WNY - Should we move back? (Buffalo, Dunkirk: for sale, real estate, crime)

[oktaren]

Originally Posted by BillsMan

WNY is the greatest, but thats our secret......

Been gone for 20 years, Im moving back in 3 weeks, Im so excited to be back home where real people are its sick.

yes it is. its an awesome place.

[oktaren]

Originally Posted by shibainu

Well first of all good luck finding a teaching job in wny. They seem to be very hard to find. Rochester mean salary for secondary school teacher is $61,850, high end 72k and about 260 openings a year. Western ny(buffalo) mean is $56,320, high range 65k and about 250 job openings a year. tampa mean $54,565, orlando $45,330, ft lauderdale 65,050, northeast fl $50,043, northwest $47,803.

Again I was trying to show the cost of living difference. Actually the mean is $73,680 for nyc and miami mean is 57,852. The point I was making is that people in fl usually have a Bachelor's degree vs master. The pay difference minus the cost of living is actually worst than florida.

Florida's Labor Market Statistics - Library - OES


I understand that the grass is not always greener. Here is a good question: If you do not like Florida and you know nys is a dying failed system, why not try something else? I love people that always live in the past because they never understand what is in the future. I once lived in the past and I unfortunately moved back to wny thinking it was great. I was wrong it is in a very sad state right now. With the current leadership in ny it will take years if not decades to turn this once great city (Rochester) and state around. I am very disappointed in wny. The local government will never improve(any time soon) because people will not even run for office against the local leaders. (Ex. Maggie brooks, slaughter) The area will see another rate hike in taxes and there is no way around it. Monroe County is one of the highest tax counties in the country. What does your lovely taxes dollars get? Nothing but a broken system. They give millions for the companies to stay in Rochester area. Most of the companies have thought of leaving but Duffy and brooks throw money at them to shut them up.
One thing I do not get from the pro-camp of Rochester is they always say it is great for families and it is family oriented. The U.S. census show that actually Rochester is below the U.S. average for families and family size. More of the young educated people are leaving and older people are staying or coming back from the places they migrated from.
My question is that there are hundreds of cities to chose from in the us why would any one want to live in a area that is not prosperous for your children. Once your child is born in a city like Rochester, Detroit, D.C., Baltimore the odds are against you to be successful. So why would any one want to raise their kids in that environment? Because they miss it. That is a horrible reason. (Usually when people reminisce about their past they wish they could re-live it. It is like that relationship that breaks up and gets back together 10 times because they think it will work.)

My personal opinion is that you may not like where you are now and you want to run to a safety net (something familiar), I think you will be disappointed over time if you came back to WNY. There is a reason why buffalo is one of the poorest cities in America.You may want to check that thread out.
http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-y...hlight=buffalo

Rochester really has not truly gain jobs since the mid-1990s
http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-y...ing-state.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-y...grate-usa.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-y...york-help.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-y...hlight=buffalo

That statement does not make sence. How can a place that has a lot of downs have a lot to offer.


When making big decisions in life it is better to make a decision when you get all the facts. If you base your decisions just by feelings you will get burned in life. Have you ever heard of people remove the emotions of purchasing homes. If they falling in love with a house or an area you are allowing yourself to go blind before making an logical/Intelligent decision.

you should just leave wny and forget about it. in all honesty you don't even live in wny, you live in rochester, which is not wny to real wnyers

either way all you are thinking about is buffalo and rochester, WNY has alot more places than that. that is a very small sample.

And teaching jobs are not hard to come by in wny, maybe in buffalo or roch, but not in wny as a whole. any teacher that wants a job, let me know, ill let you know where to look.

[I'minformed2]

Rochester is definitely part of WNY....why would the Historical Society of Western New York be here if it weren't? Thee is only one county between Buffalo and Rocheseter (Genesee County)...they are definitely considered part of the same region.

[oktaren]

Originally Posted by i'minformed

Rochester is definitely part of WNY....why would the Historical Society of Western New York be here if it weren't? Thee is only one county between Buffalo and Rocheseter (Genesee County)...they are definitely considered part of the same region.

i don't agree. i live an hour west of buffalo. we consider anything west of genesee community college to be wny. i have no idea why someone would have misnamed such an organization, you should ask them.

[oxymoron]

oktaren, do you live in the southern tier?

[oktaren]

Originally Posted by oxymoron

oktaren, do you live in the southern tier?

well, right this second im living in pittsburgh, 5 months today. but yes, my permanant home is in chautauqua county. the southwest corner of the state. the most wonderful place in the world

i highly recommend it and am willing to answer any questions you may have about the area.

[BillsMan]

I'm from Dunkirk (Chautauqua co.)but spent a lot of time in Erie county. Simply awesome country. During the grape season the air has a faint sweet smell to it.

[oktaren]

Originally Posted by BillsMan

I'm from Dunkirk (Chautauqua co.)but spent a lot of time in Erie county. Simply awesome country. During the grape season the air has a faint sweet smell to it.

Dunkirk huh? Thats awesome, originally from Westfield here, but my girlfriend is from Dunkirk. We may be moving there actually.

[oxymoron]

We are from the Lakewood area, near Jamestown. My husband was born in Westfield. We spent a month up there this summer. Loved it! My husband's parents still live there.

[oktaren]

Originally Posted by oxymoron

We are from the Lakewood area, near Jamestown. We spent a month up there this summer. Loved it! My husband's parents still live there.

You should come back! Its sad how many of the graduates from the area leave, especially after college. Alot of them want to come back but don't think they will be able to make enough money to pay for their current lifestyles, but thats the great thing about chautauqua county, its pretty cheap to live there!

For those who care,

the main reason I left was...

I was driving from Westfield to Buffalo on a daily basis, which kinda sucks. 75 minute drive one way in good conditions is not fun, in bad conditions it was terrible. I also was not making a ton of money in Buffalo. I was an entry level employee at a small business which couldn't afford to give me a raise. My choices were to move closer to Buffalo and keep that job(or look for a new one) or take a job in another city.

I decided to take a shot at another city. I had a few choices, I could have moved out west, that really wasn't an option for me, or take a job in NYC or pittsburgh. I took the pittsburgh job because it was a smaller city, closer to home and the pay, while it paid less, would go further in pittsburgh.

Either way, looking back on it I think I would have missed wny and would have wanted to return. I'm glad I tried it though, I now realize exactly what I was missing.