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I'm in Syracuse this week for the first time. It seems like a very laid back city. I noticed that many off the people are very friendly and have manners. My visit downtown I took in many off the veiws of Genesee, James and Salina St. Many of the buildings are really really old yet clean. I keep thinking Syracuse must not like tearing down old buildings like most cities.the streets were in great condition, nothing like the destroyed streets of Jackson MS, another smalller city I recently visited. I used Centro bus system as well, I didn't like the schedule, I had to walk a few miles to locate an active busstop from the Airport hotel I was near. The buses are pretty clean to, almost an unused clean to them. I also noticed many biracial couples around the city. Something I don't see a lot back home in Atlanta GA. It not much to do in Syracuse, if you don't have family and friends. You really have to dig around, I was with family so didn't visit any attractions and such. I do appreciate the humbleness and laidback vibe of the people while I was in the streets, I never once felt uncomfy while walking the streets. Speaking of which, where are the sidewalks??? Many of the suburban areas have no where to walk, you are forced to walk in peoples yards. Walking in folks yards is not good, luckily there was a beaten path were the grass doesn't grow do to so many walking these non walkable streets. I don't know if its a city I would ever visit again for recreation. Family would be the main and only reason. Its a family friendly city, I was very mpressed with the nightlife of N Salina St, but its not that type of place.
I'm in Syracuse this week for the first time. It seems like a very laid back city. I noticed that many off the people are very friendly and have manners. My visit downtown I took in many off the veiws of Genesee, James and Salina St. Many of the buildings are really really old yet clean. I keep thinking Syracuse must not like tearing down old buildings like most cities.the streets were in great condition, nothing like the destroyed streets of Jackson MS, another smalller city I recently visited. I used Centro bus system as well, I didn't like the schedule, I had to walk a few miles to locate an active busstop from the Airport hotel I was near. The buses are pretty clean to, almost an unused clean to them. I also noticed many biracial couples around the city. Something I don't see a lot back home in Atlanta GA. It not much to do in Syracuse, if you don't have family and friends. You really have to dig around, I was with family so didn't visit any attractions and such. I do appreciate the humbleness and laidback vibe of the people while I was in the streets, I never once felt uncomfy while walking the streets. Speaking of which, where are the sidewalks??? Many of the suburban areas have no where to walk, you are forced to walk in peoples yards. Walking in folks yards is not good, luckily there was a beaten path were the grass doesn't grow do to so many walking these non walkable streets. I don't know if its a city I would ever visit again for recreation. Family would be the main and only reason. Its a family friendly city, I was very mpressed with the nightlife of N Salina St, but its not that type of place.
The villages and select suburban areas outside of the city have sidewalks.
For recreation, there are plenty of parks in the area that you and your family could have possibly enjoyed.
Like any city, some areas are fine and some aren't as nice.
There are quite a few events and festivals that are going on throughout the year, including this weekend.
I'm in Syracuse this week for the first time. It seems like a very laid back city. I noticed that many off the people are very friendly and have manners. My visit downtown I took in many off the veiws of Genesee, James and Salina St. Many of the buildings are really really old yet clean. I keep thinking Syracuse must not like tearing down old buildings like most cities.the streets were in great condition, nothing like the destroyed streets of Jackson MS, another smalller city I recently visited. I used Centro bus system as well, I didn't like the schedule, I had to walk a few miles to locate an active busstop from the Airport hotel I was near. The buses are pretty clean to, almost an unused clean to them. I also noticed many biracial couples around the city. Something I don't see a lot back home in Atlanta GA. It not much to do in Syracuse, if you don't have family and friends. You really have to dig around, I was with family so didn't visit any attractions and such. I do appreciate the humbleness and laidback vibe of the people while I was in the streets, I never once felt uncomfy while walking the streets. Speaking of which, where are the sidewalks??? Many of the suburban areas have no where to walk, you are forced to walk in peoples yards. Walking in folks yards is not good, luckily there was a beaten path were the grass doesn't grow do to so many walking these non walkable streets. I don't know if its a city I would ever visit again for recreation. Family would be the main and only reason. Its a family friendly city, I was very mpressed with the nightlife of N Salina St, but its not that type of place.
