Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Nevertheless, the no Krispy Kreme is such a pity. Every once in a while I just want my soft, doughy, sugar-covered sugar circles.
And yep, RIT is some crazy wind. It's a wonder that any of us bother going to class at all in the winter.
Rumor has it that the campus design was originally meant for a school in Arizona, so that the wind would be emphasized and help to cool what would likely and quickly turn into a brick oven in Arizona. Then somehow we got the design. Fortunately, there are some tunnels and an overpass to help...unless you're art student. Those building just decided to be cut off for some reason (likely so trucks could pass without causing a collapse).
Haha, but I guess the winters must be extra bad on campus. There were informational posters in the dorms about cabin fever and winter depression. At least it was mild enough that i didn't fall victim.
Oh, and I forgot to complain about black ice. RIT is usually pretty good about keeping the quarter mile clear, but one morning before dawn I discovered my first patch of black--ice in heels no less...>.<
Ah, and I can't really hear the accent at all, lol. So, whoever said Floridians can't tell, might be correct.
And Ontario was great. We went at night and were freezing, but it was still really cool. The funniest part was the the guy from Pakistan seeing waves for the first time and running to and from them. Unfortunately, I wouldn't have been able to punctuate the experience with Abbott's since I'm lactose intolerant.
Last edited by RubyJewelStone; 08-24-2010 at 01:56 PM..
It is similar to say Michigan, but I wouldn't say that it is more like the Midwest besides people in WNY and Michigan say Pop instead of Soda.
I say pop as well, but I don't see how that has much to do with culture. There are still many who say soda.
And excuse me, but what do you call culture? Minnesota has Scandinavians and "Minnesota Nice". South Dakota has rednecks, religious types, and Native Americans. Alaska has the same thing. You could go state by state and pick something that's different but it doesn't mean anything to an introvert. People are mostly the same everywhere, crime is everywhere, taxes are everywhere, but in differing amounts; so why stay here where they are high? That's what I'm saying. I couldn't care less about culture at this point. And if there's some fascinating cultural aspect of Rochester, I've yet to witness it.
As far as scenery goes, it is comparable to the midwest, but it's still not that important. I went to Denver to go skiing and was happy to see the mountains. Eventually that wore off. People who live there barely have time to notice the mountains because they're busy making a living.
Many parts of the US are starting to look the same in terms of chains, sprawl, yadda yadda. There are buildings everywhere. Grass is everywhere. Rocks are everywhere. Oooh, a hill! And water! Amazing!
I say pop as well, but I don't see how that has much to do with culture. There are still many who say soda.
And excuse me, but what do you call culture? Minnesota has Scandinavians and "Minnesota Nice". South Dakota has rednecks, religious types, and Native Americans. Alaska has the same thing. You could go state by state and pick something that's different but it doesn't mean anything to an introvert. People are mostly the same everywhere, crime is everywhere, taxes are everywhere, but in differing amounts; so why stay here where they are high? That's what I'm saying. I couldn't care less about culture at this point. And if there's some fascinating cultural aspect of Rochester, I've yet to witness it.
As far as scenery goes, it is comparable to the midwest, but it's still not that important. I went to Denver to go skiing and was happy to see the mountains. Eventually that wore off. People who live there barely have time to notice the mountains because they're busy making a living.
Many parts of the US are starting to look the same in terms of chains, sprawl, yadda yadda. There are buildings everywhere. Grass is everywhere. Rocks are everywhere. Oooh, a hill! And water! Amazing!
When I talk about culture, I mean everything from pace of life to ethnic demographics. Rochester is more in line with the rest of the northeast in that it has a large Italian and Puetro Rican population. The midwest does not have this in general. You can see the Italian influence in most of the city and even most of the suburbs from slang words used to the food. I also see much more of a religious influence when I travel through the midwest, where here I constantly see people openly mock religion. Socially I see more of a sarcastic and cynical sense of humor among social circles. Just a couple of cultural similarities I see here and all over the northeast that I don't see in the midwest. I could go on.
Plenty of fresh water for folks to recreate.
A drought in NY is a joke, usually, compared with other places.
4 distinct seasons.
Good restaurants in parts of town.
Things for kids to do (Rochester is a pretty good place for families).
More outdoor stuff to do than you can shake a stick at, all over the county and beyond. Too many people in Rochester have never been to places like the Adirondacks, Letchworth, and other nice places in Upstate.
Close enough to a few other cities for getaways, even Buffalo is a cool place to explore, and it's a place with nice people.
The outlying counties are close enough, and commute times are reasonable enough to where folks can live in the surrounding counties.
Great for cross-country skiers, in fact the trails system in Monroe County is second to none.
Great parks in general.
Cons:
Weather's too cruddy for people to enjoy the outdoors for months on end, some years. Winter could be a drag for people who could care less about downhill skiing/consider it too expensive, and the same for snowmobiling.
