Jamestown, New York (Buffalo, Syracuse, Utica: housing, rent, travel)

[Lin&Mark]

I lived in Jamestown, NY most of my life until recently. It is a place close to my heart because most of my family lives there. It is a pleasant place to live, and I have many friends there; but honestly it is a very depressed area. There are not many jobs and the pay scale is low. The only reason I would want to be there is for family and friends. Otherwise, I honestly would have no desire to live there. It is a pretty old, run-down city these days. Sad.......

[ScranBarre]

Here's another vote for Ithaca; I'm honestly regretting choosing a local university in PA over Cornell! Did you hear the new tourism promotion for Jamestown? Well, here it is: "Jamestown: The city that makes Scranton look like The Hamptons!"

[jamestowner_ny]

Hello. Glad to hear of your interest in Jamestown, NY. We DO have a lot to offer here, but also some "baggage" (as any town will).

We sometimes get a bunch of negativity associated with our town from people who have lived or are living here - sometimes. This is due to the depressed economies of small towns on the East Coast - not just Jamestown, but many small towns in the East. And the angst is appropriate in some instances, as it is difficult to get a "good" job in Jamestown - but there are many (but the line to get them can be long - but then again, sometimes the line to get the good job is short).

Good jobs: School system jobs, city jobs, state jobs, manufacturing jobs, and small business jobs. We have a few large companies here (Cummins Engine, Bush Industries, MRC/SKF, plus more), and a few new large companies moving in (one which provides telephone Customer Service for companies is opening a major branch here - hired some 200 already with another 500 to hire on this spring).

However, as a small business owner (and I mean really small - just 3 full time and 2 part time employees including me - the owner) I KNOW how hard it is to be here and make a decent living. My fiancee has a 4-year University degree, yet she has struggled for 2 years now and still does not have a "good" job. But, we're hopeful she may soon. And, we've also considered moving to Erie, PA (we really like Erie - it is close to Jamestown, similar in topography and region, but 3 or 4 times the size).

But, for School Teachers it can be good (they pay well here, due to the strong union) - and the jobs eventually open up.

With our tourism growing, manufacturing on the increase again, and potentially some new industries coming here, we may be ok. We have struggled, but I do see light at the end of the tunnel. Things aren't that bad here, as improvements from the private sector and the non-profit sector have really benefited our area (though things could definitely improve more, it looks like they are - albeit slowly).

The problem here is our elected leadership and small town corruption, which is actually being shook up as I write this. The people of this community, the "no bodies", are finally standing up to the powers that be and changes are being made. Though for those involved in standing up the cost has been high - lots of political pressure from the power elite, but the walls of their ivory towers are crashing in and soon there will be a revival.

So, as the citizens take back their city and the private sector/non-profit sector continues to grow, this little city has some life left. We have a wonderul history, which I won't go into all the details here, and a potentially bright future.

Things that are really good, and "going" for Jamestown, NY and Chautauqua County:

Amazing natural beauty, good people, small town feel, low crime, inexpensive housing, Lucy-Desi Museum, Rober Jackson Center, Roger Tory Peterson Institute, Chautauqua Institution, Jamestown Community College (SUNY), JSB Ice Arena (and the national skating championships), Fenton History Center, Fredona State University (SUNY - just 30 minutes away), Reg Lenna Civic Center (lots of national acts), decent schools (even a few private Christian schools), Jamestown Audubon Center, Allegany State Park (only 40 minutes away), Chautauqua Lake (Bemus Point, Mayville, and Lakewood), Bemus Bay Pops, Peak'n Peak (ski resort and conference center - they are investing some $30 million over the nect 5 years to make this the "Aspen" of the east), Ellicottville (currently considered the "Aspen" of the east), plus much more...

We are only 45 minutes from Erie PA, 1 hour 15 minutes from Buffalo NY, 2.5 hours to Cleveland OH or Rochester NY, 3 hours to Pittsburgh PA or Toronto Canada.

Hope this input helps... We have a great town and region, but we need good people to get involved to help make it better!

