Moving from Sacramento to Syracuse or Ithaca

[GlobalTransplant]

Originally Posted by HomerBrink

What about ONTrack? Is that still running? It's a train that runs (ran?) from SU to downtown and the new intermodal center. Anyone know what the status of that is?

Apparently only runs on weekends during game events...

[bellafinzi]

Originally Posted by GlobalTransplant

Wow, you seem to have an analysis already done for the ills that plague Syracuse and surrounding regions -- perhaps the Governor should hire you to take charge so more outsiders feel inclined to move to Syracuse! I didn't realize there were so many tiers to the problems, but it seems doable -- but with great political intervention. But politicians generally make all sorts of promises they never ever keep! But I think the revitalization of Syracuse is key as that might jump-start some of the other improvements -- while gentrification in general is often a boon to the suburban rich and bane to the displaced inner-city poor (as they are priced out of the market with little social investment to bring them up too), I think it's possible to reverse the city's decay (as many other cities are struggling to do the same -- e.g. Minneapolis). But if everyone wealthy person in the suburbs starts to think in terms of only their suburb and not the entire metropole in general, then it'll be harder to get tax monies invested in the city. It's really a chicken-and-egg in my opinion -- invest in the city to make the area thrive, or flee the city and avoid and just complain about the area's decline.
So, I suppose I need to think about all this (very quickly) in whether to accept my job offer at Syracuse or not!

This has NOTHING to do with suburbs vs. city.

This is about a region...Upstate NY....dying a slow death. If Central New York was booming in population, the City of Syracuse could be revitalized too.

Why? Almost half the college educated young adults between the ages of 22 and 40 have left the region. If the economy was booming, most wouldn't leave. If most college educated young adults stayed, they would need to find a place to live. Many college educated young adults like living in a city's core.
That means thousands of college educated young adults living in the City of Syracuse, which means gentrification.

Families with children want to live in the suburbs where it is safer and where there are better schools. College educated young adults want to live in a city where it is more exciting.

So the main problem with Central New York is college educated young adults leaving the region... the same people who would revitalize the city's core.

About high property taxes, high energy costs etc.....I'm not the one who came up with that analysis for the ills that plague Syracuse and surrounding regions. That has been already researched and documented here:

http://www.ppinys.org/reports/2004/letupstate.pdf

[GlobalTransplant]

Originally Posted by bellafinzi

This has NOTHING to do with suburbs vs. city.

This is about a region...Upstate NY....dying a slow death. If Central New York was booming in population, the City of Syracuse could be revitalized too.

Why? Almost half the college educated young adults between the ages of 22 and 40 have left the region. If the economy was booming, most wouldn't leave. If most college educated young adults stayed, they would need to find a place to live. Many college educated young adults like living in a city's core.
That means thousands of college educated young adults living in the City of Syracuse, which means gentrification.

Families with children want to live in the suburbs where it is safer and where there are better schools. College educated young adults want to live in a city where it is more exciting.

So the main problem with Central New York is college educated young adults leaving the region... the same people who would revitalize the city's core.

About high property taxes, high energy costs etc.....I'm not the one who came up with that analysis for the ills that plague Syracuse and surrounding regions. That has been already researched and documented here:

http://www.ppinys.org/reports/2004/letupstate.pdf

Thanks for the report! Wow, this problem is so much worse than other cities I know of, as they don't have NYC to contend with! So, does that mean that Syracuse is 'still dying' or is it anywhere near 'being revived'? I suppose the trajectory is important, as are the policies that would affect that trajectory. Are there any recent policies that have been put into effect already, or in the pipeline, that would address some of the issues of insane property taxes, medicaid, car lease, etc. problems?

[Carrots]

girlgypsie, I found your comments for the Ithaca question very true. I am from NY but NOT Syracuse and am also on the West side. I have been trying to leave Syracuse but my husband is from here.

[rubygreta]

[quote=bellafinzi;2352791]This has NOTHING to do with suburbs vs. city.

This is about a region...Upstate NY....dying a slow death. If Central New York was booming in population, the City of Syracuse could be revitalized too. /quote]

Really? Then why is the Carousel Center currently adding 848,000 square feet of space? Is the developer stupid?

