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Is Grand Island a good place to live? how far is that from the airport? I saw a beautiful waterfront property on realtor.com that was for sale there. what other areas have waterfront homes?
Grand Island is the kind of place that people either love or love to hate. It is a tight-knit community. Although geographically close, it is isolated from the rest of the metro, and not many amenities are actually on the island. All of the basic necessities are there, but you'll need to leave if you need to go to a mall, for example.
There are only two (toll) bridges to take you on and off the island. The south bridge leads into Buffalo (Tonawanda) and the north bridge lands you in Niagara Falls. The airport is about 20 minutes from the south bridge. There are occasional traffic backups at the bridge toll barriers, especially during the summer tourist season. I-190 ("the 190" in local parlance) is the main thoroughfare to Niagara Falls and destinations in Canada.
Other areas that have waterfront homes are along the Lake Erie shore. Specifically, the towns of Hamburg and Evans. The lakefront neighborhoods are usually known by their own names, even though they are technically part of those two towns. In real estate listings you'll see names like Derby, Lakeview, Lakeshore, Athol Springs, Wanakah, Mt. Vernon, and Locksley Park.
The nice thing about the Erie shore, as opposed to the Niagara River in Grand Island, is that there are beautiful sunsets over the lake. One negative to keep in mind is that during the winter there is often a very cold wind blowing off the lake, which usually ices over between mid-January and mid-February.
There are also nice waterfront condos in downtown Buffalo, next to Erie Basin Marina. I hear they sell quickly. You can see them on the left side of the picture posted earlier in this thread.
BTW - there is a tendency in Buffalo, especially in real estate listings, to list a neighborhood name like it is an actual municipality. For example, "Snyder" and "Eggertsville" are actually parts of the town of Amherst. You can still find those places on Google maps, however.
I have been in buffalo for 3/4ths of my life until now. I am 23, graduated from high school *Gasp!*, and find it impossible to sustain myself. I live with family right now. It's a bit of a depressing stigma to live with your family at my age. I do get by though, and my luck having family I can trust to help me gives me a way to build up my nest egg. But if I was to lose my family, suddenly forced to live on my own, there is no way I could sustain myself where I am now.
I live in Cheektowaga, the one place that isn't mentioned in this thread. There are a lot of great opportunities here for people who can find a job that is stable. You have to be sure it is stable though because there are fluctuations, and while people love to hand out the pamphlets, it's best to be realistic. If you like it where you are now, you should probably stay, unless the job and $$ is absolutely spectacular.
In contrast, my mom turned 49 this year, doesn't collect welfare, and barely makes more than I do. She will never retire regardless of the fact that she has never mooched off the gov't or taxpayers even once, also regardless of the fact that both her and I are recovering abuse victims.
I'll be frank, I don't like it here. I couldn't stand my school, Maryvale, and the teachers were very very ignorant there in contrast to other schools that did not have such problems, such as Cheektowaga Central.
The schools they mention previous are going through renovations. They have the money to do that sort of thing. It really helps when you have a community that cares. But when you have all this defeatist attitudes coming from each and every direction, you just get tired of listening to the lies all the time. It's a true hassle in my humble opinion.
I have no intention of staying here. I will either move to Charlotte, North California, or some other such place. Unless you make good money you have no reason to remain here in Buffalo. It's a dead end one way street unless all the puzzle pieces fit together perfectly.
In contrast, my aunt was an insurance worker who got laid off after X number of years working where she did until she got really lucky and landed a job at a bigger company. She left and moved to another county, and she has no problems there. Some places are really nice,and the city is seeing a LOT more renovation than the suburbs, regardless of a higher crime-rate, thus the waterfront development.
I think I've said enough. I don't want to step on anyones toes here, and I am sorry if I have insulted anyone, but I just feel like the facts here are losing grip of reality...
my first and last post here. Have a nice day.
by the way, all those cheap properties they are talking about in this thread, be prepared to put in some elbow grease. That is all I am going to say. I think they are judging these properties on face value statistics and have not actually been inside or looked at these "properties" at all.
