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I'm going to have to agree with you on this! Over taxed, corrupted, no incentives to stay. And they keep giving business huge tax breaks just in order to lure or keep them in the state.
If Remington was smart they should have pulled out of there and went to some state that was 2nd amendment friendly who'd legislatures did knee jerk to keep their constituents happy!
But back to the topic.
I lived there most of my adult life, I left when I was 30 and that was probably 10 or so years to late! But when I was 21-23 I had a small efficiency apartment on Court St. between Lenox and York. You could leave your door wide open at night and not worry about a thing. No days from the news I get from family is that part of the city is a war zone. And from what I read on the online version of WKTV and the OD that good part of the city a war zone! Come on shooting from passing cars in broad day light at a common intersection, Oswego and Sunset?! Really? The cops are baffled and can't solve the crimes that do happen. I don't know if it's a lack of care or if they're really scared!
I left the state in '08 again should have left along time before that. I ended up in Indianapolis. Really nice city. And it's got that small town feel in a big city. The winters are on the average mild high 30's to low 40's. Not all sunshine like Florida but for some reason I need that change of the seasons.
The powers that be keep trying to dress up the city and it's like putting perfume on a pig. It might smell nice but it's still a pig.
Word or warning and advice : Leave this place alone! Don't go there!
Utica isn't that bad. North and South Utica are still largely fine. Come on...... Ironically, Indianapolis's crime rate is higher than people might think, given its very spread out nature.
Utica, by far, is a terrible place to live your life. I moved here in 1985 when I graduated college. Big mistake. For years I have been hearing how Utica was just about to turn around and get better, but so far nothing good happens. I hear over and over about how great things will be when the new nano technology plant is built, and how it will be the saving grace of Utica. Prosperity is just around the corner, they say. I've been hearing this sort of thing for the last thirty years. If anything, things just keep getting worse. Many cities have bad areas and bad neighborhoods. The difference here is that the entire city is a huge bad area with no neighborhoods that I would consider safe. There are shootings and stabbings in the middle of downtown. Bleecker Street is really not a safe place to be. There is little of quality here. No culture, no entertainment, little in the way of sports, except for a second rate hockey team. Very few good paying jobs. Most people here never have anything good to say about this city. The only ones that do are the old Italians and their kids who seem to run all the businesses, and city government. Its just a miserable place to live, where most of us who live here dream of the day when we can put the "for sale" sign in our front yard and move out of this dump.
Utica, by far, is a terrible place to live your life. I moved here in 1985 when I graduated college. Big mistake. For years I have been hearing how Utica was just about to turn around and get better, but so far nothing good happens. I hear over and over about how great things will be when the new nano technology plant is built, and how it will be the saving grace of Utica. Prosperity is just around the corner, they say. I've been hearing this sort of thing for the last thirty years. If anything, things just keep getting worse. Many cities have bad areas and bad neighborhoods. The difference here is that the entire city is a huge bad area with no neighborhoods that I would consider safe. There are shootings and stabbings in the middle of downtown. Bleecker Street is really not a safe place to be. There is little of quality here. No culture, no entertainment, little in the way of sports, except for a second rate hockey team. Very few good paying jobs. Most people here never have anything good to say about this city. The only ones that do are the old Italians and their kids who seem to run all the businesses, and city government. Its just a miserable place to live, where most of us who live here dream of the day when we can put the "for sale" sign in our front yard and move out of this dump.
I continually wonder how long it takes a city to remain in decline like Utica. There must be a bottom-out period or something. When you look at Buffalo's medical campus that caters to those with a college degree (not implying anything negative), it does indicate the city is coming back and is heading to a revival. I am sure 10-15 years ago Buffalo would have faced the same kind of thread like this one here, because as I remember it was really crappy. But it's not as much now. The same can't be said for Utica, but it can be for Troy:
Quote:
Troy is the new Brooklyn.
At least that’s what Albany area economic development specialists think.
With the Capitol District’s technology sector growing, areas such as Troy that once were in decline are enjoying a renaissance.
Nineteenth-century storefronts and industrial buildings that were disintegrating are being refurbished and young people now are sitting at tables outside cafes.
“We have seen it firsthand,” said Erin Pihlaja, executive director of the Downtown Troy Business Improvement District.
It’s not just tech workers using Troy as a bedroom community for their Albany-based jobs, she said. Companies are moving to Troy because of its unique assets, Pihlaja said.
“These smaller cities are becoming a hub for companies that want the amenities of being downtown,” she said. “You are not stuck on some corporate island where you have maybe one food service. You are here with hundreds of options.”
