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Thanks for your help! I hadn't thought about upstate NY. We lived just outside of Baltimore and the competitiveness was a bit much for us so we had kind of dismissed north eastern states for that reason. But from what I read in the NY forum it looks like the people in Ithaca are more on the relaxed side - which is a big plus for us. It also has a walkscore of 70! Which is awesome. Thanks for the new territory to look into!
@SAEwx_46...Ann Arbor looks like another good one, its walkscore is 59. I'll have to look and see how affordable it is in the heart of the city. A college town where the college students and faculty is accepted - yes, such as those suggested (another ex would be Sarasota with Ringling School of Art & New College, they love their colleges) but there are many college town with big rifts between the locals and those the college has brought to town - two examples that come to mind are Univ of FL in Gainsville and Tenn Tech in Cookeville. Those places are not progressive at all despite the college presence. While college towns in general are a good place to start, I am not sure what data I can look at that would help differentiate those two types of college towns. Any ideas? Maybe if the college has a football team? TTU and UF are big on FB, just reaching for some generalizations... while Cornell and Ringling don't have FB and are well intigrated into the towns?
@Steel03...the twin cities were at the top of our list as family friendly walkable cities, (plus my husband has a connection at the Science Center in St. Paul) so Northfield might be a good option to have all those resources within reach and not live in such a metro, unfortunately he's the one dependant on public transportation!
Thank you & I hope to hear about more places that are walkable and family friendly!
Cara
Yes, Upstate NY in general is much more laid back. With the Northeast, the more interior parts of the states are that way and are more affordable to the point that some areas are on par with Southern areas in overall cost of living even with the tax RATES.
Charleston, WV is very walkable with a large outdoor concert venue, 3 level mall, civic center, art/science museum and theater, downtown historic village, and historic neighborhood all in a small area that has plenty of parks and bike paths too!
By the way, Cornell University and Ithaca College both have Football. Cornell has some good sports programs and Ithaca College is a Division 3 power in Football. There's also Tompkins-Cortland Community College in nearby Dryden.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 07-11-2011 at 04:58 PM..
WOW, families living car-free? I honeslty thought that was teetering on a pipe dream unless we lived in a huge metropolitan area. Thanks. Is Boulder so big & tall that you feel boxed-in by the buildings? nevermind.. I saw that Boulder has a pop of 93,000... the impression I had was that it was much bigger...
Yeah, you bet they had to make sacrifices...but now that they've broken the addiction to gasoline it's just regular life for them. Now, they certainly don't walk everywhere. They ride bicycles...sweet ones, too!
I grew up outside of Buffalo. I think all the suggestions for the towns in New York State have some merit, as long as you can find a job but some of those do not have the expansive public transit. I also worked, many decades ago, outside of Baltimore and I understand the stress of some of these big eastern cities. I live now in a suburbs of Denver and the culture is more relaxing. I am very familiar with Boulder, as I have lived there. As a previous poster said, you can live very well car free in Boulder; as it has excellent public transit. However, it is very expensive. I would look to cities like Longmont which also good public transit but is much more affordable. These cities have good public transit because they are part of the thriving Denver metro area.
You have indicated that you want a small city, under 100,000 with good public transit. However, larger metro areas have better public transit. I have lived in NYC and a big city in Europe. Most people who live in large cities with good public transit, and do not drive, really create their own "small city" within their neighborhood. You tend to shop in your walkable neighborhood and the other areas that are easily accessible by quick and frequent public transit--these areas become a "virtual" extension of own created small city. Unless you commute far within the metro area, you do not go far to shop or recreate. If you are smart, you choose housing that is an easy public transit commute or within your "created city".
Since Denver and the suburbs have extensive parks, open space and trails, you can easiy live in a neighborhood that has many of the amenities you need. In addition, Denver like many growing, thriving, rich cities are rapidly expanding their public transit; and these cities tend to be big new metro areas. Again, you do not really live in a large metro area, you live in a neighborhood.
I live in the suburbs of Denver but only 6 miles to downtown. However, I live near parks, trails, reservoirs, creeks, nature preserves and I can walk to a grocery store, drug store, movie theatre etc. In addition, there is excellent public bus transit that connect all over the metro area. I am also very fortunate that a rail station on a new commuter rail line will be built within 1/3 mile of my house.
