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Thinking about a move to Binghamton for a given post. There seems to be a lot of different opinions about the place though. I don't care much about weather, but some people make it sound like smelly, decaying pit of a place. Is it really that bad?
I drove up there to take a friend to the bus terminal. Beautiful art deco relic though in desperate need of restoration. Absolutely stunning. However coming in to Bingo I was struck by all the abandoned buildings starkly standing alone on whole blocks surrounded by the desolate rubble of their former neighbors. It didn't help that it was a cold, gray winter day but Bingo has lots of those, far more than other eastern cities. The restaurant we went to looked nice enough but hadn't been renovated since the seventies. Though clean, it seemed to reflect the city itself, old and tired. It was obviously one of the better places in the city, people wearing jackets and ties, but it was a big place with just a few patrons and it seemed just so sad. I had to drive around a lot of the city to find the bus station; so many closed shops, only a few people walking around. There were civic pride banners on the street lamp poles cheering for a game dear old Bingo lost long ago.
Most university towns have students milling around or at least being in the city but SUNY Binghamton's campus isn't in the downtown area. It's a little enclave over on the other side of the interstate. Though school was in session, I didn't see any students around the city nor did I see any bars or coffee shops the students might want to go to.
After I saw my friend off, I drove around again, part out of morbid curiosity for just how bad Binghamton has become, and part for trying to find the highway exit. I had time and wasn't in a hurry. I can say I didn't find any parts of Binghamton to be threatening. Maybe I didn't go in the right neighborhoods, I thought, or, said my brain to myself, maybe all the criminals have gone too. Street after street the same thing, gray but tidy little houses on gray little streets without enough people to bring any life into them. And after just half an hour of this, after finding no haven, no place that had any hope, I became overwhelmingly depressed and an insatiable urge to get out of there overtook me. I stopped and grabbed my map, found the closest highway entrance, and took off. Past the rubble, the dead factories, the empty buildings, the pitiful struggling shops, I drove, desperate to get out of what I could only say was a pit of despair. I couldn't get out fast enough. Though I needed gas I knew there was a station not far from down the highway and the car would just make it. I couldn't even stop for gas!
As I got on the highway I felt some relief that I was leaving Binghamton and it wasn't until I got the relatively cheerful gas station that I couldn't believe people could actually live there without suffering horrible depression. I popped a Xanax, grabbed a coke, and went home. On the way I passed through other cities, Liberty, Monticello, and Middletown, suffering nearly the same fate. Liberty has made an effort, is trying to look good, Middletown too. The people aren't beaten yet, they haven't given-up the way Binghamton has despite similar if not as severe economic problems.
I hope to never again have to go to Binghamton.
Checking Urbandictionary.com, I came across three posts that about say much with fewer words:
Quote:
1) The place that will make you glad to be anywhere but there for the rest of your natural life.
and:
Imagine Hell, then make it cold.
finally:
A bleak, bleak place. And i'm not a SUNY BInghamton student. I grew up right outside of Binghamton, and I must say that all the people who complain about the weather (and the lack of culture, and the declining economy and general feeling of soul-crushing despair) are quite right. This place is worse than Utica, man. Driving around and looking at people I see walking death. People walking their dogs look as if they're only moving as a result of being pulled by the animals-they don't seem to have the will to do anything. So they drink, and rot.
Like much of upstate new york, the city of Binghamton has been in a steady state of decline for the better part of three decades. But it was never all that great to begin with.
I think the city of Binghamton should adopt "Binghamton-because living isn't everything" as a catchphrase on whatever half-assed advertisments for the area they manufacture.
Last edited by Jason_Els; 11-30-2006 at 02:26 PM..
I grew up in Endicott (right outside of Binghamton) and unfortunately I have to agree with Jason Els reply - I couldn't wait to leave when I graduated high school and if my family didn't still live there, I would probably never go back. It was a decent place to grow up (in the 80s and early 90s) but when IBM started leaving the area, it took all of the life with it. Jason's reply is right on the money - it's a sad area. Of course the dreary weather (at one point we were ranked second behind Seattle for annual rainfall - not sure if that's still true) doesn't help things at all, but the whole area feels like an old ghost town with overwleming amounts of abandoned buildings and closed up store fronts.
