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You know what I am going to delete every thread on here, because I usually don't get wrapped up in this kind of nonsense. If you think Elmira is mayberry than come and check it out. Your free to believe what you want. It's not camden, but it certainly isn't mayberry. All other posts I'm deleting for the sake of how stupid this thread has become.
As for Corning in 2010 they had 51 violent crimes in a city of 11,000. Considering that it is about a third of the size as Elmira, but with almost half the amount of violent crimes, that is where the higher rate comes from. Of course, there are factors like the type of violent crime and reporting, but we can only go by the information available.
As for Corning in 2010 they had 51 violent crimes in a city of 11,000. Considering that it is about a third of the size as Elmira, but with almost half the amount of violent crimes, that is where the higher rate comes from. Of course, there are factors like the type of violent crime and reporting, but we can only go by the information available.
I'm tired of arguing with you. You know everything. I have lived in Corning and Elmira and I can assure you they are like night and day. Corning is nothing like Elmira. But you can use your little stats to pretend that it is three times as bad. Ask anyone from those two areas and they'll laugh your head off though. I wouldn't go telling everyone that. You'll lose all credability. I've bought books from Sperling and other people who have Elmira's crime rate almost always higher than Binghamton. As far as Corning, who knows what to think. To me it feels and looks like Mayberry so I don't know how it recorded that many violent crimes. I do know their police force counts everything. Whereas Elmira's is the opposite. That is what I do know. I just know that stats are seriously skewed when it comes to Elmira. Because you don't even have to look at stats to be in those two cities to see that they are night and day with each other. I'm not even going to argue with you anymore on anything. I offered you a chance to come here and I would show you around-you decline. You seem to know everything about upstate NY. I've called you on this before. Sometimes I don't think you know jack sh t when it comes to some cities. That's just my personal opinion. You use stats. If I knew certain things on the computer, I could list stats of my own that make yours look stupid. But who's to say other cities are counting crimes correctly either. It's all apples and oranges. Bottom line is I've offered to show you around. You don't want to do it. Stats mean nothing to me. When I go to Corning, it feels like I stepped into Mayberry. That's what I do know. When I go to Elmira, it's an offshoot of a smaller Syracuse. But what do I know? Your the one who knows everything. End of thread for me. You win, I know nothing about a city I grew up in and you know everything. I can't argue with that. But it's funny how some other posters have mentioned how crappy Elmira is, and you disregard them. The one poster who was trying to say Elmira is nice, blah, blah, blah is just defending his city. He's probably frustrated because the truth is the truth. When people ask about nice cities in upstate that are small, it's no wonder Elmira is never mentioned. But what the f k do I know, I only lived there for about fifteen years. You visited a few times. How dare I challenge the great Ck?
And by the way, I never said Elmira was a "super" crime ridden city. There are certainly cities with similar populations that are much worse. What I do know is that I spent a summer in Schenectady and it reminded me of a double Elmira. My best friend lives in Utica, that city reminds me of a double Elmira. That's about what I think of Elmira when I think of crime. Is it Camden? Not a chance. Is it Corning (Mayberry) also not a chance. It is what it is.
Wow, take the emotion out of it. I never said that Corning was 3 times as worse as Elmira. I said that it is a city with a third of the population(roughly), but had almost half as many violent crimes reported. That is why the violent crime RATE(key word) is higher. That is different from saying Corning is 3 times as bad as Elmira in that regard. It is about proportion and crime varies within cities, big and small, in terms of severity, location and the type that is more prevalent. I liken this to the tax issue, where people say that they are high, when in fact, it is more about the RATE. For instance, property taxes in Texas are about the same on average in many counties as they are on average in many counties in NY. What people forget is that home prices between those similar counties in TX and NY, are lower on average in NY. So, that would mean that the tax RATE is higher in NY.
As for Utica, Cornhill, inner West Utica and inner East Utica are the areas that are notorious for having higher crime in that city. Outside of those areas, it is fine. You have to be specific when talking about crime in cities, what one area gets in that regard, even on the same side of town, another will have something different to deal with. So, Hamilton Hill in Schenectady may be more violent, but the Union Avenue area in that same city will be more in line with Niskayuna, in many respects.
I haven't been arguing, by the way. I'm just relaying information and trying to put this into perspective.
I haven't lived in Elmira for a long time, but when I did live there (it's my hometown) the west side was the better side of town. The east side was a little "Poorer", but the southside was catching up to it.
Corning is a great little city, but mostly for the young.
Mountain man, I know what you mean about the southern cooking. Elmira is my hometown, I left a number of years ago and have lived in Georgia for a number of years. Although, the food down here has a good flavor, it is heart attack fare. They cook all the flavor out of veggies, but when it comes to pork BBQ, they have the north beat. What I miss most is the Italian food up there. The southerners cannot make good pizza, spaghetti, etc.
