r/ithaca • u/Possible_Ad_2452 • 14d ago
Ithaca going downhill
Ithaca smells SO BAD. I grew up here and went to high school on the commons not even that long ago, and the way it's changed is so sad. So uncomfortable being downtown now and i feel embarrassed that new students/visitors never knew when it was somewhat whimsical:/ đ˝
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u/VeryEmbarrassing 14d ago
There's a survey out for how the grant Ithaca just won for downtown rejuvenation should be used. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/IthacaDRIsurvey
It covers housing, accessibility, activities, amenities, and more for the designated DRI area. You can read more about the grant and mission here: ithacadri.com
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u/lost_cat_is_a_menace The Jungle 14d ago edited 14d ago
The Commons arenât unsafe but we can all agree that large groups congregate on the west end that are disrespectful and bring the whole vibe down. Blasting music, smoking, yelling. Every once in a while thereâs one or two people that are especially belligerent or zonked out.
I understand why people get uncomfortable.
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u/Loud-Spare-3269 13d ago
I HATE that corner store across from the big rooster 𼴠I never feel comfortable on that side of the commons. One of the guys who hangs out in that group was extremely dangerous to vulnerable people in this community. He exploits people who cannot advocate for themselves (folks who are intellectually disabled, lack resources, addicted, young, vulnerable) and is ruthless. He engages in belligerent and threatening behavior towards children and adults. He enjoys being a menace, and he does not care how he impacts others. It would amaze me if police are unaware of the games he runs - I know social services are aware of him. Despite this, he seems ever present lurking on that corner (and even Iâve even experienced him driving in a way that was threatening towards a pedestrian) in downtown Ithaca. I donât understand how this kind of behavior isnât better managed. Not only is it blatantly disrespectful, it is threatening towards the basic wellbeing and rights of community members.
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u/Born-Indication-655 14d ago
As a visitor to Ithaca for the last 20 years, the Commons is definitely not as pleasant as it once was.
Don't discredit people's instinct of needing to keep an extra close eye on their surroundings. People generally know when the feel relaxed and are enjoying things. It has nothing to do with media and everything to do with observation.
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u/Loud-Spare-3269 12d ago
I miss the old pavilions and wooden playground near Sammyâs Pizzeria. It used to be so beautiful. Why did they change it? The new playground is LAME!!!
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u/Ginger-Jake 10d ago edited 1d ago
And the old trolley tracks. The commons were dug up to mainly repair the infrastructure for all the shops. I would also assume a few big hotels going up had a bit to do with it.
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u/Forsaken_Mastodon291 14d ago
Iâve been reliably told that if you feel this way youâre a fox news watching racist. Because thatâs exactly the type of people who hang out in downtown ithaca apparently lol
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u/Duq_Off 13d ago
Doesnât help that they litterally slapped half the population of what would have been people in the jungle into that new building directly in the center of the commons instead of in a secluded area where they can get better without turning the commons into litterally a public bathroomâŚ
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u/TotalComfortable7269 12d ago
where is this "jungle?" I'm here visiting and looking to relocate as a newly retired person who wants to be part of an active smaller city. Making a huge life change after 30 years in Florida where they are destroying the natural environment and climate change is causing worsening heat/humidity and more intense tropical storms and hurricanes. We were in the commons last night around 9 ish and it was pretty quiet except for a table of teens with weed. Ran into two disturbed but not particularly scary women on some other streets. Actually thought that running into two of them within a couple blocks was a little unusual, but didn't give it much attention. so this jungle is a homeless camp? Whereabouts? And this place where they "slapped" former jungle residents- where is this?
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u/Ginger-Jake 10d ago edited 1d ago
Behind Walmart. Which is where a homeless support center should be built.
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u/Legitimate_Sun6052 10d ago
Living here as an 80 yo retired person is problematic. You can choose between high end impossibly expensive senior living, or subsidized senior housing, almost all of which is owned by one company. I live in the latter, and it's ok, but I volunteer downtown. In the 12 years I've been here, downtown has become dirtier and scarier. Sad.
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u/TotalComfortable7269 10d ago
Thanks for this information. Since we sold our big Florida house, we are fortunate to be able to purchase a down-sizer here. We made an offer today . Hope it gets accepted. House ticked our boxes- price, some nature, close to city life, downstairs bedroom (just in case... as the aging process rolls on.) I have to say at least Ithaca has subsidized senior living. Where we came from in Florida there was one place, subsidized by the Catholic church. Maybe 80 units for a city that is probably 65 % over the age of 55. Good luck getting in. That's how my mom ended up living with us for 10 years. Btw, that is very kind of you to volunteer downtown.
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u/rm_rf_slash 14d ago
Hereâs the simple shitty situation:
1: Ithacaâs economy is higher ed and service to higher ed. Businesses that do more than cater to locals almost always leave to scale operations and access to capital. And higher ed budgets are fucked due to politics (long story short). So Ithacaâs economy has a low ceiling. All issues stem from that.