[Writerontheisland]

"Really? Then why is the Carousel Center currently adding 848,000 square feet of space? Is the developer stupid?"

I don't know but seeing as the Australian owner of 700 U.S. malls has currently put itself up for sale before it has to file for bankruptcy, he just might be.

I'm just sayin'.......

[bellafinzi]

Originally Posted by Carrots

girlgypsie, I found your comments for the Ithaca question very true. I am from NY but NOT Syracuse and am also on the West side. I have been trying to leave Syracuse but my husband is from here.

Do you live on the west side of the city or in Camillus?

Are you from the North Country...north of Watertown? IMO, the North Country has the friendliest people in Upstate NY. Once you cross south of the New York State Thruway, it is hit or miss depending on the people you meet. So the northern suburbs of Syracuse have the most in common with the type of people found in the North Country.

Believe it or not, when I was growing up and going to school in the late 80's to early 90s, the Syracuse area had thousands of families relocating here from all over the country. I knew classmates that moved here from all over the country. That has slowed considerably since 1995. Hopefully, Spitzer will bring another era of prosperity to the Syracuse area soon.

[CBaillo]

I don't know much about Syracuse, because my wife and daughter and I moved to Newfield (about 10 min. from Ithaca), but we have had nothing but the best experiences. On occasion we have driven to spend a day in Syracuse and will take my wifes van which is still sporting CA plates (felt it useless to just have had paid its registration before our move, to have to pay it again in NY, so we're waiting for the tags to run out), and we have NEVER had any weird looks, or anyone say anything negative towards us.

We moved to upstate NY to escape CA, and to pursue the wine industry. We wanted to open our own winery one day, and this was the most affordable place to do it. My wife works in Ithaca (and we do most our shopping there), and my winery apprenticeship is in Burdett (which is a LOT more rural, and farm country), so we see the whole spectrum.

We have gotten nothing but good down home hospitality and kindness from everyone here, from Ithaca, to Newfield to Burdett, and everyplace in between and out of bounds. People are very REAL (unlike most people in L.A.) and willing to help if only for the sake of helping...It's everything we dreamed of while planning our exodus from L.A. and MORE. So I don't understand why someone would experience any problems. No assumptions or anything about anyone who's posted here, but I do tend to find reasons sometimes why certain people get more "hurt" or "picked on" by others.

One reason is that people that come from big cities like L.A. or NYC, or wherever sometimes tend to have this aura about them, that you can see from a mile away. One thing people don't like here (mainly in the smaller communities) are the big city folk who come in trying to escape the big city, and end up trying to change it to be just like the big city. And people tend to not like people who reak of the big city "attitude" (which includes many different individual traits, but most here know what I mean). My wife and I never had this attitude...we grew up very old fashioned, and unmaterialistic, and have always felt out of place in L.A.'s fast paced materialistic lifestyle, so we got along great with everyone from the get go, because we had no pretentious vibe.

But sometimes people move here from the city...buy up the biggest house on the block, park their matching 80,000-100,000 cars in the driveway, and will start trying to change things in their town, and will say the most HATED line one could say "..well in the city we did it this way". People here, and even within Ithaca, which has some very wealthy people within its boundaries, tend to live a LOT simpler life. It's a lot of "enoughs"...they have enough home as they need, a good enough car to get them to point a and b, etc...so i won't lie to you, i've seen it a lot, they (like i said its more prevalent in smaller communities) WILL make assumptions about you, and start forming negative opinions of you, if you are THAT type of city transplant

The other reason I see people get hurt is that sometimes city dwellers are too sensitive. Living in the big cities one gets used to ultra proper and PC ways of saying things, and people catering whole conversations on trying to not saying anything that might offend someone. It's usually not the case here, people tend to say what they really feel, which is actually something I love about this place...no need to question someones real thoughts..they'll tell you themselves. A person has to learn to separate TRUE intent to hurt feelings, and just innocent banter.

[GlobalTransplant]

Hmmm, so does that mean that moving from London to Syracuse would mean I might not adjust either?