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I feel like I should respond....simply because you took the time to write a long, well thought out response to my post...I appreciate it (and I actually mean that). I just think it's simpler than all that....opinions are not necessarily based on facts. Everything the OP stated was his opinion, even the stats. I thought that was obvious....but maybe I'm wrong.
There's a way to respond and state your opinion without being rude and condescending.
I feel like I should respond....simply because you took the time to write a long, well thought out response to my post...I appreciate it (and I actually mean that). I just think it's simpler than all that....opinions are not necessarily based on facts. Everything the OP stated was his opinion, even the stats. I thought that was obvious....but maybe I'm wrong.
Hi - thanks for your post. You are right about one thing and wrong about another. Yes, you are right that much of what the OP stated was opinion. You are wrong that statistics are based on opinion. Statistics are objective fact. So claims such as the majority of UD's students come from NJ make one wonder if some of the other "facts" he rolls out might be suspect.
What rdlr writes immediately above gets to the heart of the matter, however. Slamming, labeling and negatively stereotyping a place folks choose to call home on a public forum such as CD kind of invites all kind of response. Nothing new here. Hopefully the OP (who seems MIA) can take as good as he gives. This thread would have been rather boring if it consisted only of the opening post.
Well may I say something as a on-looker....but but just maybe a resident down the road?! That post got some people's dander up ...........and I see the replies. You know it would be scary if you guys just sat down and took it!!!! Hmmmm, no wonder they call you guys the 'First Staters, eh???? You lay it on the line!..;-)....
Well may I say something as a on-looker....but but just maybe a resident down the road?! That post got some people's dander up ...........and I see the replies. You know it would be scary if you guys just sat down and took it!!!! Hmmmm, no wonder they call you guys the 'First Staters, eh???? You lay it on the line!..;-)....
I am pretty excited to be leaving Delaware. I grew up in New Castle County, worked in Wilmington, Newark, and New Castle. For the last 16 years I have lived in Dover. Spent much time at my parents homes in Sussex county, including the beaches. I have many customers in Delaware, and I have a pretty unique perspective on the area. I feel like I have seen it all.
Want some subjective observations? Sure.
1. When you ask locals about why Delaware is a good place to live, the number one answer is its geographic proximity to other areas (Philly, Baltimore, DC, and NYC). That should be a warning sign to you. In my opinion, living NEAR other areas is not a feature.
2. The three counties have distinct characters, and even sub-characters to them...
New Castle County
It has the city of Wilmington. It USED to be a banking center and chemical center when duPont and Hercules had their headquarters there. The banks moved out. MBNA was sold. Wilmington Trust went under. Chase Bank went out. The big banking center of Wilmington is not as huge as it once was. The duPont buildings there are pretty much empty.
Wilmington has some very bad areas around it. West side is where a lot of crime is. East side is where a lot of poverty is. Center and south central has some high rise apartments and condos that are decent, near the waterfront and baseball stadium. That is an improving area. Northwest is nice. North (Claymont) is bad. I lived in Claymont as a kid and still have bad memories.
Greenville is the "rich area" of the state. It is small, and northwest of Wilmington. Its where the duPont family and heirs are.
Hockessin is one of the nicest places to live in the state, but it is next to PA Mushroom country. Meaning that it smells awful there in the summer time. True story.
Overall traffic in NCC is awful. No doubt about it. Not just the volume, but the danger and the construction.
There are some nice parks around NCC, but they are spread out.
Newark is where I grew up. It is home to the University of Delaware. There are more people from NJ in that university than locals. The University is not just a school. It is an enterprise. As such, it has BOUGHT UP most of the real estate in downtown Newark. This has good and bad effects. It has transformed a neat, charming place into a plastic place. I really don't go there anymore. It feels very empty to me.If you aren't a student, I don't see much value in being near Newark.
