Rochester Economy?

[SouthernMan]

Always entertaining the idea of moving back home... how's the Rochester economy stack up with the Buff?  Wife's considering it again, too.... thanks..

 

-Jeff

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Boy, this comes up every few months, huh? You're not alone.

 

Yesterday morning, me and the Mrs were getting ready for another lovely day, starting with Atlanta traffic. I was getting all stressed out as the hands on the morning clock seemed to be moving way too fast, and all I could think about was hitting the road before the traffic came to a standstill.

 

Traffic being what it is, we now have to get on the road between 6:30-7am to be on time to work and class. She's in Buckhead and I'm in class all week in Sandy Springs.

 

As soon as the school buses pull out of the subdivision at 6:40, the mommy and daddy parade fall in right behind the bus or buses. These are the parents who park on the street where the school bus stops. In their cars are their half-asleep 6-year-olds waiting with them for 'the cheese' to show up.

 

Then there's the hundreds of other parents who simply taxi the kids to school every day, since the poor kids have 50 lbs of books, supplies, musical instruments, etc. You know how this impacts the traffic on the roads and side roads near these schools. Side street traffic jams!!! That's what happens when you don't have roads configured in a grid, as is common throughout WNY. Georgia DOT must be the preferred job placement destination for special ed graduates.

 

 

By the time we get home at night, cook, clean up, etc., it's almost time to hit the rack again and start the cycle all over again. So much for quality of life.

 

As I was standing in the bathroom yesterday morning, listening to traffic reports, waiting for my stress heart attack to kick in, I turned to my wife and said, "we gotta get out of here".

 

So, here I sit, 4am after a few hours rest. Too late to go back to bed and already thinking about the stress that will be arriving with the sunrise.

 

If there were better paying jobs in Buffalo and WNY, a lot U-hauls would be packed and headed back there. I don't need to get rich, but with the high cost of health care and retirement (hopefully) less than 20 years away, it's not reasonable to even think about making a Buffalo level income, where the wage scale for private sector companies is still somehow stuck in 1975.

 

Now, if you can get a job with the state......

[keepthefaith]

Hahaha, that is actually completely true. Rochester is super saturated with a lot of brilliant chemists and chemical engineers as a result of Kodak.

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Well if the engineers are brilliant, then some should be able to identify an opportunity and capitalize on it (by starting a business).

[Helmet_hair]

Good news on the western NY job front. There was a front page article in my local paper a month ago about the coming worker shortage in western NY, yes I said WORKER SHORTAGE! There are I lot of older workers in upstate and in the next 5 to 10 years massive amounts of boomer will be retiring with no qualified workers to fill their positions. Let the good times roll, yes!

[ACor58]

Now, if you can get a job with the state......

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Don't even get me started with those freaking low life idiots. F**king criminals. Apaprently they are ENTITLED to receive a rasies every year, reagrdless of how bad they suck at their lives...er...jobs.

 

This damn state can barely pass a budget every year, but has the state ever laid off an employee??? Of course not. I know what a lot of you are thinking, if you don't like it, leave. I have a great job here. I own a great house and a rental property. My friends and my family are here, I like it here.

 

What I don't like is the fact that thousands of bright, talented, hard working people are forced to leave this state because it is run by three selfish criminals. Sheldon Silver, Joseph Bruno, and Pataki (or whatever douchebag goes searching for votes upstate then forgets that there is anything West of Albany after they are elected).

 

I know that Spitzer is a Democrat and most people think that means that he isn't business friendly. He claims that he is a man of high moral character. When he is elected, here is hoping that he can make New York State a great place to live again.

[Stussy109]

WNY and NY as a whole is down and out.... I have lived in SOuthern NJ for over a year now and what a difference it makes. There are new homes going up everywhere, no commercial storefronts are vacant and there are jobs a plenty. I drove back home for "vacation" and albany looked slightly depressed, and buffalo severely. You need to have a solid job offer, or a great niche to start a business and be successful. I rented a car for one day, car was 54$, NYS sales tax on a rental car, 28%ended up being 70 something dollars. Its a joke.

[Ray]

We're moving back after living in Boston. The WNY economy has it problems, no question about it. But---it does have opportunities. There are jobs out there. The housing is cheap, schools are very good (if you have kids), and great people. I really do think that WNY is poised for decent economic growth. WNY is slow to embrace change and take advantage of all its assets. There are great Universities in upstate (Cornell, U of R, UB), with smart creatitive people. You have one of the seven wonders of the world in Niagara Falls. There is finally a push to take advantage, albeit slowly, of all these things. The waterfront looks like it is actually going to happen. You have some slow growth in NF and you have out of town developers renovating multiple buildings downtown.