Mohawk Valley officials have expressed a hope that when the nanotechnology endeavors in Marcy finally come to fruition, Utica and surrounding communities will experience a similar efflorescence.
And people in Albany think it could happen, though it may take time for the true impact to be felt.
“I would say it has been organic, but there was certainly an expectation that things were going to happen faster than they did,” said F. Michael Tucker, president and CEO of the Center for Economic Growth economic development agency. “We are starting to see the impact of the 15-year investment in the region.”
So clearly a city can recover from a dumpster fire.
But, what does it take, because this post clearly illustrates that for most people, opportunities don't exist so their "job" is living with social services:
Quote:
Originally Posted by gem1122
I grew up outside of Utica, in Clinton. At that time, it was the butt of all sorts of jokes (it's what NYC threw up, etc...). Then I moved elsewhere in NY.
Fast forward to a few years ago, when my wife and I bought a house in Utica. The neighborhood wasn't great, but the people were friendly and we found a few nice restaurants and events going on. The local hospitals are good, though.
The politics and infrastructure are still sorely lacking. No one seems to know what to do with the place. Downtown is a mess. I used to teach job training classes to welfare recipients. I was caught between people who didn't want to work and the fact that, even if they did, there weren't many jobs available. Granted, you get off your ass, take that job at McD's, and suck it up. Still, it wasn't the most uplifting thing, trying to encourage folks to work when the area wasn't offering much. Those who did the best? The Bosnians and other immigrants. They were so flippin' happy to be there, they took any job. They took two, in fact. Hopefully this influx of hard-working folks can help turn around a once-proud city.
Would I live there again? No. Is it a hellhole? No. Is it sad and somewhat rundown? Yes. Hopefully, Utica can pull itself out of the past, like other upstate NY towns have done in recent years.
Maybe that is why the area economy needs gubernatorial intervention, as is going to be the case with the manufacturing plant (although I don't quite understand while over 15 years they have been working on such a thing to no avail until now).
What doesn't help are things like that Forbes ranking (likely tossed together with outdated statistics) of #399 out of 401 for economic viability. The catch-22 here is that people want to work, but there are few good paying jobs, and on the flipside, companies would relocate here if they knew the economy was already doing well.
Then you have things like this which do not help the perception of the area:
Quote:
To the Editor:
Your article ("Utica named among 5 worst U.S. cities for business and careers") fails to make a meaningful connection between the building portrayed at 600 Fay St. (actually 609 Fay St.) and dust relating thereto from its implosion/demolition nor does it mention that demolition was undertaken to make way for a meaningful and much needed expansion of the North-South Arterial highway (which abuts its west boundary) and thereafter will enhance cross-town traffic flow. You seem to have reached out for what you felt was the sorriest example of building that characterizes Utica, then make a random connection.
The property you've chosen to make reference to for purposes of illustrating a structure thematically consistent with Forbes' (poor) assessment of Utica actually was a solid, functional and unique building (former high bay loft warehouse with rail access) that in today's dollars would cost many millions to reproduce, and I say so with firsthand knowledge having undertaken an appraisal of the facility in conjunction with the DOT condemnation.
Buildings whose outward appearance may lack aesthetic appeal (many of which you should note are in and some arguably characteristic of Syracuse)) often transcend a higher purpose, and such could have and should have been mentioned but was omitted from your brief synopsis of Forbes' Utica assessment.
Utica NY is one of the worst places to live I moved there when my husband died I thought it would be a nice place since it was upstate. But instead all thats up there is a lot of welfare receipants both black and white everybodys on crack the houses are bad and the jobs suck I will never ever live anywhere upstate again
Utica's crime rate is not surprising. No wonder all the young adults want to leave.The ones who aren't criminals, that is. [mod]link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed[/mod]
Utica is a place where the sun don't shine. Literally. and. figuratively. People sell drugs near day care centers and elementary schools. Pit bull puppy chained up in backyard of "empty" house, crying constantly. Chained to a tree in pouring rain & blazing summer heat. Drug dealers selling their poison in driveway of that same house, throwing trash & garbage all over the property and the one next door. The property owner apparently doesn't care or is bought off. A cesspool. No place to raise a kid. No place to grow old. A wholly owned subsidiary of drug dealers petty criminals and dog fighters.
Meanwhile in the southern tier; I am laughing at this thread.
It is basically spam to invoke a response from posters. You can essentially cut and paste this in reference to certain neighborhoods in just about any US city.
What is the rental market like in Utica? Are there a lot of renters looking for housing or is there an abundance of housing that just sits empty all the time?
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Utica misery
