Hampton Roads Off-Topic Talk

[BFG]

I’ve talked to a couple friends who are associated with the Chamber one way or another. A lot of this is being blown out of proportion, and the Pilot twisted things quite a bit. 

 It’s not replacing Tidewater, Hampton Roads, or Coastal Virginia, etc. It’s more or less a marketing tool to help brand the area better. Kinda like “ATL” for Atlanta or “RVA” for Richmond. A lot of it is designed to bring or keep more younger people to the area, but also promote regionalism.

 The rationale is since people already say “The 757”, use what works. 

Edited December 12, 2019 by BFG

[Virginia City]

On 12/13/2019 at 12:12 AM, BFG said:

I’ve talked to a couple friends who are associated with the Chamber one way or another. A lot of this is being blown out of proportion, and the Pilot twisted things quite a bit. 

 It’s not replacing Tidewater, Hampton Roads, or Coastal Virginia, etc. It’s more or less a marketing tool to help brand the area better. Kinda like “ATL” for Atlanta or “RVA” for Richmond. A lot of it is designed to bring or keep more younger people to the area, but also promote regionalism.

 The rationale is since people already say “The 757”, use what works. 

The Pilot twisting words to create a controversy story? Blasphemy I say! 

[BFG]

Obligatory semi-annual editorial about how the cities need to work together. 

https://www.pilotonline.com/opinion/vp-ed-editorial-regional-brand-1218-20191218-dtdlsr3vabhoday6l7aivxpaia-story.html#nt=oft-Double Chain~Flex Feature~homepage-top-chain~po5~~1~yes-art~curated~curatedpage

[vdogg]

Article primarily about military spending but of note it looks as though HR is now seeing steady population growth. This is something I've suspected for a long time, and matches what I've seen personally with increased overall traffic and a significant building boom. It appears, at least for now, that we've finally reversed the outmigration trend. Chesapeake cracked the top 20 as one of the fastest growing cities in the state. It was one of the only cities outside NoVA to do so.

https://patch.com/virginia/fairfaxcity/nova-economy-heads-2020s-still-hostage-federal-spending

[BFG]

Wait...1.5M? We’ve been at 1.7M for the last decade. We should be much closer to 2 million. 

[vdogg]

35 minutes ago, BFG said:

Wait...1.5M? We’ve been at 1.7M for the last decade. We should be much closer to 2 million. 

I saw that. Has to be a typo.

[Buildthetowers]

3 hours ago, vdogg said:

I saw that. Has to be a typo.

No, they are not talking about the whole metro just Hampton roads

[vdogg]

7 minutes ago, Buildthetowers said:

No, they are not talking about the whole metro just Hampton roads

The whole metro is Hampton Roads. Maybe if they're just referring to the "7 cities" which excluded Poquoson, Yorktown, Williamsburg and Isle of Wight.

[Buildthetowers]

50 minutes ago, vdogg said:

The whole metro is Hampton Roads. Maybe if they're just referring to the "7 cities" which excluded Poquoson, Yorktown, Williamsburg and Isle of Wight.

 Yes and parts of NC that are part of the Metro

[Up2313]

I went through the report. The person in the article relayed the info incorrectly. We are at an estimated 1.72 in 2018. 

[HRVA]

Move Over 757, Here Comes the 948

The SCC has announced that the new overlay area code to be launched in Q4 2021 will be 948. 

[Virginia City]

948 isn't as cool as 757. I'm guessing we get the next number that comes up but it would have been cool if we had gotten 950 or 959. 

[vdogg]

Chesapeake has passed Norfolk as the second most populous city in the state, after growing 10% over the past decade. Norfolk grew as well, but by about 1%. All cities have returned to growth, after stagnating during the recession. Steady growth is predicted into the future.

That’s a jump in Chesapeake of more than 10% in the past decade, while Norfolk’s population has edged up by less than 1% in that time. The gap is expected to widen over the next two decades, the center estimates, with Chesapeake growing to about 287,000 and Norfolk to around 249,000 by 2040. By that point, Richmond also likely will overtake Norfolk, reaching 255,000...

Growth in suburban localities “had slacked off a bit” during the recession, but has picked back up, Lombard said. Cities are still growing steadily, though.

 

https://www.pilotonline.com/news/vp-nw-chesapeake-population-20200213-eo6ckadqufdotofrev5sncqcni-story.html

[ONCE1stBlvd]

Yeah, I read that last night.  It was interesting that projections also showed that in 20 years Richmond would be larger than Norfolk, with trends staying consistent.  That concerned me.  It drove the point home that this isn't just a "cities aren't growing as fast as suburbs are so of course Norfolk is behind" but also the idea that even comparable cities to Norfolk are growing at a higher rate.  Norfolk is in a strange strange position in VA.  

The Chesapeake thing is difficult for me to respect.  I can't shake knowing that it's a bedroom community that was once a county, allowed to gain city designation through combining with South Norfolk(why didn't Norfolk County call it's new city "South Norfolk" btw?), filled all it's land with residential development and get's to say it's a mid-sized city now, without offering services that cities offer the surrounding area.  I mean, at least Va Beach has the beach.  What does Chesapeake offer as incentive for visiting it?  Malls? 

