I love your full post bro. I would’ve made a great life in Charlotte but it’s kind of hard when you’re barely making 50k, getting paid 1 time a month and the cheapest/nicest apartment is 1400 a month. Charlotte has some of best people on earth down there and it doesn’t matter if you’re white, black or dooty turd green, everyone gets along. Just a great city to live in.That’s true, I’ve never felt unsafe in Charlotte, even when my dad and I took a wrong turn and ended up at a Shoneys where we were def out of place lol but it was super cool and never did we feel unsafe driving around. I know there are some rougher parts of Charlotte but Richmond has a lot of rough parts now and if you aren’t on campus or other touristy type places, it could be trouble.
I’d LOVE to see Richmond really become a big industry hub and really become a true metro area. VA needs it, we need to bring in as many jobs as possible across the entire state, starting from my neck of the woods in far SWVA all the way to the coast. Arlington, Loudon Co, etc. shouldn’t be the places always getting the new jobs and big money opportunities. I’d kill for Wise County (or Richmond city) to get the school resources some of those counties get. I tell people all the time the issue isn’t between races of people but socioeconomic differences. Us poor folk don’t stand a chance, white or black, if we aren’t given any opportunity to succeed and make a good living close to home.
I 100% agree with spreading the wealth in our state. A lot of people don’t realize just how marketable your part of the state is and it would be nice to see some major industry between Big Stone Gap and Bristol and north to Bluefield. I was out that way in March and it’s really God’s Country and very accessible to Charlotte, Tri Cities TN and Asheville. Seems like NoVA gets everything.. The jobs, the higher wages and “better education”.. One of the things that I like about the Richmond region is we get some of those benefits without traffic, azzhole people and high cost of living. You’d be very surprised how many people live in the Richmond area and work in DC/NoVA.