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There is no debating the following:
1) Property taxes (and other taxes) are high
2) It is cloudy
3) Downtown (Main Street) is struggling
4) The metro area is barely growing
Despite these undebatable flaws, Rochester somehow manages to be a highly lovable metro area. My "location resume" includes various parts of Connecticut (21 years), New York City (4 years), St. Louis (4 years), Washington D.C. (3 years), and Boston (1 year.) Rochester is educated, cultural, affordable, and very livable. Underneath a lack of glitz is an immense amount of substance. After two years here, it is difficult to envision a better life.
1) Property taxes (and other taxes) are high - Only on a percentage basis. Everyone who visits me from DC says that my tax payments (in whole dollar terms) is only slightly higher than theirs. Again - on a cash flow basis... BUT - they paid 4x the amount I did for the house... So while I generally agree that they are high, the entire picture is much more complicated to calculate. When you put schools in the equation (or lack there-of), it's tips negative again (in the city).
2) It is cloudy - Winter is... Summer is awesome.
3) Downtown (Main Street) is struggling - Totally agree. This is painful. Nothing positive to say.
4) The metro area is barely growing - Agreed. And the sprawl is especially difficult given this lack of growth as the sprawl has caused #3.
So, I totally agree. There are flaws. But even still, the city chugs along and has many many positive aspects... Here are a few positives in the news recently (and not just local news):
Thanks for adding this. I've was started to get worried with many other posts commenting about the grey. We may end up being transferred to Rochester or Buffalo. I've heard Rochester is slightly worse as far as cloudy days. Good to know that summer brings sun. Is it constant in the winter can we expect some sunny days with a bright blanket of snow - like we're familiar with in Michigan?
Of the regional Upstate cities Rochester has never quite stood out like so many others - solely, I think, because of the disastrous efforts of urban renewal in the 1960s onward. Too many older buildings with character were torn down, too many large grey concrete office blocks replaced them, the center is no longer commercial or appealing to the residents the way it was in the older photos in the 30s and 40s. There is a building on Main Street I recall with older photos of Main Street from more than half a century ago. I find it sad that the city embarked on such a journey, but, it's just architecture and store fronts. They can be rebuilt, replaced. The city still has MANY gems, but little concentration of them.
I like a lot about Rochester, and fiercely defend any NY locale. But this is definitely a difficulty Rochester will face for the next decade as it redevelops. Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Elmira, Ithaca.. all have vibrant downtowns or areas of their downtown (Elmwood and Main, Armory Square, etc..). On Rochester's shortlist should be the development of the same.
Thanks for adding this. I've was started to get worried with many other posts commenting about the grey. We may end up being transferred to Rochester or Buffalo. I've heard Rochester is slightly worse as far as cloudy days. Good to know that summer brings sun. Is it constant in the winter can we expect some sunny days with a bright blanket of snow - like we're familiar with in Michigan?
This winter has been an outlier to be sure.....it has been one of the sunniest/warmest/snowless winters I can remember. The sun has come out at least a couple days every week so far. That is not always the case. In the dead of winter there can be strings of up to two weeks where the sun doesn't break through the clouds. Ironically, those days you speak of, sparkling sunshine with snow on the ground, usually occur on the most bitterly cold days here in winter. We haven't had any of those days yet this winter because a) haven't had any bitterly cold days, and b) haven't had any snow accumulation that has lasted more than a couple days after it falls.
Summer here is very sunny, sunnier than most other areas on the east coast (all the way down to Florida).
I like a lot about Rochester, and fiercely defend any NY locale. But this is definitely a difficulty Rochester will face for the next decade as it redevelops. Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Elmira, Ithaca.. all have vibrant downtowns or areas of their downtown (Elmwood and Main, Armory Square, etc..). On Rochester's shortlist should be the development of the same.
This statement is a load of crap. I lived in Buffalo for 4 years. In college. It's downtown is not vibrant. Not at all. They have pockets of areas that are, but they aren't downtown. Chippewa, Elmwood, Allen, Hertel. Not unlike Rochester with Monroe, Park, East/Alexander. Same with Syracuse. All 3 downtowns are mostly bad.
Thanks for adding this. I've was started to get worried with many other posts commenting about the grey. We may end up being transferred to Rochester or Buffalo. I've heard Rochester is slightly worse as far as cloudy days. Good to know that summer brings sun. Is it constant in the winter can we expect some sunny days with a bright blanket of snow - like we're familiar with in Michigan?
Every statistic I've seen has Rochester averaging slightly more sunny days per year, but between the two it's mostly the same.
Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Elmira, Ithaca.. all have vibrant downtowns or areas of their downtown (Elmwood and Main, Armory Square, etc..). On Rochester's shortlist should be the development of the same.
Have to disagree with part of this. Elmira's downtown has not been seriously described as 'vibrant' since the 1960s. The only thing there is the hockey arena and a couple sports bar type restaurants that probably exist because of the arena. That's it. Nothing approaching vibrant.
I like a lot about Rochester, and fiercely defend any NY locale. But this is definitely a difficulty Rochester will face for the next decade as it redevelops. Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Elmira, Ithaca.. all have vibrant downtowns or areas of their downtown (Elmwood and Main, Armory Square, etc..). On Rochester's shortlist should be the development of the same.
Not sure if you've ever been to Rochester but it has the same as the other cities in terms of lively parts of their downtowns. Like Buffalo and Sryacuse have their respective hot spots, Rochester has the East End and to an extent the St Paul area.
Hate to beat a dead horse, but comparing Rochester to DC or anywhere else in the NE Corridor comes across as the proverbial apples to oranges argument. The CoL in, say, NJ or the Boston area is much higher for a lot of obvious reasons, not the least of which are the sheer size of some of the metros along there and the composition of their local economies. To compare tax bills is downright silly, as a post-war house in Rochester worth 150K and a tax bill right around $6000 is not even in the same league as a newer house worth $400K with the same tax bill. Letters to the editor in that local rag the D&C bear this out, as I remember outsiders asking why the taxes are so high in Rochester, as they'd considered it for relocation in retirement.
Local districts there coninue to close schools. Hmmm, if that's the case and the trend continues for some time, then why don't those districts lower their tax rates? Oh, that's right, NY's screwy labor laws and the unions, plus the dominance of public education there vs. private.
By any measure, Rochester is a Midwestern town stuck in NY State. Same with Syracuse and Buffalo. People in Midwestern metros with similar economies would never stand for the insane taxes in NY.
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