Sometimes one of the only things to do on a cold, blustery Friday night is to brave the weather and go see a hockey game, if one is sick of being couped up in the house.
A poor job market, most years. The vast majority of jobs created in Rochester in the last 10 years have been "health care" and "education" jobs, in fact the metro is heavily dependent upon heavily subsidized colleges and two universities, now, plus the various health organizations.
Rochester has the highest health costs in the nation.
Rochester has an inordinate number of redundant non-profits which employ an inordinate number of people.
Rochester also has a lot of "idle rich", people who made big bucks through the years in manufacturing, old money, and stockholders who minded their stocks well through the years. The biggest downside to this are an inordinate number of busybodies and shake down artists, many of whom write all too often into the awful excuse Rochester has for a newspaper.
Not much in the way of long-term job prospects for many in the private sector, or even entry-level jobs for folks coming out of school. I was a "non-traditional" student, and already had experience in manufacturing so the latter doesn't apply to me, however long-term didn't look good, either, in fact I'd argue Rochester folks seem perfectly fine with having the same job for years, 'til they get laid off (private-sector folks), are fired, or die prematurely. Not much moving up within a company, in fact not much movement in any direction.
Too much inbreeding in local companies, to include immediate family, in-laws, extended family, step-whatevers, some buddy of theirs from high school or some college, etc., etc., etc. Rochester people love to name-drop and ask weird questions about where people "grew up", etc. Very uncomfortable for productive people who would rather be left alone and stay anonymous.
Rochester still has a reputation for having lots of people with smug attitudes.
Rochester companies, desperate for help in decent/good times, will often times accept any under-educated, inexperienced, unqualified person who happens to fall in the door, since many companies can't get qualified help around town, nor can they convince anyone to move to Rochester, NY. So, one can end up working around woefully unqualified people, or even, in some cases, over-educated but unqualified people. The above about hiring practices applies here, too.
Unions, unions, unions. NY is the only state which has more union folks as a % of the workforce than in 1990. Unions are a huge drag on the economy, and make Rochester less competitive than other similarly-sized metros. Sad, considering all the great people and talent, there. Why a white-collar "professional" needs a union I'll never know. The heavy union influence affects politics, building costs, and property taxes. Union folks are generally "group-think" types who can't see reality beyond the ends of their eyelids.
Taxes. Rochester has the highest property taxes, as a % of home value, than any other metro I'm aware of. This drives middle-income and even higher-income earners away, and keeps others away who might otherwise want to move to the metro. It also hurts businesses, drives businesses away, and discourages companies from investing in the 6 county area. Combine that with state income taxes, plus high fees, taxes on all manner of civil/government transactions, and it can be a very expensive place to live for some folks.
The city. Rochester's downtown is an empty shell, for the most part, and the inept political leadership in the city has neglected downtown for decades. Rochester, like other dying cities, has tried schemes which have only saddled the taxpayers with awful municipal debt (Hyatt (the city put a loan guarantee on it to finish what was Rochester's Ryugyong Hotel), fast ferry, soccer stadium, and now a loan guarantee for an HQ for a company with a poor track record and poor business model, in a tough industry; and the awful disaster High Falls turned out to be). Too many in Rochester are into "flavor of the week" schemes to gloss over the obvious; a dying city, with a stagnant metro that has serious, underlying problems, within a region which has been on the decline for 40+ years.
Roughly half of the rest of the city is a disaster, with neighborhoods that were decent or nice 15 years ago having turned into ghettos. No clear, coherent plan has been developed to deal with these major issues which have caused the city's tax base to erode by $700M in just 20 years. Down here, people desire to live in the city.
Too many school districts and other fiefdoms set up by government.
Too many government workers, law enforcement, and people who desire to work for the government/law enforcement/school districts because they know the union will be able to ensure they have a job.
Plenty of fresh water for folks to recreate.
A drought in NY is a joke, usually, compared with other places.
4 distinct seasons.
Good restaurants in parts of town.
Things for kids to do (Rochester is a pretty good place for families).
More outdoor stuff to do than you can shake a stick at, all over the county and beyond. Too many people in Rochester have never been to places like the Adirondacks, Letchworth, and other nice places in Upstate.
Close enough to a few other cities for getaways, even Buffalo is a cool place to explore, and it's a place with nice people.
The outlying counties are close enough, and commute times are reasonable enough to where folks can live in the surrounding counties.
Great for cross-country skiers, in fact the trails system in Monroe County is second to none.
Great parks in general.
Cons:
Weather's too cruddy for people to enjoy the outdoors for months on end, some years. Winter could be a drag for people who could care less about downhill skiing/consider it too expensive, and the same for snowmobiling.
Sometimes one of the only things to do on a cold, blustery Friday night is to brave the weather and go see a hockey game, if one is sick of being couped up in the house.
A poor job market, most years. The vast majority of jobs created in Rochester in the last 10 years have been "health care" and "education" jobs, in fact the metro is heavily dependent upon heavily subsidized colleges and two universities, now, plus the various health organizations.