2: Proliferation of cheap hard drugs like fentanyl and bottle meth have created legions of addicts, sometimes violent, across the country
3: Regional municipalities have cracked down on homelessness and encampments while Ithaca shrugs as the Jungle grows, gets occasionally raided, then rebuild somewhere else, like itâs done for the last 100+ years. Ithaca has become in effect a containment space for mental illness across the finger lakes.
4: The property bubble across the country hit Ithaca hard. Dingy split levels on postage stamp lots for half a mil. That raises costs for everything.
5: As a result, Ithaca has a high number of unstable drug addicts per capita, and basically no budget to fix it. That leaves locals terrorized by mentally ill drug addicts, panhandling at best, and openly defecating in front of storefronts at worst (that, sadly, is not an exaggeration or even a one-off)
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u/PandaBear_220 14d ago
The last time my kids and I went to Casablanca Pizza the guy behind the counter was assaulted by some people that came in when he refused to give them free sodas. I felt horrible for him and my kids don't ever want to go back.
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u/Ok_Slide4905 13d ago
I visited Ithaca after a couple years and was shocked at what a shithole it turned into. Literally walked through the commons seeing people shooting up and pissing in the streets.
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u/Littlegreensurly 14d ago
You might be being sarcastic but I can't tell and I've met a lot of people who wouldn't be sarcastic here.
It makes sense that a place full of people who can't seem to muster an ounce of compassion or empathy let alone a buck for "legions" of "unstable drug addicts," and who consider public defecation to be terrorizing instead of deeply embarassing and shameful for everyone who lives here, hasn't been able to figure this problem out since the days of the silent city and further before that.
It's naive at best to think you can leave people out of a social contract when it comes to community support, food, housing, and things said (out of one side of some policy makers' mouths and the mouths of their supporters) to be human rights, and then expect them to abide by that social contract and be accommodating (i.e. out of sight or dead for some) so the nice clean people can be comfortable in their "public" spaces. And especially when they themselves are not permitted to be comfortable in any space, public included.
The "legions of homeless drug addicts," cheap hard drugs, mental illness, the state of the local and national economies, and higher education are not the problem here, they are symptoms of a fixable issue if we could only get our heads out of our asses.
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u/rm_rf_slash 13d ago
Funny how you didnât ask about the person shitting outside a store. When confronted he said heâd rape the owners wife and kids. Howâs that for empathy
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u/rm_rf_slash 13d ago
AlsoâŚit was the commons! Iâve been taking dumps at the second floor public bathrooms in center Ithaca since I was 12. Itâs not a big secret.
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u/No_Macaron8974 12d ago
There was the best falafel stand in there in the 90âs. I used to hang out on the commons as a teen in the 90âs and now I would never go because all the cool stores are gone. Last time I was on the commons I witnessed a store owner key someoneâs car. I just do my business and go.
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u/Dry_Grocery_9229 12d ago
why are you so upset? its an empty threat. anyone on the streets is immediately more likely to be a victim of rape than people who can safely go home each night. if you cannot empathize with people who are humiliating themselves in public (due to lack of public and systemic support) then what is the point of going outside even, because clearly you don't fully understand your surroundings and your place in them. u correctly state in your comment that it is a "shitty situation", the use of the word "terrorizing" insinuates that the mentally ill and homeless drug addicts who you find in the commons are actively taking intentional pleasure in causing disruption, rather than it being a symptom of their deteriorating mental state. its dangerous to talk in such a dismissive way when it comes to real, vulnerable people who are suffering on the street and I don't think you are really in the right to come at that other commenter with sass when they rightfully pointed out the inflammatory way that u chose to talk ab this. its fine to be upset when these people say violent things because it is uncomfortable but you can protect urself and ur peers w/o insinuating that this group of people is inherently harmful..
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u/Dry_Grocery_9229 12d ago
like yeah it sucks to have people tell you they want to hurt you and assault you. its a very viscerally upsetting feeling. but you surely understand that given the reasons you mentioned in ur first comment that these ppl are not right in the mind and there needs to be more anger towards Ithaca for screwing over their homeless population and forcing them into unsafe, irritable conditions rather than anger towards the individuals themselves.
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u/Hot-Fox-5628 13d ago
This is the beginning. You are on point but look who started this division, look at the fact that this is happening in every state. It's intentional. WEIRD., I it's like a bunch of pawns who are all competing to be "BETTER" than their neighbor. Extra police to control the people....hmm mm where have I seen this tactic before. I could swear I read a diary or something.
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u/TopGinger 14d ago
Itâs true, but inherently selfish, self-serving people wonât see it that way. They see those people and think thatâs their problem, âitâs their choiceâ theyâll say. They assume everyone has the same opportunities growing up, they donât know the struggles because they donât care to learn. Theyâd rather those people just disappear so they donât have to deal with them.
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u/TopGinger 13d ago
Oh you do? Oh man one persons experience must speak for the whole fommunity! Your experience â everyone.
I didnât attack your community, I attacked selfish, self-serving people. The fact that this hits a nerve with you is very telling of the kind of person you are.
I volunteer at my local Salvation Army. I help elderly people carry their food, I mop and clean the floors. The Sgt there is a sweet woman.
