Finger Lakes Vacation TravelBlog (New York, Rochester: hotels, house, find a job)

[friedzone]

I'm here right now vacationing in Central NY. Thought I'd start a thread about my impressions so far. Please jump in with any comments everyone!

Well, frankly Syracuse seemed pretty scary from driving up 81 it looked sort of like a very small version of the south side of Chicago. I hit the accellerator to get out of there. I know there are nice parts I will try and see. Anyway... I'm staying in a nice little town called Penn Yan. There is a Best Western I'm staying at that is totally NON SMOKING! YES!!! Highly recommended. So far I have mostly been driving around the Finger Lakes tasting wine. The white wines are the best in this region.

I did stop in Auburn. Having the prison located in the heart of downtown is indeed rather depressing. Besides the Seward house and some historic homes, Auburn has very little to recommend. Ithaca is OK, if you like College towns. Watkins Glen was OK also. As far as living anywhere where you could hope to find a job, I would say that Rochester is still the economic engine of CNY and not Syracuse.

I'll post more as I travel around. I must say the people are pretty nice. Someone said the people are real here in NY state, and I agree...

[bellafinzi]

Just to clarify. Rochester is located in Western New York, not Central New York. Both are independent mid-size metropolitan areas that dominate their own respective regions of the State. I'd say that under 1,000 people in the Syracuse MSA (Onondaga, Madison, Oswego Counties) actually commutes to Rochester for a job. So no, Rochester is not the economic engine of Central NY.

-Thank you for proving my point! People get a bad first impression of Syracuse (and the whole Syracuse area) from the highways. This is why I continue to speak about why this city needs to works on improving how it LOOKS!!!!! from the interstates.

-I've been saying this for nearly a decade and still locals do not understand that outsiders do not respect Syracuse based on how it LOOKS! Syracuse needs a modern skyline, beautiful new buildings next to the highways, landscaping near the interstates and a total make over....yet no one here in the area agrees with me. They do not see it as a priority. Rather, most here are afraid of drastic change. Syracuse needs drastic change in how it looks or else it will never be respected. Without respect, it will never attract jobs or new residents. Without jobs or new residents it will continue to die. Very simple concept that is never spoken about or addressed in Syracuse.

-Just so you know, there is more to Syracuse than the city limits. The northern suburbs of Syracuse are a whole other world than the city. You never need to venture "down city" if you live in the northern suburbs. The problem is this. Even the nicer parts of the suburbs are not places any visitor would ever even go. Most hotels and points of interest are located in the industrial or older area of the suburbs. So even if you were to drive around, chances are you would never go to the nice areas unless you had a map and knew exactly where you wanted to go and see. The Syracuse suburbs really do need more development to fill in the "dead" areas so that visitors can see the newer suburbs and actually see that this area isn't all ugly/run-down/old. Rochester's nice suburbs are very visible and much larger...since they have sprawled more than double that of Syracuse's sprawl. This is exactly why Rochester gets much more respect from visitors.

-Now you understand why I post pictures of the suburbs and not of many neighborhoods in the city. Even though Syracuse's suburbs aren't impressive compared to the booming metropolitan areas....at least they are cleaner, nicer, and safer than the city.

[friedzone]

Well I did make it to Baldwinsville. Nice historic downtown. The working Erie Canal lock was very cool. Very well preserved 1950 style suburban homes as well. I will have to explore the rest of Syracuse & it's northern burbs.

As a technical point, what is the dividing line between central & western NY? Canandaigua Lake? I love NY!!

[bellafinzi]

Auburn.....Cayuga County's western border.

Everything west of Auburn is Western NY, everything east of Auburn is Central NY.

The Village of Baldwinsville is nice. Downtown B'ville is OK. The southern half of B'ville...south of the Erie Canal.....isn't in great shape. Most homes there need repairs and new landscaping. Some parts even look the city. The nicer parts of the "Village of B'ville" are north of the River/Erie Canal in Lysander. Radisson and surrounding developments (outside of the village) are beautiful IMO if you are into new suburban neighborhoods.

Did you make it to Onondaga Lake Park yet?

