Hampton Roads Off-Topic Talk

[Mobius57]

YES! Have a Hampton Roads and then Norfolk and Va Beach as subforums!

[varider]

Yesterday on the front page of the pilot:

Good economic news: It's not so bad here. Hampton Roads, helped by lower- than average job losses, has weathered the recession much better than most of the nation's metro areas, a nonpartisan research institute said in a study being released today. Brookings Institution of Washington also reported that the Virginia Beach- Norfolk- Newport News region was one of the 10 metro areas in its study that showed signs of economic recovery. One sign a rebound may be under way here was a 0.3 percent increase in the output of goods and services between last year and this year, the study found. It was the third best among the 100 largest metro areas.

[baobabs727]

Welcome To Hampton Roads: A Community Of Histo-Cultural Significance:

Hampton Roads proudly lays claim to the world-renowned, one and only Virginia Opera and Virginia Symphony (the first of which performs regularly/yearly in Richmond and NOVA, and the second of which received rave reviews from The New York Times for its performance at Carnegie Hall), The Virginia Ballet Theatre, and The Virginia Stage Company. Additionally, there is the massive, 7 week-long Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival, For Arts Sake, The Virginia Beach Boardwalk Art Show, The Stockley Gardens Art Show Spring/Fall and The Neptune Festival And Art Show. And need we be reminded of the world-renowned Chrysler Museum and Historic Houses, the nationally-renowned The Jean Outland Art Library, The Hermitage Museum and Gardens, The Contemporary Arts Center of Virginia, The Battleship USS Wisconsin, The National Maritime Center--Nauticus, The Mariner's Museum, The one and only Virginia Zoo, The Norfolk Botanical Gardens, The one and only Virginia Aquarium (and Marine Sciences Center), The Children's Museum of Virginia, The Ferguson, The Harrison, The Sandler, The Wells, The Roper, Chrysler Hall, The Cousteau Society, A.R.E., The Peninsula Fine Arts Center, The Virginia Air and Space Center, The Norfolk History Museum, The (General Douglas) MacArthur Memorial, The Casemate Museum, The Virginia Living Museum, The Virginia Maritime Center, Upper Wolfsnare, Francis Land House, Adam Keeling House, Adam Thoroughgood House, Lynnhaven House, Broad Bay Manor, Cape Henry Light, The Dewitt Cottage, First Landing, etc, etc....etc. Additionally, Hampton Roads lays claim to Williamsburg (and they gladly accept) and its unparalleled, histo-cultural points of interest.

[varider]

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/06/hampton-ro...tics-technology

.

SUFFOLK

Hollywood it isn't.

Two days after the opening of the movie "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," scientists and suits gathered Friday in Suffolk at the Sensor Science & Technology Forum for Robotics and Unmanned Systems.

The 'bots on display - C2/ISR, AMN1, and UxVS - aren't about to change shape and wouldn't stand a chance against the likes of the movie's Optimus Prime or Megatron.

But these Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles, or UAVs, are real and they're built right here in Hampton Roads.

Considered one of the next big steps in robotics, UAVs take the forms of planes, boats and even "fish," which look more like torpedoes.

The military already relies on them overseas. The armed forces have so far logged more than 70,000 hours of drone plane missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Scott Keenan of the Navy Surface Warfare Center.

Stateside, some bomb squads routinely use robots to help explore and d efuse threats.

Friday's forum, sponsored by the Hampton Roads Technology Council and a number of local tech businesses, offered the robots' creators an opportunity to discuss ways the region can continue to build its lead in the field.

Hampton Roads has developed a robotics research and development cluster because of the region's military presence and is at the forefront of research into drone sensory machines such as the UAVs.

.

[varider]

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/07/live-pilot...ng-tunnel-chaos

PilotOnline.com will provide live video, news and Twitter updates this morning when the Virginia Department of Transportation holds a public briefing to discuss traffic gridlock at the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel.

The 10 a.m. briefing will be held at the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, 723 Woodlake Drive in Chesapeake.

[varider]

http://smartregion.org/2009/07/hampton-roa...rea-in-the-u-s/

The Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC metro area (MSA) is the most employment centralized metro area in the nation, followed by the New York Metro, even taking into account that our MSA has multiple Central Business Districts (CBDs), that is, all three of the major cities listed contain CBDs.

