What's wrong with Troy, NY? (Albany, Colonie: housing, income, lease)

[TheBird]

My wife & I and our 2 young kids (7mo & 3) are considering Upstate. Troy,NY appears to have beautiful architecture and a quaint small town kind of feel.

Yet on many of the upstate Albany area posts Troy seems to be mentioned as a place to avoid at all costs.

I haven't seen any posts which focused on Troy, so I wanted to see if any of you local area residents could give me the inside scoop:

Is Troy something other than it appears at first glance? It seems like a nice place. What specifically is wrong with Troy?

Thanks in advance.

[ali26]

I think in general it is kind of industrial and run-down, there is not much there. But I havent been there in over 10 years, I live about 2 hours away, so maybe they are revitalizing it. The surrounding towns are nicer.

[rug city]

TheBird;
I know exactly what you're talking about. A few years back my wife, son (4 yrs old), & I moved back to the Albany area from Westchester/NYC area. When deciding where to settle we looked at houses everywhere: Saratoga burbs, Albany burbs, and came within an inch of buying an old, historic colonial in East Troy. Coming from lower Westchester we wanted more of a true urban/suburban town with old architecture and a significant downtown. Troy's downtown has incredible potential and is a throwback to the Victorian era of downtowns, and right on the water to boot.

Before putting in the offer on the house I decided to take a long drive through many of the neighborhoods, and ultimately decided Troy was still a bit too gritty to raise a young family. Troy, like Albany and Schen., has some areas w/hard core crime, and although I'd reconsider Troy some time in the future it just didn't feel completely right for me.
Then again, our final decision to buy was in Amsterdam, NY which 99 out of 100 people would also dismiss as a used up industrial city. For me Amsterdam is Troy lite. Many of the same allures of an historic, walkable city, but without the hard core ghetto pockets. That said, I love Troy and the incredible progress its made.

[wanderlost]

I worked in Troy for three years. There are some very nice things about the place: old Victorian homes, big downtown, has a true old New England feel to it. The problem is the bad neighborhoods which are in central and south Troy. There are quite a few low income housing projects, very run down areas, and a pretty high crime rate, however, I wouldn't say that I ever felt unsafe there. Be careful with the schools. Avoid South Troy altogether. The elementary schools aren't too bad. I don't mind a racial mix if the area is safe....North Troy schools are fine.
The mayor has been trying to revitalize Troy but there aren't many middle class working families moving there so it's kind of a losing battle. It's a shame because Troy has the potential to be a great little city, right on the Hudson River and all. If you do look there the areas to look are Lansinburgh and the area around Samaritan Hospital. There are two colleges in Troy that are trying to revitalize the areas around them. They offer great financial incentives to help working class people buy property near the campuses.

All in all I kind of like Troy...the natives are good, decent people and very welcoming. The city has a lot of civic pride. There's really no racial tension there, certainly not like you see in the south. It kind of gets a bad rap. I would choose Troy over Schenectady any day. Hope this helps.

[billeethakid]

Try North or East Greenbush. I am from NG, it is right outside of Troy and has virtually no crime, very suburban area, good schools, although the homes are kind of expensive. A good 2500 sq/ft 3-5 years old will cost you 300k. But something to look into.

[ecrow]

im going to troy in august i hear lots of artists are moving there and once this happens places change

[jfkIII]

LOL...the only artists in Troy are the ones that paint with spray cans!!!!

NG is nice...but is getting very overdeveloped and crowded on Rt. 4, which is like NG's Main Street. Up here, Troy is not considered small town.

[tconzz22]

OK look...im eighteen years old ive lived in troy my entire life...ive gone to troy high school up untill this year i transferred to albany academy...south troy does have a very nice downtown but the only thing is drugs are everywhere in south troy...it may look like the place where theres a stabbing every day but the south troy leaves stuff like that up to the north part of troy...now, my friend was a big time leader of a respected gang around here and he was stabbed and killed in may...ever since then....theres been 11 stabbings...in two months....if u want to live in troy, there is some nice areas...pawling ave...spring ave..those are really as good as ur going to get...if u have some money check out north 40...thats really as much as i can tell you...im not going to lie, troy is not a great place...it has plenty to do and everything is close, but just stay out of the bad spots and ulll be fine....

PS..if u have kids in middle school, stay away from Doyle Middle school...the place is out of control....ranked 2nd worst school in NYS in 2004.....Catholic High school is a great school, troy high isnt even that bad, theyve cleaned that place up well in the last years....if u have any questions about troy just ask....ill tell

[peppersimusa]

Honestly, I don't care for Troy. I've lived in the suburbs of Albany my entire life and as a joke my husband and I call Troy "Troy-let" as in 'toilet'. There is a lot of crime there and I'm scared to drive through certain areas. I would not live there in a million years. East Greenbush, Latham, Colonie, Clifton Park, Saratoga or West Sand Lake should be better bets for you. Please check them out.

[averagenyjoe]

We dont have to agree with it but an area is mostly guaged by the reputation the local area residents give it and Troy was once a great place to live but no longer. Back 30 & 40 years ago when all the new growth areas went up the Northway, all these spiffy sanitized neighborhoods sprang up all over the place and that was where everyone wanted to be. the Masses went leaving places just like Troy in the dust. Back then, no one wanted old dirty looking buildings and huge victorian homes with all their upkeep. So they were not kept up. No one wanted centralized downtowns. Malls & sprawl was in vogue. Add to that the fact that Troy was the very Center of the industrial revolution which went overseas and South leaving troy for the underclass. The city has a wonderful heritage and remarkable history which many people are wanting to re-discover. It is happening and there are efforts toward revival but it will not likely be in this generation. Mabey the begining of the next. But the crime and drugs are still a big problem and schools are still no good. Thus the reputation. A rising family will not do well there because of labels. I hate that myself but business dealings and respect will be strained with an address like Troy (in some cases). Hope that helps.