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Hi there. my husband has the opportunity to move to one of these 3 cities in New York and I was looking for any advice on the 3 choices. Like advice on the schools in the cities, which of the 3 would be the best to raise a family in? is housing expensive in your city? cost of renting high? availability?
we recently moved to washington state for a job, sight unseen and it proved to be a bad choice(were now in canada due to a family member being ill) so I am trying to find as much info as possible before deciding and figured the best advice is from people living in those cities, so please give me your imput if you live in one of these cities.
thank you and have an awesome day.
Massena, Syracuse and Watertown are very different from each other.
-Massena is a very small town.
-Watertown is a small town with an Military Base.
-Syracuse is a metropolitan area with many of the amenities you'll find in cities with a half million people.
Syracuse is not a super large city like Seattle but it definitely has many of the amenities of larger cities. There are 650,000 in the metro area, with almost 140,000 in the city proper. There are plenty of beautiful lakes in the area.
If you decide on Syracuse, you should probably move to the suburbs since the city schools aren't very good.
I did alot of research before we moved to washington DC( I said 'state' by mistake, though we did live there too and it was gorgeous, in Moses Lake),and we picked a tiny city outside washington but close and it still turned out to be extremely expensive to live in and I was very surprised and saddened with how racist I found so many people to be. growing up in canada I truly hadnt seen much if any at all and it was very uncomfortable to live in.Please do not take offense if your reading this and live anywhere near there, it was only our experience as a family, I am not saying everyone was like that, just in our area it was pretty consistent. anyhow, I am hoping to find as much about the areas as possible. thanks for your advice so far, I made note of your school comment
I live near Washington DC but am from Watertown. If you move to Syracuse I do not receommend living in Syracuse, it has some really bad areas and the housing need improvement. If you move to Watertown you can live in the city, as to there are only a few pockets of bad areas which are located mainly along the main streets. Massena, I would not recommend, it is VERY VERY small and they just had a man up there mutilate another man. Cut his eyes out, his genitals and gave him a partial disebowelment. What would bring you to Massena? There is really NOTHING there and I can not stress that enough.
Location: Unlike most on CD, I'm not afraid to give my location: Milwaukee, WI.
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Originally Posted by Njrover0216
Massena, I would not recommend, it is VERY VERY small and they just had a man up there mutilate another man. Cut his eyes out, his genitals and gave him a partial disebowelment. What would bring you to Massena? .
And so this incident is a reflection of the whole town, and the other 10,000 people ???
njrover0216 - like there's no crime around Washington DC?? C'mon! How about the woman who just killed her four daughters? Weird things happen everywhere all the time. I doubt it's hardly a reflection on an entire community.
Syracuse offers the most amenities as it is a medium sized city. There is a large mall, a medical school, multiple hospitals, concerts and sports. A little research would allow you to pick a section with a decent school. If you are buying a home, you will be able to purchase new construction. To get more detail I would do some reading in the Syracuse section.
General northern NY housing: We get long, hard winters. Most towns aren't adorable. The weather is tough on buildings and roads. Much of northern NY is also quite poor, so there is not an abundance of new construction. Many homes are very large, built around the turn of the century. Heating costs can be very high, so while the large homes are fairly cheap to buy, owning costs can spiral out of control. Many people are locals, but also warm and accepting. Lots of farms, rolling hills and beautiful foliage. Some of the schools systems are excellent.
Watertown is much smaller than Syracuse. Ft. Drum is located outside the city and is growing rapidly. Watertown HS SUCKS, so don't live within the district. You will have easy access to big box stores and a small mall. There is just one local community college and one primary hospital. The city is super easy to navigate and you could easily live outside the city and have only a brief commute. Finding a rental within the city may prove challenging because of the influx of military families.
The Watertown area is surrounded by rural farmland. I know many locals that live up to 30 miles away (a 45 minutes drive to reach center of Watertown) and commute to Watertown with little issue. If you like tiny villages, Lowville is a small town with a wonderful school system.
Massena-The kid that attacked that guy made such headlines because nothing else happens. The crime rate in St. Lawrence County is very low. That said the town itself is pretty dull. There is a small mall and a few box box stores. Much of it is pretty rundown, but housing is crazy cheap. On the plus side, just 20 miles away (and very commutable) is Potsdam. Potsdam is a small village that has two colleges, a small hospital, a new Walmart and many local eateries. One of the colleges is home to the Crane School of Music and offers free concerts year round. For a small village in rural northern NY is is quite liberal. Additionally, Potsdam's school district is ranked #29th in the state out of 441 schools. Finding a rental isn't difficult, though rental costs are higher in Potsdam than Massena because of the colleges.
The first thing you need to decide is what size city you want. The three towns are VERY different in size.
Yes murders happen in DC, mind you I live 30 minutes away from DC. But I have not heard of any type of crimes like that around here. I am sure they happen but it is the point that it happen in Massena. Massena really has 10K people! WOW!!
WHS sucks? When did it turn into be such a bad school? I went there and graduated with honors, as did many of my other friends. I truely think that in areas such as Watertown, Massena and so forth it is about how involved the parents are. I think that if WHS is going downhill, that would be because of all the kids having kids up there. There is a great deal of 15 and 16 year old with babies in the north country...and I blame that on the parents raising these kids.
I heard that General Brown and South Jeff are good schools to send your children to, and Indian River was not the best. GreatSchools.net is an excellent source when checking out schools in towns, it breaks it down by ratings, test scores, demographics, student teacher ratio, free lunches, race....everything you might want to know about the school. Keep in mind that high school average score is usually around 6 or 7's, while elementary you want a 8,9,10. I am lucky to live in a town in MD that all 3 schools are 10's/
I have lived in Massena my whole life and have spent alot of time in each of the cities, which are within a few hours driving distance. Although Massena has its drawbacks (lack of culture, choice of physicians, and restaurants), crime is not one of them. Everyone that I have met that has come into the are always says, "there is no better place to raise a family." I promise you, it is safer than anywhere you can find. Also, each drawback I listed in within a couple hours drive. Everything you need is here in Massena. It is a cozy town where people are REAL. There is a great non-denominational church here. The schools here are excellent with emphasis on athletics and music.
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