Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

ci.cumberland.md.us

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 181 posts

Re: A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

#81

Post by AlotOfReading »

stackskipton wrote: post #68
radpanda wrote: post #22

As a native Marylander I always find myself forgetting about Cumberland, which is a shame. As someone who has mostly lived in and around Baltimore, you head west to Frederick (aka Fredneck) for the small city in the middle of rural farmland. If you keep heading west you get to Hagerstown which feels way out there in farm country. And if you keep heading west you eventually move from farms to mountains and you hit Cum…

Sure, but problem Cumberland has same problem as rest of Appalachia, it's geography isn't very good. Mountain areas make everything 10x times harder to build. Let's say some big software company wanted to build second HQ. Even if Cumberland was attractive in workforce, education options and so forth, the architects would say "Building your HQ2 is going to be rough. There isn't enough flat land, flooding could be prob…

If there was an economy worth building for, the geography wouldn't be a blocker. Look at Seattle, Oakland, or the Hollywood hills. They're all built on rugged, mountainous terrain just as difficult as the Appalachians, but they don't suffer the same issues attracting wealth because their economic situation is so different. In fact, each of them has the opposite problem of demand to build vastly outstripping permission to build.

Re: A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

#82

Post by scythe »

j_m_b wrote: post #4

I just got back from a visit with family in Cumberland. It's the epitome of rust belt. What used to be a thriving manufacturing area has become an abandoned service-sector economy with low-wage jobs. Property values are dirt cheap, even for nice houses. There isn't much nearby, you have to travel hours from Pittsburgh to even get there by plane. Tales of theft of items like power tools from relatively remote farms ar…

The area around Cumberland, mostly to the south towards Moorefield and Petersburg, WV, has a somewhat similar climate to the Tokaj region of Hungary, known for growing rare botrytized wines that sell for a fortune. I found this one day when I looked at the map of precipitation activity the US and saw an unexpected dry(ish) spot in northeastern West Virginia.

Re: A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

#83

Post by streptomycin »

spacemadness wrote: post #49

It seems like Zillow is full of people selling houses at 2x to 3x the estimate in Cumberland hoping to sell and run to whoever takes advantage of the relocation program. I see houses assessed at $90,000 in 2023 selling for $300,000. Give me a break.

"Assessed" doesn't mean much, there are many towns (such as my current town, and many others here in NJ) where houses all sell for a similar premium over the official assessed value.

Re: A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

#84

Post by xyst »

Have to live in Cumberland, MD for 5 years though.

Borders West Virginia and a key city in the Appalachian area. Some would say this region was day 0 of the opioid epidemic. As of 2020 census, population is largely (~89%) identified as Caucasian. Diversity is lacking. Median income reported at $45K.

Don’t know much besides what’s on paper, but I highly doubt most people on HN would integrate well here.

Re: A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

#85

Post by xyst »

francisofascii wrote: post #80

Work from home. Commute into a DC metro based office once a month. You could even drive to Martinsburg and take the Marc. Sounds doable.

> Commute into a DC metro based office once a month

Not even once. Have you ever driven in DC metro? No thanks.

Re: A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

#86

Post by mgerdts »

samstave wrote: post #21
dccoolgai wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the railroad was the internet, it was really the Silicon Valley of its day. Really makes you think.

Maybe youre not familiar with Qwest Communications? Man does SV have stories to tell that will be lost to us old BOFH ilk: Qwest communications came about when the railroad realized they had rights to the easement lanes on either side of ALL their train tracks, that allowed them to basically do anything they wanted with that strip of land. So Qwest Communications was born to run fiber along all the tracks and built a…

This sounds a lot like the story of Sprint (Southern Pacific Railroad INTernet?). If I were less lazy I bet I could find the story where this part of Sprint morphed into Qwest.

Re: A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

#87

Post by debo_ »

samstave wrote: post #65
forvelin wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you got downvotes because your replies lack manners.

I'm not responsible for whatever tone you put on my post in your internal monologue's voice. Being starkly the only one who points out how weird it is that there was no reason for why would even want to consider this offer, and the unappealing rules for which this is controlled -- its a weird endeavor for this town, and weird post for HN. Is stating such lacking of manners? Or are emotional triggers > discussion of t…

Neither the presentation nor the content was good, so you are being downvoted.

Re: A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

#88

Post by dgfitz »

whalesalad wrote: post #52

Maryland is so bad they need to pay you 10k to move there. I used to live in Nova and crossing into Maryland was always a drag.

Did you know that Columbia, MD is consistently voted one of the best cities in the country in which to live and work?

Re: A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

#89

Post by TylerE »

khaki54 wrote: post #11

It's a nice place, especially if you are outdoorsy, due to proximity to so much woodland and trail. I was very surprised with the architecture there. I've only stayed a couple nights (Trailhead for the Ragnar relay series)

No offence, but you can’t really say that after a single visit of a few days.

For instance, healthcare in Appalachia is generally terrible, as are the crime rates.

Re: A $10k stipend is available for anyone moving to Cumberland, MD

#90

Post by imglorp »

khaki54 wrote: post #11

It's a nice place, especially if you are outdoorsy, due to proximity to so much woodland and trail. I was very surprised with the architecture there. I've only stayed a couple nights (Trailhead for the Ragnar relay series)

Green Ridge state park, nearby, is wonderful camping and four wheeling.
Post reply on HN