I wish that NYS was smart enough to do what Ontario has done with NF, but things will slowly change. I think the bleeding has been soooo bad that the moron politicians have finally taken notice. Let's hope so as it is a wonderful place.

You've got to remember people back home are sick of the way things have been run and what has happened so are understandably pessimistic. There is an inferiority complex in the area. But you'd be surprised when you talk about Buffalo/NF to people in the Northeast/New England (outside the cities where snobbiness and superiority complexes exist). People go on vacation there, they love the natural beauty and consider it a very nice place. So there is hope.

[Arkady Renko]

What sucks is how many people want to be living here all things being equal but feel they can't. If the business climate improved and generally there were just lower taxes, there would be a huge inflow back I think.

 

Perhaps some transportation improvements might make a difference as well. Maybe a high speed train that makes it quick and easy to get from Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse etc. down to NYC? Perhaps make an interstate spur that goes from Elmira through Ithaca to Cortland?

[Dr. Trooth]

The state is moving their food safety lab to Geneva which will bring high-tech jobs to the area. 30 positions will be available including, chemists, bacteriologists and microbiologists.. I don't know if that is up your alley or not. It is in the local section of today's Rochester D&C.

 

My understanding is that they're moving into the Cornell Univ. Experiment Facility which Cornell is closing... So, 60 jobs, or so, lost because of the closing... but, 30 government (tax payer funded) jobs come back when the state food safety lab moves in.

 

The moral of the story is that the politicians can't wait to announce how many new jobs they've created. But, don't mention how many jobs lost... and, the all impotant number, net gain or loss... and in this case, this one adds up to minus 30 when I do the math.

[Arkady Renko]

My understanding is that they're moving into the Cornell Univ. Experiment Facility which Cornell is closing... So, 60 jobs, or so, lost because of the closing... but, 30 government (tax payer funded) jobs come back when the state food safety lab moves in.

 

The moral of the story is that the politicians can't wait to announce how many new jobs they've created.  But, don't mention how many jobs lost... and, the all impotant number, net gain or loss... and in this case, this one adds up to minus 30 when I do the math.

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I don't believe Cornell is closing anything up there. I believe that this lab is simply moving from Albany over to there.

[OnTheRocks]

Always entertaining the idea of moving back home... how's the Rochester economy stack up with the Buff?  Wife's considering it again, too.... thanks..

 

-Jeff

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what kind of work are you and your wife looking for?

[Dr. Trooth]

I don't believe Cornell is closing anything up there. I believe that this lab is simply moving from Albany over to there.

 

Nope. Cornell Univ. is zipping it up. The announcement was made last spring.

 

My guess is, because of the facilities that are already in place there, the state is taking over. Since many of the jobs at Cornell are state paid anyways, I would think that some of the people already there in state paid positions at Cornell will stay thereand no longer be considered employees of CU.

[Marv's Neighbor]

New York is not the only high-taxed and extraordinarily business unfriendly state, but I suppose the problem is that the other states have nicer weather.

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Screw the weather! It's TAXES man!

[mcjeff215]

what kind of work are you and your wife looking for?

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I do software eng/computer stuff. I bring it all up again because I got a couple calls from up there over the past week. I like to do a bit of research before jumping into it. Overall, looks like heading back would be a poor decision....

 

-Jeff

[mcjeff215]

Boy, this comes up every few months, huh?  You're not alone.

 

Yesterday morning, me and the Mrs were getting ready for another lovely day, starting with Atlanta traffic.  I was getting all stressed out as the hands on the morning clock seemed to be moving way too fast, and all I could think about was hitting the road before the traffic came to a standstill.

 

Traffic being what it is, we now have to get on the road between 6:30-7am to be on time to work and class. She's in Buckhead and I'm in class all week in Sandy Springs.

 

As soon as the school buses pull out of the subdivision at 6:40, the mommy and daddy parade fall in right behind the bus or buses. These are the parents who park on the street where the school bus stops. In their cars are their half-asleep 6-year-olds waiting with them for 'the cheese' to show up.

 

Then there's the hundreds of other parents who simply taxi the kids to school every day, since the poor kids have 50 lbs of books, supplies, musical instruments, etc.  You know how this impacts the traffic on the roads and side roads near these schools.  Side street traffic jams!!!  That's what happens when you don't have roads configured in a grid, as is common throughout WNY.  Georgia DOT must be the preferred job placement destination for special ed graduates.

By the time we get home at night, cook, clean up, etc., it's almost time to hit the rack again and start the cycle all over again.  So much for quality of life.