Binghamton University is consistently ranked among the best schools for the price, but I would never consider Binghamton a college town. It has quite an industrial feel to it, and the University is not within walking distance of anything.
Crime rates are on the rise and school districts have gone down hill. There are some very nice areas in all of the surrounding towns (Endicott, Johnson City, Vestal, etc) but there seem to be more and more no-so-nice areas every time I go home to visit. Vestal is probably the nicest area in the Binghamton vicinit with a decent school system and nice neighborhoods.
I don't mean to make it sound all bad - there are some positives about the Binghamton area as well...we have great food in the area, though you won't find many fancy, upscale eateries, the mom and pop italian joints in the area are among some of the best I've ever enjoyed. And you can't forget Binghamton's famous Spiedies (marinated chunks of meat skewered and grilled) and the ever-popular annual Spiedie Fest! And on days that the sun actually does shine, the Binghamton area (within 1 hour of the city) has a lot of nice parks, lakes and hiking and camping opportunities to enjoy.
P.S. - In fact, I suggest reading all the posts at Urbandictionary.com. There are positive posts as well as negative, from lifers and students. It's unvarnished but real.
Gotta concur with the negative reviews. Sad to do so, since I love upstate NY so much. But my brother and best friend went to SUNY Binghamton in the '70s and '80s, and a lot of this was true even then. Part of what you see there is the despair of disbelief. Binghamton and so much of upstate was SUCH a manufacturing powerhouse for so long, offering such a good life to recent immigrants, un- or semi-skilled workers, etc., that when these manufacturing jobs and companies left, it really shocked people, left them numb. Add to that the stoic endurance, the resignation to the winters, rain, etc., and it's a recipe for inertia. I remember seeing a guy just about blind drunk leaning on the locked gates of an abandoned factory as I stopped at a red light. Springsteen's "My Hometown" was playing on my radio.
Now Main Street's whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more
They're closing down the textile mill cross the railroad track
Foreman says "These jobs are goin', boys, and they ain't comin' back
To your hometown...."
The guy turned from the fence and looked at me, tears running down his face, and slowly said, "That's the truth, buddy. And how I believed, how I believed...."
The American dream's tatters are all too evident in Binghamtom. Makes me as angry as it does sad. These people--our people--and this town deserves better.
I'm from Syracuse, and a friend from college once told me that Syracuse reminds him of Binghamton. I went to visit Binghamton since some other frineds went to SUNY Binghamton and couldn't believe my eyes. I can't believe my friend compared Syracuse to that pitiful place. Maybe the most depressing, horrid, desolate parts of Syracuse but even then it's better than Binghamton. Binghamton is always gray. It's rotting. No life. No beauty. Just gray, and rotting. Binghamton sucks!
Unfortunately, Binghamton is very similar to Utica. Beautiful old architecture on many buildings, but the majority the City is old and worn and the overall feel can be quite depressing.
As a long-time resident of Binghamton, actually a small suburb just outside of the city limits, I wish to present a more balanced view of our city.
True, like many other older cities throughout the nation, our central downtown business district, has lost it's retail base. It became desolate and abandoned over the years. However, with new city administration, once abandoned retail and other business spaces have attracted new investors who have come in and turned these empty spaces into trendy loft residences(one of which was featured on HGTV), art studios, and some upscale graduate student housing. New storefronts have opened, cyber cafes have become very popular, trendy sports and other themed bars and more exclusive restaurants have opened and become very popular. Binghamton University is building a state-of-the-art administrative and instuctional, multi-million dollar, high rise building in downtown Binghamton. Small businesses, and hi-tech businesses have renovated old, dilapidated buildings into modern business spaces in the downtown area. The city's library was recently relocated to a modern building. Well-established law firms, brokerage houses, major insurance companies, and banks have chosen to locate to, or stay in downtown Binghamton. The area is central to performing arts companies who regularly present first-class operas, touring Broadway shows, etc. So, while the downtown area is old, it is not forgotten and is undergoing a rebirth and an influx of investors who don't see it as a dead city.
The city is historically known to be a safe community. While crime is up, it is still far safer than most other metropolitan areas of comparable size.