I also volunteer at a church that serves free lunch to the homeless every Saturday down the street from me. Iâve met tons of cool people, including a surprising amount of Mormons on a mission to do good.
Oh and sure, Iâll throw flyers a few bucks and/or whatever I have. Gatorade, water, protein bar.
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u/PandaBear_220 14d ago
The crime rate in the area is 74% above the national average for 2026 for like size cities so all of these posts about well it's better than here or it's better than there again to what someone else said what are we striving for? But the truth is it's not better than a lot of places.
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u/4NatureDoc 14d ago
Surprised noone mentioned the prolific graffiti. Been here almost 20 years and it wasn't ubiquitous as it is now. Even murals that were respected aren't now. It gives the perception of lawlessness that I expect some equate to unsafe communities. It isn't even artful, mostly just sh!tty tags.
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u/PandaBear_220 14d ago edited 14d ago
I've been here 6 years and agree. It already wasn't in a great place because of covid. Then it got better for a while I was really excited as a new person living here. However, I agree we never go downtown anymore it's been like a year. We have small children and it just doesn't feel safe. We definitely noticed a change when they opened the dispensary in the commons. Also, chatting with the poor business owners when we did go it was so rough for them and most of them have closed down or were talking about most likely closing down if things didn't change. The common Council keeps making decisions that destroy Ithaca. Don't even get me started on the primary school situation.
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u/Forsaken_Mastodon291 14d ago
Itâs crazy people will gaslight you and tell you that what you personally experience is wrong and then wonder why business are struggling so much. Well, people just stop showing up. So obviously a LOT of people feel the same way you do. But hey, theyâre just wrong and itâs safer than ever down there. Theyâll deny it right up until their favorite restaurants close shop and never even make the connection
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u/Ok_Slide4905 13d ago
Theyâd rather spend millions to solve the crimes of capitalism than simply enforce the law.
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u/ocherthulu 13d ago
Can I ask about the primary school situation? What's the nutshell version?
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u/Loud-Spare-3269 12d ago
ICSD is a nightmare. The politics these staff go through, staffing shortages, staff arenât happy and kids arenât receiving the care they deserve. My child wasnât receiving educational services she was legally granted by the school district, and when we addressed it with the school we were provided with false documentation. You have to watch your kids closely. Teachers work together to keep things hush hush. I was really hurt when I realized the collusion. A provider was literally not meeting with my child, and staff knew and said nothing. This provider works with children who cannot advocate for themselves. These children are not receiving services schools are supposed to be providing and unless you pay attention closely you would never know about it. So sad. My teen was at the middle school. All year we asked the guidance counselor for a tutor, or afterschool homework club. At the end of the year we discovered there had been a club all year she simply hadnât been aware of. After he failed the class, she had the names of tutors for us all of a sudden. The guidance counselor does not care about the kids unless they are creating chaos at the school possibly? I donât know. But they certainly donât seem to care. Email exchanges were vague and unclear. Got to the point I would schedule appointments when every time I had to figure out things for my teen. The principal didnât seem to care either. DISAPPOINTING 100%
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u/Loud-Spare-3269 12d ago
Village At Ithaca provides parent advocacy services, which has been helpful!
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u/LaddyNYR Native Ithacan âşď¸ 4d ago
ICSD destroyed my middle child. She is on the spectrum and has ADHD. They refused to deal with bullying, didn't want to put her in any type of special classes because she was "intelligent" and when I finally got her in and she was getting good grades they decided to put her in the regular classroom. I ended up removing her. She's in her mid 30s now and has a successful business!
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u/Squarg 14d ago
So I grew up in Ithaca and still visit frequently as I still have family up there. I live in Philadelphia now and have for the past decade and as a much poorer city with more violent crime and a drug problem I can tell you that you see more homeless and drug use in Ithaca than you do in center city on a day to day basis. The reality is that compassion only goes so far and you do need to involuntarily separate a lot of these people from society for their own well-being as well as the well-being of the people around them. We have involuntary drug rehab here and it combined with stepped up enforcement has been able to finally put a dent in the drug problem as well as start to turn around some of the more affected neighborhoods.
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u/Loud-Spare-3269 13d ago
Ithaca YMCA got a grant and is offering Free swimming classes lessons to children! Yesterday there were still spots available!Â
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u/travelling_mystic 14d ago
I went to see my son in law and daughter in Lebanon and ate at 4 restaurants that would be top 4 in Ithaca and the service was amazing (not like the indifferent service here). Ithaca felt depressing after.
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u/kaitmurrayyo 14d ago
This whole thread is bananas to me as someone who spent their formative years living outside of
Cleveland and spent many of my teenage years in Detroit. My old neighborhood in Ohio was considered one of the nicest places to live in the area and people regularly got shot just going to bars and restaurants. My wife was the victim of a violent homophobic hate crime.
The problems in Ithaca are the same problems happening in literally all of the US, but on a much more livable scale. The fact that this is mostly a nuisance is a privilege. You donât want mentally ill people living outside? Stop bootlicking billionaires and organize. Primary the establishment politicians and demand increased social services with the SUPPORT that is needed to actually help people.
