We recently had a very good discussion on the Charlottesville economy. Many of you chimed in with interesting comments. Let me highlight a few..
From Lys:
My friends in the restaurant business are nervous about raising prices for fear of driving away customers, but their margins are not what they need to be, so I suspect that will go into full effect come summer when business starts to slow down for anyone who doesnt have patio space on the mall. Overall I think Charlottesville is at least a B from my humble perspective.
From Smiley:
I think our local economy will be somewhat buffered from larger recessionary pressures by UVa. Let’s face it, this is a company town and the University drives the economy. As long as there are thousands of kids coming to school and spending money, along with thousands of employees with stable jobs and health care, I think we can weather most economic storms pretty well. That’s not to say that everyone is immune from economic woes, but I do think this area is in a better position economically than most.
From Ernest:
I’ve seen old people moving (kicked out) from their homes because of taxes. Most of the my children’s teachers live outside of the county limits due to high housing costs. Have seen many subdivisions build in the county, houses priced 400K and over that attract people to our once #1 city.
From Belmont Yo:
My main job has slowed way down, slowest by far that it has been in the nine years I have worked here (thus my post quantity – I am trying to stave off insanity). I haven’t had a raise in five years, and the cost of living raises I do get are eclipsed by the increase in health care costs, so my net salary actually goes down. Then again, I am lucky to even have health care.
With all these insights, and a Daily Progress article about a declining quality of life, I wanted to ask you guys the same question:
Related posts:
- Serial Rapist *Tried In The Courts (Result: Four Life Sentences)
- Healthy People Cost the Government More
- Charlottesville Wins Another Award
Restaurant owners are a conservative bunch when it comes to risk because a good restaurant is like magic. They need to pay the servers better and ban the smoke, the ones that still have it. People have been complaining about the sloppy service for fifteen years, and it would be in their long-term interest to have a more professional staff like the rest of the world. But short-term it is too scary. WTF do they pay the sub minimum? Cause they’re scardy kats.
For what it’s worth, i work for the commonwealth, not a private enterprise.
/we used to have dreams, now we have jobs.
FWIW, I work for a private enterprise.
/we used to have jobs, now the citizens of India do.
I enjoy living in Charlottesville very much. It’s a lot of fun and really interesting. I can get out the kayak, hike with the most incredible views and hear bands like Nickel Creek, Nada Surf, etc.. the next day. I find it concerning when I hear it referred to as the Aspen of the East with a bring your own money mentality. I hope high paying jobs continue to come to the area, we need more than UVa as an option for employment.
We also can’t keep growing and putting up subdivisions and strip malls without supporting infrastructure. We don’t have a drought advisory right now, but our reserve is low compared to other locals. The Daily Progress several months ago reported on sewer system weaknesses – this is a bit of a problem. The efforts to maintain a high quality of life are different than those to build a high quality of life. We need to make that transition.
Happy Easter everyone.
B’yo hurry back !
Hey thanks double lo! I don’t cross the threshold until this evening. If all goes well, I should be back tuesday evening or wednesday morning. Im a little nervous for this one. There but for the grace of god… and all that.
i would say my quality of life is strong to very strong. i have a great job that i really enjoy, 2 friends, a house with a drinking platform, a dirty car, the shirt on my back, and somewhere between two and three hundred girlfriends.
very little of this has anything to do with the economy. your QOL is a state of mind, braaaaaahhh.
I’m breaking up with parlie.
299 then
c-ville is my happy little bubble. yeah, shit gets more expensive, but that’s the way it goes. quality of life is not just a financial thing. i have awesome friends, a cool pad, fun jobs, a dependable car…and maybe some student loans but you know what? at the end of the day i have good health and good times. we should appreciate what we have cuz we’re pretty lucky.
ditto above, but i just wish we might all wake up and dissent.
as in, get a little more angry at people who take advantage of us and hunker down and party(and i mean grow our own food and get above groud underground in music and art) without feeling the fight is worth it…’cause we should be reclaiming our right to be, live…we may be only human- but we are only human-that is the experiment, the condition…
so there.
10 – like a commune? how interesting – a cvillain commune.
I can play the tambourine.