An honest review of Syracuse and its suburbs

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by Becca8377

Johnson City had SEVERE flooding. One shopping center had over 4ft of water -

100 animals drown at Petco during flooding; Investigation launched - NewsChannel 9 WSYR

Yeah that was awful and I knew it was bad when I saw the HS Football field for JC High flooded so bad that it nearly touched the scoreboard.

[Phish Head]

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

If you like hills, then you would have liked Fairmount/Camillus, Onondaga Hill and maybe even Marcellus or Skaneateles.

Another lake you might like is Oneida Lake, which the Town of Cicero touches. Skaneateles Lake is another lake close by which is a source of drinking water and is one of the Finger Lakes. There are quite a few smaller lakes close by as well.

As for other parts of the city, there are outer urban neighborhoods that are finely. That includes a couple of old money neighborhoods like Sedgwick on the North Side and Strathmore in the Southwestern corner of the city.

To be honest and depending on one's tastes, you can get a decent home with a decent paying job in a generally safe area.

Yeah, I really wanted to see Skaneateles, Camillus, and all the other areas on the west side of Syracuse. Unfortunately, I just didn't have the time. And I can definitely see how Syracuse is pretty affordable. Its a huge plus on the "PRO" side of the list I have made in comparing the two cities I want to relocate to. Those two cities are Syracuse and Rochester/Dover NH.

After visiting both, its surprising how similar they are. Both had their heydays many years ago but are on the rebound and doing reasonably well in this crap economy. Rochester/Dover homes cost a little more, Syracuse overall have higher taxes when all taxes are combined (property, sales, state). Both have higher education programs that I'm looking to take (SUNY ESF and UNH). Rochester/Dover has the ocean. Syracuse has Lake Ontario. My ancestors are all from the Syracuse/Oswego area, not sure why this matters to me, but coming up there and seeing my families name several times on mailboxes up there has an intangible draw for me. Some things you just can't put a price tag on.

I plan to visit each area one more time before I make such a major decision.

[RollsRoyce]

Very accurate and thorough review of the area. The regional accent is Inland Northern. I can see how some would mistake it as Canadian, particuarly those from areas with very mild regional accents like the Mid-Atlantic (Central New Jersey, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore areas). Despite being more than 500 miles west of Central New York, Chicago has roughly the same dialect. As a general rule, the Inland Northern dialect includes a wide swath of the industrial belt in the Great Lakes region including Chicago, Milwaukee, Northern Indiana, Toledo, Detroit, Lansing, Flint, Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse. According to several linguistic experts, the dialect begins in the Amsterdam area, about 25 miles northwest of Albany. Based on personal observation, I would consider Amsterdam a pretty accurate starting point as the dialect in the Albany area is less of a "Flat A" sound and more similiar to Hartford, Pittsfield, and Springfield, MA.

I don't mind the accent, although it can be somewhat grating, especially if someone is a smoker or less educated which often means that the accent is more nasally and thick, respecitvely. I can immediately think of two people with the accent that are rather difficult to listen to (not neccessarily for their political views but simply their voice): Suzie Orman and Michael Moore.

That being said, there is a certain warmness to the accent. I have always found the Providence, Boston, New Orleans, and New York City accents (in that order) to be the most rough and harsh sounding. I actually like the Philadephia accent somewhat.

Inland Northern American English - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Phish Head]

Interesting. To me, the accent was so slight as to barely be noticeable. Kinda of like how Canadians say "house" as "hoose", almost rhyming with "moose". But not nearly as thick. I didn't mind it at all, actually kinda like the Canadian accent. Then again, I like hockey, beer, and Anne Murray too.

People in NJ where I am originally from say house as "howse" and "about" is "abowt". The accent here outside the Lehigh Valley, PA is somewhat grating to my ears, as I don't really like the Philadelphia accent, and that seems somewhat prevalent here. "Gonna go to the bar and watch the Iggles."

Oh yeah, as an aside, Genesee Beer is only mediocre to my taste. I had Genny Light. Much prefer Labatt Blue light. I saw some billboards advertising Genny Light with a guy with a mustache and a power mullet. Like drink this beer and end up like this guy. I believe that was done in humor and not as an inspiration to look like that guy. Either way, it was hilarious. Nobody in Jersey would get that

And your pizza is every bit as good as any pizza I've tasted. I tried only one place, Pizza Villa in Liverpool and enjoyed it very much. The pizza guy was cool and knowledgeable too. You all know how to make pizza right. The tomato sauce was thicker, but I like it that way.

[Cleveland Park]

Originally Posted by RollsRoyce

Very accurate and thorough review of the area. The regional accent is Inland Northern. I can see how some would mistake it as Canadian, particuarly those from areas with very mild regional accents like the Mid-Atlantic (Central New Jersey, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore areas).

Baw'mer has a mild regional accent? Dunno about that.

That may be the only other American region whose accent is as grating as that in Central New York. Woof.

[HomerBrink]

Actually I think the Binghamton flooding was the worst since the 1930s as the rivers overflowed their flood walls (which were built after the 1930s flood). Unfortunately, the exits from I81 into Binghamton put you in lousy neighborhoods. There was talk about fixing them up (gateway concept) but like so many other Binghamton plans nothing came of it. SW Binghamton and the West Side south of Main are very fine.

[CUPlanner]

Originally Posted by HomerBrink

There was talk about fixing them up (gateway concept) but like so many other Binghamton plans nothing came of it. SW Binghamton and the West Side south of Main are very fine.

I think that is an Upstate NY thing in general. Different groups or government agencies come up with these plans and promote them like there is no tomorrow without any solid commitment of funding, and then say nothing once it turns out that they can't get the money to do the project. They definitely put the cart before the horse and then wonder why feelings of futility, exasperation and pessimism are so wide spread and deep-rooted in their communities.