Comfortable/friendly cities for an African-American family? (New York, Buffalo: crimes, middle school)

[Mystery Buff]

Originally Posted by laughter4141

plus, I don't think you'd want to live in Niagara Falls. It is very dilapitated. You will see for yourself when you visit. Surrounding areas are much nicer however.

Really? Someone on the other thread said that the crime rate was bit high for a city that size...not good. What are some of the surrounding areas that are nicer/safer? Would I be able to commute to Niagra falls for work?

[laughter4141]

Yes, you'd be able to commute. If you go East & North, you'd get commuter-type/smaller towns or places in the country (not really country, but not really suburbia, meaning a grocery store may be 5 miles) that aren't that far from any types of suburbia....I am thinking Lewiston, Niagara-Wheatfield, Youngstown, Lockport, Grand Island, North Tonawanda.....you should be able to find a real nice place in any of those places that would be a great place to relocate for your family. I wouldn't worry about racial issues.

[SuperKitten]

Thanks to everyone who replied So it sounds like upstate doesn't exactly have a huge middle-class black population, but it is tolerant of those who do choose to live there. We weren't exactly expecting to find a whole lot of middle class blacks, but just wanted to know that we wouldn't have problems, you know? It would be nice though to be around some other black people though and not be like the token black family on the block or something. Wish I didn't have to think about this, it's kind of sad actually that I have to be thinking of this when trying to find a nice place for my family to live

Does anyone have any thoughts about Saratoga Springs? My DH might be trying to commute to NYC a couple days a week if he goes to school there, so we are trying to find places that are a little closer to the city. Would this be a good choice? (or is Saratoga just WAY to far from the city to be realistic?)

Any more opinions are appreciated

[jfkIII]

Saratoga Springs is beautiful, but VERY expensive to move there! Most houses are the antique Victorian type, which can sell for > $500k. Of course it is home to the oldest, and one of the most famous, racetracks in the country. During the 6 week racing season, many residents move out and rent their homes for thousands of dollars to track officials, horse owners and very rich fans.

IMO, it's definitely too far from the city to make the commute on any regualr basis.

[johndoe07]

Saratoga is 3.5 hrs from NYC. Not commutable.

If I were black and looking to live amongst other middle class blacks in or around NYC, I would consider Westchester in NY or areas in NJ such as Plainfield, New Brunswick, Woodbridge, etc.

[Tioga]

Well...from a different perspective.. I live outside of Owego(small town)
in between a couple of farms. Down the road a bit are 2 professional couples..one black, one mixed. Frankly..I really don't think most of the folks living around here give a darn what color they are. They take care of their places, and do th ol' neighbor wave when you drive past their places. In fact we did have a black mayor/and a black police chief of this small-mostly white town a few years back.Closest 4yr school is Binghamton U.(state college).

[Hustla718]

The cities in NY state to avoid as an African American family are:

NYC, Newburgh, Niagra Falls, Buffulo, Rochester.

All of these cities are very segregated with African Americans living in some of the worst areas. You want to find an area with a sizeable African American population living in a decent area.

I'm sure there are more to add to the list.

[SuperKitten]

jfkIII and johndoe07 I guess we will scratch Saratoga off our list for now them, maybe after he graduates or something 3 1/2 hours is WAY too far. Thanks for the reality check.

johndoe07 and Hustla718 thanks for the list of possible cities. This is what I need, some cities to investigate and possibly visit when we come up there in September. I suppose we will add New Jersey to the list too and I will check out your recs johndoe.

Tioga this is good to know. I guess this is what we were hoping for: even if there aren't a lot of black people nearby, that we would at least fit in and be welcomed by our neighbors.

Does anyone have any views on Syracuse? There is a possible school for my DH there too, so that is also on our list.

[bellafinzi]

Syracuse is even further away from New York City than Saratoga Springs.

If you move to the Syracuse area, I'd avoid the city itself and live in the suburbs.

[jfkIII]

Kitten...stay away from Schenectady & Troy. They have huge A.A. communities...but are not the nicest areas. The A.A. communities there are not the hard-working, well-educated, family type. LOTS of drug problems there.