How much is enough in Plattsburgh? (New York, Albany: assessor, employment, schools)
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This site has many, multiple (endless????????????) links and EVEN includes the link for sex offenders. Hope this also helps with some pictures.......I haven't had the chance to check it all out myself, however people up here are very thorough, so I imagine that there are pictures included of the actual city of Plattsburgh which is the county seat..........Have a great night!
Hey "Slowlandcook",
Sorry to be a downer here, and yes thanks "Plattsburgher" for the kind words, but let me present to you the "other side" of Plattsburgh and the "North Country" in general.
We are about to witness the SECOND 27% tax increase in the past two years! Originally pegged to be about 34%, City leaders have managed to wither it dwon to 27%. Now they are telling us to expect huge services cuts.
Crime, contrary to what others may tell you, is SHARPLY rising here. (I have lived here all my life, am a 39 year old male, and am now afraid to go out alone after dark on foot).
Our major influx of criminals is from New York City. Many here will tell you that it is due to a LONG history of being between Montreal and New York City, which in some part is true, and has been a contributing factor to the increased drug trafficing seen here in the past 10 years or so, BUT, more important, is the fact that one of the area's PRIMARY employers is the PRISON SYSTEM. We have a huge over abundance of mostly State (some Federal) prisons for a area this small. True, most are 20 or so miles from the City of Plattsburgh but there is "spill over".
Let me share this with you. In better financial days in New York State, when a prisoner/inmate being housed in one of our prisons was due to be released, he/she was returned to the NYC area. Now, in order for the state to save money, they basically release the prisoner as scheduled (Look up Clinton Correctional Facility Dannemora NY) but release him right into the streets of Dannemora NY, which is 20 minutes from Plattsburgh. Dannemora is a SMALL town, Village in fact, so naturally the closest BIG place is Plattsburgh! And that is where he ends up. Next he enters the doors of community agencies of which I will not mention for various reasons, and declares himself homeless, so he can further live off the LOCAL tax payers dollars, housing, medical, food etc. IF it is Summer time, he will probably be hosting MANY of his "buddies" also from NYC which happen to be rapists, drug dealers etc etc. A side note, many of the family members of the NYC incarcerated here in the Plattsburgh area MOVE to Plattsburgh as well to be close to "daddy", so you now have the wife/girlfriend, kids, teens, and all their "connections" here as well, most all of them living "off the system", if you know what I mean. They live in apartments, subsidized housing, or housing completely paid for by local tax dollars, thus draining the system without paying any taxes into it. Now you see why we have such high taxes in this area? Couple this with a local economy that is just POOR, it is very TOUGH to find jobs that pay over $8.00 unless you are either a Doctor, Lawyer, Govt/civil service job etc. MOST "industry" as the "locals" like to call it here is from Canada, THINK about this for a minute. MOST Canadian industry is unionized, so of course, coming to the U.S. means NO unions, CHEAP labor costs >>>> (low wages!! NO benefits). This has been going on very much in the past 15 to 20 years here.
Prisons, healthcare, and govt/civil service jobs > these are the best paying careers in the Plattsburgh area.
You will find many business bankruptices, residential home foreclosures, etc. due to the poor economy in this area.
IF you were considering moving to this area, I would HIGHLY suggest Burlington Vermont. They have a true sustainable economy. Their big boost many years ago was landing IBM. However, IBM being such a large employer, even though they have downsized over the years, many retirees from IBM have gone on to open business in the Burlington, Winooski, Colechester & Essex Junction areas of VT. Vermont has many locally owned businesses, they have just recently started seeing the sudden growth of the "big box stores", but there is VARIETY in Vermont, many locally owned businesses, many colleges, nationally recognized I may add, still close to Montreal, Lake Placid via ferry ride, and Vermont's own Stowe. Medical care is much more diversified in Vermont and better quality overall.
Plattsburgh is dying. With the poor economy we have, you still find townhouses selling for app. $350,000.00!! Many of the former air base housing units have been remodeled, but just that, remodeled. A lot of cosmetic work was put into renovating former base housing, and the prices being charged are ridiculous. All you have to do is ask around and many will tell you the horror stories of sewer, plumbing and electrical problems they have encountered. A lot of this renovated housing was cosmetic only, no improvements, maintenance or replacement was performed on the decades old plumbing/electric systems.