Another factor that helps in determining whether to relocate, is cost of living. Housing, which ranges from modest to multi-million dollar, is far more affordable here than in downstate New York. Utilities, food, gasoline tend to be a bit cheaper here than in many areas of the country. Traffic? unless there's a major accident on one of the interstates, flows quickly and there are no daily traffic jams, per se. Roads are constantly undergoing re-construction and updating. You literally can get from one side of town to outlying suburbs and shopping malls, within 20-25 minutes.
Where do the people live? Obviously, not many people live in downtown Binghamton, unless they are in one of those trendy new lofts. Most residents live in the neighborhoods surrounding the downtown area. Neighborhoods range from low-income up to very expensive, $500,000 and way up. The south side and West side of Binghamton are favorites with the West side having older homes in established neighborhoods. Many people choose to live in outlying areas such as Chenango Bridge, Vestal, the Town of Union, Endwell, Maine-Endwell. Some go a bit further(20 miles) West to Owego which is an historic, picturesque little town.
Public education, especially in the outlying suburbs, tends to be excellent with state-of-the-art education provided. Binghamton University is well-known as attracting scholars to teach, and being very, very selective in attracting only the brightest student body. Broome Community College is the local two year community college and again, it has an outstanding reputation.
Health care...again, three major hospitals that provide a center of excellence in medical care, especially in cancer care, cardio-thoracic and neurosurgery. 45 miles west on Route 17 is the world famous Guthrie Clinic and the Robert Packer Hospital.
Shopping...again, is in the outlying areas, mostly Vestal(a few minutes from almost housing area). New malls are constantly being opened. Macy's just opened a huge store. Sears, JCPenny, Sam's Club, Wal-Mart Superstore, on and on, and of course, Wegmans!
The weather...well, today's December 1st and at 11am, it's 62 degrees outside. While this is not typical November-December weather, the winters tend to be long, gray, raw, cold, with lot's of snow but less than Syracuse or Buffalo. Summers are gorgeous as are late-Spring and early-Fall. The Spring and Fall months tend to have a lot of rain.
Oops! almost forgot, there are two Starbucks and more in the planning stage!
Hope this helps in presenting a more balanced view.
Hartwick, thanks for balancing things out. I readily admit I haven't really explored Binghamton in years, and I'm very glad to hear of this progress. Let's hope it continues. Certainly all the older cities & towns everywhere else upstate and throughout the country deserve truly wise public and private plans and funds to re-develop. My guess is that this will have to happen as gas prices make extending the suburbs out into yet more farmland prohibitively expensive, and as more people realize that these cities' fundamental designs were very sound and sane, offering a far fuller life than suburbia can offer, with jobs, shopping, parks, and schools all within a walking radius.
I think a key will always be crime rates. Nothing will drive/keep out a young family faster and forever like even the threat and risk of violent crime. (Just a minor-league version of this--the violence and drunkenness we have to deal with from college students--is driving us out of our current town and back to NY state ASAP.)
Do you see anything that New York State as a state can do to hasten urban re-development, or is it purely a very local thing, dependent also, of course, on globalization's effects on our manufacturing base? What positive steps are realistically within whose hands?
Also, a question I've been meaning to ask for a long time on this forum: Is anyone else more than a little scared by how America seems to be dividing into the self-improving and the self-destructive, the latter of whom are the key reasons why people flee/avoid so many cites? Maybe that's inevitable in a culture of reckless self-indulgence, push-button immediacy, lost traditions, physical isolation, etc., like ours--it takes a lot of fortitude or ambition to keep from rotting into damage-strewing self-destructive habits and choices. But, still, it is a sad and scary scene when you must constantly ask yourself when traveling to or across almost every city in the country, "Is my life at risk here? Is this person the miserable kind who live to lash out for the violent now, or is he at least minimally happy enough to be civilized/have a little *enlightened* self-interest going on within him?"
