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Well, I have been researching for quite sometime for a new destination and one good thing I have found is that I have certainly eliminated more options than not, and least that is a good thing. Since my kid finished elementary school and will be in Junior High this coming year, schools are a big factor. There are great cities but it seems that my main obstacle is decent public transit in an affordable one. I know that Boston, NY, Chicago, and Washington D.C. are the big wigs when it comes to that and I cannot afford those cities. I even looked into college towns like Iowa City(now affected by the devastating floods) and Charlottesville, but they are quite expensive in the general 'city area' and little bus transit. I do have some ideas but need help with more info. City-Data has some very resourceful people and now need additional help.
What I am looking for: Affordable, close to good medical facilities, decent transit, good public schools and a good neighborly/walkable community where we can get involved.
Places of interests: Pittsburgh (some say there is good transit and some say not, heard city schools not good) Columbus Indiana (got the Visitors Guide and looks great, but not sure how transit is there and seems isolated), Lafayette Indiana ( They do have decent transit but schools are questionable), Burlington VT. (walkable, expensive ? and transit not sure about) Since I do not drive, we are looking for access to Amtrak as it seems to be the least expensive way to travel so need a AT station in the city preferably. These are just a few.
Any additional info on these cities OR if anyone has any ideas that I have not thought about, please share. Thanks!
Unfortunately the combination of things that you need make this an extra difficult case to solve. I don't even study educational systems these days because I am single and have no children. I can recommend some places that have affordable housing, acceptable mass transit and access to AMTRAK and walkable neighborhoods but I don't know about their school systems.
If I were to venture a guess I'd have to say if you don't mind the snow and cold winters of New York then you should look into Syracuse. It has some good suburbs, housing is not all that expensive and AMTRAK does run in the area. It also has a fairly good bus system for a metro area of 650,000 people.
I've seen the Pittsburgh mass transit system map and it provides service to a lot of the suburban areas with buses and some are also on the Subway lines. People in Pittsburgh are their own harshest critics and in many cases they seem to unjustly malign their region for no apparent reason other than to simply have a desire to gripe.
I prefer the colder weather and do not like the heat! My main challenges seems to be access to public transit with affordability. Those are a must! My daughter attended private schools for the last few years, so opened to them but they can be quite costly so wanted to save a few $. I am opened to any feedback/suggestions that you have so if you have cities that may be something to look into, by all means share! : ) I haven't thought of NY State as afraid it would be too much. But Syracuse is a good one! Thanks!
Rep for your help!
One place you may want to consider near Syracuse is Oswego. In fact I may move there myself. They do have buses that run to Syracuse during business hours each day of the week and Oswego has its own little mass transit system. Housing is cheap and property taxes are reasonable if you don't purchase a huge home or an expensive one.
I just thought of something. If I move to Oswego myself I am going to need volunteers at my little community radio station. I already have one local lady that has agreed to come on board but I'll need other people. Do you have any interest in radio?
Last edited by WILWRadio; 07-03-2008 at 11:31 AM..
Oswego may be a bit isolated for us as where we are now, the nearest 'big city' is about 3+ hours away. This is one of the reasons I am looking for a place that would be near or in a larger city. Not many things to do without a vehicle. I have done some radio broadcasting working with a Radio Reading Service that provides local programming to persons who are visually impaired or have difficulty viewing reading materials due to physical limitations etc. Since commercial radio and television channels don't always provide the depth of information, this service did that for them by reading the local newspapers, entertainment news, books etc. I enjoyed it very much. I also have done televised broadcasts, both radio/TV for a local organization. Nothing big. So I'm a little familiar with Community Radio.
I will start looking into Syracuse though. I am surprised more didn't respond to this thread, as the locales of interests has some good advocates on City-Data that may offer more insights.
If you do decide to go to Syracuse please let me know. One thing I've noted about western NY and central NY is that people do like to get active in their communities. Right now I am still up in the air as to where I am going to relocate thanks to some issues my business partner has but eventually I'll have to make up my mind and choose a location.
Since you include small cities with universities among places you'd consider, I'd suggest adding Ann Arbor, MI, and Lawrence, KS to the list of possibilities. Ann Arbor in particular appears to have an extensive transit system, centering on the U. of Mich., as well as Amtrak connections to Detroit several times a day. I checked the Lawrence transit schedule, and it seems that most busses finish their routes a little after 7PM, while Ann Arbor's run later in the evening. Also, the Amtrak stop in Lawrence, which would get you to Kansas City, is in the middle of the night, not as convenient a time as the several stops a day in Ann Arbor. Lawrence might at least be worth having on the initial list of possibilities, while Ann Arbor looks pretty good.
Another suggestion is the vicinity of Portsmouth, NH. Portsmouth is more like a large town rather than a small city, but the metro area has a population around 250k, so it's not tiny. The local transit is heavily centered on the U. of NH, which is in a small town near Portsmouth. The bus routes radiate out from UNH, one route going to each major town nearby, rather than there being a web of routes across the local area. This leaves parts of the metro area not really close to transit, so you'd have to pick a place to live carefully to be sure you were near one of these routes. The routes do run into the evening, however, and there are several Amtrak trains a day serving the area, on a route that runs between Boston and Portland, ME.
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