Christiana Mall - one of the best things about living in Delaware is the low taxes and no sales tax. No place better to see this than the Christiana Mall, which is the best mall in the state. You will find better malls in other metro areas, but this mall is pretty fantastic for this area. It is one of the few nice things about Delaware. And there appears to be continued investment in the mall.
Middletown - grew very rapidly leading up to the housing crash. Development there now has halted. It is an immense bedroom community. Meaning, many people live there, but they travel from there to work in Wilmington. So it is a suburb that doesn't have much to do other than strip malls. Like all of Delaware, it has no culture, charm, arts, good restaurants, or geographic scenery.
Smyrna - It is where the state prison is. That is all locals think about it. It is growing. But yeah.
Dover
Where I live now. Don't recommend it. There are many retirees here. If you are under 40, you will hate hate hate it here. A major employer was MBNA/BOA - they left. Aetna left. All that is left now is the State of Delaware (the largest employer) and the Dover Air Force Base. You have big, loud planes flying over you. A lot depending on where you live in Dover. It has a NASCAR track and a casino. If you are a redneck you will be in heaven. Locals leave town when races come to town and there is a reason for that. I could go on and on. With businesses closing left and right, the economy has taken a toll on this area.
If you must be in Dover, get into the Caesar Rodney School District. It is one of the best in the state. Choosing the capitol school district could be a mistake.
LOWER, SLOWER DELAWARE
Anything below Dover is LSD. You have the beaches, and the rest is rural farmland. That is it. It is Hicktown, USA. Milford isn't too bad, and is one of the better non-resort areas to live. Harrington has a huge drug crime problem.
Georgetown is one of the largest cities, and it is where the corporate courthouse is. Other than that, Sussex County is a wasteland. The beaches are a different story, but most property owners are from DC and PA. You will see MANY Pennsylvania license plates when you visit the beach. And PA drivers are the WORST when they come to Delaware Beaches. Don't know why they lose their minds, but ask any Delaware local about it. Beach traffic is terrible in the summer. You have one way to go north, and that is Route 1. Multi-mile backups are not uncommon. Going west to DC, there is one bridge over the bay that gets backed up many miles as well sometimes.
REHOBOTH BEACH
The beaches have the outlets for shopping, that is decent.
I prefer Ocean City Maryland's beaches, or the Delaware State Park beaches (below Dewey Beach) to Rehoboth. Rehoboth lost a lot of sand years ago due to storms, and they dredged up sand from offshore. This RUINED the beach. It now has a ton of pebbles in it. I am not kidding - I don't go there anymore. The south end of the beach is known as "Poodle Beach", and is nationally known as one of the largest gay beaches in the world. There is a huge gay business owner contingient in Rehoboth. If you are not a liberal, you should stay away. You WILL see gay couples hand in hand on the boardwalk. IT doesn't bother me, but at the same time they can't promote themselves as a family resort.
LEWES
Nice, small, near Rehoboth, good school system down there.
DEWEY
Party town. Disfunctional government. Upside down tax revenue, cutting police force, is very ugly. Not a place to live. Hotels are now bullying them and getting around ordinances. Not good.
CANCER HOTSPOTS
There are some cancer hotspots in Delaware. Mainly around the refineries in Delaware City. But there are also other chemical dumping grounds in central Delaware that the chemical industry created. You can search online for where these areas are. As a whole, I don't think Delaware ranks very well with cancer risk (going from memory, but research it).
If you move here, you will miss:
*Name brand chain stores
*Restaurants
*Having a sports team
*Good roads
*Scenic roads (route 9 doesn't count)
*Large parks
*The Arts
*Good movie theaters
*Wide range of employers
*Hills (it is all flat)
*Good economy (there are many states better)
I am leaving because my kids are grown, and I am moving to a state that isn't missing all of the things that Delaware is missing. Don't move here to save on your NY, PA, or NJ taxes. Many people do, and that is not a good enough reason to be here. There are many parts of NJ that are terrible, so that would be a good reason to come to Delaware.