Among larger metro areas, the Hampton Roads MSA contains the highest inner ring employment share, followed by the New York metro area. With employment hubs in each of the primary central cities in the region, the polycentric structure of the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News metro concentrates higher shares of employment around the CBDs. A different pattern, for instance, emerges in the New York metro area, the nation

[MissySchmidt]

Check out The NewsHour's Patchwork Nation project http://www.pbs.org/newshour/patchworknation/. Hampton Roads is on the homepage again this week with the SmartRegion.org story "Housing Stabilizing in Hampton Roads, But Negative Signs Linger."

[varider]

You know, It's really hard to believe that HR has the most jobs centralized metro in the country because you would think the majority of the jobs would be near the military installations.. But I guess HR is more urban than we think.

[Mobius57]

I was watching CNN weather and the weather guy refered to our area as the Hampton Roads. he also said richmond williamsburg and petersburgh. We are supposed to get big thunderstorms ^^

[varider]

http://www.insidebiz.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?si...378172D18210D0F

The group that sells the region to companies has kept a low profile for most of this year.

Gone are the media breakfasts that C. Jones Hooks, the former president and CEO of the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance, conducted. During the breakfasts, Hooks unveiled unorthodox programs to target investors, such as outsourcing research to India, his 24/7 campaign and using social networking to sell the region.

Although the alliance under the leadership of Darryl Gosnell, who was hired last October to replace Hooks, has been low-key, the group has been active, attending trade shows, visiting luminaries in other countries and getting out the word about Hampton Roads as the place to do business.

In the first six months of this year, the alliance announced five new projects for a total investment of $22.85 million, which produced 286 jobs, despite a weak economy.

That compares to four announcements for the first six months of 2008 for a total investment of $17.82 million, which produced 63 jobs at a time when the economy was beginning to unravel.

Visits by prospects are down, though, to 19 for the first six months of this year compared to 39 for the same 2008 period.

A variety of reasons could account for the drop , from hesitation on the part of companies to expand in an uncertain global economy to competition from other regions.

During the second quarter of this year, three companies opened in Hampton Roads. Two

[jbhay]

The Virginia Department of Transportation has appointed a panel to review tunnel procedures, policies and operations after a July 2 incident at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel led to gridlock on local interstates.

The first meeting of the 11-member panel will be 8:30 a.m. Monday in Room 106 of the Hampton Convention Center, according to a VDOT news release.

The review panel will examine the incident, which closed the tunnel for eight hours, and make recommendations on future response measures, the release says.

The panel members are:

[varider]

Every metro that has ever built mass transit always has naysayers, doubters, name callers, etc. People around here just like to complain. Interstates are not the way to the future.. Mass transportation is. There simply is not enough money to build three and four elizabeth river crossings and 3-4 hampton roads harbor crossings (how many I think it would take to completely relieve traffic), Norfolk's starter line is not going to relieve traffic in the region, and I guarantee you people will complain about that, say it doesn't work and will never work in HR, but they are short- sighted individuals who do not want the region to succeed (sad, but true).. Ridership will explode once extended to the Naval Base, Oceanfront, Airport, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Bad News, etc. We will encounter obstacles, people will always whine, but eventually we will have a complete regional transportation system, and one day everyone will say, "this is the best thing that ever happened to Hampton Roads."

[jbhay]

^ Couldn't agree more. The starter line is going to raise so much negative public opinion, but you're right, it's just the start of the system. Once extended, this region will utilize it beyond belief. As many have stated before on here, just look at Charlotte as an example! I still haven't made my way down there to experience their service yet...or their city for that matter!

[varider]

In case you didn't know, the Washington Metro opposed building the MetroRail system they have up there because most of the land wasn't densely populated/ built out so the system started as a 5 mile starter line and now look at it! Also, the Hampton Roads Metro is twice as densely populated as the entire Washington DC Metro, (although their urban core is much stronger). Oh, and HRT has higher transit ridership than Charlotte, even with light rail.If you look at the ridership estimates for the transit vision plan, in 30 years, it's possible that Hampton Roads Transit will have a top 10 transit system by ridership. Naysayers and NIMBYS won't be successful in halting our developing transit system. Once we get a few more extensions of the starter line & ridership is up, look for TOD to sprout up everywhere. You won't be able to recognize places like Chesapeake SQ., Pembroke, City Center @ OP, just wait!

