Beautiful Country, Bad Governance - 11/15/2020

We moved to Martinsburg for retirement, and we love it. Unfortunately, I have to agree with the other comments in this list. People are unlikely to stay, given the lack of jobs, drug use, and a downtown that looks terrible. So, having seen all these complaints posted by long term residents, why did everyone vote for this awful governor in 2020? Apparently, he's had the opportunity to improve the city, but he just doesn't care.

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Good and improving - 8/26/2020

I've lived here for seven years and I love it here. People talk about crime however the majority of it is drug use and is a national problem. The police do a pretty great job keeping the community safe. Incomes in Martinsburg have increased dramatically after the new factories opened. The city has taken drastic actions to update the city and clean up the streets. The cost of living is extremely low compared to surrounding areas and is one of the few places a young adult can strike out on their own and be successful.

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Not great, but not the worst. You decide - 8/9/2020

I have lived in the area since 2001. This is an honest review: The Good and Bad: 1. At least there are no ridiculous riots going on. People here have some sense. But I imagine no one would dare try to destroy property, etc around here, as most every native WV'er here is armed to the teeth. You won't find any scary clowns, either, lol. Weird clowns (or other terrorists of any kind) would likely get shot by a local if they tried anything, and that's a positive IMO. And these people know how to respect and use their guns. 2. Murder is rare here, and usually involves people from out-of-state. Crime here is typically drugs-related and Martinsburg has had it's share of it. To their credit, local law enforcement have made some headway on cleaning up the area. However, the battle is ongoing, since highway 81 is a major trafficking route and runs through Martinsburg. Also, there are bars on every corner. There is no zoning, so you will find a bar next to an elementary school. Bars attract criminal activity..and drug activity. 3. Finally...finally...manufacturing businesses have come into the area, needed for this predominately blue collar area. However, the cost of living and taxes are growing faster than salaries, forcing the poor further in state and the newly-employed into cheaply thrown-up townhouses (future dumps), because that is all they can afford. There is a shortage of affordable single family homes, and sellers are gouging on prices. Appraisals are well below asking prices, for example. Coronavirus is the reason for much of this, as city folk flee to rural areas such as Martinsburg. I predict these same urbanites will flee back to the cities in 5 years, dumping their purchases and tanking the housing market, when they figure out that there is nothing here and the locals like it that way. If they try to turn the area into the socialist enclave they left, they won't succeed....trust me. 4. As others have stated, there are few white- collar jobs unless you are in Medicine, or a chemist working in the factories, or a school principle, etc. There are *some* technical jobs at the IRS and National Guard, and possibly some aviation jobs at the air base, but not many. 5. Politics, et al: The state is mostly conservative and religious, but can lean Democrat because of all the (growing number of) poor people. The state is aging faster than the national avg, and the infrastructure (highways, Internet) is below avg to poor. Martinsburg is better than the rest of the state but is still about 10 years behind, say, MD . Big Jim Justice turned Republican and is a Trump supporter. 6. Trust me, every local WV'er here is related in some way, and families go back about 150 years. The elderly folk, in general, have all kinds of money but you wouldn't know it looking at them. Acerage and thousands in the bank going way back. It is the younger folk who struggle in current economic conditions. The WV hive mentality is good and bad. Mostly WV good 'ole boys get elected to office around here, and there are rumors of corruption. However, the people are friendly and go out of their way to help people in need. 7. I order what I need online, usually, because the stores here usually don't have what I want. Or I drive half hr into MD or 45 minutes to Winchester, VA. The doctors here are avg to poor. People are still going mostly to Winchester or MD for treatment, inspite of improvements in the med system. Frankly, tho, I am not impressed with the out-of-state docs, either. That's it.

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Beware - 5/28/2019

From the city judges like william norris to the auto repair shops like union corner auto and truck repair on winchester ave. The city has next to zero professionalism, integrity, or work ethic. Its full of corruption, drugs, and thieves. I do not recommend visiting this place.

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resident trying to escape - 4/7/2018

heroin use is rampant and so is thief to buy it local police have their hands tied and state politicians are corrupt taxes are high and there are no public services

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There are no professional jobs in Martinsburg - 7/4/2010

We need jobs in Martinsburg, so that people with professional degrees should not have to travel over 1 1/2 hr to find employment. They are building all these houses but no jobs for people to afford them. I want to move back to Martinsburg, but my biggest fear is, where am I going to work? Why should I settle for just any jobs when I went to college and earn my Master's Degree. What is happening to Martinsburg. Can the government assist Martinsburg, or has they forgotten about this little town. It is sicking and pitiful.

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housing prices - 4/19/2009

recently housing prices have dropped, but they are still to high.

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Martinsburg - 2/18/2008

has all the stuff you would want to do, but the cost of living is ASTRONIMICAL compared to the piddly salaries that you are paid. IF you want to live here, you have to WORK in DC (2 hours away) to make enough money to live comfortably.

