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Is it just me, or is there a huge lack of pride in this area, especially on this particular forum? The Syracuse/Rochester/Buffalo forums see A LOT more action, with regular and avid posters who promote their city and show great pride in where they live/have lived. Threads like these are common on those forums:
Yet the Albany forum seems pretty stagnant for the most part. It isn't like the area has less to offer than the above mentioned cities. There are plenty of opportunities for business and leisure. It isn't a lower-quality metro area, and there are plenty of people living in the region who would have great things to say about it.
So why doesn't this translate to an online presence here on City-Data? I have a few ideas. The first is obviously that the Albany metro area also happens to contain the state capitol, which, for the political-minded, is a huge turnoff. Blanket statements are often made about Albany because of this tiny tip of the iceberg of the region, and it's assumed that every problem the state faces is the direct fault of everyone living in Albany.
Albany also may appear to lack a regional identity. Some people will even tell you Albany isn't considered upstate, since it's "too close" to NYC (I wish), or because NYC holds Albany by the financial balls (which again links back to the political issues). Inside the 4 or 5 square blocks of Capitol Hill in Albany, yes, there is a melting pot of political commerce, with politicians and lobbyists from downstate, Boston, and CNY/WNY. But outside of that tiny, tiny square, there is a region, in upstate NY, filled with people who do upstate NY things and go about their lives facing the same upstate NY problems the rest of the cities face.
And lastly, there may actually be a lack of overall pride. Not that people here are ashamed of Albany or the region, but that they just don't find it important to promote it. I went to school near Syracuse, and you'd see whole families all over the place all decked out in their Syracuse/SU attire, touting the benefits of living in "CNY," how great Wegmans is, how classy Skaneateles is, etc. to anyone who will listen. You don't really find that too much here. And friends of mine who grew up out there had little to say about Albany, rarely ever visited, or had no idea there were over 1 million people living in the Albany CSA. I believe the biggest reason for that is the void of nothingness that separates Syracuse from Albany called "Utica/Herkimer." The long, 2 hour drive through pure economic disaster and bleak futures. No one wants to make that drive. Why go to Albany when Rochester is so much closer?
So what are your thoughts on why this is? Why this forum sits here, basically dead, while the others are updated daily? Why there is so much pride in other cities, while Albany gets unfairly put down in any chance given?
I think Albany gets quite a bit of love on here in spite of the relative lack of activity on here.
What you mentioned about identity may play a part in this, as there isn't necessarily anything you think of in terms of the area outside of being the capital/politics. I don't know of anything that people in that area rally around. Even the Utica-Rome area has an identity in terms of Italian culture/food or even its hockey culture, as well as the Boilermaker. So, that may have something to do with what you see versus a lack of pride. Each of these areas have their naysayers as well, but there seems to be something that these areas rally around that brings people together too.
I think a lot of people who live in the region aren't actually from the area and therefore have less skin in the game, so to speak. While I've lived here my whole life, I bet large amount of residents of Albany didn't grow up here. I'd be interested to see statistics of this.
The fact that Albany's mainly known as a political punch-line certainly doesn't help either.
Also, because Albany didn't really have one dominant inflow of immigrants from a particular country, the city can't really lay claim to being a "little Italy" or a "little Ireland" or something. That's one of the reasons I wish Albany embraced it's Dutch history more. Maybe by having a wing of the State Museum dedicated to NY Dutch history or by doing more things like the Tulip Fest.
The capital region is a great place to raise a family, and in general, the suburban school districts are highly rated.
I think what you get in this area are a lot of folks who were born, raised, and never left. And also a good number of folks who were born and raised, left vowing never to return, but then ended up back here anyway to raise their kids.
There's nothing distinguishingly horrible about the capital region, but there's nothing distinctively remarkable either. Upstate NY is definitely in the shadow of the larger eastern metro areas.
Another thing that may play a part in this is that there are 3 or 4 city centers, which in turn creates a fractured scene versus most of the other Upstate metros just having a main city to largely feed into. So, the pride may be cut up, due to essentially having 3 or 4 different scenes/vibes within 1 metro.
Another thing that may play a part in this is that there are 3 or 4 city centers, which in turn creates a fractured scene versus most of the other Upstate metros just having a main city to largely feed into. So, the pride may be cut up, due to essentially having 3 or 4 different scenes/vibes within 1 metro.
wingsauce, I agree with your observations 100%. And I also think ckhthankgod is correct about the metro area being fractured. I grew up in southeast Denver & have lived in the capital district of NY almost 30 years now. In many ways, the fractured structure here reminds me of the pocket neighborhoods & suburbs of Denver. Obviously size of the Denver metro area towers over the size of the 4 main counties that comprise the capital district; but in both cases people tend to stay within the comfort of their pocket community. For the Albany area, it seems as tho that extends to city-data as well. My friends who are Albany natives are well aware of how Albany is perceived by many downstate; they may hate the politics that managed to keep Cuomo around 4 more years, but they aren't in any rush to show their pride - on city-data or out in person.
The inmates are running the asylum. Just the other week the same paper had a story about Troy being the new Brooklyn.
Yesterday some stray bullets hit a CDTA bus. Just the other week the same paper had a story about the neighborhood being one of the 10 best nationally.
Attempts at local pride around here invariably falter when they bump into reality. The tri-cities really is a terrible place. That's why local pride is so scarce.
The inmates are running the asylum. Just the other week the same paper had a story about Troy being the new Brooklyn.
Yesterday some stray bullets hit a CDTA bus. Just the other week the same paper had a story about the neighborhood being one of the 10 best nationally.
Attempts at local pride around here invariably falter when they bump into reality. The tri-cities really is a terrible place. That's why local pride is so scarce.
The problem with using those things to say that there is no pride in the area is that those things aren't exclusive to the area. That's just life and things that occur in areas, regardless of how people generally feel about an area.
The inmates are running the asylum. Just the other week the same paper had a story about Troy being the new Brooklyn.
Yesterday some stray bullets hit a CDTA bus. Just the other week the same paper had a story about the neighborhood being one of the 10 best nationally.
Attempts at local pride around here invariably falter when they bump into reality. The tri-cities really is a terrible place. That's why local pride is so scarce.
You don't think Brooklyn has crazy politics? Those things aren't mutually exclusive. This is what people on this board are taking about. We get it you don't like the party and politicians in power. Can't you still take about the actual city of Troy itself?
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