Maybe it's just me but I have observed regionalism as being like a body.  You have a head, two arms, two legs, add the stomach if you'd like, or even hands, feet, etc.....  The center city would serve as the head with the suburbs acting as limbs.  Each part is important and if you lose one, it effects everything adversely.  Well.....in the 7 cities, every city is a head.  No one wants to be the limbs.  As a matter of fact, I'd say VA and NJ are a lot a like, where the state is the head and the cities, counties, towns and everything else act as limbs.  

I think the cities are gettin' played....... the elephant in the room seems to be the state is hustling it's cities, and no ones talking about it.

That doesn't bug any of you??

[Norfolk757Kid]

Chesapeake's schools drive its growth. If you have kids and are new to the area like thousands of Navy members each year, Chesapeake is the easiest place to settle down. 

[Cjnfkvb]

The reason that both Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach have such high populations is that they have been building massive neighborhoods with large  5-8 story condo/apartment buildings anchored by strip malls containing most of the basic amenities. Simply put, they have the space to pack people in. Norfolk suffers from the fact that it is a landlocked city, and much of the land is occupied by historic neighborhoods with single family homes. There really isn't much room for growth exept for some of the lower density public housing, and empty industrial sites.

[BFG]

I also think Chesapeake and VB’s growth is atypical, given their history of being counties. I hesitate to call then true cities because they could probably be broken into at least a half-dozen towns. 

[vdogg]

We are experiencing a level of economic boom in this area that we haven’t seen since at least the 80s. Happy to see all this development across the region, and really hoping some of the economic headwinds gathering outside this area don’t affect us too much. I’d really hate to see this all truncated. We lagged while the rest of the nation boomed over the last decade, it’s our turn now. Let’s just hope it continues. 

[Virginia City]

That's what always happens to our area. We don't boom when the rest of the country does. It's takes a few years to get our area going and when we are finally able to grow, the country goes into a recession and kills all of our momentum. So now that we are booming again talks of an economic downturn are starting again. Typical. 

[BFG]

This is downtown Dallas...I grew up out there as a kid. 

But the main reason I posted this was because of the "STAY HOME" message on the Omni hotel. They post messages on the exteriors occasionally. I'd love to see Norfolk put up a building that can do this, but more importantly, I just want downtown to GROW. I'm tired of seeing other cities grow so much, while we're lucky to get one tower every 3-5 years. 

[baobabs727]

Don’t know how to do a poll here but anyway, how many of you here have left HR ...or have ever thought about leaving the area (and who has thought of this recently?) for better job prospects, larger city amenities—general entertainment offerings, professional sports, etc.?  I think we would all like to grow faster here while maintaining or improving our current quality of life. Achieving that is a long and arduous journey akin to walking a tightrope across the Grand Canyon, as we all know.

Additionally, who thinks we will achieve a certain level of big city atmosphere/amenities  here and well-diversified economy plus substantive public transit before your life (or working life) is over?  I mean, that’s a pretty stark question there, but we’ve all thought about it. 

[BFG]

It crosses my mind, esp. when I travel or see a picture or TV show of another city. With sports coming back, I’m tempted more than ever. I’d compromise by being able to have an extended assignment elsewhere for a couple months.

 BUT, I see the area’s potential. We’ve made strides the last few years that are impressive. I think it could be quicker, but it’s happening, and there’s only going to be so much until Covid gets fully under control. 

[baobabs727]

1 hour ago, BFG said:

It crosses my mind, esp. when I travel or see a picture or TV show of another city. With sports coming back, I’m tempted more than ever. I’d compromise by being able to have an extended assignment elsewhere for a couple months.

 BUT, I see the area’s potential. We’ve made strides the last few years that are impressive. I think it could be quicker, but it’s happening, and there’s only going to be so much until Covid gets fully under control. 

Agreed. Potential is there, execution has been lacking for a few decades. Also, in Virginia Beach there has been an anti-growth strategy since the 80s, so…  At least now they seem to be moving toward a more targeted job growth strategy focused on high-paying, biosciences and technology-related jobs. Unfortunately, there is always  Councilmember turnover, so you never know if there will be longterm, sustained movement and consistent execution toward that end goal.  I miss Mayor Sessoms and the techie Ben Davenport. 

Edited August 9, 2020 by baobabs727

[Virginia City]

Born and raised in Hampton but I joined the Navy at 26. I lived by Chicago and in San Diego before coming back to Norfolk. Now I live in Japan and about to move to Jacksonville.  I probably won't come back but to visit family. My home will always hold a place in my heart 

[BFG]

19 hours ago, baobabs727 said:

Agreed. Potential is there, execution has been lacking for a few decades. Also, in Virginia Beach there has been an anti-growth strategy since the 80s, so…  At least now they seem to be moving toward a more targeted job growth strategy focused on high-paying, biosciences and technology-related jobs. Unfortunately, there is always  Councilmember turnover, so you never know if there will be longterm, sustained movement and consistent execution toward that end goal.  I miss Mayor Sessoms and the techie Ben Davenport. 

Amazon's increased presence, along with the biotech corridor, really do spell out great things for the future of HR. I figured the new HQ in NOVA would have a trickle-down effect throughout the Commonwealth, and we're starting to see a few benefits. I just hope we, as a country, can get Covid fully under control so we can move forward. So many projects that are critical to our growth seemed to be put on indefinite hold: SITW, the regional arena, Gateway Tower, SPQ, etc.