 

As I was standing in the bathroom yesterday morning, listening to traffic reports, waiting for my stress heart attack to kick in, I turned to my wife and said, "we gotta get out of here".

 

So, here I sit, 4am after a few hours rest. Too late to go back to bed and already thinking about the stress that will be arriving with the sunrise.

 

If there were better paying jobs in Buffalo and WNY, a lot U-hauls would be packed and headed back there.  I don't need to get rich, but with the  high cost of health care and retirement (hopefully) less than 20 years away, it's not reasonable to even think about making a Buffalo level income, where the wage scale for private sector companies is still somehow stuck in 1975.

 

Now, if you can get a job with the state......

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You've hit it dead on. There's no life beyond work and commute. The damn problem is that back home, I'll pay stupid taxes and live on a 1922 salary. It's a tradeoff.

 

I'm in the same boat. I get up at 5:30 AM and run around my neighborhood. I leave the house at seven in order to be at a friend's house by eight in order to jump in the carpool. We get to work between 9:00 and 9:30 most days. The ride home is no better. We'll leave work at about six. All said and done, I pull into my driveway at about half-past seven or quarter 'till eight.

 

I'm out 13 hours every day; four or five of those hours are spent commuting. By the time dinner's through (which I eat after my daughter has gone to sleep for the night a lot of nights), it's time to hit the bed and do it all again the next day. Without the carpool, I save an hour in total but I spend $500 a month in gas.

 

It's getting worse, too, as the 7 miles between my house and the expressway is now littered with rezoning notices. General commercial. Because we all need more of that.

 

Doesn't hurt to look at the state of affairs up there every now and then. I've a cousin in Orlando that just packed up and finishes the move back to East Aurora this weekend.

 

-Jeff

[ACor58]

You've hit it dead on.  There's no life beyond work and commute.  The damn problem is that back home, I'll pay stupid taxes and live on a 1922 salary.  It's a tradeoff.

 

I'm in the same boat.  I get up at 5:30 AM and run around my neighborhood. I leave the house at seven in order to be at a friend's house by eight in order to jump in the carpool.  We get to work between 9:00 and 9:30 most days.    The ride home is no better. We'll leave work at about six.  All said and done, I pull into my driveway at about half-past seven or quarter 'till eight. 

 

I'm out 13 hours every day; four or five of those hours are spent commuting.  By the time dinner's through (which I eat after my daughter has gone to sleep for the night a lot of nights), it's time to hit the bed and do it all again the next day.  Without the carpool, I save an hour in total but I spend $500 a month in gas.

 

It's getting worse, too, as the 7 miles between my house and the expressway is now littered with rezoning notices. General commercial. Because we all need more of that.

 

Doesn't hurt to look at the state of affairs up there every now and then.  I've a cousin in Orlando that just packed up and finishes the move back to East Aurora this weekend.

 

-Jeff

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Out of curiosity, what type of salary differential are we talking about here. I know that upstate employers tend to pay a little less, but the cost of living is lower, despite the higher taxes.

 

To put it another way. Your commute into work is would be similar to mine, if I lived in Rochester and worked in Albany. I am not saying move back here, but I would have a very hard time putting up with what you have to do everyday.

[mcjeff215]

Out of curiosity, what type of salary differential are we talking about here. I know that upstate employers tend to pay a little less, but the cost of living is lower, despite the higher taxes.

 

To put it another way. Your commute into work is would be similar to mine, if I lived in Rochester and worked in Albany. I am not saying move back here, but I would have a very hard time putting up with what you have to do everyday.

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Well, put it this way.. when I tell WNY recruiters what I make now, they estimate a 30% difference with luck on my side.

 

-Jeff

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

Boy, this subject gets beaten like a dead horse on this board.

 

Well, I'm president of a software/eng company, and the 30% is about right for Atlanta (I would say 30-40). It's about 55% in Dallas, due to the high demand for engineers here.

[mcjeff215]

Boy, this subject gets beaten like a dead horse on this board.

 

Yeah, bunch of home sick Buffalonians, eh?

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

Yeah, bunch of home sick Buffalonians, eh?

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I don't think that it's "homesickness" as much as it is "frustration".

 

WNY has the potential to be great but they keep shooting themselves in the foot.

 

Be warned - the business community does not like future Gov. Eliot Spitzer, and he ain't exactly a "business friendly" politician.

[Taro T]

I don't think that it's "homesickness" as much as it is "frustration".

 

WNY has the potential to be great but they keep shooting themselves in the foot.

 

Be warned - the business community does not like future Gov. Eliot Spitzer, and he ain't exactly a "business friendly" politician.

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Darn near a perfect post. Well said.