Like all communities, the Huntington area has experienced its share of good times and times that were not so good. But by just about any yardstick you care to use, this is a good time to live and work in Huntington.
Sometimes, we are just too hard on ourselves, because I see visible signs of the area's progress at every turn. Let's look around and take stock.
Surely there's no better place to start than at Pullman Square, which has pumped new life into downtown. Pullman's multi-screen movie theater, restaurants and retail shops were designed to act as a "people magnet," attracting folks to the once deserted downtown, and they're doing exactly that.
Hop on a shuttle bus at Pullman and take a quick ride up to Marshall University and you'll find a campus that's exploding with growth. The new Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center is now serving hundreds of students and researchers. Nearing completion are new dormitories and a recreation center, as well as the first stage of a new engineering building. Construction is set to begin on a new alumni center. Next on the construction list: an addition to the forensic science building and HADCO's biotechnology incubator.
Marshall truly has turned the corner on becoming a research-intensive institution and will take another giant step in that direction with the state of West Virginia's approval on new research dollars.
South of the campus, at the former site of Fairfield Stadium, Marshall's Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine is now treating patients at its new outpatient facility.
Just across Hal Greer Boulevard, Cabell Huntington Hospital has unveiled its new $85 million North Patient Tower and is busily renovating those areas of the hospital vacated by the move to the new tower.
Meanwhile, St. Mary's Medical Center has opened a new intensive care unit, has started work on a new 510-space parking garage and is continuing planning for its new education center, which will bring together its schools of nursing, imaging and respiratory care.
Not all of Huntington's continuing progress is visible in bricks and mortar.
It can be seen, for example, in the dramatic turnaround at Tri-State Airport. Thanks in large measure to Allegiant Air's low-cost flights to Florida destinations, Tri-State served more than 126,000 passengers in 2007, far more than in any other year since 1998.
It can be seen in the area's solid residential market that has been immune to the subprime housing problems affecting other parts of the country.
It can be seen in the paychecks of the men and women who go to work every day at the area's industries. These are difficult days for America's manufacturers, beset by worldwide competition and struggling to meet the demands of new technology, but Huntington's manufacturers -- paced by Special Metals, Alcon Research and Steel of West Virginia -- are more than holding their own or are expanding. The percentage of our workforce employed in manufacturing exceeds the national average. Eight new international firms have invested in the area in the past five years.
And finally, it can be seen in statistics such as those compiled by Forbes magazine, which in March ranked Huntington as 100th on a list of 200 "Best Places for Business and Careers." Moreover, of the 200 metropolitan areas on that list, guess which one the editors at Forbes found has the lowest cost of living? That's right -- the Huntington area.
Is there more to be done to make Huntington the standout community all of us would like it to be? Of course there is. And let me stress that all of us need to work together to help make that happen.
But at the risk of being labeled a Pollyanna, I think we also should take time to celebrate some of our positive accomplishments.
Jerry McDonald is president of the Huntington Area Development Council (HADCO).
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