Edited August 7, 2009 by varider

[varider]

This is my vision for rail on the southside:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&amp...439453&z=11

[MissySchmidt]

This is my vision for rail on the southside:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&amp...439453&z=11

Keep fighting the good fight! If you'd like to submit your thoughts related to light rail (esp. your Google map) as a post; I'd be happy to publish it on the Hampton Roads blog: http://SmartRegion.org!

[varider]

Here's the update: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&i...439453&z=11

You can post it if you'd like. I'll write a paragraph or two about it, I'll email it to you.

Edited August 8, 2009 by varider

[varider]

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/08/dropoff-ne...ts-slows-region

T

he decrease in new home building in Hampton Roads is slowing, according to a report released Tuesday.

Cities and counties in the region issued 924 new-home permits between April and June, a decrease of less than 1 percent from the 933 permits issued during the same period last year, according to Residential Data Bank, a Suffolk-based research firm.

Building permits represent one of the first steps in building a home. Economists and real-estate experts follow the figures to monitor builders' activities. Much like home sales, permits tend to rise in the summer months and drop during the winter.

The latest figures hint that the new-home market could be looking for a bottom after recent quarters when year-over-year permit activity fell as much as 45 percent.

"I wouldn't call it a full-blown recovery," said Terry Gearhart, vice president of marketing for Virginia Beach-based homebuilder The Terry Peterson Residential Cos. "But we're seeing brighter days."

Last year, new-home construction and sales in Hampton Roads fell to their lowest points in more than two decades, with declines spread across the region

[varider]

Guys I found this socioeconomic report at hrmpo.org on the population of HR and it says by 2034 the population of the metro will be 2,033,500.. Do you guys really think that's possible?! I can't see this region with almost 2.1 million. It's already crowded IMO

This is from wikipedia, so it's probably bull.

Many are predicting that the Hampton Roads Area, and especially the "Seven Cities" of Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Newport News, Hampton, Portsmouth, and Suffolk, will grow faster than expected. The predictions of some researchers estimate that the 2010 census will show a population well in excess of 2 million.

You guys should look at this: http://www.hrpdc.org/HRDatabook.asp

It also says the Cost of Living in HR is now: 110.4, that seems high to me.

Edited August 13, 2009 by varider

[varider]

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/09/were-number-34

Another Kerry Doughtery piece: I can't help but believe this was a strategic VBTA public service announcement:

Good news for Virginia Beach.

I think.

Forbes Magazine has just released its rankings of the 40 Most Stressful Cities in the country.

Guess what? We're on it.

But we're No. 34, which seems to mean the Beach is one of the least stressful metropolitan areas in America. (At least that's the spin I'd put on it, if I were one of the mouthpieces in the Resort City's public information office. You're welcome guys. Happy to help.)

The only cities on the list that were less stressed out than the Beach were Denver, Kansas City, Dallas, Nashville, San Antonio and Austin. Plus all the places that didn't make the list at all, I suppose.

The most stressed city in the land? The windy one, Chicago. Followed closely by Los Angeles, New York City, Cleveland and Providence.

In fashioning this list, Forbes considered factors such as unemployment, the fall off in real estate values and sunny days per year.

Oh yeah, they looked at density, too.

Memo to the disciples of "New Urbanism" who want us to live in mixed-use urban ant colonies and haul our groceries home on public transportation:

That lifestyle, according to Forbes, anyway, leads to more stress.

[Telmnstr]

Guys I found this socioeconomic report at hrmpo.org on the population of HR and it says by 2034 the population of the metro will be 2,033,500.. Do you guys really think that's possible?! I can't see this region with almost 2.1 million. It's already crowded IMO

This is from wikipedia, so it's probably bull.

You guys should look at this: http://www.hrpdc.org/HRDatabook.asp

It also says the Cost of Living in HR is now: 110.4, that seems high to me.

Rents are pretty high in this area. Purchase prices of course are wacked (120 * rent = purchase price, peak, normally).

Media won't ack this cause they can't bite the hand that feeds.

Wow, that PDF is wild. Much of it doesn't render right (Preview on Mac) but man. Look at the MSA Average Earnings per Worker, and how pretty much the big bucks heavily come from the gov't. Management of private companies ranks up there, and it's interesting how that grew so sharply recently.