I guess when I was there the first time myself, for about 5 days less than a month ago, maybe I overlooked a few things.
I didn't notice the lack of sidewalks in the city--where I currently live ( Portland, OR ) many of our streets don't have sidewalks either, and that could be a good thing because most of our urban streets are very, very narrow as it is ( try driving down one of these streets when another vehicle is driving towards you--and not having a parking spot open to pull over to let the other driver by ) so a lack of sidewalks in the city could be a good thing, or a bad thing; all depending on how you look at it.
The one thing I noticed that Syracuse lacks ( and I told NorthStar Delight--a C-D user I met there who's also considering moving there soon from Atlanta ) is that they don't have a turn lane down the entire length of every street--every city I've been to, I think, unless its a residential street, all streets have a turn lane that separates both oncoming lanes of traffic, so when someone needs to turn, they simply turn into that lane so as not to impede traffic behind them. There are a few very busy streets here in Portland that don't have that, but its because of very wide bike lanes on the shoulders the city has set up; therefore no space for the turn lanes on a very busy street ( like S.E. Hawthorne Blvd. )
I did see a few turn lanes there, but it is was usually just to turn into a shopping center, or a few hotels, etc, but that was about it. Still, I was amazed that it didn't hold traffic up in Syracuse, its like you just stop and wait for the car in front of you to make its turn--nobody honks at them, and the traffic didn't back up.
Speaking of turn lanes, one other thing I noticed ( and I would call myself the "turn signal police"--if a vehicle in front of, or behind me doesn't use their signal, I usually spot it, ) is that so many folks around Syracuse did ( that you don't see often around Portland ) are that folks there tend to use their turn signal, with almost every turn or lane change they made--here, that is a rarity.
Yes, IMO, the folks in Syracuse were very, very friendly! People here on the west coast say that east coast folks are rude and cold, and I call B.S. on that. There were several people I met ( mostly in stores or at the Westcott farmers market I stopped at ) where i told them where I was visiting from, and had questions about the immediate area, and they were more than willing, to assist me.
Yes, the downtown buildings in Syracuse are very old, but IMO, there is charm to that--I myself, enjoy both a mixture of newer architecture and older architecture in cities. The downtown area ( even though I didn't spend a great deal of time there myself ) was cleaner than I would have thought as well, and though it isn't one of the cleanest cities I've been to, for a city that is as old as it is, the part of downtown I spent the most time around ( near Clinton Square I think it was--close to the Erie Canal Museum and Clinton Exchange ) was not only clean, but very quiet too ( and I was there roughly from around 4-5'ish pm on the Fri before I had to fly back home that following Monday. )
I had a rental so I didn't get to use Centro, but for a mid-size city, you can't expect they're going to have an excellent mass transit system. Try using the transit system in Las Vegas--now that is horrible!
I didn't particularly pay attention to biracial couples in the city, but it wouldn't surprise me that it might be more than Portland too. Though it is getting better, Portland used to pride itself on being "the whitest city", so that should tell you something there, but I'm a very open-minded person, and if I did recall seeing a lot of biracial couples there, I wouldn't have thought an instant about it.
I'm not too much into nightlife of different locations, so I didn't check that out while i was there.
However, even thinking about my visit again 3 weeks after I returned--if my employer had an open spot there, and an afternoon/grave yard shift I could work, I'd be asking to go there so unbelievably fast! I really miss the lack of traffic, and in most cases, how cheap food is there compared to here, not to mention the differences in cost when talking about buying/renting even a nicer, newer home / apartment there, compared to here
When I was there to check the city out the end of last month, I don't have any friends or family there myself, but in the 5 days I spent there, I had to skip on a lot of places/events I wanted to check out, and in Oregon here, I have so many forms of recreational activities almost at my doorstep; yet my visit was more work-related, so I tried to check out areas that a resident would most likely visit ( except Cooperstown which I *had* to see! )
In the reply post from ckh after yours, I think ckh has it right--every city has its blights and its good points. I think its what you make of them, no matter where you go.
Last edited by skylar0201; 09-20-2015 at 08:16 PM..
