To The Residents of CNY and WNY (New York, Buffalo: sales, insurance)

[WILWRadio]

This is to the residents of CNY and WNY that want leave it and move to "greener pastures". The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence.

I've lived in a variety of various sized cities and towns across the country in ten different states around the country. The worst thing I can say about your part of New York is that the corruption is stifling especially when you want to start a small business. But as far as the quality of life issue goes I've found CNY and WNY are pretty good places to live. If you can reign in your local government and have it act a bit more responsibly then you can probably turn the corner and the region will become a more attractive place to live and do business. Yes, taxes are high but they are also in high in every other northeast state and the upper midwest states excluding New Hampshire.

When I did live in your region the only aspects I was truly disgusted with was the local government. I did find people in general to be cordial or friendly (certainly more pleasant than many places I've lived) and helpful. Crime rates in your cities and towns are much lower than most areas of the country at least according to crime statistics and I don't fully understand when people complain about serious crime problems in the region. Yes, in some of the cities you will see higher than average crime rates but when compared to similarly sized metro markets in other parts of the country, these areas are fairly good.

Obviously many people are seeing that their home state is not as bad as they once thought. I guess this is why so many former residents that have found this Forum have expressed an interest to return to CNY and WNY to live and work.

And to the non natives to the region that are considering a move to CNY and WNY. There are worse places to live. Yes, good paying jobs are harder to come by than most of the southern and western states but the cost of housing and food is also lower than many areas of the country. I've found the cost to live in this area after all expenses are factored in, including taxes, compares favorably to most of the places I've lived. In essence, you can do a lot worse than here.

The bottom line is this. There are good areas and bad areas in any region of the country. Do your homework and find out which communities within the CNY and WNY region offer the quality of life you desire, a job that pays a sufficient amount of money to live and the recreational opportunities that you seek. Just pick a place that does not have a toxic waste dump in your back yard and you'll be fine.

[FedupWNY]

The map below shows the WNY & CNY parts of New York State:

When I did live in your region the only aspects I was truly disgusted with was the local government.

The purple, grayish-blue and orange sections are outlined as 21 seperate counties of WNY & CNY. When you live in our areas, which were you referring to? Because they are all different.

There is important information from this report of "upstate" to share:

But in part because Albany shifts social services costs to the localities, it is not state taxes that give New York its #1 ranking. The Tax Foundation, for example, ranks New York 21st in terms of state corporate tax burden, and 35th in terms of state personal income tax burden (on scales where 1 is best and 50 is worst). New York’s state sales tax rate of 4.25% is below the national median of 5%.

Another something to point out:

Taxes are higher because spending is higher—obviously. Two aspects of government spending Upstate particularly stand out:

1. Upstate local governments have a total of some 93,500 more employees
than they would have if we matched the national average ratio of local government workers to population—an excess of more than 25 percent. This, alone, costs Upstate taxpayers more than $4 billion extra a year.

2. And New York’s Medicaid program costs Upstate taxpayers about $1 billion more a year in state and local taxes than it would if it matched the national average per recipient.

This problem of high spending and high taxes cannot be tackled without action both in Albany and at the local level.

However, as per medicaid, there are a million New Yorker's without medical insurance and here are some medicaid statistics.

Medicaid Quarterly Reports of Beneficiaries, Expenditures, and Units of Service by Category of Service by Aid Category by Region: click here. Medicaid Eligibles and Expenditures by County, click here.

Doing homework on areas (even if you live in them) is a great idea.

[WILWRadio]

I've lived in Orleans County and Erie County. This time around I am looking at an area that seems to be slightly less corrupt at least under the current mayor's administration. Not sure about the county level yet though. Both Erie and Orleans are a mess in that respect.

[just_sayin']

Monroe County isn't too bad as far as corruption....we do however seem to see the effects of the state level corruption more than Erie County does. Just curious, where about did you live in Orleans County? My family used to own a cottage there in "Kuckville", which I believe was technically in Carlton/Waterport.

[FedupWNY]

Originally Posted by WILWRadio

I've lived in Orleans County and Erie County. This time around I am looking at an area that seems to be slightly less corrupt at least under the current mayor's administration. Not sure about the county level yet though. Both Erie and Orleans are a mess in that respect.

I don't know about Orleans but you're right about Erie County, however, it's a pretty negative outlook on the entire "upstate" area of the 21 counties making up the region. I know I mentioned in a different thread, but since this is in the general aspect of conversation, Erie County's budget is made up of 88% state mandates. That being said, it gives us very little room for the services to communities.

Erie County is also a very political, and for most things to get done, you have to play the part of trading off in "You scratch my back" policies.

I wrote in a different thread too that Buffalo, while in Erie County is under a seperate governing that the County doesn't have much say in. And while from the outside Buffalo may look bad because of the County reputation, I really feel my city is rebounding on positive things. Not all is as black & white when it comes to the areas as looking at it from afar, there is vibrence in the people, place & things that the "upstate" region of New York has to offer from all 21 Counties therein.