[johnny99]

Bella needs get out of his SUV and walk in some of the city neighborhoods of Syracuse. There are fantastic people who live in the city and actually have lives and know their neighbors. If you ever drive the Northern Burbs or look at Bella's pics you will never see any people, they all go to work then hide in their homes. There is no community there and "downtown" does not exist unless its a strip mall. The northern burbs are like any other ugly sprawl area in the country. They all look the same. I don't know anyone except Bella who want to turn the Syracuse metro into an asphalt jungle like Northern NJ. I bet in the 60's Bella was one of the guys calling for the demo of all the "old" great architecture of the city to put up ugly "new" glass and concrete modern buildings.

[bellafinzi]

Now, I hope everyone understands why Syracuse hasn't made much progress in the last decade. The environmentalists have literarily taken over the area. Anyone with a different world view is shot down. It is SUNY ESF's view of the world or the highway....opps I forgot... highways are evil. The principles of "The Young GAIA Atlas of Earthcare" guide all policy in the Syracuse area. Who really needs a growing economy when we are saving the earth...right?

Well, johnny99, you got what you want. A city/county that fights suburban development, no new tall buildings, no beautiful new glass/steal buildings, no landscaped interstates, no new shovel ready sites next to suburban interstates, no population growth in the area which means very little sprawl.

Now let's see the results. Hmmm. Syracuse is still losing population. Syracuse is still a rust belt city. Syracuse is still filled with eyesores. Ithaca is still attracting the newcomers, not Syracuse.

So why doesn't Syracuse currently make the list of "best place to live in Upstate" on these City Data forums? Why aren't people flocking to Syracuse from all over the country. Why are people choosing the Rochester area over the Syracuse area?

I challenge Syracuse to prove me wrong. johnny99, if your way of guiding growth in Syracuse really works, then please prove it? If the City of Syracuse can become a beautiful, revitalized city that people want to move into.... instead of Ithaca WITHOUT quickly growing the population in Onondaga County....I will admit I was wrong and you were right.

[bellafinzi]

Originally Posted by johnny99

I bet in the 60's Bella was one of the guys calling for the demo of all the "old" great architecture of the city to put up ugly "new" glass and concrete modern buildings.

I'm sorry but most buildings built in Syracuse from the 1950s to TODAY are indeed ugly. The old great architecture is the ONLY thing attractive about the city. Why would I be in favor I knocking it down?

The problem I have is this. Syracuse is still trying construct buildings that either fit-in with the Brutalist architecture from the 50s, 60s, and 70s or fit-in with the historic architecture from the 19th and early 20th century. Syracuse needs to move beyond those two eras and build post-modern architecture that will help form a new image of Syracuse in people's minds. That is all I'm saying!

[friedzone]

Syracuse is really hard to see and navigate about. Driving around the hills, I got lost. I drove from Skanneateles thru Marcellus to Onandaga Hill, up to Carrier circle & back on the thruway. Never made it downtown or to the park. Oh well. Really takes some time to explore & learn your way around. Wish I had more time. Maybe you could give tours Bella?

Syracuse does give an impression to the newcommer, to be ghost townish. Little if any traffic ANYWHERE that I could see. Where is everybody?

[looking4home]

friedzone, where do you live? Are you from a neighboring state, and is this your first time in central NY?

[bellafinzi]

Originally Posted by friedzone

Syracuse is really hard to see and navigate about. Driving around the hills, I got lost. I drove from Skanneateles thru Marcellus to Onandaga Hill, up to Carrier circle & back on the thruway. Never made it downtown or to the park. Oh well. Really takes some time to explore & learn your way around. Wish I had more time. Maybe you could give tours Bella?

Syracuse does give an impression to the newcommer, to be ghost townish. Little if any traffic ANYWHERE that I could see. Where is everybody?

Everyone is in the northern suburbs.

You didn't see any of the most populated suburban towns...

Clay ~ 60,000 people
Salina ~ 33,000 people
Manlius ~ 32,000
Cicero ~ 31,000

I doubt you even saw the populated parts of DeWitt...24,000 people or Camillus....23,000 people.

Greater Syracuse is developed in a way that you can bisect it without seeing much at all. Like I said, you need a detailed street map and you must know exactly where you are going or else you'd never see the nicer parts of the Syracuse area. All run-down, industrial, ghetto, blighted, old decrepit neighborhoods are in FULL view of highways, main roads and near most hotels...yet the attractive maintained neighborhoods are hidden and out of view.

Now you can see why I'd like to see more development...in both the suburbs and city!