**********just got a message too long thingy here will continue next post*******
A personal example, a 3 phase group of townhouses that were selling for a mroe reasonable price, (under $100,00.00) were being offered over a 3 year period, phase 1,2,3. When I looked at the 3rd phase, personally interested in perhaps buying one, I was told that each townhouse unit was limited to 50 amps of electric service!!! Each building of FOUR units has 200 amps available!! for FOUR families!!! 200 amps is the standard for ONE single family home these days. The real estate rep told me that they could not allow more than ONE 5,000 BTU air conditioner per UNIT! and that if at any time any of the four families exceeded the 200 amp limit, the entire building of four units would SHUT DOWN.
Yes, you DO need air conditioning here in the summer. Even if the temp. is 83 degrees here, you mostly likely will be always having humidity in the 90-100 % range, wet and sticky.
75 degrees on a 100% humidity day can be like it's in the 100's.
The local City police in Plattsburgh are VERY slow to respond (took 45 minutes for police to show up when a drunk/high girl/guy in their 20's tried to get into my apartment one night at 2am, and then he proceeded to start raping her in the hallway) I live 3 minutes from the Police station, called them 4 times, 45 minutes later they show up........ it was a COLD October night,,,, not a typical busy city police summer night which does happen, they DO get busy in the summer, keeping the hundreds upon hundreds of rowdy , noisy, destructive and valdalizing SUNY (State Univ Of NY) students from further destroying the downtown area. (do a search on that with the local newspaper, www.pressrepublican.com) and you will find that for the past severl years, City residents have been plagued by noise until daybreak, destructive behavior, one student was shot and killed by a homeowner because he tried to get into their home while drunk and trying to find his way back to campus.......... the list goes on and on...........
Lastly, just over a month ago, a 18 year old student from Brooklyn New York City was arrested by local police for possession of more than four loaded handguns in her apt. and crack, heroine, cocaine and excesty .... two blocks away from where I live in downtown. These drugs by the way are here BIG time, and local police will tell you that.
There is NO local culture, again, you MUST go to Vermont (Burlington and surrounding VT towns) or Montreal or even Albany. Shopping is BIG BOX stores only, and not many of those either....... virtually NO locally owned business (Williston Vt, very close to Burlington) has much better shopping,
no locally owned business in Plattsburgh that is other than bars, restaurants etc.
If you live outside the city, utilities are VERY high, a average 2 to 3 bedroom apartment or home can cost over $600.00 per month in electric bills IF using electric heat as well, yes less if you use gas/oil but you can imagine that THOSE heating methods are expensive too. Couple this with the low paying jobs of the area, and if you have a decent paying job outside of the big 3 (prison guard, medical, govt/civil service) DONT count on that job being around long (I've personally have had 4 employers close down on me in the past 18 years, now civil service here myself) ............
ok well enough, I've had my say, anyone or yourself, any further questions on Plattsburgh, or if you doubt what I say, I would be happy to dig up the links on the web myself...........
IF you want to relocate to the Northeast, by all means, skip over Plattsburgh and head to Vermont!!
I too am intrested in this area but was a little disturbed in the amount of registered sex offenders in this area and manyof the towns in the Adirondock Region
This area basically is being overrun by criminals from the ghettos of New York City,,,,,,, they are incarcerated in our multitude of prisons here, and then once their released, they are NOT sent BACK to NYC but released here into the local community, ALSO one point I left out in my LONG post before,,,,,, it is often MANDATED as a condition of early release/parole that they MUST stay here because some geniuses in NY State govt. feel that they can be better rehabilitated (not just sex offenders but ALL the prisoners we have up here) if they STAY in this area and NOT return to NYC,,, sure, right. Sorry if this offends anyone but it is what it is, you can't take ex-cons, from the ghettos of NYC, and expect them to MAKE it here where there are hardly any decent jobs for regular, educated people let alone those with a criminal history, sad sad sad............ Plattsburgh and the North Country have been slowly going down the toilet for the past 20 years......
