Are NOT issues here

Anonymous wrote:Sorry for multiple posts but I also wanted to add that I don’t have a single childhood friend that still lives there. Either do my siblings. Everyone moved away.

I'm a PP who said the same. I also find it interesting that everyone is mentioning Ithacs because I'm from a small town and Ithaca was the one place with "good" schools, multiple ethnic food options, an independent film theater and bookstores....it was basically the promised land compared to my town.

Anonymous wrote:Central NY has a lot of poverty and the issues that go with it.

Ithaca is a bubble. There are nice suburbs and pockets. But would I live in truly rural central NY state. Hell no.

I’m a PP who lived there and yes, no one thinks anything of hearing that there was another meth lab or mobile meth lab explosion. A few years ago when we were visiting we saw on the local news how they were going to start using some high schools as distribution for the public so they could get at home over dose kits. I know people from high school and family members who have overdosed. Many. The poverty and issues that come with it are real.

My parents don’t understand how overdosing and meth labs are huge issues with my teen’s friends. They are glad but truly, it’s a different world there.

Definitely if I have a secure job.

Central NY has a lot of poverty and the issues that go with it.

Ithaca is a bubble. There are nice suburbs and pockets. But would I live in truly rural central NY state. Hell no.

Sorry for multiple posts but I also wanted to add that I don’t have a single childhood friend that still lives there. Either do my siblings. Everyone moved away.

Anonymous wrote:Op here - interesting that everyone is talking about Ithaca. I am actually from another finger lake and closer to Rochester (about 45 mins away). Very familiar with Strong Hospital and the University of Rochester.

I had the same reaction. Ithaca is not the Finger Lakes. Ithaca is a college town on the Finger Lakes. I went to Cornell and grew up in a suburb of Rochester. Are you thinking of Canandaigua?

I wouldn’t, honestly. I think it’s a very homogeneous area and pretty small-minded and I wouldn’t want to raise my kids there.

Also, many of the schools are not great there. I still have family there. We complain about ours in NOVA but it’s not as bad as central NY.

I would not do this for any reason, ever. I grew up in that area and spent the first 25 years of my life in the Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, north country area. Yes, summers are beautiful. We like taking our children to visit family. What you don’t realize when you are visiting for short periods of time are the long winters and worse, the nonstop grey skies and rain. Cold and dreary.

It’s a nice escape from DC in the summer but I would never move back. It is so depressing there and I didn’t have nearly the opportunities growing up that my kids do.

Move to the suburbs, we did it and have land. We got different jobs and are no longer in the DC rat race. I like the VA burbs better. Or move away from this area to a different city.

Only if I could live somewhere else in the winter. Not worth it to me.

Op here - interesting that everyone is talking about Ithaca. I am actually from another finger lake and closer to Rochester (about 45 mins away). Very familiar with Strong Hospital and the University of Rochester.

I got a PhD at Cornell. Loved the school and program, hated Ithaca and the entire region up there. Absolute depressing nightmare of a place. I love Nova (not like the best place in the world or anything but lightyears ahead of the finger lakes region). My wife never lived up there but we visited a couple of times and she doesn't like to even stay for a few days. She is from another country and shares some of the concerns you wrote, OP - it's a cultural wasteland and the only diversity is university students and faculty.

With that said, what does it matter what I think? You asked, "Would YOU move to the finger lakes." HEEELLL NO. But it sounds like you would. It's like making a post, "Would YOU listen to rap music," or "Would YOU visit a nude beach?" Doesn't matter what we would do.

I would already be packing.

Anonymous wrote:Not sure, I'm frightened of the Great Seneca Lake Monster.

The legendary sea serpent...or lake sturgeon nobody knows

Not sure, I'm frightened of the Great Seneca Lake Monster.