Reviews & Comments
Roanoke, VA
re: Roanoke Has Lots to Offer
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10/21/2019Like many natives of Roanoke, Rob has lived in the area his entire life. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it verifies that he has no experience with another area to compare Roanoke to. He mentions that tourism is alive and well, but fails to mention that jobs in the tourism industry are notoriously low paying. He mentions the Taubman museum, but fails to mention that it couldn't hold a candle to museums in other major cities. He mentions "a dozen smaller galleries" without saying that these so called galleries "are less than a few thousand square feet in size; as big as a moderate apartment. He mentions that he has no plans to leave but withholds his education, income level or profession; is he even skilled enough to find work elsewhere?
While Roanoke has seen some new construction "downtown" it is nonetheless a small low income area, with a household income around $40,000 a year. One who stops to considers the math would see that if there are two working adults in a household, and they, together earn a total of $40,000 a year, then they're both likely earning $20,000 yearly. With 40 hours in a work week and 50 weeks a year, there are 2000 work hours in a year. Divide that into $20,000 and you come up to $10/hr. Ten dollars an hour is what many jobs in this area pay. The real estate prices, cost of living, entertainment and cultural options are all suited to people in this income range.
Milwaukee, WI
re: Milwaukee Sucks!!
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10/3/2019Not only that. The public schools are clearly garbage. I can tell from your poor spelling and grammatical errors!
Milwaukee, WI
re: Top 5 worst cities
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10/1/2019Sounds a lot like Roanoke, Virginia.
Roanoke, VA
re: Stay out!
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10/17/2018In regards to Linda, yes shopping malls are closing all over the US. However, the message is an opinion about Roanoke, and the surrounding areas. In this area, the malls are dying and dead. Does that mean Roanoke is the only area with dead malls? No. It means that Roanoke has dead and dying mall and for many people that in undesirable.
Secondly, if the area is geographically the deep south is less important than is the people act like the deep south. If one considers a map of the United States, West Virginia isn't any more south than Virginia, but if you go there you will see a much lower class of "deep southern" people. A similarly low class can be found in Roanoke.
You commented that you have never witnessed any racism, however you fail to indicate your race. As a non-white in the area, I have had people ask whether my parents are married, during job interviews. I have recently sold a rather nice vehicle through Craigslist, and had the buyer ask if the vehicle was even mine. I have been called a 'colored boy' by a customer while doing my job. If you've never seen any racism here, you're just not looking for it.
Are drugs worse here than everywhere else? No. Are drug problems worse here than in Salem? Yes. I've lived in Salem, for five years and have never heard of drug related fights, or other violence here. You claim that drugs are a problem downtown, is the green way downtown?
Some areas are seeing gentrification, just like anywhere else in the United States, however many areas are dilapidated and in poor condition. South East comes to mind.
Bad dental hygiene, is a particular problem in this area, is it the worst in the world? Probably not. Is the the Worse in the US? Also probably not. Is it fairly bad, and definitely worse than areas with better educated people? Yes.
I find it interesting that you agree that littering is a problem, but claim that you've never had pigs for neighbors. You likely live in a fairly wealthy part of town.
Roanoke, VA
re: Moving to Roanoke - 12/30/2014 -
1/19/2015The Crystal Springs area is nice and Northcross is known to be one of the best schools in the area. However, only move to the Roanoke, area if you already 'know' someone or have work lined up in the medical industry (which is the biggest employer in the area). There is a reason Roanoke received many negative reviews, people tend to not like it here. It's a one industry town, many people after moving in regret it and move on.
Roanoke, VA
re: Not a great place to live - 8/12/2014 -
10/11/2014Your statements don't address or negate any of the problems in Roanoke. The poor public transit system, the non-existent nightlife downtown, the open racism. These things make Roanoke a dud.
Roanoke, VA
Not a great place to live -
8/12/2014I've lived in Roanoke for about seven years now and have found several things I like and don't like. First and foremost, the job market here is a joke, if one new business opens an old one will close. Maggie Moo's, a local ice cream parlor has recently closed; Baja Bistro, a mexican food venue, has recently closed; Cici's pizza has closed; Books-a-Million, has closed.
The area is served by two shopping malls, Valleyview and Tanglewood. Tanglewood has been a mostly vacant dead-mall for years now, and unfortunately Valleyview is headed the same way, many of its stores have been closed in the past few months, it has about 30-50% vacancy.
Downtown, is trying to make a comeback, it's been trying for years. It is ultimately hampered by the same problem which made people stop going downtown to begin with: no where to park. There are a few restaurants but, as is typical of many towns, many of the businesses are closing their doors at 7pm. There just isn't enough business down there to justify staying open any later.
If you're interested in public transit look elsewhere. The bus system, run by Valley Metro, has busses running only once an hour on most routes and the bus system shuts down at a quarter after 7pm. Also, if you ask anyone on the bus, they'll tell you the same thing, that they don't save any time taking the bus. If you can wall there in forty-five minutes, the bus can get you there in an hour.
I am an economics major and can tell you a little known secret about unemployment. Unemployment is a measure of the people out of work and actively looking for work. When you stop looking for work, you're no longer unemployed. You can verify that with any source. The unemployment is low here because there are few jobs and many people are burned out and have stopped looking for work. Others are driving to othe cities to work, some driving three to four hours to Richmond or Washington for work!
I work in the real estate industry and know from experience that homes are moving very slowly in this area. The average days on market is still over six months, with many home owners finding they have little equity in their homes.
The greenways in the area are nice, but many of the people who use them are not. Many people do not clean up after their dogs and once when running in the early evening two men jogged past me and said "sheesh, is it beginning to look like gorillas in the mist out here or what?"
In conclusion, Roanoke is a large southern town with lots of small town problems. Small town racism, lack of jobs and nightlife, and a sluggish home market. My advice, stay away.