Are the Amish leaving Lancaster county (Allentown, Reading: crime rate, buy, taxes)

[gregory mutana]

Just wondering I heard some Amish are leaving L.C. Are they? If so where are they going?

Also are illegal immigrants coming to Lancaster?

[karen_s]

From speaking with locals when I go out to the Lancaster area, I have heard from several sources that many of the Amish are leaving. I've been told that this stems from the high birth rate and lack of farmable land. In many places you have Amish farmland surrounded by McMansions and businesses. Basically, if an Amish family has acreage and then has 5 sons to inherit this acreage, there just isn't enough to split, so the boys end up moving elsewhere to farm when they marry and start their own family, or some go into different vocations. The Amish sometimes move west to more rural areas in Ohio/Wisconsin, etc. I really feel for the buggies attempting to navigate around on summer weekends when there is traffic everywhere - yikes!

I don't know anything in reference to the immigration issue, sorry. You may have heard this about Lancaster city, which is drastically different from rural Lancaster county.

[toobusytoday]

When we lived in upstate NY several years ago there was an Amish community that was just starting for the very reasons that Karen mentions. Heck, when an acre of land costs $100,000 one can't afford to farm unless you inherit. There are huge portions of western NY state where land is still reasonably priced and it's beautiful - shorter warm weather seasons but still very nice.

I also don't know about illegal immigrants.

[Marodi]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

When we lived in upstate NY several years ago there was an Amish community that was just starting for the very reasons that Karen mentions. Heck, when an acre of land costs $100,000 one can't afford to farm unless you inherit. There are huge portions of western NY state where land is still reasonably priced and it's beautiful - shorter warm weather seasons but still very nice.

I also don't know about illegal immigrants.

Well, Ohio has a nice sized amish area. Also, the area west of chambersburg seems to be growing with amish. It's not really all that situated for the BosWash growth like lancaster, but has virtually the same climate, and land is relatively cheap. I can't blame them. Especially when they wanted to put a highway through a large amish area in lancaster, luckily for them a good portion of Lancaster economy is based off of the amish.

[Katarina Witt]

Illinois and Indiana have decent sized Amish communities as well.

[geoffs]

I recently stopped at a fast food restaurant in Pulaski, NY, about 30 miles north of Syracuse and there were several horse carriages tied up outside! I spoke to one of the counter employees and she said so many had moved into the area they installed hitching posts and spaces in the parking lot for them! During my visit there I also noticed several other stores had the hitching posts too so there must be enough Amish there if the stores are setting up special parking for them.

[susquehannock]

Originally Posted by gregory mutana

Just wondering I heard some Amish are leaving L.C. Are they? If so where are they going?

Also are illegal immigrants coming to Lancaster?

I have a good friend who lives in Lancaster and we keep in contact. According to what this person tells me...Yes, the illegals are moving in in droves and the Amish are being pushed out. The crime rate is also rising from drugs coming in from Philly.

[lititzman2003]

Originally Posted by susquehannock

I have a good friend who lives in Lancaster and we keep in contact. According to what this person tells me...Yes, the illegals are moving in in droves and the Amish are being pushed out. The crime rate is also rising from drugs coming in from Philly.

The drugs are also coming in from Reading as well.

[Marodi]

Originally Posted by lititzman2003

The drugs are also coming in from Reading as well.

I think reading is more of an influence than philly. Reading is the rest stop since it's within an easy drive of all the major metro's.

[Icy Tea]

Reading and Lancaster and Allentown are where the drugs and criminals are coming in from from NYC and Philly. And the spanish are puerto ricans who are not illegals, the mexicans are the illegals(possibly). I do see mexicans( more and more) but you can tell the difference.
And the amish are being forced out by land prices and taxes, not by crime from illegals. In Berks farms are being sold to developers, crime has nothing to do with it. Reading is crime ridden, the rest of the surrounding county isn't. You can sell your land to a developer for a million or two and buy land out in the midwest for much less.