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Actually I lived in and around Raleigh, NC for 13 years and did some work in SC around Myrtle Beach as well as the Columbia. The Raleigh area of NC had decent schools and had some really great ones that rivaled many districts in NY. But they were schools in areas where property taxes weren't as low as you have mentioned about; but even then they were hit and miss.
I'm not one of those people who say "the high property taxes in NY are worth it because our schools are so much better"...because that's not necessarily true and the taxes are definitely too high. However, the extremely low taxes in much of the south do come with the flip side of generally under-funded, over crowded, and less competitive schools. Especially since unlike NC, SC has a much higher proportion of retirees vs young families; thus schools aren't a priority for many of the communities down there.
Where I live we have a VERY high population of retirees and a very highly educated workforce. There are many engineers here because of government research and the private companies that come in because of the projects going on here. The majority of folks who work at the government research project site stay here for retirement. Because of the education the people who live here have, our schools are much better than many others. Our schools have won federal awards the same as schools in NY.
The schools in my area aren't over crowded. There are some areas where they are, but that is true of every state. There are some schools nearby that are actually going to consolidate because they don't have enough students. The schools were built to hold 500 students and only have 210. Next school year, they're closing an elementary school because of that. When do you see that in NY? Nothing like that ever happened where I lived.
Where I lived NY, I was in a city of 15K and we had 3 elementary schools! WHY??? School taxes there were insane. It was VERY hard selling our house there because of the taxes. One year we had 2 school tax increases. The first one was 9% and the second was 11%. Tell me something there ain't broken and I've got a beautiful home for sale in Arizona right on the water.
NYC has many affluent people and they have many problems with schools. They can't keep teachers. So it's not all about the money behind the school. NY spends more per pupil that any other state. There was recently an article in the Times Union in Albany about that issue and someone from the legislature wanted better results as they are 34th in the nation according to one survey. And the legislature is a discussion for some other time.....but they seriously need to step up and fix NY's financial issues or they're going to be the only ones left!
This doesn't even get into sporting events, the arts, museums and it's location as well.
Garmin was the one who said there's more amenities in Buffalo than the entire state of South Carolina. There isn't. You can't compare one city to a whole state. There's things here even Manhattan doesn't have.
We also have sporting events, the arts, museums, etc. Oh and your beaches aren't on the ocean. Many of ours are. Can't go dolphin watching in Buffalo. Or Swordfishing. But you can shovel until the cows come home.
This here tells you the story of Buffalo.....not much different from the rest of Upstate New York. The only reason NY hasn't had a statewide population decrease is because of immigrants....the legal ones. The state just lost 2 seats in the House of Representatives with the 2010 Census. It's actually sad to see NY have these issues.
My first choice wasn't to leave NY. I LOVE the Finger Lakes and we looked at relocating out there, but the taxes there have really increased over the last few years. We wanted to move to an area where we knew we would be able to start a business without having to pay a small fortune in taxes (NY is NOT business friendly at all) and a place where we would be able to retire before we're 90.
One thing I do miss is the AMAZING state park system. Most of the state parks were shuttered last year in my area. Some were closed forever and that's just not right. No other state has system like NY. The Adirondack park is about the size of Vermont....can't get that anywhere else!
There's a whole lot more to NY than Buffalo. Like it or not, Buffalo DOES have a lot of issues. For some reason, you two can't admit that Buffalo isn't perfect. No place is.
Ten years ago, Buffalo started this waterfront revitalization project and it's gone nowhere. Bass Pro Shop was going to build their first store in the northeast there. Ten years later they pulled out because the city couldn't get it's act together. Since they announced the Buffalo store, they opened up two other stores in the northeast and one in Canada! Another Canadian one is in the works.
There are MANY projects like this in Upstate NY. It's kind of sad that all of these grand plans are announced and nothing ever happens with them. Syracuse's Carousel Center has another story like that one, but the owner is a greedy SOB who's just milking the state and local communities for money aka free tax incentives. He tried building his fantasy island in Albany and was told no. He sued and lost. Destiny USA....yup some day it'll happen if Syracuse keeps giving him $$$$$.
Not true at all. A person can want to live in an area and not be able to due to economic reasons. The area does not have jobs. I've come across plenty of people all over who either wanted to move back to Buffalo, did not want to leave Buffalo or were interested in living there after visiting. They could not live there due to the area not having jobs in their field. It's not as simple as picking up and moving because you have a desire to be somewhere.
