Why Does Everyone Dislike Elmira,ny? (Rochester, Big Flats: minimum wage, live, shop)

[tviz25]

I don't understand why everyone says all these bad things about Elmira. Just because we have 2 prisons doesn't mean it is a terrible place. The population and downtown are both on the upswing.

[mcmartian]

i don't live there but my perception is there's nothing to do there. although people travel an hour drive from here to there to shop during the holidays.

[sheena]

Originally Posted by tviz25

I don't understand why everyone says all these bad things about Elmira. Just because we have 2 prisons doesn't mean it is a terrible place. The population and downtown are both on the upswing.

Maybe there's nothing to do there. Where do people work? I have family members there but they own their own business, other than that?

[vicarian]

Originally Posted by tviz25

I don't understand why everyone says all these bad things about Elmira. Just because we have 2 prisons doesn't mean it is a terrible place. The population and downtown are both on the upswing.

Because it's been economically depressed for so long, people just instantly associate Elmira with bad things. The prisons don't help.

[I'minformed2]

It rep really went down a few years ago when that escaped convict was loose in the streets of Elmira and they had to lock the city down, I was visiting family in Rochester at that time and it was ALL that was on the news.

[tviz25]

I literaly live 1 short block from the proison where the 2 convicts escaped, and no one panicked or anything and they caught them the next day.

-I'm also the one that started the thread

[tviz25]

Originally Posted by sheena

Maybe there's nothing to do there. Where do people work? I have family members there but they own their own business, other than that?

There are plenty of places for people to work, just like any other city. Also there is nothing wrong with owning and starting your own business. That it something dwontown needs.

[Derrick8]

Everybody knows about the negative stuff about Elmira but nobody knows about the positive things like the good housing or Elmira was the 9th best green city in the U.S for 2006

[carvers wife]

Although they keep trying to get downtown back on the upswing, Consumer Square in Big Flats is the reason why that, and many other downtown areas are all washed up. The Coach USA center helped with that, but the growth is slow, and predicting anything better, I just don't see it.
I beg to differ about the jobs there- unless you're looking for minimum wage in retail or collections, there are very few, if any.

[bellafinzi]

Originally Posted by tviz25

I don't understand why everyone says all these bad things about Elmira. Just because we have 2 prisons doesn't mean it is a terrible place. The population and downtown are both on the upswing.

I have family down there. So I've been to Elmira numerous times. Why don't I personally like Elmira or the surrounding area? Well, its hard to pinpoint what it is exactly, but visiting Elmira makes me feel "empty". But then again, most towns in the Southern Tier give me that empty feeling....