and want to attach to the Norfolk rail line in the future with the third crossing.

[urbanvb]

What section of the city were you in? Usually people lay on the horn if i'm a 1/2 second late off the starting block .

Well, mainly in the Lynnhaven area near the mall. Maybe the mall goers are all tired out (and broke) from shopping.

[johnk812]

Each of our lists is based on our own perspectives. I wonder what outsider would be happier here; someone from a big northern city, someone from a small southern town, someone from out west, etc. Someone from a small town might be thrilled with our "big city" vibe and someone from a real big city might be thrilled with the slower pace and easy traffic. I wonder if there is any thought as to what type of person is more likely to like us?

[Chesapeake Pirate]

Chesapeake Pirate, you're right on the money. Interstate to Raleigh and along the Coast; wow, now you're talking.

And about "Hampton Roads" as our region name, I almost don't see the point. I don't think many people are using it. If we don't have it printed on maps and across the top of our paper instead of "Virginian-Pilot" it's just not going to stick. If we're going to use it, lets go nuts and use it silly! No more Norfolk International Airport. It's now Hampton Roads International. No more Norfolk Tides. It's now Hampton Roads Tides. If we don't go all out, why bother I say.

Whenever I hear "Hampton Roads", I keep waiting for the next clever city/asset description, like:

Norfolk Lanes

Williamsburg Ways

Portsmoth Streets

Virginia Beach Drives

Newport News Highways

Chesapeake Boulevards (hey, someone used it already, but it is in Norfolk!)

Suffolk Courts (well, they do have a new courthouse)

Hampton Roads was a good try but it hasn't caught on and nobody outside Virginia knows what or where it is.

[rusthebuss]

To me this is the Norfolk area. Norfolk is the core of this region and has the history. This is no way to put down the other cities but Norfolk is Hampton Roads just like Richmond is to the Richmond metro.

[johnk812]

To me this is the Norfolk area. Norfolk is the core of this region and has the history. This is no way to put down the other cities but Norfolk is Hampton Roads just like Richmond is to the Richmond metro.

I agree, but it's damn tricky. Each city has been working so hard at becoming it's own hot spot that regionalism seems out, at these for now. I think this is why "Hampton Roads" doesn't stick - Portsmouth seems content with being Portsmouth. The "New Norfolk" is crazy about being the "New Norfolk."

The Richmond comparison doesn't really work for me. Richmond is so clearly the dominate player. Maybe if Chesterfield had it's own downtown and Fan District, etc. there would be more of a conflict. The "problem" is we have 7 really cool cities here. (ok, maybe Chesapeake really just blows! - Just kidding!) Let's say Richmond touched Washington DC like VA Beach touches Norfolk; do you call the area Richmond just because it's been around longer and has more history - by default.

I know, we should be the Norfolk-Virginia Beach area, like Winston-Salem or Washington-Baltimore. Norfolk and Virginia Beach as names should be the name. Portsmouth is awesome but just too small to talk about. Chesapeake is a suburb like Chesterfield is to Richmond. Suffolk hardly counts at the moment - and so what? haha

"Norfolk-Virginia Beach" - way, way better than "Hampton Roads."

[lammius]

Norfolk-Va Beach is the way I describe the area. Odds are someone in another part of the country (i.e. New Jersey) has heard of at least one of them.