"By the way, all those cheap properties they are talking about in this thread, be prepared to put in some elbow grease. That is all I am going to say. I think they are judging these properties on face value statistics and have not actually been inside or looked at these "properties" at all."
Sure buffalo is poor . No way in hell is buffalo the 2nd poorest city in america . Buffalo is a depressedy city With alot of loss of jobs . But look at places like springfield mass and providence or camden or cleveland and many places in the south that have the same depressed economies as buffalo . Look at a city like spring field mass or which has an economy just as depressed as b ufflos . But at least in buffalo you can buy a house for 70 thousand where in most depressed cities the price of housing and rents is more than doubled than buffalo. In places in north carolina the wages are almost identical too buffalo but you have too pay about triple the rate too live there . Poverty is relative . I live around putnam westchester counties new york . Sure down state new york and the westchester area have an abundance of jobs . But minimal wage is the same through out the state . In yonkers or the bronx new york where people make similar wages too buffalo . You pay `1thousand for a 1 bedroom and you are living in a ghetto where people are shot . If you buy a house for less than 350 thousand you are most likely living in a ghetto. In buffalo you can have a 100 thousand dollar house and live in the rich end of town with a 3 bedroom . In down state a single wide trailor often sells for 150 thousand . At age 23 it is tough too get a job in buffalo . Down state it is just as tough . You have illegals hispanics taking and fighting for all the jobs teens do here . For close too minimal wage . My friend makes 19 dollars an hour as a line man for nyseg he is 26 and sure that is a decent wage . He can not save up money he has a 1100 dollar a month rent for a 1 bedroom in the side of town where everyone is etheir a n illegal - a gangster - a junkie -are homeless - or mentally ill . Where people are always stabbed.Sure obviously buffalo has the same kind of neighborhoods but you dont have too pay 1100 too live there . more like 300 for a 1 bedroom in a neighbor hood like that . They have the same job in binghamton and he wants too take it soo he can pay 600 hundred a month for rent on the same wages .My friends dad makes 50 thousand dollars a year which is a high wage . But they can not find a place too live because all of the rents are 2thousand a month for a 2bedroom .2 thousand times 12 months you do the math . that is 24 thousand a year , that is half of his wage . I have heard people in buffalo buying a whole house in buffalo a few years ago for 30 thousand , It is sad becauseThey might end up homeless Because he can only afford 1300 a month. That .In my opinion i think the struggle for kids in southern new york trying too get there own place is just as hard as upstate .
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1person
I have been in buffalo for 3/4ths of my life until now. I am 23, graduated from high school *Gasp!*, and find it impossible to sustain myself. I live with family right now. It's a bit of a depressing stigma to live with your family at my age. I do get by though, and my luck having family I can trust to help me gives me a way to build up my nest egg. But if I was to lose my family, suddenly forced to live on my own, there is no way I could sustain myself where I am now.
I live in Cheektowaga, the one place that isn't mentioned in this thread. There are a lot of great opportunities here for people who can find a job that is stable. You have to be sure it is stable though because there are fluctuations, and while eopl`e love to hand out the pamphlets, it's best to be realistic. If you like it where you are now, you should probably stay, unless the job and $$ is absolutely spectacular.
In contrast, my mom turned 49 this year, doesn't collect welfare, and barely makes more than I do. She will never retire regardless of the fact that she has never mooched off the gov't or taxpayers even once, also regardless of the fact that both her and I are recovering abuse victims.
I'll be frank, I don't like it here. I couldn't stand my school, Maryvale, and the teachers were very very ignorant there in contrast to other schools that did not have such problems, such as Cheektowaga Central.
