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Wow. There are a lot of negative comments here - I wonder why some people are so down on Meadville, and I wonder where they think are good places to live?
My family and I moved here two years ago and it's fabulous. I can walk to work, cost of living is so cheap my wife was able to quit her job and raise our son. The grocery stores are decent enough for the area. Two great shopping areas are within a 45 minute drive. (And there's no traffic on your way there!)
We live in the city limits, and we haven't seen any drug problems or anything but friendly folks. There's a small college here (Allegheny College) that provides a lot of cultural opportunities and is a leading liberal arts institution in the country. The downtown isn't probably what it used to be, but that's the Wal-Mart effect. Meadville was one of the first towns the Ohio/PA/NY region to get slammed with a Wal-Mart (almost twenty years ago), so it's had time to come back, and things are definitely improving from even ten years ago. Meadville is doing far better than Corry, Greenville, Franklin, Ashtabula, or Jamestown... (Not even mentioning poor Oil City, which I love dearly, but it's really sad...) I maybe go to Wal-Mart once a month, mostly for things like diapers, dog food, and drug store type things. Other than that, I stay in town or shop online. Our family comes in around $60 in gas from driving a MONTH.
Meadville is a great place to relax and raise a family. There are lots of inexpensive recreation options. It's very safe compared to other areas of the country. I have a five minute walking commute, come home for lunch and see my son, and we can enjoy life instead of some of what these really bitter people on the forum must do with theirs...
Oh, the water is just fine too. I've NEVER heard about water quality problems. In fact, French Creek is well known for its biodiversity, not pollution. Give me a break, people.
Meadville people only have a "love it or leave it" attitude when faced with negative people. On the whole, I'd say people here are pretty positive. Go anywhere and you run into the complaining types that think their weather is the worst, or their drug problem is the worst, or their economy. I know people in Michigan, Florida, Arizona, Ohio, Ontario and here who think they have it the worst.
I am a former assistant manager at the Meadville Wal Mart. I was living in Erie and commuting back and forth every day. I couldn't wait to go home every day, especially after working third shift. People are very backwoods red neckish around there
Wow. There are a lot of negative comments here - I wonder why some people are so down on Meadville, and I wonder where they think are good places to live?
My family and I moved here two years ago and it's fabulous. I can walk to work, cost of living is so cheap my wife was able to quit her job and raise our son. The grocery stores are decent enough for the area. Two great shopping areas are within a 45 minute drive. (And there's no traffic on your way there!)
We live in the city limits, and we haven't seen any drug problems or anything but friendly folks. There's a small college here (Allegheny College) that provides a lot of cultural opportunities and is a leading liberal arts institution in the country. The downtown isn't probably what it used to be, but that's the Wal-Mart effect. Meadville was one of the first towns the Ohio/PA/NY region to get slammed with a Wal-Mart (almost twenty years ago), so it's had time to come back, and things are definitely improving from even ten years ago. Meadville is doing far better than Corry, Greenville, Franklin, Ashtabula, or Jamestown... (Not even mentioning poor Oil City, which I love dearly, but it's really sad...) I maybe go to Wal-Mart once a month, mostly for things like diapers, dog food, and drug store type things. Other than that, I stay in town or shop online. Our family comes in around $60 in gas from driving a MONTH.
Meadville is a great place to relax and raise a family. There are lots of inexpensive recreation options. It's very safe compared to other areas of the country. I have a five minute walking commute, come home for lunch and see my son, and we can enjoy life instead of some of what these really bitter people on the forum must do with theirs...
Oh, the water is just fine too. I've NEVER heard about water quality problems. In fact, French Creek is well known for its biodiversity, not pollution. Give me a break, people.
Meadville people only have a "love it or leave it" attitude when faced with negative people. On the whole, I'd say people here are pretty positive. Go anywhere and you run into the complaining types that think their weather is the worst, or their drug problem is the worst, or their economy. I know people in Michigan, Florida, Arizona, Ohio, Ontario and here who think they have it the worst.
You're entitled to your opinion...just like those of us who are negative.
Obviously, our concerns are valid, otherwise there would only be one, maybe two people complaining and they could be considered trolls.
That's not the case, here. Plenty of people online and offline have problems with Meadville and regret living there or the lack of ability to leave it behind.
I have to be honest...your case is a rare one. Not too many people can claim what you have. A lot of people are looking for jobs, but can't find any. A lot of people are wanting to move from Meadville and for good reason.
For someone who's already established in life (such as yourself) sure...Meadville wouldn't be a bad place. Neither would it be for retirees, the elderly, etc.