When I worked at a large industrial complex in Baldwinsville 2nd shift was day shift as well. Never saw that designation anywhere else.
Thanks--I'm glad I'm not the only one to stumble into a surprise like that.
Yeah, I couldn't believe it--here when the manager told me on the phone before I traveled out there, that their shifts were 2nd shift ( and they advertise it online our our company employee portal as "2nd shift" ) she was surprised that I was surprised that it was day shift hours; which to me was odd, considering the line of work I'm in, we pick up the specimens when places close for the day--but there, they pick them up when clients are still open, and whatever is drawn afterwards, is either FedEx'd that evening, or waits till the next morning :-/
So, I just told her unless I find another city I'd be interested in, I'll look for 1st shift ( graveyard ) or 3rd shift ( swing shift ) if they have any future openings. She did tell me that their one graveyard driver has been there for years, and he loves his shift, so he isn't go anywhere, and they didn't know if/when they'd ever open a swing shift, but a lot of it could hinge on if a regional lab opens in Utica instead of all the labs being flown, and processed at the main lab in Raritan, NJ....
I'm still considering Utica as well ( just because of its proximity to Syracuse ) but its harder to find info about the city itself. I did find out that Utica has twice as many drivers within my company, as Syracuse, which is weird since its smaller than Syracuse, and they do have round-the-clock coverage there, as does Albany, and another city--Kingston ( about 90 min north of NYC ) will have a swing shift opening in October when one driver retires....
I didn't find out about the whole 2nd shift=day shift thing, until the day I flew back, which made for a long flight, so I didn't get to check out Utica, Albany or Kingston, that I wish I would have, knowing what happened the last day I was in town....
Thanks--I'm glad I'm not the only one to stumble into a surprise like that.
Yeah, I couldn't believe it--here when the manager told me on the phone before I traveled out there, that their shifts were 2nd shift ( and they advertise it online our our company employee portal as "2nd shift" ) she was surprised that I was surprised that it was day shift hours; which to me was odd, considering the line of work I'm in, we pick up the specimens when places close for the day--but there, they pick them up when clients are still open, and whatever is drawn afterwards, is either FedEx'd that evening, or waits till the next morning :-/
So, I just told her unless I find another city I'd be interested in, I'll look for 1st shift ( graveyard ) or 3rd shift ( swing shift ) if they have any future openings. She did tell me that their one graveyard driver has been there for years, and he loves his shift, so he isn't go anywhere, and they didn't know if/when they'd ever open a swing shift, but a lot of it could hinge on if a regional lab opens in Utica instead of all the labs being flown, and processed at the main lab in Raritan, NJ....
I'm still considering Utica as well ( just because of its proximity to Syracuse ) but its harder to find info about the city itself. I did find out that Utica has twice as many drivers within my company, as Syracuse, which is weird since its smaller than Syracuse, and they do have round-the-clock coverage there, as does Albany, and another city--Kingston ( about 90 min north of NYC ) will have a swing shift opening in October when one driver retires....
I didn't find out about the whole 2nd shift=day shift thing, until the day I flew back, which made for a long flight, so I didn't get to check out Utica, Albany or Kingston, that I wish I would have, knowing what happened the last day I was in town....
Rome is west of Utica and Clinton is SW of Utica. I'm not sure, but there may be some smaller communities in between Syracuse and Utica that you may be interested in as well.
Rome is west of Utica and Clinton is SW of Utica. I'm not sure, but there may be some smaller communities in between Syracuse and Utica that you may be interested in as well.
Thanks ckh! I really like Baggs Square from what I've read about that, and interesting that Rome is larger in size than Utica--I thought it would have been the other way around.
Clinton looks like a very attractive village as well I like that it has a New England "flair" to it, like Cooperstown did when I was there ( and like I've seen in so many photos of New England small towns ), and if I went to visit this area, staying at the Arbor Inn at Griffin House would be a must at least for one night
Do you know which similarities the Utica/Rome surrounding area would have to Syracuse ( based on what you know between the two areas? )
[quote=skylar0201;41349300]Thanks ckh! I really like Baggs Square from what I've read about that, and interesting that Rome is larger in size than Utica--I thought it would have been the other way around.