Rochester has the highest health costs in the nation.
Rochester has an inordinate number of redundant non-profits which employ an inordinate number of people.
Rochester also has a lot of "idle rich", people who made big bucks through the years in manufacturing, old money, and stockholders who minded their stocks well through the years. The biggest downside to this are an inordinate number of busybodies and shake down artists, many of whom write all too often into the awful excuse Rochester has for a newspaper.
Not much in the way of long-term job prospects for many in the private sector, or even entry-level jobs for folks coming out of school. I was a "non-traditional" student, and already had experience in manufacturing so the latter doesn't apply to me, however long-term didn't look good, either, in fact I'd argue Rochester folks seem perfectly fine with having the same job for years, 'til they get laid off (private-sector folks), are fired, or die prematurely. Not much moving up within a company, in fact not much movement in any direction.
Too much inbreeding in local companies, to include immediate family, in-laws, extended family, step-whatevers, some buddy of theirs from high school or some college, etc., etc., etc. Rochester people love to name-drop and ask weird questions about where people "grew up", etc. Very uncomfortable for productive people who would rather be left alone and stay anonymous.
Rochester still has a reputation for having lots of people with smug attitudes.
Rochester companies, desperate for help in decent/good times, will often times accept any under-educated, inexperienced, unqualified person who happens to fall in the door, since many companies can't get qualified help around town, nor can they convince anyone to move to Rochester, NY. So, one can end up working around woefully unqualified people, or even, in some cases, over-educated but unqualified people. The above about hiring practices applies here, too.
Unions, unions, unions. NY is the only state which has more union folks as a % of the workforce than in 1990. Unions are a huge drag on the economy, and make Rochester less competitive than other similarly-sized metros. Sad, considering all the great people and talent, there. Why a white-collar "professional" needs a union I'll never know. The heavy union influence affects politics, building costs, and property taxes. Union folks are generally "group-think" types who can't see reality beyond the ends of their eyelids.
Taxes. Rochester has the highest property taxes, as a % of home value, than any other metro I'm aware of. This drives middle-income and even higher-income earners away, and keeps others away who might otherwise want to move to the metro. It also hurts businesses, drives businesses away, and discourages companies from investing in the 6 county area. Combine that with state income taxes, plus high fees, taxes on all manner of civil/government transactions, and it can be a very expensive place to live for some folks.
The city. Rochester's downtown is an empty shell, for the most part, and the inept political leadership in the city has neglected downtown for decades. Rochester, like other dying cities, has tried schemes which have only saddled the taxpayers with awful municipal debt (Hyatt (the city put a loan guarantee on it to finish what was Rochester's Ryugyong Hotel), fast ferry, soccer stadium, and now a loan guarantee for an HQ for a company with a poor track record and poor business model, in a tough industry; and the awful disaster High Falls turned out to be). Too many in Rochester are into "flavor of the week" schemes to gloss over the obvious; a dying city, with a stagnant metro that has serious, underlying problems, within a region which has been on the decline for 40+ years.
Roughly half of the rest of the city is a disaster, with neighborhoods that were decent or nice 15 years ago having turned into ghettos. No clear, coherent plan has been developed to deal with these major issues which have caused the city's tax base to erode by $700M in just 20 years. Down here, people desire to live in the city.
Too many school districts and other fiefdoms set up by government.
Too many government workers, law enforcement, and people who desire to work for the government/law enforcement/school districts because they know the union will be able to ensure they have a job.
Wow! Fascinating insights - thanks for the very thorough list!
-A poor job market, most years. The vast majority of jobs created in Rochester in the last 10 years have been "health care" and "education" jobs, in fact the metro is heavily dependent upon heavily subsidized colleges and two universities, now, plus the various health organizations.
-Rochester has the highest health costs in the nation.
-Taxes. Rochester has the highest property taxes, as a % of home value, than any other metro I'm aware of. This drives middle-income and even higher-income earners away, and keeps others away who might otherwise want to move to the metro. It also hurts businesses, drives businesses away, and discourages companies from investing in the 6 county area. Combine that with state income taxes, plus high fees, taxes on all manner of civil/government transactions, and it can be a very expensive place to live for some folks.
.
1: The job market is much worse in other places. Take California, Arizona, Michigan, Rhode Island, Florida and others. New york is actually a low one in this economy.
2: My health insurance costs more down here in Florida then it did up in Rochester.
3: My property tax is higher here in Tampa then it was in Rochester. Many people move away because of the high taxes but then they come to realize that other states have hidden taxes which slowly creep up and equal more than it did where they lived before.
Nevertheless, the no Krispy Kreme is such a pity. Every once in a while I just want my soft, doughy, sugar-covered sugar circles.
You should visit the Salvatores/Donuts Delite on Culver road (at the intersection of Culver/Clifford.) I promise you, their doughnuts are 10 times as good as Krispy Kreme's
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