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Can this town be saved? - 1/7/2008

Martinsburg saw its heyday in the 1940s, and it's pretty much been downhill ever since. Although surrounding Berkeley County is the nation's 56th-fasting growing county in the nation (per 2007 statistics), its inner core --Martinsburg -- remains a decrepit mill town, without a vision for how to reinvent itself, short-changed by the exodus of business to other nearby cities (Hagerstown, Maryland, and Winchester, Virginia) and disabled by abysmal growth and development leadership and policies (if you can call them "policies") by Berkeley County officials. Think of this concentric geographic ring as a sugery, calorie-ridden junk food doughnut, with a distasteful, bitter center -- that about sums up Berkeley County and Martinsburg: cheap suburban tract housing being thrown up in former rural apple orchards, decaying row houses remaining in the forelorn and foresaken center-city. Not that it couldn't change. Martinsburg has a well-built and well-preserved stock of downtown commercial buildings, lovely turn-of-the-century churches, an excellent inner-city library, and a few cultural attractions (Roundhouse train center, Boarman arts center, Apollo Theatre, Belle Boyd Civil War home) that could form the nucleus of a mini-revival for Martinsburg. The elements are all there. But vision eludes the community. Indeed, many long-time residents seem to prefer Martinsburg in its present condition, and routinely fight off the occasional attempts to revitalize the downtown. Political and editorial leadership seem to venerate the status quo. Martinsburg's ace-in-the-hole remains its vital rail corridor direct to Washington, D.C., offering daily MARC and Amtrak service to the Nation's Capitol in less than 2 hours. (You'd think that D.C. expatriates would be flocking to low-tax, low-stress West Virginia, eager to gentrify Martinsburg's affordable colonial and Victorian housing stock, secure in the knowledge that they could walk to a train station for an occasional "cultural fix" in D.C., while bidding goodbye to all of the hassles that accompany life inside the Washington Beltway.) Martinsburg remains antagonistic to newcomers and daily commuters, however, and can't see what a vital economic shot-in-the-arm their dollars could mean to city coffers. The local newspaper's call-in line routinely hypes debates between "old-timers" and "newcomers," with "if you don't like it, then move!" the predominant theme. Yet Martinsburg doesn't improve ... or its progress remains glacial. Its one downtown shopping attraction (Blue Ridge outlet mall) was stolen away years ago and reconstituted as Interstate 70's Prime Outlet Mall in Maryland, miles away. In its place is a new Shepherd University/Blue Ridge academic center -- a wise move at reuse of existing buildings, but one that doesn't seem to have elevated and energized the cultural and restaurant scene one bit. Start-up downtown enterprises like the progressive Meteor Cafe and The Daily Grind coffee house both closed in 2007, for lack of business. Regressive policies on parking, permits, and taxation discourage small businesspeople from attempting start-up retail stores, and the downtown grows dead at night. The railroad offers no weekend service to the big city, the Martinsburg Mall's Wal-Mart syphons away what precious little retail business remains within-state, and a nightly trip through downtown Martinsburg is a dusky sojourn among occasional lost souls, aimlessly wandering empty streets amid shuttered businesses, back to the only center of nightly activity, the nearby downtown Rescue Mission.

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The Burg - 11/20/2007

Martinsburg is in West-By-God-Virginia, but it is nothing like the rest of the state. We are in the Eastern Panhandle, which means we are located between Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, which leaves us in the best part of all four worlds. People are friendly, and there are a lot of people who commute to/from DC, Baltimore, and all points in between. Housing is super expensive, but the bubble burst and prices are coming down. Don't know anything about schools because the last time I had any experience was when I was in them, about 12 years ago.

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District of Columbia Bedroom Community - 7/8/2006

Martinsburg used to have many beautiful farms and orchards. Ever since the folks in the DC area discovered the same houses can be had there for less than half the price and a less expensive cost of living, the face of Martinsburg, WV is changing. Farm land is being sold out to developers who are turning once green pastures into cement and hundreds of new townhome and single family home developments. Martinsburg is no longer an inexpensive town in which to live. Taxes are extremely high and the price of homes is out of sight. Buyer beware.

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Ready to move - 4/26/2006

Greed, corrupt officials, and growth have ruined this city. Locals are being forced out by ever climbing housing and rent. Not enough schools, police, roads. Farmland is disappearing. Every acre is being snatched up for development. Crime and drugs have tremendously increased. Not enough resources for the growth. This will all collide with a bad impact.

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cultcha - 11/9/2005

martinsburg, though close to d.c. and baltimore, is not much on the arts and the thinking that goes with it. if you don't like industrial resturants or are willing to drive 25 to (at least )50 miles for a decent dinner ... well enough said. the climate is mild yet seasonable.

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Growth - 10/3/2005

Fast-growing city. Not many farms left. Developers are building on every square foot of land! Becoming too much like DC-area. Population in 2000 was around 14,000. Now more like 48,000!

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Martinsburg, WV - 7/11/2005

Martinsburg is a really small town. It doesn't have much on culture or art, or anything else. The main entertainment is "gentlemen's clubs"...I think there is about 7 or 8. The only good thing about Martinsburg is the weather is fairly decent...the winter is usually not too difficult. There are a lot of people who live in Martinsburg and surrounding areas who work in Washington, DC, so recently a lot of housing has been developed. Even so, Martinsburg is just another exuse for a walmart.

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