Questions about upstate (Newfield: house, live in, cost of)

[CBaillo]

thanks again guys. I really appreciate all your comments and input.

[Tioga]

..CBaillo..you might want to look at my response in the "Binghamton.." Thread. What I had to say there can be applied to much of the finger lakes area of upstate NY.........Good Luck.

[Ex-Ithacan]

Good luck on your search, and your daughter is adorable. Mine is graduating this year, and I do miss the old days when she was a little tyke. I'm sure you will, but treasure these times and the memories your family are creating.

[DaSkorpion]

Originally Posted by homeward bound

Also very sounds to me that you'll much enjoy and appreciate the area, and quickly feel very much at home there.

Ithaca would certainly be a great choice. It's got to be one of the top towns in the country--at least so far as I've seen and heard about from many people with very good values.

If you want a smaller town, though, and an even slower pace--very serene--check out Trumansburg, which is just a bit north of Ithaca. Nice marriage of old-fashioned small-town America (of the big-hearted, not close-minded, sort) and college-town openness. My wife and I have checked it out twice, and each time were impressed with the many kids--of a pretty nicely mixed ethnic/racial variety--riding their bikes around, playing in yards, etc., and getting along just fine. Looked like a Norman Rockwell scene with some extra color added. Made us proud of our country again.

Another very cozy town would be Homer. Probably not quite as open-minded as Trumansburg, but certainly not a small-minded place, either. Very warm and friendly people, an ice-cream shop on Main St., very handsome homes, beautiful country all around, etc.

I think that one of the things that really marks Upstate NY *as* Upstate is the general, and generally very reliable, decency of most of its people. If you're a good person, then you're pretty reliably accepted and admired as a good person yourself. That's the litmus test I've seen most people having up there, and it's stronger than any stupid ideas or anxieties people have about race, etc. Bear in mind, too, that Upstate accepted many, many immigrants for many, many generations. It's not uncommon to see farmers with Italian or Polish or Slavic names up there. So a sense of "Being American is a matter of character, of neighborly values, not skin-color" is quite common up there.

Also, though it's considerably East of where you're talking about, look into Cooperstown, one of the country's truly great communities in every way.

And if home prices are too steep there, Oneonta might be a good second-choice. It's another college town, but not overwhelmingly so. Still retains a good small-town feel. Very unpretentious, yet has a lot of truly handsome homes and neighborhoods. (Just be sure NOT to buy/rent a home too near the college students--ANYwhere you go.)

Two other very liveable, handsome college towns in the more eastern region are Clinton and Hamilton. More pricey than Oneonta, and perhaps more snooty, but certainly very family-oriented places to live, with lots of cultural stuff going on and fine schools.

Best of luck on your move! My wife and I and our four kids will be your neighbors (at least in terms of being fellow Upstaters) just as soon as we can escape our own glooms here in SW Virginia, exactly because Upstate NY is such a great place to raise a family and live a BALANCED life. I hope you'll post about your experiences.

============================

Got a few questions though:

How is the job market in Oneonta - I am a software quality assurance engineer. I have been debating for a while now as to where to relocate I was thinking about PA since I would like to purchase a home but unfortunately I just have not found what I am looking for in PA as of yet - we are also a mutli-racial family.

I do not know what made me stumble into the NY section but I think I have finally found what I have been longing for all this while.

How are taxes in Oneonta including auto insurance rates and are there any major airports closeby since my job requires me to travel a lot.

Some names of companies in Oneonta will be appreciated so I can try to narrow down what kind of jobs are out there.

Sorry for jacking your post cbaillo - just didnt want to start a whole new thread about the same topic.

[Tug Hollow]

Hi,

I have 10 minutes before I leave work on a bus to Burdett. So let's see if I can summarize this place that quickly.

