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Sorry I can't answer you directly. I've only been through the city once. Struck me as quite mixed. Some gorgeous stately areas, some run-down areas, some well-preserved old downtown sections, some not-so-well preserved downtown sections, a lot of old factories, most of which are kaput, some of which are wisely used for other purposes, some nice parks. Elmira College campus is certainly very beautiful. Certainly a much more interesting place than most places these days--clearly a lot of texture and character. I'd take it over Charlotte, NC or anyplace that's supposedly "developing fast," but that's me.
There have been some more specific past postings about Elmira on this forum. Have you looked back over older pages?
Use to travel through it quite often many years ago. I saw the decline as the factories closed and blue collar jobs left (mostly a blue collar town). The city is not totally dead yet, but most of the retail has moved to the burbs (Big Flats). The tax base has eroded due to the population decline and the factory closings. Crime is not rampant, but there are certai areas that should probably be avoided, especially at night. As homeward mentioned, there are still some beautiful old homes to be had, and at a reasonable price. I've heard recently that the minor league hockey team has been having issues drawing fans to the games (which are downtown). I'll admit I'm not the biggest fan of Elmira. Kind of a rival city of Ithaca, and while Ithaca isn't exactly booming, it's years ahead of Elmira at this point.
My father grew up there. I visited it every year growing up. Elmira made me feel cut off from civilization. No good radio stations. No large suburban areas. Just hills and a city where not much changes. While I was there I felt lonely and this made me appreciate where I live upon arriving home.
I find the Southern Tier of New York rather depressing. The North Country is rural, but less depressing IMO. My favorite area of Upstate is the 4 big metropolitan areas along the Thruway corridor.
My father grew up there. I visited it every year growing up. Elmira made me feel cut off from civilization. No good radio stations. No large suburban areas. Just hills and a city where not much changes. While I was there I felt lonely and this made me appreciate where I live upon arriving home.
I find the Southern Tier of New York rather depressing. The North Country is rural, but less depressing IMO. My favorite area of Upstate is the 4 big metropolitan areas along the Thruway corridor.
Scranton was the same way as recently as the mid-1990s. Now, a recent renaissance has taken hold of the city (helped partially by Scranton's notoriety from "The Office", as well as from NYC investors), and little by little, block by block, the Electric City is coming back to life. An old mill is now home to dozens of upscale loft apartments overlooking Nay Aug Park. Two new Starbucks are slated for the city. Today the planning commission approved a new commerce park on the edge of downtown that's supposed to bring in 1,000-1,500 high-tech jobs. The Hill Section is bouncing back as some suburbanites are pouring in and rehabbing the stately older homes for their new, more convenient residences. Scranton is even going to be the setting of a recently-announced feature-film directed by Mia Sorvino!
If Scranton could go from "dead" to "upswing" in just ten years, then I'm sure Elmira and Binghamton could do the same. I've been to both cities, and both of them do have so much potential and so much history, yet they still lag far behind Scranton in economic recovery for some reason (perhaps because they're just a tad too far cut off from NYC?) Don't worry; if it can happen in Scranton, the laughing-stock of NJ, then I'm sure Binghamton/Elmira will bounce back just as well in the upcoming years! Scranton is "Restoring the Pride"; Perhaps Binghamton could be "Boomin' Bingo?"
I heard about this place a week ago because it was on CNN as maybe one of the few places that had actually had a big increase in condo prices... I seem to recall maybe 9% in the last year or something? it was on money.cnn.com somewhere
As far as traffic goes the only problem you should have is with is with Rt. 17/I-86. Construction is always a mess when I travel that way.
From:Wikipedia:
"NY 17 is gradually being re-signed as Interstate 86 as part of an upgrade to the route, replacing at-grade intersections and bringing the road up to Interstate standards. North and west of Harriman, at its intersection with Interstate 87 and U.S. Route 6, NY 17 is informally known as the "Quickway," connecting the New York City metropolitan area with the Southern Tier and Pennsylvania. It is named the "Southern Tier Expressway" to Interstate 81, where it becomes the Quickway"
Be sure to look out for garbage haulers in this area with trash from NYC in dump trailers flying to landfills in other parts of the state.
Like somebody mentioned look into HorseHead, Big Flats or even Corning. Big Flats and Horse Heads seem to be growing. You always hear about new businesses opening up. They are all pretty close to each other
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