However, the youth of the community have no real outlet for their creativity, skills, or abilities. When my cousin checked into Allegheny for her education...she found out that most of the students aren't even from Meadville. Why? Because a lot of Meadville's young adults come from poor backgrounds that couldn't even hope to afford the costs of eduction there.
She ended up going to Penn State Behrend and she's so happy she could burst. Erie gives her more options, she's actually studying exactly what she wanted (and no, I have no idea what it is that she's majoring in. She flip flopped several times before settling, so your guess is as good as mine.) she has far more opportunities than she had ever hoped for. She even has friends that she can trust and rely on.
In Meadville? None.
You're either rich, or poor. There's no in-between in Meadville and it shows. That's one of the reasons she had no friends in Meadville, and one of the reasons why it depressed her so much.
I haven't seen her this happy in a very, very long time.
There are some positives to Meadville (though the list is small) and there are negatives as well. Again I say, you're entitled to your opinion...as are we.
I probably shouldn't look at it so bitterly (though I have legitimate reasons) and you probably shouldn't look at it through rose colored glasses. The truth lies somewhere in-between.
1A.) Your whole "if you don't like it, leave!" attitude is what I'm talking about. That was the attitude we encountered constantly. And more the "LEAVE!" part specifically.
2A.) I'm sure there are plenty of good people in the region (the elderly specifically), we have yet to see them. You don't understand, we lived there almost 25 years, so we've seen the ups and downs.
3A.)
I'm sorry, this has not recovered. The newspapers or wherever you get this type of information is either sadly misinformed, or delivering bull to the people.
Why? Here are just a few examples...
1B.) Welfare sent a letter to a friend of mine, and it said that they were going to take her foodstamps, but revised that due to the "Low and faltering" economy that has taken over Crawford County.
She called them, and wanted to finalize that she was okay, and they said yes. They also said that due to the economy, there are over 35 homeless families in Crawford County, most of them in the Meadville area. They were even current Meadville residents, and became homeless because their jobs were lost.
2B.) A CSM at Wal-Mart gave me the ins and outs of the job market in the Meadville area when I asked if they had any open positions. She said and I quote "It's not even worth your time. We won't even look at the application. We're at capacity now, and we actually need to cut some people. It's a shame because people like my husband are in desperate need of job and can't get one. My husband has put in over 200 applications since 2005, of course some of them were to the same places over and over. He even traveled to Erie and there was still nothing. This is just one of the worst places economically. The whole region really. The hardest part of all of this for my husband? I'm the breadwinner, and he's never not been one. It's a hard thing for him, he's only in his late 30's and he feels like he went on retirement. He's also college educated to boot. Here's a little secret, about 30% of our employees work at the local factories, and they work here for extra bill money just to make it. If you really want a job, get out of here." That is *exactly* what she told me, and I had it confirmed by the Welfare office. I called them for peace of mind.
4A.) My mother's still friends with a woman from Saegertown, has been since '85. And she told us all about the water, and how French Creek isn't the cleanest body of water and so on. (I doubt many are at this point). She's not the only one either. I was raised in the United Methodist Church, and Church members even mentioned it. (I don't know if they're all still there or not. I doubt they'd remember me, it's been a long time.)
5A.) You're welcome to disagree with any statement on here, but so am I. How about we agree to disagree and we both get to keep our opinions? This way we can keep from derailing this thread, and both sides of the issue can be heard?
As I said, we're both extremists on this issue, the truth lies somewhere in between. (We can both say what we want, but neither one of us has all the facts in, especially when you consider things happen, that we're not told about.)
I used to be an assistant manager at the Meadville Wal Mart, wondering who that CSM is.....
I have to wonder when I hear of someone looking that long for work. I have my resume up on Monster and get emails all the time from companies from here to Erie.
My wife grew up in Corry and we moved to a town on the outskirts when we got married last year. Corry and Meadville are about 40 miles apart, but since few people work in the town in which they live, around here, it can honestly be said that the economy is regional.
I grew up in New Jersey and had no problem establishing a successful music business out there. Figuring a lot of hard work would yield the same results in a different area, I did my research and discovered that there was a relative lack of people who do what I do out here in northwest PA.
In short, I was wrong. Diversification of my business and a ton of aggressive marketing/advertising over the past 9 months has failed to make things take off. My analysis of the area was correct, in that there are few professional musicians in the entire region. However, whereas I figured that'd make things easy for me since there wouldn't be as much competition, I didn't figure that people just wouldn't want to hire such a person because few can actually afford such luxuries. Corry has been called a "welfare town" by people who have lived there for quite a while, and if you're not willing to drive 35 miles one way to get to Erie, you're probably going to have a really rough time getting a decent job.