The schools they mention previous are going through renovations. They have the money to do that sort of thing. It really helps when you have a community that cares. But when you have all this defeatist attitudes coming from each and every direction, you just get tired of listening to the lies all the time. It's a true hassle in my humble opinion.
I have no intention of staying here. I will either move to Charlotte, North California, or some other such place. Unless you make good money you have no reason to remain here in Buffalo. It's a dead end one way street unless all the puzzle pieces fit together perfectly.
In contrast, my aunt was an insurance worker who got laid off after X number of years working where she did until she got really lucky and landed a job at a bigger company. She left and moved to another county, and she has no problems there. Some places are really nice,and the city is seeing a LOT more renovation than the suburbs, regardless of a higher crime-rate, thus the waterfront development.
I think I've said enough. I don't want to step on anyones toes here, and I am sorry if I have insulted anyone, but I just feel like the facts here are losing grip of reality...
my first and last post here. Have a nice day.
by the way, all those cheap properties they are talking about in this thread, be prepared to put in some elbow grease. That is all I am going to say. I think they are judging these properties on face value statistics and have not actually been inside or looked at these "properties" at all.
P.S.
It's not the snow, It's the wind.
Last edited by Existtoexit; 06-20-2008 at 08:40 PM..
Reason: stupid
What a bunch of idiots of course yes thats it, it must poor health care that makes people have no money in their pockets it also makes them lose their jobs and become unemployed. Obviously in the rust belt from albany too green bay has not lost half of its industry the poverty rate would not be soo bad if those areas kept most of that industry . I still stand by my belief . Poverty in america is totally biased . If you took areas like los angeles and new york city which have poverty rates that hover in the 20 - 23 percent range which is not much lower than buffalo. Than you look at the prices of the rent prices and cost of living the poverty rate would be double of what it is listed . Yet they really do not consider the cost of living in the poverty rates . Look at new york city vs buffalo new york city has 50 percent at the poverty line . Well with cost of living factors considered that 50 percent would be in poverty by the cost of living standards vs buffalo . Look at the bronx which has a population bigger than detroit . The bronx has a poverty rate in the 30 range .There are more people in poverty in the bronx than there are people period in buffalo Look at brooklyn with a population of 2 million plus brooklyn by its self would be in the top 4 biggest cities in america . Yet brooklyns poverty rate is between 23 - 26 percent . Look at manhatten which has a poverty rate by the same biased standard means that also measures buffalo that manhatten has a poverty rate of 17 + Yet that is by standard settings . IF you counted the fact that most apartments in manhatten are 3thousand or more for one months rent . Vs the amazingly high amounts of homeless people and illegals in nyc that are not even counted in the census who are almost all in poverty . The end result would be an nyc that would be higher in poverty than buffalo . With the still over priced rents and extrenely high burst of new wave illegal imigrants in the bronx who are almost all in poverty yet are not in the census the bronx poverty rate would probably be triple of buffalo's .
(Buffalo, NY, August 31, 2007) - - It's a grim ranking for the queen city.
The U.S. Census Bureau says Buffalo is the second poorest big city in the country, just behind Detroit.
Buffalo's poverty rate is nearly 30 percent. Experts believe several welfare reform initiatives and a lack of universal health care are some of the reasons buffalo is so poor.
Another problem is the amount of people not graduating from high school.
I was reading somewhere that people in upstate NY have more disposable income than people in other parts of the country. Poor is relative. There's that often used media euphemism "the working poor". How about "mortgage poor" or "credit card poor" being added to the lexicon?
What are we discussing here? Poor in Buffalo?
When people spend at fast food restaurants and teenagers weare "hot" $100 sneakers, what are talking about then?
Who made those statistics? Who paid for the survey? I wasn't interviewed.
Media is intertainment. Provocative titles are cathy and sell fast.
Come to Buffalo and see for yourself. People in the Buffalo Niagara region are doing well. Ask immigrants who start with nothing and are better off in a few years than local poor.
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WNY: immigrants vs. poor