If I offended anyone, I am sorry. Just being as honest as I can be.
Wow!! Well, JMac, you have opened up a can of worms with this post! I'll add my lil' .02. I am born and bred Wilmingtonian. I lived in the east side, Bellefonte and west side(Little Italy) in my formative years. My adult years, I mostly lived on the west towards Wawaset park and across from the reservoir behind Usuline Academy(my last apt.). In my early 30's, I moved away to North Jersey because I found a job in NYC. COL is cheaper in NJ even though I was commuting to Manhattan. Lived there for over 10 years. Now I live in PA(Poconos). Over 5 years now. I have my critiques of this area but I am content. My next move in my golden years is either Las Vegas area or southern Cal. Not anytime soon. Now back to your post.
I feel(for the most part) you were spot on with your take on Wilmington. Plenty of issues there. My immediate family has moved to New Castle and Middletown. It isn't what I was used to growing up in the 70's. Not that it wasn't urban but it has taken a turn for the worse. Now before JM and docjef attack me, I will say that their criticisms of your post are on point as well. There are plenty of silver linings of DE that I am nostalgic about. They point them out succinctly, IMHO. I was down there a couple years ago for family and I seen the good & bad. Everyone has their own paradise and I feel I have mine in the Poconos. I am wishing you well in Denver. Heard it is beautiful country out there.
The OP says he is doing this now because his children have moved out. Did they move to another state? Are you moving to be closer to at least one of them? If they are still here and you are, or want to be, close to them, then I think you will be coming back, if only to visit. Later on when your health starts to decline in old age, close proximity to children or other relatives can be critical.
I also want to move away from where I live for many reasons, including cost of living as number one. My wife does not want to move away from the grandchildren, that recently started arriving. I would prefer moving to flyover country, like the Ozarks, or Wyoming when I retire. I am looking at a compromise move to WV, to stay relatively close, but at the same time satisfy some of my reasons for moving, which I won't go into here.
I also want to move away from where I live for many reasons, including cost of living as number one. My wife does not want to move away from the grandchildren, that recently started arriving. I would prefer moving to flyover country, like the Ozarks, or Wyoming when I retire. I am looking at a compromise move to WV, to stay relatively close, but at the same time satisfy some of my reasons for moving, which I won't go into here.
Now here's someone who must be bugging my phone lines!..........;-).....hehe hey for you cc it's Wyoming for me I'd be on the west coast of Eire right now...done, finished....a pint a day while I hang out by the ocean! But alas I hear the lil ole nice lilt in the air...'it's the kids...it's the kids..it's the kids'....ok..it's the kids!'...;-).....What can ya do? Life is a bit o compromising!....;-)...So Delaware perhaps will be my Eire..hey it's got the beaches. eh??????? Love'em in the winter. Best time to go too!
Last edited by toobusytoday; 01-22-2014 at 09:59 AM..
As stated earlier...I love living in Ocean View, but the husband is insistent on moving somewhere warmer (ugggg...NOT a warm weather lover here!) and cheaper to live once he retires in a few years--and it must have beaches. Personally, I want to leave the country, but I think Key West is about as close to living abroad as I'm gonna get. Oh well, one can dream.....
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Wow!! Well, JMac, you have opened up a can of worms with this post! I'll add my lil' .02. I am born and bred Wilmingtonian. I lived in the east side, Bellefonte and west side(Little Italy) in my formative years. My adult years, I mostly lived on the west towards Wawaset park and across from the reservoir behind Usuline Academy(my last apt.). In my early 30's, I moved away to North Jersey because I found a job in NYC. COL is cheaper in NJ even though I was commuting to Manhattan. Lived there for over 10 years. Now I live in PA(Poconos). Over 5 years now. I have my critiques of this area but I am content. My next move in my golden years is either Las Vegas area or southern Cal. Not anytime soon. Now back to your post.
