COLUMN: Do you really want us to stay?

By Sage Merritt

Published: June 7, 2008

A recent News Virginian article by Bob Stuart (“Area searches for secret to retaining youth,” published June 2) highlighted a question that some local officials are apparently asking — what can we do to encourage more young people to stay in the area?
These officials say that they’ll be soliciting input from high school and college graduates and developing a strategetic plan to keep more young folks here, or encourage them to return after they graduate.
Well, I just so happen to be an expert in that very topic, being a young person myself. While 24 doesn’t seem like anything special to me, people in their early 20s are apparently becoming a sought-after age group here in Augusta County. I never knew I, or my peers, were so special.
Actually, my peers and I aren’t that special at all. We’re a pretty easy group of people to please, particularly those of us who are still single and haven’t yet started a family. Our needs are few, our wants are simple.
Here’s the basic checklist, for anyone who might be wondering:
—a place to live,
—a job,
—stuff to do,
—companionship.
It’s that simple, and yet, to the local powers-that-be, these concepts seem to be more complex than a graduate-level calculus textbook. “You have all of these things available already,” they might claim. “Why aren’t more of you staying here?”
The answer to that question requires a little critical thinking. For example, the housing situation. “Well,” non-critical-thinkers might say, “more housing is being built in the area every day. Some development firm from Northern Virginia or some such out-of-town location is developing the old Western State in Staunton into fancy condos! They’re building new housing developments in Fishersville and Stuarts Draft!”
That’s all well and good, for anyone who can cough up major dollars to buy one of those condos or new houses. Young people can’t afford to buy property, and many of us aren’t looking to do so in the first place. Area development has combined with inflation to push costs through the roof, and yet, affordable rental housing doesn’t seem to be on the list of priorities of any area planning group I’ve come across.
How about jobs? Where are young people, returning from college with hard-earned degrees and serious student loan debt, going to get jobs? While we appreciate that development in Waynesboro’s west end is going to benefit somebody, it isn’t us. We didn’t go to college for four (or more) years to count change at Target.
And speaking of Target, a handful of big-box stores on the outskirts of town do not qualify as “stuff to do” or “companionship.” Want to know what does? Bars and nightclubs and concert venues. I know it’s a hard pill to swallow, particularly in a town that has pushed out or shut down every recent attempt to start such a venture, but that’s the truth. Many people in their 20s are not going to be satisfied with only Wal-Mart, an occasional hike on Skyline Drive and Sunday’s church service to meet their social needs. Those same young people are leaving Augusta County and aren’t coming back.