Hartwick, I applaud you for being so realistic about your hometown! Many people have the same negative, pitiful, distressed attitudes about my native Scranton, PA, about an hour south of Binghamton via I-81. Nevertheless, there has been a tremendous push lately to reinvest in Scranton, with various new projects on the city's horizon that are helping to transform it from a 9-5 gritty industrial city to a 24/7 regional metropolis of nightlife and housing. The "Lofts @ The Mill", an old industrial complex overlooking Nay Aug Park that has been converted into loft housing, is at nearly 100% occupancy. "St. Peter's Square", on the northern fringes of Center City, recently opened its first phase with a new boutique and a new restaurant---loft housing and more shops and eateries are on the horizon for next year. "Jefferson Pointe" is an upcoming high-rise of luxury apartments, between the Scranton Radisson and the Scranton Hilton hotels, that I hope to move to someday. Two new Starbucks will be opening in Center City by next Spring. A new cafe, "Soup For You", has just opened in Center City that is themed after the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. A couple of years ago, an investor purchased the old Casey Laundry Building on Center Street and converted it to a funky new shop called "Outrageous", a coffeehouse, an art gallery, and loft housing. In 2007, two NYC investors plan on rehabilitating the old white mansion on the corner of Mulberry & Jefferson into a bed & breakfast. The old Central New Jersey Rail Station will soon be home to a new restaurant and boutiques. Spruce Street is booming with new activity---now home to popular Northern Lights Espresso Bar, Martini Grille, Poochie Dog Bakery, New Laundry Clothiers, etc. Scranton, little by little, block by block is starting to breathe again, and I can't wait to be a part of this excitement by moving into Center City in the upcoming years after I graduate from college (my high starting salary from my NYC career, to which I'll commute, should be adequate to land me a cheaper apartment in Jefferson Pointe). Basically, Scranton, also the setting of NBC's "The Office", as well as the scene of an upcoming feature film by Paul & Mira Sorvino, is starting to take off, and real estate values have correspondingly shot up over the past five years.
Why am I yammering on so much about Scranton on the Binghamton thread? Well, Bingo is just an hour away from Scranton; we're practically sister cities. Scranton's advantages of being so close to NYC, having two downtown colleges, (with a third on the way by 2009), Wall Street West, and having a larger population have helped it to outperform nearby Binghamton, Elmira, and Wilkes-Barre in their respective quests for revitalization. Nevertheless, I think all of the "Rust-Belt" cities in Upstate NY and PA will bounce back in the upcoming years as the middle-class is continually being priced out of NYC, CT, and NJ. We've already seen this happening here---The Poconos are now so full of NYC/NJ transplants that they're starting to look into Scranton/Wilkes-Barre for relocation (some, like me, still plan to commute daily to Manhattan!) In time, Binghamton will bounce back as well. I've been to the city before, and I'll concur that it's far behind Scranton in just about every aspect (which isn't exactly the status you'd want for your hometown considering Scranton's already lackluster reputation to outsiders). Nevertheless, Binghamton has a lot of great history and an attractive setting that should help it to bounce back rather easily. The low cost-of-living, minor-league sports, and low crime rates in Binghamton are also strong marketing points---perhaps not as strong as Scranton's claim to being so close to NYC and Philly, but still more than adequate to help Binghamton bounce back from Depression.
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Binghamton deserves a closer look
Many people have the same negative, pitiful, distressed attitudes about my native Scranton, PA, about an hour south of Binghamton via I-81. Nevertheless, there has been a tremendous push lately to reinvest in Scranton, with various new projects on the city's horizon that are helping to transform it from a 9-5 gritty industrial city to a 24/7 regional metropolis of nightlife and housing. The "Lofts @ The Mill", an old industrial complex overlooking Nay Aug Park that has been converted into loft housing, is at nearly 100% occupancy. "St. Peter's Square", on the northern fringes of Center City, recently opened its first phase with a new boutique and a new restaurant---loft housing and more shops and eateries are on the horizon for next year. "Jefferson Pointe" is an upcoming high-rise of luxury apartments, between the Scranton Radisson and the Scranton Hilton hotels, that I hope to move to someday. 
Nevertheless, Binghamton has a lot of great history and an attractive setting that should help it to bounce back rather easily. The low cost-of-living, minor-league sports, and low crime rates in Binghamton are also strong marketing points---perhaps not as strong as Scranton's claim to being so close to NYC and Philly, but still more than adequate to help Binghamton bounce back from Depression. 