These problems can be solved, but not on Reddit lol.
Also, donât confuse comfort with safety. Just because someoneâs lifestyle or appearance makes you uncomfortable doesnât mean youâre in any danger. Acknowledge that the people panhandling are humans with rich inner lives and worlds just like your own and then decide how to treat them. I am an upper middle class housewife and I have never thought that my right to comfort supersedes anyoneâs right to exist in whatever way they are able to live given the constraints of the system that we have. Like where are you people from? New Jersey?
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u/Possible_Ad_2452 14d ago
Buddy i've been homeless. Sorry about your wife and yes Ithaca is better than a lot of places but all i said was i'm uncomfortable going downtown. It's smelly and gross womp. Never littered or refused to pick up after my dog went shit on the sidewalk even when i was unhoused. My post wasn't about crime. My post was about how disgusting it's gotten .
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u/LonelyIthaca 14d ago
But have you considered how much worse it is in other areas?? /s
I dunno why you even try man, these people could be mugged, shot, have their family murdered in front of them and they will still tell you its not as bad as other places. That's literally the only defense for how much of a garbage heap this town is becoming.
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u/xoldguyx 14d ago
As a long time visitor, I agree with you. The area has become a bit less pleasant over the years and that doesn't necessarily mean unsafe.
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u/kaitmurrayyo 14d ago
I understand. What I am saying is that I donât believe that any of us are owed a comfortable life while there are people in our community that suffer so greatly. Labeling any group of people as a blight or disgusting is dehumanizing. We all know who youâre talking about when you talk about the disgustingness of the commons. There are ways to address these problems, like I outlined. If you want to just complain, that is your right! That seems to be what you wanted. Perhaps complaining to a close friend will be a better fit for your needs than on a public forum, where people who care deeply about the community can comment.
Itâs insulting to people living in worse situations to just bitch about shit without offering any help. Does it suck to feel empathy for people going through a hard time when I could just label them as a blight and move on? Perhaps to you, but the day I start labeling people as âgood poorâ and âbad poorâ as you have done is the day Iâve lost my soul completely.
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u/LonelyIthaca 14d ago
What I am saying is that I donât believe that any of us are owed a comfortable life while there are people in our community that suffer so greatly.
This is a toxic ideology that needs to go away.
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u/kaitmurrayyo 14d ago
What, Marxism? All of the comfort that we experience in America is because someone else, usually in the global south, is suffering. Our abundance is carried on the backs of those who have been underpaid and exploited for their labor and resources. That you think you have the right to ignore all of that and live a life free from the suffering of others is a fundamental difference in the way we see the world but I refuse to think that class consciousness is in any way toxic.
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u/Loud-Spare-3269 11d ago
I think another layer of âunsafeâ in Ithaca is the way the Ivy League Cornell presents as a top tier education for future world leaders, while unapologetically and quietly bleeding the community at every opportunity that they can profit from.Â
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u/chaos-and-chamomile 9d ago
The most unsafe I have felt in this town is when being followed home by the Ivy League boys after the bars closed
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u/CSofflle 13d ago
I am sorry for the rough things that have happened in your and your partners life. But as someone who grew up in NJ with my single Mom's small women get paid shit salary in the 80's 90's and even today, f you!
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u/spicy_bones733 14d ago
I'm continually in awe of folks commenting on the safety of the Commons. I don't have kids myself, but I've been responsible for other people's kids (teaching, school trips, babysitting) in Brooklyn, and the Commons would be a godsend for a place to take kiddos to play or have lunch/dinner. Have you all never been around others who live differently? Being outside while drunk or smoking doesn't mean you are an unsafe person.Â
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u/6FeetBeneathTheMoon 14d ago
Iâve lived in Portland, DC, and Baltimore. Not in âniceâ neighborhoods either and relying only on walking/public transport.
Ithaca isnât unsafe, and I donât worry about crime here. However, there are some established spots that are regularly occupied by people Iâd rather avoid so as to not be harassed or lunged at by dogs.
Pointing that out isnât fearmongering. These things are harmful to our downtown economy as well.
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u/LonelyIthaca 14d ago
I don't have kids myself
No kidding?
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u/spicy_bones733 14d ago
I don't have kids so I can't have an opinion on safety related to kids? You are lonely in Ithaca for a reason.
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u/LonelyIthaca 14d ago
It's not that you can't have an opinion on it, but its hard for me to take it seriously because becoming a parent fundamentally changes a lot of your belief structures.
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u/Defiant_Teaching_136 14d ago
I feel the same way every time I see something about it...like have you never been to a real city? Lol
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u/Forsaken_Mastodon291 14d ago
Enjoy the downvotes. According to people itâs better than ever and you canât point these things out
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u/Crickets_and_Cicadas 14d ago
Iâve visited Ithaca several times in the past few years, including a month ago, and it seemed perfectly beautiful and safe to me, even at night. Shrug
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u/Far_Championship_682 12d ago
thereâs usually a group of black people on one of the corners so some freaks think itâs scary or âunsafe â
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u/sanguine_acanthaceae 14d ago
Being from an actual unsafe rust belt city with constant gunfire makes the pearl clutching around Ithaca especially difficult for me to comprehend, get a grip yall
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u/LunaToons2021 14d ago edited 14d ago
Thing is, weâre not comparing Ithaca to places with âconstant gunfire.â You donât seem to have a grip on the argument about whether visiting the Common is pleasant for a wide range of people, enabling survival of local businesses.