In NY you don't have to travel 3 hours to go skiing. Both Buffalo and Rochester have multiple mountains within an hour driving distance.
And if you compare city to city, Buffalo has better amenities than most places in SC. When I speak of amenities, I am talking about things on a daily basis, not tourism. Every single school in Buffalo is not awesome but overall, it has many good schools in the metro area. Schools in the bigger metro areas in the state of NY tend to be better overall than many areas of SC.
Buffalo has some MAJOR issues. All of the large Upstate cities have them. The economy there sucks and has for decades.
And there are many areas in NY where one does travel 3 hours to go skiing. Many people who ski want a real mountain not some hiney hill. Most of the state isn't near Rochester or Buffalo.
Garmin you didn't compare city to city. You compared Buffalo to South Carolina. Many areas in SC do in fact have a lot of amenities. Maybe you should visit before you decide there's nothing here.
NY schools....34th and you have a lot more of them and a lot more people and tax money collected to fund said schools. NY also has the most populated city in the country. Over 19 million people live in NY. NY spends $17,173 per pupil...that's more than many colleges!
SC schools....49th yes there are issues. There's also not the population nor the money in this state that NY has. We have just over 4.5 million residents. SC spent $11,242 per pupil. In my school district it's just over $9K.
The Voice for School Choice » Blog Archive » School Budget Cuts Overstated? (http://www.voiceforschoolchoice.com/2010/01/20/school-budget-cuts-overstated/ - broken link)
According to the US Census, the population of SC increased 15.3% from 2000 to 2010. And we gained a seat in the House of Reps. NY's population increased 2.1% and they lost 2 seats in the House. So SC's schools must not be all that horrible with such an increase in population.
Like I said before, parents need to get off their arse and raise their kids. Get off Facebook and make sure your kid is doing their homework and when they're done, send them outside to play. The video games and Facebook are rotting their brains. In the news today, some idiot shook her crying baby to death because it interrupted her Facebook game. It's sad that Facebook is causing so many problems.
Buffalo has some MAJOR issues. All of the large Upstate cities have them. The economy there sucks and has for decades.
And there are many areas in NY where one does travel 3 hours to go skiing. Many people who ski want a real mountain not some hiney hill. Most of the state isn't near Rochester or Buffalo.
Garmin you didn't compare city to city. You compared Buffalo to South Carolina. Many areas in SC do in fact have a lot of amenities. Maybe you should visit before you decide there's nothing here.
NY schools....34th and you have a lot more of them and a lot more people and tax money collected to fund said schools. NY also has the most populated city in the country. Over 19 million people live in NY. NY spends $17,173 per pupil...that's more than many colleges!
SC schools....49th yes there are issues. There's also not the population nor the money in this state that NY has. We have just over 4.5 million residents. SC spent $11,242 per pupil. In my school district it's just over $9K.
The Voice for School Choice » Blog Archive » School Budget Cuts Overstated? (http://www.voiceforschoolchoice.com/2010/01/20/school-budget-cuts-overstated/ - broken link)
According to the US Census, the population of SC increased 15.3% from 2000 to 2010. And we gained a seat in the House of Reps. NY's population increased 2.1% and they lost 2 seats in the House. So SC's schools must not be all that horrible with such an increase in population.
Like I said before, parents need to get off their arse and raise their kids. Get off Facebook and make sure your kid is doing their homework and when they're done, send them outside to play. The video games and Facebook are rotting their brains. In the news today, some idiot shook her crying baby to death because it interrupted her Facebook game. It's sad that Facebook is causing so many problems.
When did I say that upstate did not have issues? I don't recall saying they were utopias.
And I realize that some areas of upstate are not close to skiing. But you were the one that mentioned Buffalo in a post, so I was using Buffalo as a comparison.
And yes I am comparing city to city. The post that you quoted clearly says I meant city to city. I also never said that SC did not have amenities. I said that Buffalo had more, when comparing city to city. Charleston is actually one of my favorite southern cities due to it's charm and history.
I don't know why you are bringing up per pupil spending. Yes we know that NY spends too much. I have made multiple posts bashing education spending in these forums. But at the end of the day, NY has overall better education than SC.
Population increase/decrease and quality of schools having nothing to do with eachother also.
I miss Mahopac New York with a passion, although I live in Virginia now and think the state of Virginia is a very pretty state and loaded with history. I'm in college down in Richmond right now, but when I finish my course of study, I have though about moving back.