Clinton looks like a very attractive village as well I like that it has a New England "flair" to it, like Cooperstown did when I was there ( and like I've seen in so many photos of New England small towns ), and if I went to visit this area, staying at the Arbor Inn at Griffin House would be a must at least for one night
Do you know which similarities the Utica/Rome surrounding area would have to Syracuse ( based on what you know between the two areas? )[/quote]
To be honest, many, if not most Upstate NY areas are more similar than different. With that said, Utica-Rome comes off as a little more blue collar than Syracuse and it is a smaller metro(about 300,000). Utica-Rome is closer to the Adirondacks though.
I think that you may also like South Utica around the Utica Zoo/Roscoe Conkling Park and the area of Genesee Street around the Uptown Theater, St. Elizabeth Hospital, etc. into the village of New Hartford. I'm referring to the area south of Burrstone Road/Memorial Parkway and it is a very walkable, generally middle class area as well. https://www.google.com/maps/@43.0728...8i6656!6m1!1e1
Thanks ckh! I really like Baggs Square from what I've read about that, and interesting that Rome is larger in size than Utica--I thought it would have been the other way around.
Clinton looks like a very attractive village as well I like that it has a New England "flair" to it, like Cooperstown did when I was there ( and like I've seen in so many photos of New England small towns ), and if I went to visit this area, staying at the Arbor Inn at Griffin House would be a must at least for one night
Do you know which similarities the Utica/Rome surrounding area would have to Syracuse ( based on what you know between the two areas? )[/quote]
To be honest, many, if not most Upstate NY areas are more similar than different. With that said, Utica-Rome comes off as a little more blue collar than Syracuse and it is a smaller metro(about 300,000). Utica-Rome is closer to the Adirondacks though.
I think that you may also like South Utica around the Utica Zoo/Roscoe Conkling Park and the area of Genesee Street around the Uptown Theater, St. Elizabeth Hospital, etc. into the village of New Hartford. I'm referring to the area south of Burrstone Road/Memorial Parkway and it is a very walkable, generally middle class area as well. https://www.google.com/maps/@43.0728...8i6656!6m1!1e1
Interesting street photos here--New Hartford is actually where our office is located, there; however if I were to relocate here, anywhere in the Utica/Rome area would be good as I'd have a company vehicle to get to/from work ( along for personal use ) so distance to our office wouldn't be a big deal as long as I'm not too far away.
Rome looks a little more well-kept than Utica ( from some of these photos ) and New Hartford looks a step above that. Does that area still have the farmers/flea markets that Syracuse has?
Oh, also, is the Fall foliage more present around Utica/Rome than Syracuse too?
Interesting street photos here--New Hartford is actually where our office is located, there; however if I were to relocate here, anywhere in the Utica/Rome area would be good as I'd have a company vehicle to get to/from work ( along for personal use ) so distance to our office wouldn't be a big deal as long as I'm not too far away.
Rome looks a little more well-kept than Utica ( from some of these photos ) and New Hartford looks a step above that. Does that area still have the farmers/flea markets that Syracuse has?
Oh, also, is the Fall foliage more present around Utica/Rome than Syracuse too?
It is an area that's not even an hour away from Syracuse. So, you can find similar outdoor qualities.
New Hartford(village and town) is the most affluent community in the area. Clinton(village)/town of Kirkland and parts of the Whitesboro SD/area are up there as well. There are some apartments in and on the outer edge of the village of New Hartford that may work and much of the big box shopping in the area is on Commercial Drive in the town of New Hartford. There is a pretty extensive shopping plaza in the village of New Hartford as well: Welcome | New Hartford Shopping Center
A quick drive down Genesee Street takes you into Utica, where the Stanley Theater, the Uptown Theatre and the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute are located in that city.
Clinton has Hamilton College and the village has that "New England" look and feel. There's also villages like NY Mills, Yorkville and Whitesboro close by.
I believe a couple of other communities have smaller markets as well.
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I really like Baggs Square from what I've read about that, and interesting that Rome is larger in size than Utica--I thought it would have been the other way around.