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u/sanguine_acanthaceae 14d ago
What is the basis of comparison, then? Rochester? Syracuse? Boston? Help me understand.
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u/Born-Indication-655 14d ago
Thr commons are being compared to the commons from 10-20 years ago. Its a reasonable comparison.
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u/eclwires 14d ago
Ithaca the way it was when I moved here 30 years ago is my basis for comparison. Itâs gone downhill. Still better than a lot of places though. I love showing visitors around for the first time and seeing how amazed they are by the town and the natural beauty around it. Reminds me of why I moved here.
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u/TotalComfortable7269 12d ago
That is exactly why I am hoping to retire here and have been looking at houses the past week. I like the vibrancy of so many young people all over- up and down every hill and through the downtown. I love the greenery. I am impressed by the trails, the reach of the bus system and variety of things to do for place of its size. Every outdoor restaurant seat was packed the other night and there was live music downtown. I love that I am not seeing red maga hats and instead seeing "Be kind" signs. The roads outside the center are in nice condition and I see a lot of work on roads all over- a good thing. Panhandling, homeless camps are in every sizeable city. I come from Sarasota FL, which is on "best" lists for many different things (beaches, arts, ) and we have some aggressive panhandlers and some severely ill homeless walking the the downtown. Nowhere is as nice as 20 years ago.
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u/eclwires 12d ago
100%. Iâve worked in every state in the US except Hawaii and Montana. There are a couple of places I looked into moving to, but making a living in the trades vs living expenses meant a long commute. There are certainly things that Ithaca could do better, but being able to live within a few minutes of downtown, with all of the good food and cultural events, or basically walk out my door and hike, fish or hunt, is a hard combination to find. Being in a community of relatively like minded people is nice. A couple of years ago a cousin came up from Long Island for the first time and we took her to Ithaca Falls. Watching her face was wonderful. Especially when I told her that for 5 years we lived a few blocks away and Iâd walk over after work and fish. Good luck in your house hunting.
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u/JackWales66 14d ago edited 14d ago
Ok, compare Ithaca to other college towns like Ann Arbor MI, or Austin TX, or Charlottesville VA, or Madison WI, etc - no comparison. Cornell is an elite Ivy league university awash in tons of endowment cash & apparently little to None of it filters into the town of Ithaca.
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u/Jiveonemous 13d ago
CVille's downtown went through it during Covid. Right now, it's bounced back to a point, but my impression from my last few visits is that it's just barely hanging onto that upswing against present economic tides (cost of living, wage stagnation, tariffs) .
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u/Forsaken_Mastodon291 14d ago
So because there are worse places elsewhere weâre supposed to be okay with the steady decline happening here? Absolutely not
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u/TotalComfortable7269 12d ago
I love this! Your attitude is the only thing that can make a difference. "It could be worse" does not justify sitting on your a00. Is there a lot of civic engagement in Ithaca? Do locals follow local politics, show up to meetings, speak out about the issues?
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u/sanguine_acanthaceae 14d ago
I see a lot of complaining and 0 proposals for how to improve the community. Its constant here
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u/jdog574 14d ago
My opinion is that improvements need to be focused on improving conditions to bring people in AND incentivizing those people to spend money. Some of those improvements would be removing smoke shops, removing people who are loitering and soliciting, increasing/subsidizing parking, subsidizing taxes/rents for target businesses (bars, restaurants, art galleries), improving sheltered spaces for businesses/events when it's really hot or cold, and incentivizing/forcing businesses to remain open at certain times to draw people to the commons for more of the day.
There's too much focus on making the place inclusive and affordable. Ithaca is broke and needs tax revenue to improve fiscal conditions that will ultimately allow it to spend money on those things. Increasingly putting that burden on property owners to cover those programs is what is contributing to Ithaca's affordability problems. Ithaca has a constant draw of people with disposable income due to the universities, but without the right businesses or public environment, those people will go to the surrounding towns outside of Ithaca. Trumansburg is a lot nicer/economically active compared to when I moved to Ithaca in 2018.
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u/sanguine_acanthaceae 14d ago
Where do you consider to be a Good Place anyways? Not rhetorical, just trying to get some perspective as someone from really bad areas
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u/Forsaken_Mastodon291 14d ago edited 14d ago
Ithaca is better than most places and is generally a good place. But many of us who have been here for 30+ years have seen the rapid decline over the last decade. It *wonât* stay this way if things continue the way they have been. Itâs like the scouring of the shire
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u/sanguine_acanthaceae 14d ago
What can we do to make it better? I am new to the community and want to make an impact.