The weather in the northwest PA region is always an issue... my experience shows that people either "hate it" or "tolerate it". I have yet to find one person who says "I LOVE the weather up here!". I'd say the people who like it the most are skiers and snowmobilers... this area must be heaven for snowmobilers... I don't know, I'm not one. I'm a driver, and the oft-heard story that "towns in the Snow Belt take care of their roads really well because they're used to it" is a total myth. The Department of Public Works does what it can, but snowplows can only remove so much snow from the road. Meadville gets less snow than Corry does, but not by much. We get snowstorms which dump a foot of snow and bring 50 mph winds... and apparently, according to my wife, that's "normal". It doesn't matter where you are... having snow and ice on your roads makes driving very dangerous. Even if you're used to it, it takes a special person to get used to having to wake up really early to go to work because those 55-mph roads aren't even safe at 35 mph in the snow. Also, road salt doesn't work well when the temperature is 5 degrees below zero.
I've been trying to give this area a fair shot since having moved here but it's not a good fit for me. It's an excellent fit for someone who doesn't need to make much of a living... especially for retirees... there's a very active senior community around here. It's heaven for sportsmen... hunting and fishing rule the roost... and lots of people ride snowmobiles or ATVs (depending on the season). The fall is beautiful... for the two or three weeks where the trees are at their peak. The summers are fairly mild... depending upon your heat tolerance, you may not even have to run an air conditioner in the summer. However, the trade-off is that it is expected to snow from October to May, and I even heard that not long ago, July 4th was so cold that you couldn't have a comfortable outdoor barbecue. If that's the climate you like, you will love it here. If you want a laid-back redneck-type area, you will love northwest PA. If you don't need a well-paying job, look around here. If you want a really cheap house, look around here. Heaven knows, the people are friendly in this region and it's about as small-town as you can get. I just don't know how it's ever going to survive. Years of backward management and electing the wrong politicians into office has caused most of the major industry to move elsewhere (even elsewhere in the US, not just overseas).
It seems that the number one reason why people choose to live here is because "it's home". People move here to be near parents, or elderly relatives who need care. The older generation stays here because they grew up here. My wife and I are in our 20s and there are not many people in our age group living here... simply because most such people are looking to be upwardly mobile and that is not likely to happen here. But, it's up to you. If you find the right job up here and it's with a stable, thriving company, and you like snow, you'll probably love it here.
My wife grew up in Corry and we moved to a town on the outskirts when we got married last year. Corry and Meadville are about 40 miles apart, but since few people work in the town in which they live, around here, it can honestly be said that the economy is regional.
I grew up in New Jersey and had no problem establishing a successful music business out there. Figuring a lot of hard work would yield the same results in a different area, I did my research and discovered that there was a relative lack of people who do what I do out here in northwest PA.
In short, I was wrong. Diversification of my business and a ton of aggressive marketing/advertising over the past 9 months has failed to make things take off. My analysis of the area was correct, in that there are few professional musicians in the entire region. However, whereas I figured that'd make things easy for me since there wouldn't be as much competition, I didn't figure that people just wouldn't want to hire such a person because few can actually afford such luxuries. Corry has been called a "welfare town" by people who have lived there for quite a while, and if you're not willing to drive 35 miles one way to get to Erie, you're probably going to have a really rough time getting a decent job.
The weather in the northwest PA region is always an issue... my experience shows that people either "hate it" or "tolerate it". I have yet to find one person who says "I LOVE the weather up here!". I'd say the people who like it the most are skiers and snowmobilers... this area must be heaven for snowmobilers... I don't know, I'm not one. I'm a driver, and the oft-heard story that "towns in the Snow Belt take care of their roads really well because they're used to it" is a total myth. The Department of Public Works does what it can, but snowplows can only remove so much snow from the road. Meadville gets less snow than Corry does, but not by much. We get snowstorms which dump a foot of snow and bring 50 mph winds... and apparently, according to my wife, that's "normal". It doesn't matter where you are... having snow and ice on your roads makes driving very dangerous. Even if you're used to it, it takes a special person to get used to having to wake up really early to go to work because those 55-mph roads aren't even safe at 35 mph in the snow. Also, road salt doesn't work well when the temperature is 5 degrees below zero.
