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All of the suburbs are nice places. The land to the north is flatter, the land to the east, south, and west has more hills and is more scenic, but the hills can be tougher in the winter to drive on. The city itself, like many in the N.E. suffers from some urban blight. The areas directly north of the city--Cicero, Clay, etc. are very fast growing with a lot of new development, while places like Tully, Otisco, Marcellus, Pompey retain a rural atmosphere. In Onondaga County there is something for everybody, whether you want city living, a small town, or a rural existence.
Check out the Wikipedia entry for Onondaga County--it has a lot of info. about the suburbs of Syracuse.
Last edited by paulscott; 08-15-2006 at 09:09 PM..
Wow! I have the same question. What about Geddess, New york? What's that like? We are thinking of looking at houses there. We are in our late 50's and want to live there, not rent to students.
What I found is that real estate lists houses as "Fairmount" or "Camillus" when in fact it is in Geddes. Can't Geddes stand on it's own? I feel we are being swayed with the Fairmount or Camillus name and the agents are trying to blind sight us into thinking we're in either of these two areas and we're not. What's wrong with Geddess that it can't stand on it's own? Does anyone know anything about it? Thanks a great deal!!
Geddes is the first township that you come to west of Syracuse, Camillus is the next. Fairmount is really just a crossroads. A home in the Fairmount area could in reality be in either township. But there is no way that a home in Camillus could be in Geddes. At any rate, both of the towns have areas with very nice houses.
I lived on Onondoga Hill for some years and found it to be one of the most beautiful places I had ever lived! If you must live n the snow belt in that area, that is one of the most convienent, safest places to live. The School district is great too...but avoid the hill that takes you down to the city if you can, use the interstate instead, cause you will go through the ghetto down there. We once had rotten fruit thrown at our car on a sunday am drive when we got lost, but hey it could of been bullets too...stay out of the southside area at all times and the city is ok during the day hours only. Best of luck to you!
What I found is that real estate lists houses as "Fairmount" or "Camillus" when in fact it is in Geddes. Can't Geddes stand on it's own? I feel we are being swayed with the Fairmount or Camillus name and the agents are trying to blind sight us into thinking we're in either of these two areas and we're not. What's wrong with Geddess that it can't stand on it's own? Does anyone know anything about it? Thanks a great deal!!
Geddes is a town, which in New York is a political subdivision of a county. Geddes has no post office or zip code, so it's not odd that you won't see it listed as where people actually live. Most of the Town of Geddes is either part of the Village of Solvay (villages in NY are subdivisions of towns) or the portion called Westvale (not a village). Fairmount is actually a section of the Town of Camillus adjacent to Westvale. But the geography, like anywhere, is easy to get confused. I notice a lot of the locals that grew up here (I grew up in CA) get mixed up about town boundaries until they pay taxes to them.
But back to your original question ... Syracuse is a classic "medium-sized" city. It's big enough to have lots of cool cultural things like a symphony, ballet company, professional stage company, etc. But small enough that almost everyone seems to know everyone. I grew up in LA and find this a nice compromise.
Don't let the locals fool you. The City of Syracuse, where I happen to live, has some very nice "suburban-style" neighborhoods too. But yes, the city school district struggles and many city parents opt out by sending their kids to the excellent private schools here (Catholic and non-sectarian). The crime in the city is relative to the size of the city and the typical city problems. It doesn't bother me, because I'm used to much higher crime then this.
Anywhere in Onondaga County is a decent commute into the City of Syracuse. You'll find it gets very flat north of the city (all the way to Lake Ontario) and since a lot of that land is former swampland or muck farming land (think potatos or onions), its cheap land for building big housing projects. Thus, the northern suburbs are arguably the least "cultured" suburbs we have. It's sort of typical suburban sprawl. No offense to people that love that sort of thing.
The western and eastern suburbs are relatively hilly, but not excessively so and the housing tends to be a little pricier than the northern suburbs. The western suburbs (like Camillus or Fairmount) are more middle-middle class then the northern suburbs I'd say. The eastern suburbs tend to be the tonier, upper-middle class areas, like Manlius, Fayetteville and DeWitt. They tend to have more of the doctors, lawyers, professors, etc. So, the housing out that way is pricier and the public schools are considered better. It's also arguably a prettier area (many woods and streams around, for example).
The southern suburbs like Tully and LaFayette (not to be confused as someone did here with the southside of the City of Syracuse) are VERY hilly and very agricultural still and thus, very sparsely populated. On rougher winter days, that's a tough place to drive, but some of the high hilltops are getting very expensive homes that value the great views (some of the entire metro area) and surrounding bucolic surroundings. Mostly dairy farms down that way.
Onondaga Hill is southeast of the City of Syracuse, up a very steep hill (which is a very nasty winter drive sometimes), but its close to the city and yet very country (more dairy farms).
I think honestly, figure out how you'll be spending most of your time (hiking? going to plays or museums? dining? sitting at home watching TV?) and locate based on that. Its largely a buyers market at the moment, so you should be able to find a good place in your price bracket located more or less where you'd prefer to live. And 99% of Onondaga County is pretty nice, I'd say, including some neighborhoods in the City of Syracuse.
This message is several months out from Golden Oakley's original question on Geddess, outside Syracuse. I grew up in areas around Syracuse. It is very "town" oriented. I now live in Atlanta, and Georgia is very heavily "county" oriented. In Syracuse, we were in Onondaga county, but elections, taxes, etc. seemed to be discussed from the Town of Van Buren or Town of Gedess viewpoint. There are so many all in Onondaga county! Fayetteville and Camillus are the village names, Geddess the town.
I left just after voting age, and neither have I had the pleasure of paying those high property taxes, but my family still talks about everything in terms of town name. I can't really explain why...since I didn't pay much attention as a kid!
One small point... Syracuse really doesn't have "southern suburbs". The Onondaga Nation Indian Reservation is located just south of the city limits. It stopped any suburbs from forming toward the south. In addition the hilly terrain makes it much harder to develop etc. This is why IF you come from the south on Interstate 81 you see no development until you are in the city.
Haven't tried to build on muck land have you? It's way too valuable to build on, those millionaire onion farmers aren't going to let it go for that. And, if you park a tractor on muck, it sinks in like quicksand within a few days. Most of these are in Oswego County anyway.
It is flatter north of Syracuse in the suburbs, and almost nearly to Lake Ontario. But, Oswego is very hilly. We also have an opera company. Not bad for a city of 18,000.
The northern suburbs of Syracuse are undergoing growth right now as well as being one of the most affordable areas adjacent to the city. There's a whole bunch of new stores and restaurants lining Rt 31 and the area is laid out very nicely. I won't comment on the culture remark north of the city other than to say it's incorrect. Not as established as some of the other neighborhoods mentioned but a great opportunity just the same.
In Syracuse, between the reservation and the southern part of downtown is the area you need to be careful of. Some beautiful, big old houses that are now falling down, and crime ridden.
I lived in Liverpool and loved it. There are a lot of apartments available. I was in a very nice complex right off of I-690/John Glenn Boulevard, Grenadier Village. It was only a 15-20 minute commute to Downtown Syracuse. I loved it, but due to my job had to move. I would move back there in a heartbeat!
Hopefully Syracuse's economy will turn around soon and all those who want to move back will have the opportunity to do so!
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