West Virginia is paying people $12k to move there

[GregTheGreat657]

The program is called Ascend West Virginia. As of right now, this program has only about two dozen participants, but it is looking to expand in the future

Source: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/courage-strength-optimism/full-steam-ahead-west-virginias-program-to-pay-people-12k-to-move-to-coal-country-gains-momentum

[Holmes]

The article says it has 7,500 participants, not two dozen.

I would maybe consider it if I were able to land a good job.

[Crumpets]

Build a high-speed train that can get me into DC in half an hour and I'm down.

[Santander]

Incentivizing remote workers is stupid. They tend to go to the same few places (e.g. Morgantown, which is already a perfectly decent place), don't really care about the local community, and don't end up sticking around because they have nothing tying them down. Even bringing in tech businesses with incentives doesn't work, as they tend to move away as soon as the incentives expire.

The only migration incentives worth considering are for capital investment (it's a lot harder to move a manufacturing plant than a video game studio) and perhaps some kinds of healthcare workers.

[GP270watch]

 A national healthcare program would be the best jobs program you could give rural and depopulating America. It would bring Jobs you can't offshore, can help tackle the issues of the local community, and it would need support infrastructure and service jobs outside the medical professions.

[Never Made it to Graceland]

The article says it has 7,500 participants, not two dozen.

I would maybe consider it if I were able to land a good job.

As in the example in this article, this program is basically only attractive to spoiled brats in the knowledge economy like Quintina who can work remotely for the rest of their lives. There's a reason everyone left West Virginia and that's because jobs are the primary reason to live somewhere.

[Non Swing Voter]

Build a high-speed train that can get me into DC in half an hour and I'm down.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Line_(Washington_Metro)

Just extend this out.  But it's definitely not gonna be half an hour. 

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The only thing this is going to do is gentrify Morgantown, Huntington and Charleston. It's not like the people moving in are going to go to dying former coal mining areas.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Hahaha!

Okay, maybe for $12 million.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

So that's where West Virginia's budget goes!

[beaver2.0]

Build a high-speed train that can get me into DC in half an hour and I'm down.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Line_(Washington_Metro)

Just extend this out.  But it's definitely not gonna be half an hour. 

No build the pink line first.

[It’s so Joever]

Pfft, they just need to wait for the inevitable gentrification/tourism boom of Appalachia.
It happened to Colorado’s Rockies, they will get it soon enough.

[beaver2.0]

Pfft, they just need to wait for the inevitable gentrification/tourism boom of Appalachia.
It happened to Colorado’s Rockies, they will get it soon enough.

Someday there'll be a Nandos and a Cava in every town in West Virginia.

[It’s so Joever]

Pfft, they just need to wait for the inevitable gentrification/tourism boom of Appalachia.
It happened to Colorado’s Rockies, they will get it soon enough.

Someday there'll be a Nandos and a Cava in every town in West Virginia.

We don’t really have many Nandos in Colorado, first one I saw is here in DC

[Big Abraham]

Pfft, they just need to wait for the inevitable gentrification/tourism boom of Appalachia.
It happened to Colorado’s Rockies, they will get it soon enough.

Plenty of Rocky Mtn. states didn’t get that. New Mexico and Wyoming aren’t exactly booming.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

Wait didn't Robert Byrd try to get the entire federal government moved bit by bit to WV?

[Yoda]

$12K is nice and all but then you're....in WV. This plan is almost as funny as that income tax plan that WV claimed would possibly bring a Disney World to the state.

[Frodo]

Build a high-speed train that can get me into DC in half an hour and I'm down.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Line_(Washington_Metro)

Just extend this out.  But it's definitely not gonna be half an hour. 

The furthest west it will ever go is likely Leesburg. 

[Sol]

Pfft, they just need to wait for the inevitable gentrification/tourism boom of Appalachia.
It happened to Colorado’s Rockies, they will get it soon enough.

This is already happening but isn't happening in WV, for the same reason people are moving to Missoula instead of Butte.

[Vosem]

The only thing this is going to do is gentrify Morgantown, Huntington and Charleston. It's not like the people moving in are going to go to dying former coal mining areas.

Morgantown is already pretty gentrified, and Huntington and Charleston would be odd choices, since they're distinctly declining cities which are far from other metros or any of the most picturesque spots. (Wheeling is plausible as an ex-exurb of Pittsburgh, though.)

This will definitely help Morgantown a decent bit, though, and it'll contribute a lot to gentrification in Harpers Ferry/Charles Town/maybe Martinsburg.

Eventually, I can see Seneca Rocks or Franklin WV, which are probably the most picturesque part of the state and not all that far from prosperous medium-sized VA cities, also start to gentrify, though that'll start slowly if at all.

~~

Anyway, a close friend of mine from college really did move to WV when his job went remote; wonder if he regrets not waiting or something.

[vitoNova]

A dude at my agency did that.  (moved to WV, but I don't know if he got 12K for it). A hipster-ish GS-12/13 who used to live in the city, and is the last person I would ever imagine to live out in the sticks.

And the place he moved to was literally in the middle of nowhere (a bunch of green on Google maps and the nearest Google street view was like 100 miles away.  Yes, I googled the town because I'm a nosey ass bastard)

[NYSforKennedy2024]

Pretty cool idea tbh.