Potential for Buf/Roc/Syr to be ruined?

[Sgoldie]

Minneapolis is also a lot colder than Syracuse. It doesn't snow here either when it's below zero. The snow will indeed keep some people out. I get twice as much as Syr 40 miles away but statistics are geared towards cities of a certain size. We find things to do inside, reading for one.

We have as much coastline as Mass, maybe more. It's not salt water, but it is navigable and swimmable, and drinkable (upstate anyway). The idea of sportsmen will keep some out too. Not unusual for people to rely on hunting for food (outside the biggest cities).

There are many open jobs for nurses and engineers in Syr, don't know about the other places. The tax situation is being addressed and has been going down. What we need is more diversity in the business balance. More risktakers, more creatives.

True, it's not for everyone. I'd even venture to say you need to be hearty to live here. I've been all over the lower 48. There is more variety in the landscape, more green, more water (of all types), more mtns in combination than any other I've seen. People who want things easy aren't always the greatest asset.

[homeward bound]

I spent hours and hours today meeting with fellow college faculty. I often talk to my Urban Planning & Design, Sociologist, and Historian friends.

And I have to tell you, this forum gets more ground covered more thoughtfully and more clearly put than all the academic "stuff" I have to sit through or pester to get a clear answer to a clear question.

I hope you don't feel patronized by this compliment--it's sincere. This is a tremendously thoughtful, and often inspiringly good-willed, set of people and conversations.

My own two-cents on the might-get-spoiled issue is, If you've experienced the area with an open-mind and a healthy set of values, then it really takes hold of you and draws you in. We're pulling up 23 years of Virginia roots to move back ASAP. Having finally been able to ask ourselves, "This is everything we've been searching for ever since--why not go back to it?," it's hard for us to believe that people would not want to flock there.

But the area's appeal will always involve a relative minority of people. The flashy, new, "growing," trendy areas will always attract most of the more-mobile people in the country/economy.

So, to me, it's jobs, especially good-paying jobs with a clear future, and believing that these jobs are reliable, that a future is reliable, that is the real key to how many people discover or re-discover upstate.

As is the control of crime. That can not only keep people from the whole area, but drive them to the suburbs alone, starving the cities, risking worsened sprawl (except where the zoning is wise & strict).

Linking the state's spectacular college/university system to job-generation is, I think, especially crucial here. I don't see any other possible long-running engine of economic development coming forth. Here in Appalachia, for example, the best high-tech jobs (and subsequent development) are clustered around and partly driven by the universities. NY state really must do the same with the terrific SUNY system to turn the tide on the loss of good jobs. At the very least, this would keep a good percentage of the talent that SUNY pumps into the national economy within NY state. Down here, I've met hundreds of SUNY graduates who would have loved to have stayed in NY state, and even in their college's town/area, if there were good jobs for them right there. SUNY and businesses have to work together closely. Why let your most enthusiastic and probably creative (and entry-level pay-scale!) engineers, biologists, researchers, etc., take their state-subsidized SUNY education to the Carolinas or elsewhere with them when many of them even *want* to stay in NY state?

I don't think the weather is a huge factor--jobs, and job-security, and job-quality, matter a lot more. More people would tolerate the weather if their hunt for a good job brings them to NY state than will find out about how great the area is on their own.

But even then, as others have said, the area can certainly absorb a good steady population growth. And there's so much expanse and variety of natural beauty and unspoiled towns far from suburban sprawl, that I can't imagine the state seriously threatened by more than localized spoiling.

Reducing property taxes, even incrementally if steadily, is crucial too. My prop. taxes in SW Virginia are pretty moderate, but what I see from this forum is that high prop. taxes feel almost like a violation on your home and of you as a home-owner. "I'm rooted here, doing my best, I care about these four walls, they're my refuge--and you're slamming me for it?"

So a magic formula would be to reverse job-loss and use the tax revenue generated by that reversal to steadily reduce property taxes, while also getting tougher on violent crime. With globalization relentlessly sapping our manufacturing jobs, I don't see any large-scale force to do this other than a serious partnership of SUNY and high-tech businesses.

[mama_tucker]

Originally Posted by Phish Head

I personally doubt it. The main reason is the climate. I am moving to Syracuse in the early summer. Everyone is telling me I'm crazy. The snow, the lack of jobs if I lose this job, the grey skies, etc. When I almost moved to Virginia, everyone thought it was a good idea, and they were also considering a move south.

Everyone I know here in NJ is looking to get out. Its impossible for the average person starting out to afford a tiny, old starter home at $400k. That $400k can get you a McMansion in Syracuse or Rochester. I'm sure you've read the posts about prices here, but it's true: NJ is for the upper crust and the poor.

Funny you should say that about NJ...we live in Southern NJ (Cumberland County/ Millville area) and are once again revisiting the idea of moving to Rochester. In October 2005, we had agreed to rent a place and when we were ready to sign the lease, a family emergency came up. It has come and gone, and we are once again wanting to move to Rochester. But, that's for another thread...

The double wide next to us sold a year ago for $126,000. No, that's not a brand new one, that is one that was trucked in. Our home that we rent was assessed for over $172,000. It's a small (less than 1,200 sq ft) home with 3 bd, 2 bath...we are paying someone else's mortgage and even here in Cumberland County we cannot afford to purchase anything. We love the area in Rochester, the neighborhoods (we want to live in the city) and most everything about it. We are looking at June at the earliest, August at the latest--me, the hubby (who is taking the police test in July), my 17 and 12 year old sons and my 15 and 1 year old daughters.

I'll meet ya up there!