Crime is WAY UP, ALL the major drugs are everywhere (another reason for this NOT mentioned in my previous post) the NYC dealers that come here to see thier just released prisoner/ex con friends can get more than 200% markup on their drugs HERE compared to NYC,,,,,,,, it's a gold mine here in Plattsburgh and surrounding Plattsburgh towns for drug dealers because the demand is HIGH, the market is UP and the selling price /profit is through the roof compared to NYC where there is much more drug competition.
Last edited by EDDOU1290; 11-25-2006 at 11:46 PM..
(Plattsburgh, N.Y.) AP -- After learning several male students starred in an adult film, officials at Plattsburgh State University are considering taking disciplinary action.
School officials learned about the film when the college newspaper reported the story Friday.
The movie was filmed on campus about a year ago and shows male students having unprotected sex with female **** stars as they are cheered on by their peers.
The movie was made by Shane's World Productions, an adult film producer known for using college students in its videos.
University spokesman Keith Tyo tells the Plattsburgh Press-Republican that university police are reviewing the case to determine whether any laws or college regulations were violated.
Tyo said, "We can't dictate moral standards for others, but the college does not condone use of our students by this sector of the video industry."
Calls to Shane's World were not immediately returned.
Quick thoughts about the previous post:
I believe the original post concerned coming to this area due to career position with SUNY. As in all markets, if you don't have a specific degree or profession, YES, it WILL be tougher to find a job. Do not come to Plattsburgh, New York in search of a multitude of job opportunities. It isn't going to happen here or most places in the area........Burlington might have a few more jobs, but my friend works at the hospital there, but lives here because housing costs are so very high. Please check into rent/housing costs. At LEAST a hundred thousand dollar difference between a house here and house there..........IBM has had layoffs also.......Very few "bulletproof" jobs around these days!
My church runs the food shelf/ I volunteer there, and I happen to work for one of the agencies that services Medicaid of which you spoke. One of my girlfriends' hometown is Dannemora and yes, it has changed, but not to the extent you say. Most people from urban areas that are sent here do not enjoy/stay in small-town Plattsburgh, New York where they are monitored, and do want to get back to their friends, family and more urban areas. As for crime, where else have you lived? Think the reason that in the past THREE YEARS, a drunk college student going into an elderly man's home by mistake and being shot, a cocaine bust in a remote part of town, is HUGE headline-making news (also the college **** film) is that there are no murders, home invasions, gang or random killings or violence in our daily lives. ANY crime here is huge news! Most of our crime news comes to us via our local station out of Burlington, Vermont. Our food shelf needs have not increased due to inmates. I don't know where you got that information? There is no homeless shelter here and it is by nature cold here. People tend to know each other here. Most inmates do not stay here. My daughter goes to med school in Albany. Her friends who are seniors at Plattsburgh have lived in the same local house for 4 years with absolutely no problems! As in most arenas, a few college kids can give the entire 5,000 a bad name.
BTW, I have some friends who still do not lock their home or car ever! Not saying that is good, but it still happens here. I am just saying that maybe living in the 3 block "downtown?" area where the 5/6 college bars are located might be a different environment most of the other neighborhoods areas. No, we don't have big box stores, but I was in Burlington last night and we do have a mall and several shopping centers: Walmart supercenter, Lowe's, TJ Maxx, Michael's, Bed Bath Beyond, Best Buy, Applebees, Sam's, Victoria Secret, all the other mall stores...... My opinion, more than enough and if you need more, you can always cross the "pond" or go online. Easy, simple and no traffic.