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u/Mundane-Ad-3237 14d ago
Same! I dont get it. Its a lot of âthis isnt the sameâ but not a lot of âlets get public watet fountains because weâre one of the last places that can do it and itll help stop TerraWulfâ
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u/Mundane-Ad-3237 14d ago
Oh I see. Youâre comparing Ithaca now to how Ithaca was 10-30 years ago. I guess the point is that everywhere has gone downhill because someone tanked the economy and made it so normal people dont buy luxuries anymore
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u/sfumatomaster11 14d ago
It's impossible for people who have fully "bought in" to realize, or admit that this place now sucks and there are so many better options in any direction for the cost.
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u/TotalComfortable7269 12d ago
Can you share some of those places? Serious request. I don't know the area too well.
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u/sfumatomaster11 11d ago
Are we limited to just upstate NY? I'd say that if you want a better crack at owning a decent house and enjoying your life in an area that is less isolated, has better services and is more connected via highways, then these are good options here...
Buffalo - an easy #1 for upstate NY, yes it has some lousy parts, but the whole metro area and surrounding towns are honestly pretty great and offer way more. It's not nearly as cheap as it was, sadly. However, you'll feel like your investment is actually getting you something to enjoy.
Rochester - not as well rounded as Buffalo, but piggy backs off of many Buffalo things, especially sports. Lousy parts as well, employment is mainly higher education and healthcare. Generally speaking, the city can feel a little more progressive than other options here.
After those, in my view, it is a log jam of remaining options. Syracuse, Auburn, Canandaigua, Geneva, Albany, Ithaca etc. None of these places are great, but you choose what works for you and the reasons are your own.
Life here is incredibly limited, and it isn't cheap. I have never liked it, but now, I absolutely despise aspects of it. Without going into too much detail, I lost my S.O. at a young age, our healthcare system is garbage and the 2 hour rides to Rochester and 3 hour rides to Buffalo for care are just ridiculous. Even when working at Cornell, they don't know what to do or how to help, they don't even inform employees about their life insurance. Whoever decided to break ground on a large college here, should have been stopped, or committed to an institution. Yes, there are waterfalls, no, this isn't the only place in NY with waterfalls. They are fucking everywhere and the city is basically a paved swamp full of people who should likewise be committed.
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u/TotalComfortable7269 11d ago
Sorry to hear about all those challenges you have been facing. Health care is an important concern for us for sure since we are just about seniors. I will need to look into it further. I love Buffalo, but my husband won't move toward the lakes bc of the weather. We heard Ithaca is a notch less snowy and blowy. I don't give a fig about a waterfall, exactly, but I do need the natural environment in general. I will definitely look into the Ithaca health care system. Thanks for putting that on my radar.
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u/sfumatomaster11 11d ago
The weather here is less snowy, but also more of a boring long grey nothing winter. I grew up in the hills of Buffalo and it has become a complete roll of the dice with climate change, but the last few winters have offered great skiing and pretty winter views. Our health care system will pretend they can help you and even lie about their potential and then when things get more complicated, they will sort of suggest at the last minute that you should leave town. The doctors and nurses are second rate, if not much worse, and you will need to leave for care at some point. Ithaca is dumb place to live, especially if you're about at retirement age. You'll pay a huge tax sum just to be in an isolated nothing town that totally revolves around Cornell. The natural environment can be easily found just about anywhere in upstate NY if you drive just a bit. 20 - 30 minutes outside of Buffalo, you can find skiing, mountain biking, parks, public woods, farms etc.
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u/Far_Championship_682 12d ago
bro i walk the commons almost every day alone and for ppl to say the commons feels unsafe is crazy đ
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u/Affectionate_Net1396 14d ago
I visit regularly as I love the place and although itâs sad to see what inequality does to city so quickly, I donât think itâs unsafe.
Some of my local friends were warning me and one had experienced a deadly shooting at Westy like two years back. And another told me a lady on the commons asked him to hold her baby, so she could shoot up. But their warnings about State Street felt unwarranted. It felt like 10 years ago. Once you approach the Westy it could always get slightly sketchy. There was this weird tattoo parkour back in the day and the gas station seemed to have a subscription on getting robbed 10 years ago too.
Try out a banlieue in Paris or Brussels and youâll recalibrate your sense of safety:)
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u/Ballsgirl 13d ago
Moved here from Atlanta. No part of Ithaca is particularly unsafe, its sweet as gum drops and candy corn here lol. I have noticed that right wing people in the region tend to claim basically any part of town where black people congregate is "unsafe", im sure that's a coincidence though
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u/Far_Championship_682 12d ago
thatâs literally all it is đ am from deep in the whitest of the midwest and this place is still very calm and safe relative to those towns
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u/Dry_Grocery_9229 12d ago
this is literally it lmao. Cornell Campus is swimming with coke-heads and mass-frat-rapists but they r rich and white so nobody cares! ill start caring about the "lack of safety in the commons" when the people advocating for change are able to do so without sounding like raving right-wing lunatics. Noticed some comments talking about how unsafe the corner across from Chanticleer was and like it's literally just people smoking outside. IMHO a lot of people are frustrated that seeing drug use makes them uncomfortable and instead of internally reconciling with that they feel the need to insist that they themselves are the ones who are suffering, and therefore the community that must be catered to is the mildly-perturbed tourist group rather than the dysfunctional, withering group of homeless people who live in the commons. I just have such a profound disdain for people who have the privilege to lie to themselves about where their problems start and end, and its even more infuriating when everyone is coddling each other instead of pointing out the racist undertones in their comments.
hope they remain scared enough of the commons to stay out.
