Niagara Falls info (New York, Buffalo, York: renting, hotels, houses)

[DallasJoseph]

Hello everyone,

My wife and I have always been interested in Niagara Falls since we've been married. We noticed the cost of living is extremely cheap. But we also noticed the town has lost a lot of citizens. Would it be stupid and dangerous to move to Niagara Falls?

What is Niagara Falls like? We are really wanting to be around water and the natural falls would be amazing. We also are wanting a smaller community that is affordable and safe to raise children.

We have three youngsters and have lived in seven states. We are now finally looking for our forever home and have always considered Upstate New York along with Alaska. I know huge differences.

Any info on Niagara Falls would be really appreciated. My career was formerly law enforcement and now human services. We both will be working on our Master's as well. My wife is Puerto Rican and I am white, diversity of course would be ideal with no racism.

[FedupWNY]

Originally Posted by DallasJoseph

Hello everyone,

My wife and I have always been interested in Niagara Falls since we've been married. We noticed the cost of living is extremely cheap. But we also noticed the town has lost a lot of citizens. Would it be stupid and dangerous to move to Niagara Falls?

What is Niagara Falls like? We are really wanting to be around water and the natural falls would be amazing. We also are wanting a smaller community that is affordable and safe to raise children.

We have three youngsters and have lived in seven states. We are now finally looking for our forever home and have always considered Upstate New York along with Alaska. I know huge differences.

Any info on Niagara Falls would be really appreciated. My career was formerly law enforcement and now human services. We both will be working on our Master's as well. My wife is Puerto Rican and I am white, diversity of course would be ideal with no racism.

I don't know much about living in the Falls, but if you do a search on Niagara County, NY you might find some useful information, perhaps a suburb of NF. Wheatfield is a good option though, it's not too urban city, not too rural suburb. Have you looked into moving on Grand Island, it's Erie County and might be more family-oriented than not knowing much about "The Falls". Whether choosing Erie or Niagara Counties, you'll still be within driving distance of visiting the Falls. I'm in Buffalo and we go atleast 5 times a year. Wish ya luck. HTH.

[ckhthankgod]

You might like the LaSalle or DeVeaux neighborhoods of Niagara Falls.

Here some pictures of the DeVeaux neighborhood: Niagara Falls, NY: DeVeaux - SkyscraperPage Forum

Here's the Echota neighborhood too: Niagara Falls, NY: Echota - SkyscraperCity

LaSalle neighborhood: Niagara Falls, NY: La Salle, Cayuga Island, Love Canal - SkyscraperCity

Some Downtown pictures: Niagara Falls, NY: Downtown - SkyscraperCity

[JustinH]

My honest opinion of the Falls. I'm sure plenty of the Buffalo lovers will hate me on this, and post nasty things, but here is how I see it.

There are certain neighborhoods in Niagara Falls that are very nice.

Most of Niagara falls in my opinion is run down, and some of it is downright dangerous. The city doesn't take care of the roads, you need a tank to drive down any road without hitting huge pot holes. They made a big deal about renting an asphalt machine to fill in the holes, and the salt and snow destroys the road again within months.

We have an indian casino right in downtown Niagara Falls. The casino put quite a few businesses out of business, and there are plenty of vacant buildings, and homes in the surrounding area. The area surrounding the casino is terrible. Plenty of shootings, drug activity, burned houses. It looks like metro detroit.

On top of that, Niagara county is one of the highest taxed counties in the entire nation.

The Tax Foundation - Property Taxes on Owner-Occupied Housing by County, 2007, Ranked by Taxes as Percentage of Home Value

Sure houses are "cheap", but you don't want to live there. Even if you live in LaSalle, you still have to go grocery shopping, or drive through undesirable areas.

I should get my camera out and show my view of the falls...

If you want to live near Niagara falls, then move to Canada, seriously

[wikiwikirunner]

Go ahead and bash, But i didn't find WNY enjoyable to all. I love the outdoors, and there just wasn't enough to do for my tastes. Like many have also said, the city is very run down. It seems like a cloud of gray is over most of the city, it just feels gloomy and ugly. Most of niagara county outside of the falls is quite rural, small towns with less than 10,000 people. In addition to what others have said (for example the taxes) harsh winters, and not very much natural beauty don't make it a very enjoyable place to live IMO.

[ckhthankgod]

Here's an interesting video:
YouTube - The Real Niagara Falls, New York

[FedupWNY]

Originally Posted by JustinH

My honest opinion of the Falls. I'm sure plenty of the Buffalo lovers will hate me on this, and post nasty things, but here is how I see it.

There are certain neighborhoods in Niagara Falls that are very nice.

Most of Niagara falls in my opinion is run down, and some of it is downright dangerous. The city doesn't take care of the roads, you need a tank to drive down any road without hitting huge pot holes. They made a big deal about renting an asphalt machine to fill in the holes, and the salt and snow destroys the road again within months.

We have an indian casino right in downtown Niagara Falls. The casino put quite a few businesses out of business, and there are plenty of vacant buildings, and homes in the surrounding area. The area surrounding the casino is terrible. Plenty of shootings, drug activity, burned houses. It looks like metro detroit.

I am one who rarely agrees with Justin, but it is true there is a huge neglect in the infrastructure in the Buffalo/Niagara region. The conditions of the roads are no different between the two cities. Perhaps a serious problem with the state?

I do disagree with your views on the native casino. The people of the city (NF) had high expectations the casino would improve the area, but the truth is, the Indians had no agreement with the city to improve the city outside of their land/casino property. The city is the reason for the decline outside of the casino, not the Indians. Another something that I learned, NF had 6 different mayors in the past 6 terms, once anything began to happen a new mayor was elected and all plans were cut off. The casino has the largest hotel in WNY, yet there are still two hotels opened within 2 blocks from the casino & the Falls park, which is a good sign that the casino didn't shut down everything. I do agree the area around the casino is very urban, but it isn't the casino's fault, it's the city's. The Falls park is alway kept up year-round, I might add.