I should say I'm a native of upstate New York -- from over in Otsego County. But Schuyler County (Burdett) is very similar culturally. I think, however, that Schuyler has a little more variety in the kinds of folks who live here. Hector in particular (the township in which Burdett is located) seems particularly colorful. Lots of interesting people, and most people are very friendly, if at times a little distant, at least at first. Lots of people have lived here for generations, and tend to have relationships with old friends and family. But if you find the right folks you can make friends fast. There are amazing numbers of artists, musicans (old time music is pretty big around here) hidden away on the back roads. My wife and I have found a great group of people in Hector (Burdett area), and we get together several times per year to press apples, carve pumpkins or -- like yesterday, have a New Year's Party with about 10 people bringing guitars and banjos, and lots of people singing old songs.
The dominant culture, however, is conservative small-town, midwesternish in nature, although there's also a great deal of poverty and redneck culture as well. Now a lot of rednecks -- living in shacks or trailers -- are actually great folks. You will find your life enriched by stopping and breaking the ice with people who might look a little scary on the surface. Almost everyone is pretty damn friendly after a little poking around. And even though a lot of people around here "support the troops" and wave flags and rah rah the war no matter what the reason for the war, you'll also find some surprisingly strong counter opinions among these rednecks. There are indeed Left Wing Rednecks in Schuyler County, but don't expect to find many of them. Primarily you'll find "mind your own business" conservatives with a bit of a tough outer crust. But lots of folks have moved here from Ithaca with more progressive ideas as well. You can find like-minded people, but the adventure is getting to know all kinds of locals. Burdett is rich in long-standing families and you'll feel more at home and be more easily accepted if you make local connections. My recommendation is to get your car serviced at Marvin Secord's garage in Logan to begin with. It's like a cracker barrel experience there. Be prepared to drink cheap beer with everyone and shoot the ****.

It will simply be up to you to make friends with as many people as you can from all sides of every railroad. Some folks will be too ignorant and prejudiced to tolerate and others will be lifelong friends. No way to tell from appearances.

The land is beautifu. Most of Upstate is a river-oriented landscape. But the Finger Lakes are lake-oriented, with long vistas -- flat, mid-western style square mile grids in the north and hill-country in the south. Lots of state forests and one small national forest. Many dirt roads.

And we have many many wineries. The Finger Lakes is one of the oldest wine-growing regions in the country, and we have over 100 wineries now. We make excellent Riesling, Gewurztraminer and Chardonnay (but a different, less powerful, more fruity style here). Some good Cab Franc's too. Don't underestimate our wines. Snobbish folks dismiss upstate as too hicky to be a real wine region, but it's the real deal. Forget most of the over-priced reds. In fact, the one problem is our wines are too expensive.

[Finger Laker]

ithaca and corning are nice mid-sized communities

watkins glen is a place I think is a nice small community - but with that comes some of the drawbacks of a small community

with watkins glen you are on the foot of seneca lake, which puts you near some wineries ...... ithaca is on cayuga lake and there aren't as many wineries there

[itSmellsBAD]

Originally Posted by Tioga

You'll do fine. Upstate NY is pretty diverse. I live in an area w/dairy farms...and a couple of black families in the area too...people could care less.

The dairy farms are getting huge and spread massive amounts of manure year round in the Finger Lakes region. Its causing wine tour industry conflicts and dividing the farm community. These farms are not what they were even 15 years ago....they are FACTORY FARMS and you can smell them from miles away. Contaminated well water is another huge issue. Manure spreading year round will ruin your Summer if you live anywhere near one of these places. They truck the manure slurry in HUGE tanker trucks, often miles from the farm and dump it for weeks at a time. It's a smell like nothing you've ever experienced in your life.

Do your homework when moving to the Finger Lakes region of NYS. It's fast becoming an open sewer.

[rochacha]

You can stop the debate. I think he is here already.

[CBaillo]

lol i was searching something else and came upon this old thread, and of course "itsmellsbad" is going on again with his/her agenda.

ya we've definitely been here, as most of the regulars here have known. We got out here, end of July 2007, and I've actually already put in a season at the winery. Beautiful does not begin to describe this whole region. I've made better friends here in the past year than I've ever had in CA.

We live in Newfield, and I am actually at the moment working at Cornell, and help out at the winery on the weekends.

[Tioga]

Can proudly say my wife and I "do our part" to support the NYS wine industry. In addition a neighbor of mine has a fine little wine pressing setup for his and his friend's consumtion. After the last 4 bottles he gave us last week...I now have to earn my vino helping him this fall.