Thanks,

Jamestowner

[jamestowner_ny]

There is a really cool website for Jamestown, which is growing in popularity and usage:

http://www.JamestownFINDit.com


http://www.JamestownFINDit.com

[Laurentia]

It's such a long time that I posted this question that I had given up looking for answers!

Thank you all for taking so much time to answer my questions. Our move northeast has been put back again, so we won't be able to do this now until around 2010! That kinda sucks. However, we do have plenty of time now to consider this more thoroughly and make sure we get it right.

I was alarmed to read (in many posts) about the high crime rate in Jamestown although, let's face it, I live in San Antonio, and the crime rate isn't exactly low here either. I think I just expected better in a small town.

I have taken on board all the suggestions and we are looking at Springville, Salamanca, Lakewood, Ashville, Panama, Harmony, Ithaca and Dunkirk. I just got done looking up Erie PA on realtor.com also.

We are hoping to visit the area in about a year's time, when money and time allows. We will make sure it is a winter visit! Right now, our kids are hyped up at the idea of snow but, um, they don't even remember it snowing in England, which it snowed very little, or how quickly they came back indoors complaining about the cold. Both dh and I are very aware of how tiresome the cold weather can be, and we have of course had almost 5 years of south central Texas weather which has softened us up considerably.

So, thank you all for your input, and I hope to keep checking back in here and asking more questions.

[RWilliams]

I'd recommend Springville. I grew up there, its a nice quaint little village.

here is the village's website:

http://www.villageofspringvilleny.com/

[SZQ]

My family lived in Celoron when I was born in 1956. My family history in Jamestown and Celoron goes back around 5-6 generations. I still have some family there; and absolutely treasure my very limited time when I am able to go back on vacations.
I have lived in Tucson, Arizona since 1975. I really miss living in a small town; it feels very comfortable to me there. I truly plan on living in either Celoron or Jamestown in the distant future when I retire.
The good points regarding this area: the air is clean, noise pollution doesn't exist, a nice home there is still reasonable (a very big plus!) and it is a community of long established families. And of course! I almost forgot, the very best beef on wick that you can imagine. Good restaurants with real food, no plastic phony chains there!
This area is REAL!

[zx10guy1]

Jamestown is a hole to say the least, run down dump nothing here, unless your a lucy fan, or want to park cause we have tons of parking areas, yet nothing to do or see. Im 29 and stuck here again at the moment, was in pigeon forge tn area, thats worth a move too growing high pay lots for the kids. There are no jobs and people say you just arent looking hard enough or gota start at the bottom, well im sorry but 7.50 8.00 an hr dosnt pay the bills nowdays, tn pays 10 bucks an hr if you even work fast food come on! The kids here have nothing too do nothing, so you see 90 percent of them drinking or into drugs so young its scary, never seen an area so infested with drug addicts. The taxes kill ya, on everything, gas prices higher than just about everywhere! And check it out wellfare pays for most the people to live here, its crazy this is a poor excuse for a town!!! I grew up here and dont see how anyone in their right mind would want to stay after moving away and seeing the opportunity out there and the pay the only reason i could see being here is like me stuck at the moment. If you have kids especially stay away from here, dont put them through what this area has to offer !!!! The people who like this area were blessed with money or extreme luck or are blind to reality, cause i live here im 29 i see the reality i see the drugs, the older people either ignore or just dont see. For us this area is torture a hell on earth, or as my uncle say the sh@#hole of the earth!!

[nicknacs]

i agree that jamestown sucks, there are no jobs , lots of crime and crummy people in general. but bad areas do not get better until the few good people stand up take care of there homes get involved in the community and make it a better place to be. lets face it if the people that live there do not care about there town why would and one else? especialy the big companys that could offer great jobs there. the bottom line is the people on here should stop complaining how bad it is and start posting how great it can be ! clean your yards , paint your houses , say hello to your neighbor and ask how there day was .take pride in where you live then sit back and watch the neighborhood change for the better !

[tviz25]

What kind of crime is there anyway?