Norfolk and Ptown shrunk.

Port traffic... dizzzzzzzown hardcore. Home ATM machines ran outta cash, no more chinese trinket for you.

Neat stuff. Thanks for link.

Edited September 16, 2009 by Telmnstr

[MissySchmidt]

For Patchwork Nation (an online component of The NewsHour on PBS)

- Do you rent your home? Has your rent gone up? How do you feel about being a renter amid a homeowner's housing crisis? Do you consider your rent reasonable?

- Taxes: And next week we're probably going to look at property taxes by county. If you are a property owner, now's your chance to weigh in on those rates.

As always, if you're interested in writing for the Hampton Roads blog, http://SmartRegion.org, about what you hear, see, ponder in our community, let me know. (Just a reminder, opinion is great, but we need references cited to back 'em up.)

Thanks.

Rents are pretty high in this area. Purchase prices of course are wacked (120 * rent = purchase price, peak, normally).

Media won't ack this cause they can't bite the hand that feeds.

Wow, that PDF is wild. Much of it doesn't render right (Preview on Mac) but man. Look at the MSA Average Earnings per Worker, and how pretty much the big bucks heavily come from the gov't. Management of private companies ranks up there, and it's interesting how that grew so sharply recently.

Norfolk and Ptown shrunk.

Port traffic... dizzzzzzzown hardcore. Home ATM machines ran outta cash, no more chinese trinket for you.

Neat stuff. Thanks for link.

[Telmnstr]

For Patchwork Nation (an online component of The NewsHour on PBS)

- Do you rent your home? Has your rent gone up? How do you feel about being a renter amid a homeowner's housing crisis? Do you consider your rent reasonable?

Yes I rent. Rents jumped heavily when the bubble was rocking. Some friends and myself split a house in Virginia Beach. The a-hole owner commented that the value of his house went up $40K in two months. I figured either I wasn't getting paid well working at NASA via CSC / SAIC (I wasn't) or population was skyrocking in the area (it wasn't). Then I found blogs full of information from sources like the OFHEO, US Census, and to some degree the NAR that explained exactly what was going on. It was all a big fraud, and would end very badly. So I started posting negatively on sites like the Pilot. I realize that their money comes from Realtors, so they pander to them nonstop. But in the meantime, lots of normal people are hurt. That house was $1350/month for 2600square feet. Now renting crappy apartment for $1175, and not liking the other garbage that I see.

It's nice having the freedom to move if I need to, so that part is good. What I worry about is the STUPID gov't continuing to do stupid things and hurting my meager savings. I'm tired of seeing handouts to people that aren't worthy.

I just read the other day reports of "homeowners" who are unable to pay their mortgages, and are being given 4 years of no payments by their lenders. Yes, you read that right. Nothing these greedy pigs do is in favor of the little guy, so my bet is the lender is compounding tons of interest on the loan and booking it as profits for the next 4 quarters. Number games.

I make more than the average household in Hampton Roads. I have zero debt. I used to have really bad credit because I didn't need debt. More punishment of the responsible. No debt? Real Savings? NO CREDIT CARD FOR YOU! But I engineered myself enough credit to get $30K in credit cards, which I pay 100% full every month and have never carried a balance on. When I look at the garbage I see for sale for $200K in the area, I know that I would never pay that kind of price for it. I've tried to warn friends, but the way they look at it is they either pay high price in rent or pay high price to buy what I consider a dilapidated eyesore, and they'd rather do that and start fixing it up. I know they are getting totally screwed by the older generation. But when I start to object, I'm dumping on the other people that bought recently. They don't get the fact that they make more than most households in the area and are buying pretty bottom rung stuff. I have another friend that bought not too long ago, and totally regrets it. I told him it might not be a bad idea to walk away, or hop jobs till your salary goes up $30K/year and work to pay it down quick if you want to be all honest. But no one else is honest, nice guy finishes last in the USA.

