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I was meeting a friend from Albany and we decided to meet in Utica as a halfway point and spend the day. Utica did not have a Starbucks listed except for a Thruway stop so we decided to meet off at one listed near the Thruway in "downtown" Utica. What a mistake as the homeless people seemed everywhere. This area really needs help and with a state as rich as ours we should be helping these people.
Also, when I got off the Thruway they have an information booth located a few hundred yards from the exit. I went in and the lady was very nice but got a call while I was there. Her, home with her retired doctor husband had been broken into while he was there. This was her second home invasion in less than a month and she kind of just shrugged it off as business as usual. Strange?
North and South Utica are fine, as is the area around/near Proctor High and Utica College.
I don't know if it is missing much by not having a Starbucks, but it does have some good food spots, especially Italian food. I would have probably had the person meet you in North Utica around Riverside Drive/River Road or Commercial Drive in New Hartford.
I'm a big coffee fan so it follows I'm not a big Starbucks fan. But they are popular.
Had I wanted a cup of coffee in Utica I would have went to Utica Coffee Roasting Company. That's some good stuff. The downside fir you would have been you would never wanna see another Starbucks.
Like all cities Utica is pretty much dead. If you wanted shopping and chain places you needed to be in the suburbs. New Hartford being your best bet.
But if you want try Utica Coffee it's about 45 seconds off the Thruway.
Thanks for the comments as if we meet up again I will try the UCRC . We did end up at the mall area in New Hartford and will pass on the city next time.
The lady in the county information booth that suffered her second home invasion in less than a month I asked why she didn't move to another section of Utica. She said it was an old mansion that they had lived in for years and loved the home. I don't think she would have shared this information with me if she had not got a call from a neighbor and explained it to them while I was in the information booth. She said her husband who was home for both home invasions even called out to the criminals and they continued to loot the home. I think some of the reasons for this in the Utica area is large mental institutions that let patients out along with the casino element up the Thruway at Turning Stone that may attract drugs and prostitution. The state should help clean this city up.
I live in an area that I go to Utica, Rome and Syracuse about equally. I have been to all three in the last week.
They are all dumps. Just bombed out shells of NY during the 1950's. But I don't see a lot of homeless in Utica. And fewer still in Rome. They are hard to miss in Syracuse. Went to the big mall last week and saw a good number out begging with signs under a overpass outside the mall. Several of the women may have been young enough to have been providing fee for service work.
I can't explain the home invasion thing. I do know that area around the nut house and there are some nice houses. On campus is also a state drug rehab so I'd blame them more then the nuts.
I wouldn't worry to much about getting killed. Murder is rare and in most/all cases happens in areas you got no business in.
Stick to the suburbs like about 80% if us do and you will have zero problems. Roughly 100% of crime here is caused by people from Utica,Rome or Syracuse. Avoid those people and you home free. See how easy??
Drugs and hookers are a problem. The casino is just up the road from me. But the problems it causes affect locals only. Passerbyers are to just see the bright lights.
If you wanna meet in New Hartford get off in Westmoreland. You will see nothing but normal American suburbia.
These cities have good and bad parts like cities across this country. One's lifestyle has more to do with crime in the area than it is just being those cities.
What exactly do you think the state should do to clean the city up???
Like sean said-I have never seen homeless in Utica or Rome for that matter-it is too cold. Neither will get a beauty award BUT I've been through each in all parts and places, I was not worried about my safety at all.
In depressed areas the states normal response is build another casino or prison but is this the best we can do?
We seem to have many in the medical community with mental health experience so why not expand on this working base. Why not make Utica/Rome the focal point of mental health rehabilitation. Housing is cheap for those in a halfway program and real estate downtown is cheap for a major construction of rehab facilities. The VA in Albany could send those suffering from PTSD's for rehab as this is a critical need as well as NY state clients. This would be an economic lift for the whole area. This is just one idea.
I worked in downtown Utica in the mid to late 2000s. The trouble with that city, at least from my perspective, is that it doesn't have the type of amenities to attract young people like me who are educated and interested in urban living. There are no walkable, exciting neighborhoods like Park Avenue, NOTA, Monroe Avenue, or the South Wedge like we have here in Rochester - or Allentown or Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo or Armory Square in Syracuse - where you have boutiques, bars, dining, coffeehouses, and an arts presence. The area around the MWPAI Arts Institute has tons of potential but it's just not happening.
If you want coffee in the Utica area, I recommend going to the Village of Clinton. There's a place called Cafe J and a coffeehouse/thrift store combo called Wink. In fact, while normally I am very very pro-city, Clinton has everything you could ask for in an urban neighborhood. It just happens to be considered a suburb.
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