I don't miss NYC AT ALL was born and schooled from 64 to 2006 spent my summers in europe.
moved to tahoe in 06 and now i spend less time in europe an more time checking out the west coast.
New york city was AWESOME and i was able to enjoy the end tail of the REAL CITY it was. now its like visiting a Fortune 500 company that is run by bloomturd and the buildings are so tall that there is very little sunshine. the ole timers either dead or moved for the most part and the new bees who CLAIM they are new yorkeers just because they are there for a few mothts -yrs are NOT the real deal.
I love to visit but I don;t want to ever move there to sticky, humid, phoney
I grew up in NYC, raised my kids, for the most part, in upstate the Mohawk valley. I live in Fl. now, & LOVE it. I would never move back. I wouldn't mind visiting, but have never wanted to move back. We lived in NC for two yrs, OK for two yrs as well. NC was ok, but wasn't home. We hated OK. HATED it.
Now we're back home in Florida, I will never have to spend 8 months without seeing sunshine, & shoveling, scraping ice,... ugh, just, no.
I grew up in NYC, raised my kids, for the most part, in upstate the Mohawk valley. I live in Fl. now, & LOVE it. I would never move back. I wouldn't mind visiting, but have never wanted to move back. We lived in NC for two yrs, OK for two yrs as well. NC was ok, but wasn't home. We hated OK. HATED it.
Now we're back home in Florida, I will never have to spend 8 months without seeing sunshine, & shoveling, scraping ice,... ugh, just, no.
Never understand why people exaggerate and say that Upstate gets 8 months of no sunshine, plus shoveling and scraping ice. When I lived in Sussex County, NJ, which is not *that* different a climate than most of upstate, there certainly wasn't 8 months of winter. We got 60+ inches of snow, generally in December, January, and February. Occasionally in March and November. That's 5 months at most, and 3 months of actual hard winter. It was, unfortunately, very cloudy from November to February.
The intermountain west (Montana, WY, or CO) can get snowstorms in October and last until May, but in my 35+ years in the Northeast, October snowfalls are pretty rare (other than a dusting or a freak Halloween snowstorm), and I've never seen it snow in May. Also, I've lived in VT and it was plenty warm in May and still in the 50's and 60's in October, and generally sunny.
I lived in Queens (9yrs) moved to Long Island lived there till late 30s and then moved upstate NY. Out of all places I love queens for many reasons fond memories, Long Island memories the beach going to concerts, NYC, and great food! Upstate is where my heart is love the wildlife, open space, farms, lived in a small to medium sized town in Livingston county, NY and Since then dying to get back or to some place similar. Moved for family to NC mountains not a great move for a flatlander People are nice but there's nothing to do food stinks the population lives on fried and fast food and thinks a steak dinner for 5 bucs should be something it's not. Alot of poverty, drugs, gambling and strays in small towns in NC around here and too many mountains! Most of the baptist people around here are very strict so not too fond of the Catholics. Upstate NY's food where I was at was not great but was doable I think its the queens/NYC/Long Island contaminated water that makes the food great haha.. I am disappointed that you can't find a dirty water hot dog in NYC anymore like you used to. Wish upstate had a real Chinese, bagel shop and Boars Head. Oh and better Pizza. Sure in some more bigger cities they have some. But the area far out weighs the food. I think the higher cost of NY is worth it in alot of respects but difficult for many to have a good life with the way jobs are. Wish it was different. But to me there is nothing more beautiful than upstate NY! Even my die hard southern loving boyfriend that was a Yankee hater has admitted how beautiful it is and misses it too. And has obviously changed his mind about us Yankees
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People are nice but there's nothing to do food stinks the population lives on fried and fast food and thinks a steak dinner for 5 bucs should be something it's not. Alot of poverty, drugs, gambling and strays in small towns in NC around here and too many mountains! Most of the baptist people around here are very strict so not too fond of the Catholics. Upstate NY's food where I was at was not great but was doable I think its the queens/NYC/Long Island contaminated water that makes the food great haha.. I am disappointed that you can't find a dirty water hot dog in NYC anymore like you used to. Wish upstate had a real Chinese, bagel shop and Boars Head. Oh and better Pizza. Sure in some more bigger cities they have some. But the area far out weighs the food. I think the higher cost of NY is worth it in alot of respects but difficult for many to have a good life with the way jobs are. Wish it was different. But to me there is nothing more beautiful than upstate NY! Even my die hard southern loving boyfriend that was a Yankee hater has admitted how beautiful it is and misses it too. And has obviously changed his mind about us Yankees 