I hate the people I rent from. My first renter experience was a guy that never did anything ever to keep up his own place. The few times he'd stop by, he'd ask us to fix things. We worked hard to save his property during storm damage, preventing any damage from water. Then when there was an issue, he either tried to get the insurance company to cover the repairs dragging them out, then went to the lowest possible price he could find resulting in poor work, and other things. We didn't bug him much, repairing things (Dishwasher fully repaired, washing machine fully repaired, dryer fully repaired). But then when it was time to move out he took the entire security deposit saying the bushes weren't trimmed enough. Of course, I remember a whole month in the middle of August without air conditioning, pretty much not getting sleep and loosing my job. Not that I cared about the job but still. We still paid full rent that month.

The people I rent from now, are equally scum. Cheaters. They donate to the community, put on a pretty face. But are dishonest. And while looking for a place I sustained damage from another property management company when the gate of 411 granby hit my car (after following their realtors instructions in following them through the gate). They wouldn't cover the deductable, and insurance wouldn't cover a rental car. My car is still damaged. I read the owner sold the business and was going to a christian school to teach. So I found all of his co-workers to be and emailed them that their new co-worker is dishonest.

It sucks being a renter. If I had a house I bought in 2006 or 2007 and I didn't like it, I'd probably just quit paying and live free for years. That seems to be the hip thing. This country is all about rewarding the reckless. They are going out of their way to keep home prices up, which will damage the country. People can't buy crap if they run out of debt. If people paid less for their garbage shacks, then they'd have more money to buy stuff, without needing to extract all of the money from their house to pay for it. Duh.

This entire thing, all the fraud, has made me really hate the USA. Partially, I think a true great depression would be good. I look around, and I think many of the people of this nation deserve it.

And yes, there is a housing bubble. And if the market doesn't crash (it has plenty of ways to go) then it's a lie and the issues are pushed further into the future.

I've never heard any good argument from anyone as to why we aren't.

Honestly, if I had to guess, I think the future holds a much lower standard of living for the people of this country. Honestly, as a country we don't produce much of value and are full of cheats.

And yes, I honestly think it would be a good thing of some of the blue collar workers murdered the cheaters from the upper class. It's okay to kill people overseas who are a threat to our country, I'd consider a number of executives in corporations of the USA a greater threat to the country. The damage done is irreparable. Do you really see a positive future for this country? I'm betting on others. India and China can do it.

Bin Laden is a joke. Why'd he wreck the towers? It had people in it that would help ruin the country in it. Should have let them stand. (Yes, I know the American PM traders were all excited when the towers were hit because it would drive the value of gold up.)

Ah let's look back at our nation of stupidity:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubsd-tWYmZw

Oh yes, my rent hasn't gone up much, I could get it kicked down a notch if I moved. There is so much vacant places, and I'm aware of some really cool people that have left the area. It's my guess we lose smart people, then the lower run folks that are unemployed might move here. But the problem will be the cost of living. During the bubble, all the apartments were taken. Now there are a few empty ones in the building I'm in. Granted, the people that run the property management company are morons so that might have something to do with it.

It will be interesting to see who can come up with $1700/month to rent the 1000+ new units. I guess the Navy can pay it.

Oh well.

You can say I'm annoying constantly harping on this housing bubble stuff, but I've yet to hear anything logical as to why I'm wrong.

How many foreclosure homes are the banks really sitting on? They are hiding lots of inventory because if it's all marked to market I think a good portion of the banks would instantly be insolvent.

Edited October 1, 2009 by Telmnstr

[mlsimons]

I've always found it interesting how unrecognized Hampton Roads is. (which is the term I hate...and I feel is the reason why we are so unrecognized). There are so many American cities which are more recognized nationally than we are, and with less population!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are a few: New Orleans, Nashville, Salt Lake City, Providence, Tucson,Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Charleston, Syracuse, Rochester, Topeka, Tallahassee, Richmond,Raleigh, Memphis, Little Rock, Honolulu, Hartford, Columbia, Charlotte,Buffalo, Baton Rouge, Austin, Albuquerque, Albany, Montgomery, Birmingham,Boise, Des Moines, El Paso, Greensboro, Hartford, New Haven, Milwaukee.

Why these places are recognized may be for many reasons; but one reason is that they have not been given arbitrary nicknames to stand-in as their placemark...Like Hampton Roads!!!! What the dump! It makes no sense.

http://www.census.gov/compendia/smadb/TableC-01.pdf

Edited October 26, 2009 by mlsimons

[wrldcoupe4]

Virginia Beach and Norfolk are both more recognizable than Hampton Roads.