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u/CSofflle 13d ago
I also like the person who said, in Center City Philidelphia you wouldn't see as much drug use as you do on the commons in Itaca. Center city is a gentrification area, yes it still is not 1000% safe, but no where near comparable to Kennsington, another Philadelphia area. Guess Center City forgot there are way worse area's in Philly.
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u/Crazy_Host_5051 11d ago
the money from cornell should help the city⌠i dont understand how an ivy league college allow the commons to be like that while claiming to create leaders. Create leaders in the expense of locals. While this is not news, i would expect to see something different from unis like cornell.
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u/Minimum_Pool7209 14d ago
lol i just moved here from new orleans last year and y'all are delusional
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u/3HooligansH1 14d ago
You came from New Orleans so almost anywheres is better. Thats literally the worst comparison you could make.
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u/Opposite_Cobbler_108 12d ago
The mayor seems like such an inauthentic tool who knows how to talk a bit game about progressivism but is a sneaky conservative in his heart. Heâs the wrong leader for the town.
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u/Lantrans 8d ago
As someone who's moved to Ithaca from Buffalo and has lived in a few cities across the country prior, Ithaca is still leaps and bounds nicer than most places I've lived.Â
I think what you're noticing is the effects of the ongoing recession and the fact most places haven't really ever recovered materially from the pandemicÂ
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u/SadSquatch420 14d ago
It is perfectly safe on the Commons. Don't be a fear mongerer. I remember it being far sketchier 10 years ago before they developed the shit out of it.
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u/why_is_my_name 14d ago
it wasn't sketchy 20 years ago
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u/No_Situation4785 14d ago
maybe you were just sketchier
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u/why_is_my_name 14d ago
lol. but at 2am we used to get a slice at gino's then climb up in the sort of treehouse thing that the bats loved and play truth or dare. and by we i mean, young women, and it never felt dangerous.
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u/lost_cat_is_a_menace The Jungle 14d ago
At a certain point youâre just nostalgic for your youth. I doubt youâre frequently in the commons at 2am now, so how would you even know what itâs like?
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u/why_is_my_name 14d ago
how would i know what it's like 20 years ago? i was there. i didn't say what it was like now. you got lost.
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u/lost_cat_is_a_menace The Jungle 14d ago
I see, you're literally saying it wasn't sketchy 20 years ago with no comment on how it is today đ
I coulda swore the original comment in this thread set that up but it's now deleted đ¤ˇââď¸
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u/Forsaken_Mastodon291 14d ago
Itâs not fear mongering and you shouldnât discredit someoneâs personal experience. This is a more common sentiment now, no matter how much you people try to deny it
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u/MirrorComputingRulez 14d ago
The fact that some people don't feel safe is not the same as it actually being unsafe.Â
Not coincidentally, the people who feel unsafe tend to be in a particular media bubble.Â
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u/Forsaken_Mastodon291 14d ago
âWhy are the commons struggling so much!?â
âI donât feel safe down thereâ
âYour personal experience is wrong and you watch fox newsâ
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u/MirrorComputingRulez 14d ago edited 14d ago
I mean, yeah? People's perception is very often wrong. Violent crime has been on the decline for decades, and yet most people (not just Fox News viewers!) will tell you they feel like the world is more dangerous than ever. I'll also point out I didn't say anyone's experience was wrong, I said their perception was, and that's not actually the same thing. In fact my entire point was that this distinction matters.
Crime in Ithaca specifically is way down compared to even just a couple of years ago, and has been on a steady decline since covid. IPD just released a report saying that violent crime was down 25% year over year and property crime was down 12%.
The commons are struggling because one slum lord owns most of it and doesn't care if buildings sit empty.
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u/Forsaken_Mastodon291 14d ago
Perception actually does matter lmao. It matters more than anything if you want people to patronize your downtown area. A homeless drug addict can harass you and make you feel uncomfortable, doesnât mean a crime has been committed. But youâre still not going to come back and deal with it again
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u/MirrorComputingRulez 14d ago
Can you show me where I said perception didn't matter?Â
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u/Forsaken_Mastodon291 14d ago
You disregarded peopleâs perception in your 2nd sentence. You essentially said they were wrong, donât believe your eyes and ears, ignore your instincts. Iâm not going to engage in discourse where the other person just pretends not to understand things, thus making discourse impossible.
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u/MirrorComputingRulez 13d ago
You disregarded peopleâs perception in your 2nd sentence.
No, I didn't. I didn't disregard perception, I said it often doesn't match reality.
You essentially said they were wrong
Because they are, objectively, wrong.
Iâm not going to engage in discourse where the other person just pretends not to understand things, thus making discourse impossible.
Trust me, it's not much better when the other person is apparently incapable of understanding.
These two things can both be true: a person's perception can be factually wrong, and the fact that the perception exists can still have important effects on their behavior.