I've been trying to give this area a fair shot since having moved here but it's not a good fit for me. It's an excellent fit for someone who doesn't need to make much of a living... especially for retirees... there's a very active senior community around here. It's heaven for sportsmen... hunting and fishing rule the roost... and lots of people ride snowmobiles or ATVs (depending on the season). The fall is beautiful... for the two or three weeks where the trees are at their peak. The summers are fairly mild... depending upon your heat tolerance, you may not even have to run an air conditioner in the summer. However, the trade-off is that it is expected to snow from October to May, and I even heard that not long ago, July 4th was so cold that you couldn't have a comfortable outdoor barbecue. If that's the climate you like, you will love it here. If you want a laid-back redneck-type area, you will love northwest PA. If you don't need a well-paying job, look around here. If you want a really cheap house, look around here. Heaven knows, the people are friendly in this region and it's about as small-town as you can get. I just don't know how it's ever going to survive. Years of backward management and electing the wrong politicians into office has caused most of the major industry to move elsewhere (even elsewhere in the US, not just overseas).
It seems that the number one reason why people choose to live here is because "it's home". People move here to be near parents, or elderly relatives who need care. The older generation stays here because they grew up here. My wife and I are in our 20s and there are not many people in our age group living here... simply because most such people are looking to be upwardly mobile and that is not likely to happen here. But, it's up to you. If you find the right job up here and it's with a stable, thriving company, and you like snow, you'll probably love it here.
I loved your post. I live out in CA now, but I went to college in NW PA at Edinboro University and my family often would spend a great deal of time around Erie in the summer, being from the Pittsburgh area. You were right on about a lot of things about the area. When I was young, I didn't consider the area "poor", but having lived in other wealthier areas since, I guess you could consider it that. When I was young and lived with my family, I had no idea about cost of living factors and housing costs in different areas. Especially since a lot of industry has left the area, I can imagine that it's hurting now. I'm sorry to hear that your business is not doing well, but since it's not a well off area, that's probably a lot of it. I can empathize with you about the snow. I certainly didn't like the winters there. They are much more severe than Pittsburgh or New Jersey. I take it that you and your wife won't be living there too long from the sound of your post. Where do you think that you will go, and how does she feel about moving?
We'll probably go south... to a state that needs teachers, has a growing population base and economy, and can use a good professional musician. There is probably less snow and better weather in the south... I don't know... I've never been further south than Virginia. A road trip is in the works for the summer!
We'll probably go south... to a state that needs teachers, has a growing population base and economy, and can use a good professional musician. There is probably less snow and better weather in the south... I don't know... I've never been further south than Virginia. A road trip is in the works for the summer!
You would definitely have less snow in the south, but summers will be very humid and longer in the southeast. I guess in a sense this would be considered better weather, as you don't have to shovel heat. The area of PA you live in now has great summers, but a little too short.
You would definitely have less snow in the south, but summers will be very humid and longer in the southeast. I guess in a sense this would be considered better weather, as you don't have to shovel heat. The area of PA you live in now has great summers, but a little too short.
Summer has stretched to nearly October in the Erie area the past few years, can't ask for much more than that.
Yeah, you don't have to shovel heat... and there are other benefits too. It's generally accepted by the meteorological community that 65 degrees is the "break-even point" where you will feel comfortable in your house... and thusly, if the average temperature for a day is 65, you won't have to heat nor cool your house on that day to be comfortable. I've found that, unless you use wood for heating, it is more expensive to heat a house up to 65 than it is to cool a house equivalently down to 65. Put another way... if it's 35 outside, that's 30 degrees below 65. If it's 95 degrees outside, that's 30 degrees ABOVE 65. It's more expensive to heat a house to 65 degrees when it's 35 outside than it is to cool a house to 65 degrees when it's 95 outside.
On top of that, one never has to brush rain off of the car or scrape sunshine off of the windshield. You don't skate around on the roads when they're rain-covered anywhere near as much as you do when they're snow- or ice-covered. I figure it this way... you're going to be uncomfortable whether you're too hot or too cold... so that evens out, and it becomes an issue of safety. Shoveling snow is good physical exercise and although it is annoying, I wouldn't mind it anywhere near as much if the wind wasn't so strong around here. I'd be hard-pressed to find one person who would enjoy shoveling a driveway as long as mine, only to see it totally covered again within an hour or two because the wind blew snow from adjoining areas back into the shoveled-out area!
I don't know... I hate high heat and humidity too... but it seems as though there are areas in the south (particularly in Texas) which are not prone to high humidity, oppressive summer heat, and cold winters. That's looking mightily good right now... although it is supposed to be 52 degrees and sunny today where I am. Maybe that'll melt the snow out of the driveway that I haven't shoveled. :-)
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Poor economic climate
