Achilles

Yeah, definitely, dude. And, with these new exhibits, the tourists will love it even more. And locals will like it more, too. It's good for everyone! And, yes, I'm glad you agree the cites of Hampton Roads needs to work together to improve our metro and that we need to be more like Charlotte (when it comes to jobs, at least) than Miami (not that Miami is a horrible city). I think the VA Beach Town Center will be a start to that, and hopefully, Norfolk will once again be viewed as a premier city with The Tide and some more of these revitalization efforts. I'm also hoping Newport News's City Center will become something great someday (Even though they decided to cater to older, wealthier people rather than young people like me. But, I guess, there's a good reason for that somewhere.) My one issue with a Fortune 100 bank relocation is, if the economy goes sour, and business is bad in Hampton Roads, the relocated bank might decide to move up to NYC with the rest of the nation's major banks and shrink our economy. There's already an issue with that in Charlotte (the city is dominated by banking and not much else). But, either way, we don't have any Fortune 100 banks and are doing pretty well right now, especially with all the military and gov't jobs to cushion us from the recession, so I think I'm looking WAY too much into this and am being WAY too pessimistic about it. And, yeah, an interstate to Raleigh (or to I-95 from Norfolk/VA Beach) would be great. I live on the Peninsula, but whenever I have to go south, I always have to pass through those small, slow roads with stoplights that go through Suffolk and Emporia before reaching I-95. Another interstate in that area would be ideal (so long as people who live in that area and the environment are not affected negatively). It would definitely help with evacuating the Southside in case of an emergency as well.

Yeah, RJWGMU and varider, both of y'all are right. Lol. Actually, Charlotte and a couple other major cities lack an aquarium or zoo of their own, and yet, they are respectable cities, but that's beyond the point. I think I just got carried away because I'm a bit of an aquarium enthusiast and grew up with the VA Aquarium (or Virginia Marine Science Museum as it was once called). I shouldn't have said a MAJOR draw; that was a bit of an overstatement, but it is definitely an improvement to quality of the area and will make vacationers experiences in VA Beach more enjoyable. Whenever I hear about people who come to VA Beach for vacation, they almost always go to the VA Aquarium when it's a rainy day. I guess, if we can get those extensions on the starter line for The Tide, we could make it so beachgoers have easy access to the VA Zoo, too. The way I view these new additions to the VA Aquarium are the way I view the National Aquarium in Baltimore, which is a very nice aquarium btw. If the aquarium wasn't there, I'd have absolutely no reason to go to Baltimore's Inner Harbor. In fact, the NAB was ranked as the largest tourist attraction in the state of Maryland in 2005 (well, according to Wikipedia, but I'm willing to believe it) and played a major role in revitalizing Baltimore's waterfront. Don't get me wrong; Harborplace isn't bad, but it's not enough for me to hang around there long. Other than Orioles and Ravens games, there's really not much else I can think of to do in Baltimore that I can't do back at home (I'm not trying to knock Baltimore.) Obviously, VA Beach's problem is not urban decay; that's Norfolk, but I still think additions of better exhibits will be a boon for tourism in the region. And, hopefully, so will Blackstone's purchase of Busch Gardens and Water Country (gonna miss the Clydesdales, though!). My logic could be wrong, though. Not sure what y'all think about my take on this. One thing's for sure is that VA Beach (and the rest of Hampton Roads) definitely needs more high-paying jobs and attractions and absolutely should NOT try to take after Miami. We do not want or need to be like Miami because Miami only caters to tourist and not locals. Miami's a nice place to visit, but for a city of its size and status, how many Fortune 500 companies that are HQ'd there can you name? I'm not trying to be anti-fun or anti-progress by saying this, but I am trying to contribute to positive growth of our metro, so that we don't end up in a precarious position--like most of Florida is at the moment--sometime in the near future. My logic here could also be wrong, though. Look forward to hearing some feedback on this.

I'm gonna have to agree with Varider. If we could just have one big league team that all of Hampton Roads can rally around, Hampton Roads would finally have its place on the map. If it weren't for the Colts, the Panthers, the Packers, the Cardinals and the Diamondbacks, the The Twins and the Vikings, etc., I would not have even known the cities of Indianapolis, Charlotte, Greenbay, Phoenix, Minneapolis and St. Paul, etc. even existed. Every time I try to describe Hampton Roads to out-of-staters, it just ends in confusion because of the identity crisis this region faces. I'm not asking for much, but a decent MLB or NFL team (or NBA or NHL) would allow the nation to know what Hampton Roads is. I don't mind rooting for D.C. area teams, but the problem is, Hampton Roads and D.C. (and even Northern VA) are almost as different as night and day in some aspects. It would be hard for me to rally behind ODU like that because I don't go to ODU, and it's just not the same. (Not to say I disagree with supporting ODU or making Foreman Field larger.) Idk. Pro sports teams are overrated and expensive, but there's just something about having pro teams that makes a city special.

Hey, everyone. I'm new here. I don't know if anyone's posted any threads about this yet, but the Virginia Aquarium will be opening its Restless Planet exhibit on Nov. 21st. There are going to be Komodo dragons, rare tomistoma crocodiles, and a 40-foot acrylic tunnel through a Red Sea-themed tank, among other things. It's been advertised extensively on the Pilot, but I didn't know if anyone here really knew much about it. I think when Restless Planet opens this fall--along with the Virginia Zoo's new Trail of the Tiger exhibits in 2010--they will serve as major draws to the area and encourage people who vacation here to return every summer.