In Wheeling, residents are worried about children, inflation and jobs

In a series of conversations and interviews this month in Wheeling, voters said they feel like politicians aren’t responding to urgent, unaddressed problems in West Virginia.

This is part of Mountain State Spotlight’s ongoing effort to talk with residents in all of West Virginia’s 55 counties in the run-up to the 2024 election. We’re asking a simple question: What do you want to hear candidates talking about as they compete for your vote?

Earlier this year, Sarah Elbeshbishi visited the broader Northern Panhandle where residents said they want better roads, more jobs and solutions to the opioid epidemic.

Here’s what people in Wheeling told us this month.

As Mariah and Kenny Burnley were getting ready to have their second kid in 2020, they decided to open a Wheeling child care center . They knew that without child care, many parents can’t work.

At first, the Ohio Valley Child Learning Center was financially stable.

There was lots of demand from parents. And pandemic-era funding supplemented the center’s budget.

Now, most of that funding has ended, and child care centers are feeling a financial squeeze.

The Burnleys said private tuition payments, ones that some parents already struggle to afford , don’t cover the cost of keeping the lights on and paying staff. And some of the Center’s students qualify for low-income federal subsidies, which compensate child care centers with even less money.

To reduce costs, the Burnleys are cutting back hours for already stretched-thin employees. Kenny had to step away from the center and get a new job, and Mariah hasn’t taken a paycheck for herself for the last two months.

“You can’t budget when there’s no money,” she said during a community roundtable hosted by Mountain State Spotlight at the Ohio County Public Library last week.

It’s a problem that’s set to become even more urgent. State funding for a child care subsidy program is set to run out at the end of the month , and the Burnleys said more centers will close if West Virginia lawmakers don’t address that financial gap .

“It’s nice to run on it for an election, but where’s the action?” Kenny asked.

Outside the library, security guard Charles Works described himself as “a big pro-gun activist.”

“I hunt, I fish,” he said. “That’s pretty much my relaxation time.”

But he’s invested in other local issues too, like Wheeling’s homeless population. Works said there seem to be more unhoused people because of addiction, and he’d like to see the city offer fewer services in hopes many would leave.

A recent state report on homelessness found that the majority of unhoused West Virginians are working, and more state resources are needed to combat the problem.

It’s something that’s hit close to home: When his daughter regularly smoked methamphetamine, Works recalls searching creek banks in the early hours of the morning to find her. She’s since been clean for several years, but he said he doesn’t understand why she gave up life at home to use drugs.

Works said that, recently, he feels like the cost of everyday items has gone up. “I hate grocery shopping anymore,” he said.

While he makes above the minimum wage, he would like to see it increased.

After grabbing a drink with his wife Jody near Wheeling’s Centre Market, Mike Usenick, a coal miner who retired after working 43 years underground, said his family is also feeling the squeeze of inflation.

“Groceries, fuel, all kinds of fuel, electric for your house, everything’s going up out of the price,” he said. “I don’t know how some people even pay for it.”

The Usenicks said they want to see politicians answer questions about whether they would listen to regular people and look out for the little guy.

After decades living in Wheeling, they’re encouraged by the ongoing downtown redevelopment project . Officials replaced aging underground infrastructure and are now redoing streets and sidewalks. A downtown hotel is also in the works .

“It doesn’t happen overnight, but what they’re doing is good,” said Jody, a part-time occupational therapist. Since her 31-year-old daughter died of colon cancer in 2018 , Jody has also run a charity to support people in similar situations.

The couple likes to travel to other small towns that are trying to attract tourists. As they think about the next generation — especially their young grandchildren in nearby St. Clairsville, Ohio — Jody said it’s good to see new businesses opening up to attract visitors and improve quality of life for residents.

“I hope it continues for the grandkids and all and and I hope they can stay in the area, you know?” she said. “I hope that there’s still a place for them here.”

But not everyone is excited about the Wheeling redevelopment. As he started to hang a left down an alley in his black pickup, lawyer Ted White said he worries that more tourists will make it more expensive to live in Wheeling and that the jobs at places like the planned hotel will be low-paying.

He sees the $3 billion Nucor steel mill being constructed in Mason County as the type of economic development that West Virginia needs. The plant expects to employ 800 people when fully operational.

“That’s a real job,” he said. “That’s a steel job.”

A few blocks over, Nick Chancey paused his evening walk to talk about the upcoming election. The Ripley native and his wife moved to Wheeling about a year ago with their two young children for his job at the Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston.

He’s the director of the Diocese’s Office of Youth and Young Adult Discipleship and said he worries about today’s kids who’ve grown up during the opioid epidemic.

Around town, he sees kids being raised by their grandparents, not their own parents. And in the news , he reads about children being abused or going missing.

“The system is sort of failing them,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of deep problems here in the state.”

Growing up, he remembers a lot of people leaving their doors unlocked and being friendly. As the opioid epidemic is “rearing its ugly head,” he said he sees people scared by those who are homeless or addicted to drugs.

West Virginia needs someone to address the underlying issues that have caused the opioid epidemic, Chancey said. But he’s disappointed by the hyperbole from politicians.

“I often don’t feel like I’m really treated as an educated citizen,” he said. “I feel like I’m treated more as another vote.”

In Wheeling, residents are worried about children, inflation and jobs appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight , West Virginia's civic newsroom.