She’s asking a dangerous question.
“Why don’t you stay a while?”
Well … to find a job or to experience a different corner of the country; to shed winters to stay warm or to follow family in search of fortune; or to meet new people in new places that aren’t, frankly, along the same Main and Market streets we’ve traveled over and over and over.
To educate. To reinvent. For love. And, for some, to escape the “everyone knows everyone” political landscape. It’s sometimes healthy to admit the issues here in Upper Ohio Valley, and to realize the region isn’t always for everyone.
Spencer Porter, though, and the members of her new non-profit with the same name – “Why Don’t You Stay Awhile” – have heard them all – and then some – and that’s quite OK because, after all, life is life and accepting reality is far healthier than living under the proverbial rock-and-a-hard-place. Plus, what Porter’s new group actually encourages is taking a look-see because far too often, let’s face it, our high school and college grads are anxious to put the Wheeling area in their rear-view mirrors without considering the “here vs. there” pros and cons.
Porter, too, has learned her own lesson. Once graduated from Bellaire High, off to Italy she went. Then to Hawaii. Then nine years in Los Angeles. And now, back to Bellaire.
Why? Did she do something wrong that forced her to DEFAULT back to the valley?
Nope.
Spencer not only learned the same lessons many others have after racing out of this region once able only to move home, but the release of a plethora of technological advancements over the last decade have unleashed far more potential for a “dream come true” environment right here in the Rust Belt.
That’s her only motivation. Spencer realized IT – as have many others who have moved home – so all she and her new group are offering is a reminder that this area is close to big-city excitement yet offers that small-town community, has a population base willing to fight for the future, possesses amenities like Oglebay and many more, and that prosperity is possible.
So, why not stick around for a while?
Luring people back to or to Wheeling for the first time based on career opportunities is not effort well spent. Quality of life amenities, however, do exist in large numbers. There is a limited number of those who will relocate here for those amenities.
My thought is that there are two segments of the population to focus on. First, those who have “work at home” jobs. Second, those currently living in Allegheny and Washington counties thus paying high taxes. Weirton is is succeeding as a bedroom community for Pittsburgh….why not Wheeling? To be able to garner a livable income and live with relatively low overhead community full the great amenities that we enjoy, is a win win. Target marketing to these two segments and turn our population leak around.