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My husband has been laid off since Feb 1st. So we need to find him a job ASAP (I am a SAHM with two toddlers and pregnant with #3). We currently live in Montana. But have lived in St. Louis, Wichita, Colorado, Southern Cal and now Montana.
Okay, he applied for job in Poughkeepsie. However, the recruiter emailed back the job is in Troy. We have never been to the NE and have no idea what this area is like. I unfortunately think of all of NY being like NYC. Which, I know, I know is not true.
Can someone help me with the Troy/Albany area? Is it family friendly? Schools? My daughter has special needs and we need to be close to a Children's hospital. She needs to be close to a Neurosurgeon, Gastroenterologist, Urologist, Neurologist, Orthopedic Surgeon and Physical Therapist. I saw on mapquest Boston is about 3 hours away. But what about with traffic? I do not want to be in a situation where I have to travel alot for her specialists. I do that now here in Montana and it sucks big time.
Well, I've lived here awhile. I like it but I don't also have to worry about the special needs. I know Albany which is about 30 mins away has a great hospital. I find the schools very helpful, My children go to school 12 here in Troy and anytime I need help with speech or any of that like. They are very helpful to me. There are lots of parks and things to do with the children. I'm also a stay at home mom. I have a 7 , 4 and 2 year old. Any other questions you have I'd be happy to answer I don't know if I helped you any.
Troy is thought of more as a "blue collar" town since it was primarily a factory town but most of those have long since closed. Troy is home to a very prestigious college - RPI... that has resulted in many technology spin-offs. There is also some state government work there. Troy is part of a "tri-city" area called the Capital District of NY and includes Albany (state capital) and Schnectady (GE). There has been a lot of work done to turn the region into a technology hot bed they call Tech Valley. IBM is to the south and has helped with this. UAlbany has become a center for nanotechnology research. There is also a plan to build a new AMD chip fabrication plant just north of Troy in Malta in the next couple of years.. the plant will employ about 1500 people and help to seal the deal on Tech Valley. Because of the state government being in the region, it helps to stabalize the economy vs. other areas.
Outside of the metro area... you are 2.5 hours to NY City, 3 hours to Boston, and about 3 hours to Montreal. Unless you happen to go to these places at rush hour, the traffic shouldn't greatly change the time to get there. To get to NY City, you can take a beautiful train ride that hugs the Hudson River all the way down to Penn Station. You are less than an hour to Lake George and the Adirondack Park...one of the largest national forests in the country. You are less than an hour from many ski slopes. It is a nice area, and nothing like NY City at all... totally different. You can leave Troy and be in farmland in 10 minutes.
As for hospitals, Albany Med is the most advanced hospital in the region, so I'd check there on what they can do for Children. If not there, then you'd probably need to travel down to NY City. Poughkeepsie is about 90 miles south of Troy which puts it just outside NY City. Compared to Poughkeepsie, the Capital District is a much nicer place to live. However, I think you can take metro trains into the city from Poughkeepsie which are less expensive than Amtrak from Albany. But, you can also drive to Poughkeepsie and get on the train there too.
I moved to the area last year from Fort Collins CO to be closer to my wife's family. Bozeman might be similar to Fort Collins but smaller. It's a different world out here and different from NYC too. Prolly much like St Louis but smaller. More rain, less sun, more history, less sky, better food, more diversity, more trees, more green.
I love the Adirondacks and the New England vibe in this area but the cities here seemed to have a lot to be desired. Although the area is on an upswing, it still displays some big scars from the past. It can get a bit ghettoey and the white trash factor seems higher here. It's a place of extremes. One neighborhood is gorgeous, the next you think you'll need a tetanus shot if you walk through it. This is especially true in Troy. I heard the schools in Albany, Troy, and Schenectady are in bad shape. The villages and burbs on the fringes of the tri-cities are rumored to have really good schools.
Traffic can be bad during rush hour around Albany. I've found it particularly painful commuting to Albany from the north on 87. Otherwise, traffic isn't that bad.
In other words, definitely check out the area before you reserve that rental truck. Best of luck on the job thing.
Last edited by Rumblebelly; 03-27-2008 at 06:21 PM..
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