I can live car free and I only drive about 2500 miles a year, even when I worked as I used public transit often. Now I am disabled retired senior and eventually I will not own a car. There are many such neighborhood in the Denver metro area; and I believe in many thriving cities, that are investing heavily and quickly in expanded public transit.
So, I would not rule out a large growing metro area. Many cities, big and small, are dying and do not have the funds to invest in public transit. Many of these modern cities with progressive planning are building Transit Oriented Developments (TODs) near new rail station and bus transfer locations. These locations have denser eco-friendly housing and are walkable with nearby shopping and accessible public transit. Find a suburbs near, or neighborhood within one of these growing cities and make it your own "small city" that is walkable with good public transit.
Livecontent
Last edited by livecontent; 07-11-2011 at 09:41 PM..
Ithaca, Oswego, Plattsburgh, Corning, Glens Falls, Cortland, Watertown, Auburn and many small Upstate NY cities have some form of public transportation. Ithaca's TCAT is pretty good and Oswego uses CENTRO, which is based out of Syracuse, but is available in smaller cities in Central NY State. I used it when I was going to SUNY-Oswego. Here's a good website showing transit systems in the state: New York Transit Links
Ithaca, Oswego, Plattsburgh, Corning, Glens Falls, Cortland, Watertown, Auburn and many small Upstate NY cities have some form of public transportation. Ithaca's TCAT is pretty good and Oswego uses CENTRO, which is based out of Syracuse, but is available in smaller cities in Central NY State. I used it when I was going to SUNY-Oswego. Here's a good website showing transit systems in the state: New York Transit Links
I applaud your efforts to showcase these small towns. I have been to all of them as my sibling and I went to many schools in NYs. They are great towns and deserve recognition.
When one attempts to live car free as I have for years, you learn to adapt to the restrictions of the public transit systems; where you can walk and where you bike. You can live anywhere car free as long as you are willing to adapt to local conditions.
Yes, these small cities have public transit but some requires one to be more restricted because they have less routes, less frequency, less hours and less distance. However, in some small cities where shopping and amenities are closer, distance and amount of routes becomes less important; but you will see less frequency and routes times are shortened.
In a large metro area, there are less restriction in public transit and you can more easily live a car free lifestyle. It is especially more true now in the growing new transit systems of thriving cities. That is my point not to deminish the quaility of life that is available in these fine NYS towns.
Just to clear something up, many of the small cities I mentioned actually grew this past decade. Actually, the major Upstate NY metros, except for the Buffalo metro, grew this past decade as well. I still say that Ithaca is the best choice out those mentioned. A sleeper could be Troy, which has RPI and Hudson Valley CC, alright urban schools with above average graduation rates, good private school options and some walkable neighborhoods that are safe.
Just to clear something up, many of the small cities I mentioned actually grew this past decade. Actually, the major Upstate NY metros, except for the Buffalo metro, grew this past decade as well. I still say that Ithaca is the best choice out those mentioned. A sleeper could be Troy, which has RPI and Hudson Valley CC, alright urban schools with above average graduation rates, good private school options and some walkable neighborhoods that are safe.
I agree Ithaca is a great little city but I expect it to be a little expensive. However, there are so many other small towns around the finger lakes that are just beautiful places to live. Canandaigua, Seneca Falls and Auburn, as you mentioned. I went to SUNY Binghamton and I would drive through New York State by different state routes just to see all the small towns.
Denver is a great city but Colorado does not have the small beautiful pastoral towns like New York. I really would not care about public transportation, just to live in one of the great small towns of New York. I always thought I would; but life has a way of changing plans...Unfortunately, with my serious health conditions I could not take the cold heavy snow and damp of New York. Anybody who thinks that the whole state of Colorado and the mountain towns are better than the beauty of New York is misinformed. Denver is good for me; but Colorado is not the best and only place and if you can make do in New York State, you can have a great life.
Thank you for all the suggestions! Especially for the links from ckhthankgod - a walkscore of 91 for Ithaca and the prices of the houses in that area are great! I'm going to check out Portland, Charelston WV the suburbs of Denver and Portland Maine in more detail too.
thanks again.
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