What is Rochester really like? (Ithaca, Batavia: transplants, tornadoes, travel)

[Go Ne]

After seeing a thread that called Rochester boring I decided to ask you people who actually live there and like it to tell me about it because I hear it mentioned all the time and know nothing about it. If you want to you can ask me about Omaha, NE too.

[RottenChester]

Originally Posted by Go Ne

After seeing a thread that called Rochester boring I decided to ask you people who actually live there and like it to tell me about it because I hear it mentioned all the time and know nothing about it. If you want to you can ask me about Omaha, NE too.

It's exactly like everything I wrote in that forum. Don't believe me? Come see for yourself. Why the interest in Ra-cha-cha? I'm sure Omaha, NE is a thousand times better minus the tornadoes and shopping mall safety.

[garmin239]

Visit and see for yourself. Thats the only way to find out. You have bitter people that will bash every aspect of the area with things that are not true in the least. You will also have people that will love everything about it and you can't believe them either.
Like any other city, it has good things and bad things.

[jbertol2]

Unfortunately, Rochester is full of people such as the lovely fellow who responded first your post. A fair number of them plague the city, and they each make it their prerogative to whine about how terrible it is here. When asked why they stay, they usually blame it on their lack of resources, and mutter something about how Rochester died when Kodak did (the major film company that once employed tens of thousands more people than they do today).

Despite this, most of the people that live in Rochester do so because they genuinely like the area. In my opinion, you will like the Rochester area if...

-You can find a good job here
-You value a family-oriented lifestyle
-You enjoy the outdoors
-You'd rather not commute more than 20 minutes to work
-You have the emotional stability necessary to survive 4 month winters during which you may only see about 20% sunny days
-You desire a more reasonable pace of life, as compared to big cities
-You have reliable transportation
-You like having four seasons
-You don't require access to a constant stream of world-class cultural activities (such as in NYC, Chicago, LA, other larger cities)

But of course, if you really want to know, you'll have to come visit. You'll find that Rochester is a solid mid-size city with many pros and cons. How you weight those pros and cons will determine how much you like it.

[I'minformed2]

I agree with the above two posters...and obviously not the first responder. I'd say it is just like Garmin says. Rochester is certainly not as rottenchester has described it in the other forum, but (like anyplace) its not perfect either. I agree with JB, if you fit that profile, you'd really like Rochester.

[shibainu]

Originally Posted by jbertol2

Unfortunately, Rochester is full of people such as the lovely fellow who responded first your post. A fair number of them plague the city, and they each make it their prerogative to whine about how terrible it is here. When asked why they stay, they usually blame it on their lack of resources, and mutter something about how Rochester died when Kodak did (the major film company that once employed tens of thousands more people than they do today).

Despite this, most of the people that live in Rochester do so because they genuinely like the area. In my opinion, you will like the Rochester area if...

-You can find a good job here
-You value a family-oriented lifestyle
-You enjoy the outdoors
-You'd rather not commute more than 20 minutes to work
-You have the emotional stability necessary to survive 4 month winters during which you may only see about 20% sunny days
-You desire a more reasonable pace of life, as compared to big cities
-You have reliable transportation
-You like having four seasons
-You don't require access to a constant stream of world-class cultural activities (such as in NYC, Chicago, LA, other larger cities)

But of course, if you really want to know, you'll have to come visit. You'll find that Rochester is a solid mid-size city with many pros and cons. How you weight those pros and cons will determine how much you like it.

First of all Rochester is not a mid-size city. Every time people post about Rochester they always want to make it sound so small. If you think over 1 million people is a mid-size city than what is Ithaca or Batavia. No the truth is it is large city that has mid-size to small size entertainment and leisure. If you compare cities of the same size to Rochester, you will find out Rochester has less to do. I would also like to see what are the good jobs in Rochester. Rochester has lost about 20,000 jobs since 2001. Employment has been very tough in Rochester the past few years but it may be close to the national average. Rochester does have four season, which lately have looked like: Late November(beginning December some years) to March is winter. April to Mid-June is Spring, Mid to late June to Mid sept is summer; fall is mid sept to late November.

You can come see Rochester or you can also check out the local newspaper and news channels to get an Idea.

[NYMD67]

As much as I love Rochester, because I will always call it home, the above post is absolutely correct.
What good jobs are there in Rochester? Seriously, we have been looking for almost as long as we have lived away (almost 10 years) and every once in awhile something may come up in my husband's field and what they want to pay him quite frankly, is insulting.
We have almost given up hope that we will ever return and be able to be close to our family & friends.
When my husband contacts his headhunters just to see if anything is out there,they honestly laugh, sarcastically! Their professional advice is to steer clear of WNY in general.

[garmin239]

Originally Posted by shibainu

First of all Rochester is not a mid-size city. Every time people post about Rochester they always want to make it sound so small. If you think over 1 million people is a mid-size city than what is Ithaca or Batavia. No the truth is it is large city that has mid-size to small size entertainment and leisure. If you compare cities of the same size to Rochester, you will find out Rochester has less to do. I would also like to see what are the good jobs in Rochester. Rochester has lost about 20,000 jobs since 2001. Employment has been very tough in Rochester the past few years but it may be close to the national average. Rochester does have four season, which lately have looked like: Late November(beginning December some years) to March is winter. April to Mid-June is Spring, Mid to late June to Mid sept is summer; fall is mid sept to late November.

You can come see Rochester or you can also check out the local newspaper and news channels to get an Idea.

Over 1 million people do not live in the city. That is the MSA. around 200k is mid sized for a city, which we have. How many cities that are of similar size have you traveled to? I travel quite frequently for work and find that this city has much more to do than other cities of its size. I hear the same thing from out of towners that visit or transplants. I can find a wide range things to do any night of the week.
And why are you picking 2001 as a figure for jobs? Because it conveniently fits into you doom and gloom attitude? I could pick a random year like you did and see a surplus. If you look over the past year we have gained jobs.
And yes, there are good jobs. I have one. My friends and family members have them. They are out there.

[garmin239]

NYMD67, what is your field? Also if you live in a large city, I would hope that you would not be expecting the same pay since the cost of living would be much lower here.

[smalltownusa]

Originally Posted by garmin239

Over 1 million people do not live in the city. That is the MSA. around 200k is mid sized for a city, which we have. How many cities that are of similar size have you traveled to? I travel quite frequently for work and find that this city has much more to do than other cities of its size. I hear the same thing from out of towners that visit or transplants. I can find a wide range things to do any night of the week.
And why are you picking 2001 as a figure for jobs? Because it conveniently fits into you doom and gloom attitude? I could pick a random year like you did and see a surplus. If you look over the past year we have gained jobs.
And yes, there are good jobs. I have one. My friends and family members have them. They are out there.

Thank you...I too along with my family have good jobs, second homes, travel, paid for houses, retirement accounts, new cars, etc etc and I live in the Rochester area!!!!! All I can say about the bashing posters is their call in life did not fit Rochester's job market and they are bitter for it.....perfect time for them to move along. To continuously bash this area and make it appear as though we all live in darkened caves only to exit when our welfare check is delivered as there are no viable jobs and the cold/snow/ lasts 9 months out of the year is not only misinformation it is tiresome.....do your own googling and check out your job prospects, standard of living, schooling etc...Good Luck.....