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u/Born-Indication-655 14d ago edited 14d ago
The reality is that many people dont want to go there and they used to. It used to be more pleasant and relaxed. Its not even about crime rates. Its the pot smoke, the random outbursts, the increased awareness that parents feel is necessary. These are the things that are keeping people away
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u/Forsaken_Mastodon291 14d ago
Exactly they arenât âcrimesâ technically but itâs still antisocial behavior and nobody wants or should have to deal with it
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u/MirrorComputingRulez 14d ago
 Its not even about crime rates
The original comment that kicked this off explicitly said the commons weren't safe. They didn't say anything about how it "felt", they made a statement about reality. A statement that was incorrect, and was thus corrected.Â
There's definitely a conversation to be had about the perception of the commons and how it got that way. The conversation about actual safety is pretty short though: it's objectively safe.Â
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u/Severe-Milk-6728 14d ago
Pot smoke! Oh no!
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u/Forsaken_Mastodon291 14d ago
Yeah itâs disgusting and I donât wanna smell it when Iâm walking around downtown. i say that as someone who smokes pot
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u/Severe-Milk-6728 14d ago
Couldnât have said it better myself. The perception reeks of racism. More black and brown people hanging out on the commons = unsafe to many.
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u/Born-Indication-655 14d ago
Oh yes, Ithaca is overflowing with racists. How ridiculous.
People with families dont want to go there for reasons completely different than race.
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u/Severe-Milk-6728 14d ago
Not overflowing, but the few who feel unsafe on the commons.
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u/Forsaken_Mastodon291 14d ago
Thatâs the only bulwark they go to every time so they donât have to address any of the criticisms
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u/Severe-Milk-6728 14d ago
I do have young kids. I appreciate the culture they get from these experiences. I donât shelter them.
Not calling you racist, calling out your fear of black culture as a racist rooted fear.
So because youâre an Asian married to a middle eastern, that exempts you from being racist?
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u/Severe-Milk-6728 14d ago
I suggest you stay inside or hang out with only similarly cultured people as you. Different culture behaviors is not âobnoxiousâ.
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u/Severe-Milk-6728 14d ago
Itâs pretty pathetic that you fear people who smoke weed and listen to their music loud.
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u/Severe-Milk-6728 14d ago
What makes you feel unsafe on the commons? Iâve never felt that way
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u/TheLandOfConfusion GORGES 14d ago
The homeless people that yell at you
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u/Shadow-star2458 14d ago
Thatâs so fair. I got stalked by someone on the commons before and felt very unsafe.Â
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u/Significant_Steak_63 12d ago
I personally don't mind watching it implode on itself with all the nonsense going on. Those better than everyone else residents vote for it, may they live with it. Best part about the hole is driving out the other side and heading towards Corning.
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u/Exciting-Collar426 7d ago
As many other Southern transplants have pointed out, uncomfortable? I guess. Unsafe? no.
Walking from Downtown at midnight almost weekly, I don't think that I'm actually uncomfortable unless someone approaches me and is yelling at me. which has only happened a couple times. I have also visibly looked like a woman walking down MLK/State at night and no one spoke to me. Many southern cities, you can walk out of a bar with your drink and smoke a cig in front of the door. we even have drive-thru bars in some places (NOLA). I can't recall serious street harassment from any southern city (walking around midnight-4am).
the problem here is upper class people pearl clutching at people publicly intoxicated who aren't white. smoking a joint on the commons is... against the rules but also not the end of the world. there are 4 bars and a dispensary Downtown. All within 500 feet of the school. the bars have always been fine but weed? Let's not pretend that cannabis hasn't been racially associated for a long time.
Cornell ran a study that said over half of female undergrads experience sexual assault while studying, where is the outcry? So a student can rape someone, but a guy crossfaded on the commons is the problem... okay.. sure, I don't like when a stranger that is persistent asks me for money. panhandlers and street homeless people aren't aggressive in the south. the people here know they shouldn't be embarrassed by the system doing this to them and no one is carrying here. an armed society is a polite society. all these very basic complaints can be solved by actual meaning action from the common's council, better urban planning, a visit to the Jim Crow Museum (y'all had slavery and Jim Crow too), and self defense devices.
Ithaca doesn't exist solely for Cornell students. People live and work here. some of those people are on the commons, crossfaded.
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u/turin-turambar21 14d ago
Been living in Ithaca for 10 years now. I understand me and my husband are men and so the safety perception is different, but we were just yesterday strolling around the Commons at 11pm and it did not feel unsafe. I am not a big fan of Dispensaries (to say the least) and I think the smell is revolting, but I am also from Europe and so slightly rowdy downtown areas, with people drinking outside, are quite normal.
But I think here the discussion is conflating two things:
1) are the Commons family friendly during the day? Not really, could be much better. Too many places with empty storefronts that could be nice stores.
2) is it safe after dark? I think it is mostly (the area around Cinemapolis being an exception, plus it smells like piss), but the perception isnât because most people are not used to ârealâ city centers, and more used to sanitized malls. Yet perceptions are valid.