3 ms·

Totally tangential: What makes Albany a shithole? It looks like an attractive town to me...

HarryHirsch 6y ago
All these rustbelt towns are suffering from 30 years of tax base erosion and high unemployment, with nothing to replace it. It's somehow reminiscent of post-fall Trantor. Further up the I-91 corridor is nicer!
nsporillo 6y ago
I am from Syracuse, NY and currently live and work in Rochester, NY - Albany is a straight shot drive along I-90 and has similar socioeconomic conditions. Upstate suffers from high taxes and regulations introduced by the Governor with NYC in mind. Combine that with long winters and urban decay and we see that many bright young professionals born here end up fleeing once their parents retire. I personally am planning on moving to Raleigh, NC in a few years. I only rent an apartment now so I'm mostly insulated from the astronomical property and school taxes, but I feel the state as a whole does not have my best interests in mind.
- HarryHirsch 6y ago
  astronomical property and school taxes You should try no education and public services at all. Here in the rural South, 70 % of my students are incapable of doing 8th-grade math. These are the nursing school aspirants, and you genuinely fear for your life when you must go to hospital. Same with property taxes. You need functioning city services. Our county roads here are on a 70-year repaving schedule, and it shows. There was a storm a couple of weeks ago, and the town can't afford to haul away the debris. Inequality has a way of affecting even the wealthy. Hope you enjoy the Southernness of Raleigh.
rml 6y ago
It's not. It's a pretty typical smaller ("tier 2"?) city in the northeastern US, with several colleges and plenty of trees, parks, and museums. It's the seat of state government, and has quite a few really nice neighborhoods of old houses, as well as some classic brownstones, if you prefer that sort of thing. It's fairly diverse, and has good nightlife due to the large college-aged population (at least, it used to). Unfortunately it is fashionable (among people who choose not to live in them) to talk about non "tier-1" cities as if they are "shitholes", but IMO the quality of life people experience is probably higher on average: less crowding, more open space, more housing, cleaner, less expensive.

All these rustbelt towns are suffering from 30 years of tax base erosion and high unemployment, with nothing to replace it. It's somehow reminiscent of post-fall Trantor. Further up the I-91 corridor is nicer!

nsporillo 6y ago

I am from Syracuse, NY and currently live and work in Rochester, NY - Albany is a straight shot drive along I-90 and has similar socioeconomic conditions. Upstate suffers from high taxes and regulations introduced by the Governor with NYC in mind. Combine that with long winters and urban decay and we see that many bright young professionals born here end up fleeing once their parents retire. I personally am planning on moving to Raleigh, NC in a few years. I only rent an apartment now so I'm mostly insulated from the astronomical property and school taxes, but I feel the state as a whole does not have my best interests in mind.

HarryHirsch 6y ago
astronomical property and school taxes You should try no education and public services at all. Here in the rural South, 70 % of my students are incapable of doing 8th-grade math. These are the nursing school aspirants, and you genuinely fear for your life when you must go to hospital. Same with property taxes. You need functioning city services. Our county roads here are on a 70-year repaving schedule, and it shows. There was a storm a couple of weeks ago, and the town can't afford to haul away the debris. Inequality has a way of affecting even the wealthy. Hope you enjoy the Southernness of Raleigh.

rml 6y ago

It's not. It's a pretty typical smaller ("tier 2"?) city in the northeastern US, with several colleges and plenty of trees, parks, and museums. It's the seat of state government, and has quite a few really nice neighborhoods of old houses, as well as some classic brownstones, if you prefer that sort of thing. It's fairly diverse, and has good nightlife due to the large college-aged population (at least, it used to). Unfortunately it is fashionable (among people who choose not to live in them) to talk about non "tier-1" cities as if they are "shitholes", but IMO the quality of life people experience is probably higher on average: less crowding, more open space, more housing, cleaner, less expensive.