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The suburbs are very safe though, rarely any crime if you stay at least a mile from the city... Look into zip codes 14068 and 14031, they are the lowest crime (almost none)
I live in a small town in Maine. As far as I can tell, our taxes will be double what we pay now. I'm shocked because the population in NY is much, much higher than here, so we do collect much less money from less people. We did find an apartment in the North Buffalo area by Delaware Park. It seems to be a quiet street. I have never lived close to a large city, so I suppose I am nervous. I do have to say that several individuals have said that I will love Buffalo, so part of me is excited. I suppose all change is difficult. I do enjoy any positive input any of you have, and any stories of how some of you dealt with transitioning to the area.
ahat31,
the best possible thing you can do is take what cancerian says in one ear and out the other. His/her view of Buffalo is proven to be negative and he is on his way out. There is nothing positive to be gained from reading his posts, nor am I convinced he actually even truely knows this city.
I grew up in the very worst parts of Buffalo and now live in the very best part. Yes there is crime. Anytime you leave the small rural areas for a greater metropolitan area you can expect to see higher crime rates. The question is 'will you be effected?' and the answer is most likely a resounding NO.
You have to take precautions such as locking your doors, locking your vehicle doors and keeping valuables out of site. If you're not involved with the people who commit crimes or live an unscrupulous life, you are far and away less likely to be victimized. As far as the safest place...who knows? when I was a kid the bad ones would travel into the suburbs to steal cars and bikes so as far as this topic is concerned its all conjecture. I will tell you Buffalo/WNY has some of the friendliest people you will find anywhere, and there are more things to do and fun places in close proximity that you will never be bored. Welcome.
I would in loss-prevention for HSBC (I work in the tower and we try and study robberies, frauds, etc, in order to prevent them), and one definite trend is people coming from the cities into the suburbs to rob banks (we have actually had two near Clarence). Fortunately, the police in the suburbs aren't as busy, and they apprehend people far more often.
And about the taxes, there are lower tax areas if you don't mind a little commute. You will always pay our ridiculous taxes, but outside of Erie county, they tend to be lower.
If you are set on moving to Buffalo congrats again, you may well like it... I was from a small town, and it was indeed a shock, but not having to drive an hour to go shopping will be something you'll love!
I keep hearing about the towns northeast of the city like amherst and williamsville. Are the cities to the south, like hamburg, west seneca and orchard park also nice? It seems that these areas have more land and are less congested. Is that true? I know that one person loves living in hamburg because it is close to the ski and beach areas. It seems that I do not hear much about these areas. Is that because they are hidden secrets?
No, not really. They are nice, but some people avoid them because they get way more snow. If you don't believe me take a look at the snowfall totals for Springville or Hamburg, and compare them to Amherst.
I keep hearing about the towns northeast of the city like amherst and williamsville. Are the cities to the south, like hamburg, west seneca and orchard park also nice? It seems that these areas have more land and are less congested. Is that true? I know that one person loves living in hamburg because it is close to the ski and beach areas. It seems that I do not hear much about these areas. Is that because they are hidden secrets?
Hamburg and Orchard Park are both very nice areas. I agree that some people tend to stay more north to try and avoid some of the extra snow they get down there, but it's not like the ground is clear east and north of the city either.
Hamburg and Orchard Park are both very nice areas. I agree that some people tend to stay more north to try and avoid some of the extra snow they get down there, but it's not like the ground is clear east and north of the city either.
I found a map. The quality sucks, but you can get an idea, purple is the higher snowfall amounts, each shade is about equal to 10 inches of snow. As you can see, there is a clear line going through Buffalo where snowfall increases as you go southward.
The Southtowns do get more snowfall. I had some good maps, but deleted them about 3 weeks ago... They showed that Hamburg get about 10 more inches of snow than Amherst, which is alarming since the two cities are only about 20 miles apart.
The truly interesting feature of the maps I has was that Buffalo actually doesn't get much snow compared to Syracuse (and north of there), or Northeastern NY (where I am from originally).
I found a map. The quality sucks, but you can get an idea, purple is the higher snowfall amounts, each shade is about equal to 10 inches of snow. As you can see, there is a clear line going through Buffalo where snowfall increases as you go southward.
The Southtowns do get more snowfall. I had some good maps, but deleted them about 3 weeks ago... They showed that Hamburg get about 10 more inches of snow than Amherst, which is alarming since the two cities are only about 20 miles apart.
The truly interesting feature of the maps I has was that Buffalo actually doesn't get much snow compared to Syracuse (and north of there), or Northeastern NY (where I am from originally).
We do typically get more snow, that is the truth but 10 or even 20 inches more per season really isn't that big of a deal when you consider that the average for the city of Buffalo is about 90 inches a year. If you were to head south of Hamburg a little ways (Colden, Eden, Angola, Boston) then it might be more of an issue ..... besides, I'm sure the OP is plenty use to snow since they are from Maine.
What part of NNY are you from? This explains a lot to me with regards to some of your views. Before coming here I lived in Franklin County & worked in Plattsburgh. Outside of Potsdam, Plattsburgh & Lake Placid the area might as well be right in the middle of the deep south. Per capita they may very well have more rednecks, racists & bigots in that area than in Mississippi. I've never met a group of more closed minded people (and I lived in central Texas for almost 10 years).
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