Ok. Biggest area of contention is the townhouses you spoke of. I happen to live in one. I don't know who you spoke to, but the biggest problem we had at the last meeting was our water usage. I have to pay an additional two dollars this month because my water usage was over. I am supposed to be upset over that???? We have two air conditioners, two computers, all modern appliances in kitchen, washer-dryer in separate laundry room, use hair dryers, irons, have lived here for three years and never had any problems! Yes, if I wanted to put in an outdoor hot tub, I would need an electrician/upgrade, but that may be a common issue from what I understand no matter what older home you buy. My neighbors across and up/down the street have been the same for the past three years! Include lawyers, medical personnel, college professionals, published authors, musicians, teachers and even clergy. We all love it here and have seen our property increase in value about 35,000 since buying. Not sure who you are getting your info from? It is certainly news to us. I would highly recommend visiting other places in New York state and BEYOND to you......I truly think you would then not consider Plattsburgh such a high crime area. I came from an area where race/immigrants were occasional issues and there was some school violence on a irregular basis. Some schools even have standard metal detectors now.....are you aware of that? The schools here are amazing and teachers need a master's to work in NY state. My other daughter plays in the band and the chorus, jazz, orchestra, band are raising money to visit DC in the spring. They played at the local VFW on Veterans Day and those people were nice enough to donate 1000 dollars to our school. Feel our children are so lucky to be in this community. I stand by earlier posts that are positive for this area. Don't know about the previous poster's community involvement, children's experiences in school or his own experiences in the real estate market, but mine have been very good. That is all I know......
I guess if I post a big tantrum I should expect a big reply
Just poking you here don't take it as offensive please.
You are quite correct. I DO realize that it is not all that bad here, just noting that if we stay the present course, there will be much more discord ahead.
While it is fresh on my mind, about the townhouses, I was referring to the properties renovated by Select Group, Phase 3 in particular. Since you mentioned the issue with water usage, I understand that you must be in one of the 3 phases of Select Group townhouses as I have read the minutes of the association meetings on line and have seen where the water issue has been a hot topic.
When I looked at phase 3, I was told by the Select Group representatitive that each unit had 50 amps of electric service. I verified this by checking the breaker box, and indeed, did see that the main breaker was rated for 50 amps. The remaining breakers were 10 amps each, with one, I believe, rated at 20 amps to accomodate a electric range/stove.
Microwaves, computers, televisions etc. do not normally cause much of a issue. Space heaters, air conditioners, vacuum cleaners, freezers/chest freezers, however, when cycling on/off, can & do cause a momentary surge in amerage before leveling off........ if two 10 amp devices are running on a 20 amp breaker, while theoretically possible, when/if both power up at the same time, there will be a momentary overage of more than 20 amps, exceeding the breaker limit, and causing it to "pop off".
I really loved the job they did on the renovations of phase 3. Some of the units she walked through with me had very nice skylights in the dining room, and overall the layout was very impressive. There appeared to be much more room both in the unit and the unit's outside personal "yard space" than there was in phase 1. However, the limit of 50 amps of electric service was un-acceptable to me considering that most mondern day single family homes and even apartments are running on 200 amp minimum standard.
(I tend to use space heaters in the winter and during summer have 1 air conditioner in each room for even cooling - true, central a/c would be the way to go but the Select group rep told me that they were certain that the 50amp limit would not handle central a/c).
Another point that you are right about, if someone is re-locating here to enter into a teaching position at Plattsburgh State, I doubt that most of the issues I mentioned will affect her. However the issues that I mentioned might be of concern to her regarding her husband's potential employment prospects here. Even if he gains employment here he should be read to be paid far less than the National or even State average.
In my 18 years as a Electronics Technician, I have always earned at least $10,000.00 - $15,000.00 per year less than I could earn in Albany, Rochester or Buffalo........... PLEASE! don't ask me why I stayed, THAT would be another WAY too long of a story
If it is possible on this system, I will send you a PM / Private Message regarding my other source of information regarding the other subjects discussed.
Is your dryer gas or electric?
I suspect gas?
that was another BIG contention of mine, that there was so little electric power available, the fact that they were pushing GAS useage so much in a area where I can and am TOTAL electric and still can pay less than $100.00/month in winter, including heat, in casual conversation, I mentioned to the Select Group Rep. that I would probably go with a electric dryer, electric stove and spaces heaters, her only warning was DON'T DO IT.
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Found a great site for interested future Pburghers.....
The OTHER side of Plattsburgh
Not my impression at all..............