Elmira: I have been seriously considering a move back to Elmira, but reading many of these comments I am wondering if it would be wise. There are so many things to do year 'round in the south, but don't know if the weather up there would afford me the opportunities to continue to be as active. Living in the south may have its good points but it also has a lot of negatives!
Is the population in Elmira and the surrounding area older? And are there activities geared to seniors?
Mountain man, I know what you mean about the southern cooking. Elmira is my hometown, I left a number of years ago and have lived in Georgia for a number of years. Although, the food down here has a good flavor, it is heart attack fare. They cook all the flavor out of veggies, but when it comes to pork BBQ, they have the north beat. What I miss most is the Italian food up there. The southerners cannot make good pizza, spaghetti, etc.
Elmira: I have been seriously considering a move back to Elmira, but reading many of these comments I am wondering if it would be wise. There are so many things to do year 'round in the south, but don't know if the weather up there would afford me the opportunities to continue to be as active. Living in the south may have its good points but it also has a lot of negatives!
Is the population in Elmira and the surrounding area older? And are there activities geared to seniors?
You may like Ithaca, which has some apartments geared towards seniors, if I'm not mistaken. It may depend on what activities you are into though.
Wow! @ck, I'd forgotten all about this thread, this was around the time I joined this site...
@sandra, this thread is full of exaggerations. I've been here since March of '11, a little over two years, so I can give you a current overview of what the city is like....
The East Side, where I currently reside, is still the roughest area of town, and probably always will be. Not sure where you are in Georgia, or other places you have lived, but there are tons of places with extreme crime conditions in this country that outweigh those of East Elmira. I would assume that the majority of crime happens over here, as this is where its usually the most fighting and noise is at. It is where the most abandoned and run down homes are at, and where most of the poorer population of town is at. That said, the trouble is largely nonviolent. Anyone who says otherwise is not familiar. The few times (maybe 4) there have been reported gunshots in my year-plus over here, or that there has been any violent crime, it is a big deal---because it is not a regular occurence...
The Southside is worst around Maple, I don't know where that one postter a few years was getting off by saying S/S is catching up to E/S. Those apartments on the river off Main, that isn't even a real problem area. There are some rough looking areas in other parts of the S/S, but I think that is more of a microcosm of how Elmira is. @ckthankgod is a very informative poster, and he made a great point in mentioning that the problems here are largely because of the decline of population and industry; it is in every sense a declining Rust Belt city, and I would gather to say that it is in fair comparison to Buffalo, adjusted for size. But that doesn't translate into crime, as some would assume...
The Westside and Miracle Mile are still the best areas of town. The Near West, where I spent most of my time here, is in decline. But in a year of residing over there (Gray St, which is supposedly one of the worst streets in town), there was one actual shooting incident, and one reported that didn't actually happen. Nonetheless, there is alot of disrepair over here and of course, drug dealers/users. Once you pass Hoffman, the scenery changes...
I think the perception that Elmira is crime-riddled and a dangerous place to live (and I've put a lot of thought into this, ) comes from the fact that it is one of the largest cities in its region, as most organizations consider it the Southern Tier, and the Finger Lakes website considers it part of the Finger Lakes' southern end. People have a propensity to equate 'large' with 'bad'. And, nno matter which metric you use, it does consistently have the highest crime rate of any city in either region, so we're talking a span of a few hundred miles and a few hours. Because of Elmira's location, and its relative isolation, I mean, you really do have to travel a decent distance to get to cities with worse and more violent crime levels. And they are a good bunch of cities in NYS that are consistently and traditionally worse--but east of Buffalo, south of Rochester and Syracuse and west of the Capital District, in general terms Elmira can be considered the "worse" city in that geographical area...
I'm not from here, and I've lived in inner-city enclaves with higher crime than the city of Elmira multiplied several times over. And a lot of people in this area are thouroughly grounded here, and have never left the general Finger Lakes/Southern Tier, in terms of living somewhere else. So if you grow up here, or have been here 50 years, it is easy to understand how the perception of the city is that it is crazily bad. The biggest problem here is drugs, which is a problem that is hard to diffuse being that there is a lack of reasonable wages and employment here. It is a pipeline for drugs in the state, and there are the drug dealers from outta town who network through here, largely from Rochester, but some from the other big cities as well...
And although instances of violence do exist here, it is not the norm, and is not anything somebody moving here should be overly concerned about, as Elmira doesn't have a reputation in any criminologist circle as a place with a VIOLENCE problem. Gangs, while they are here, aren't a "problem". Robberies (not break-ins, not burglaries), while they do occur from time to time, are not a PROBLEM...
I have the tendency of getting long-winded; sorry! I've grown to enjoy my time here, and can't stand it when misinformation is put out. I also wouldn't recommend someone moving here, but not because of exaggerated crime issues--it is not a city with a lot of things for people to do, be it children, young professionals, college students, entrepreneurs, singles, partiers, etc. You have to really be content and settled in life (or either from here and fond of here because of that) to want to move here. But by all means, I welcome you back if you come!
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