Anyone familiar with the Ithaca area?

[kristine_elen]

My husband now and then talks about moving to Ithaca, NY, and building a house on an acre or two of land. I know nothing about the area other than that Cornell and a few smaller colleges are there, and that it's by a lot of lakes. Anyone know much about it? Are the public schools good? Is there much to do? Does the population seem educated or is it a Deliverance sort of place? I know it's a small town but I was thinking Cornell's presence might mean added culture. We're in a large city now with lots to do -- museums, etc.

Thanks for any info.

[caheinz]

Spent a long time there for grad school, but have been gone for a while.

The area is extremely highly educated. A lot of people who go there for Cornell (or Ithaca College) end up loving it and never leaving. I forget what the percentages are, but a very high number hold at least a bachelor's degree, and they're higher than usual for higher degrees as well.

On the other hand, there aren't really a lot of positions for highly educated folk outside the schools (and keep in mind that higher ed typically doesn't pay all that well) -- it's about 60-90 mins south of Syracuse, the same from Binghamton, it has no interstates running through, etc. etc. Not that there are no jobs, but there can be pretty high competition for good ones.

It's a very progressive community, which has its ups and downs.

There are three large state parks very nearby, and more a short distance away. There's a ScienCenter for kids that is supposed to be excellent, but DS arrived after we had left. Cornell and the community do bring good arts to town, but it's not going to be at the level of a big city. I heard good things about local childcare centers, but didn't really know anyone with school-aged kids. I suspect they are at least very good. It does have a reputation of being a good place to raise kids. One area where Ithaca really stands out is food -- there are a number of excellent restaurants there, and more ethnic types, than you would ever expect in a town of its size.

It is on the southeastern shore of Cayuga Lake, the easternmost and deepest of the Finger Lakes. It's a hilly area -- Cornell is on East Hill, Ithaca College on South Hill, and West Hill is on the way towards Trumansburg (which should have actually been Tremansburg, the same Treman as Robert Treman State Park, which is on the way, but typos existed even back then...).

Cost of living in Ithaca proper is artificially inflated compared to surrounding towns. Housing shouldn't be bad to find, though -- that whole region of upstate NY is generally in decline, so there was a lot on the market when we left. (It's possibly that that's changed since we left...)

Not sure how much you'd need to travel out, but the airport is very small, and nice in that respect, but it tends to be pricey, and the only airline that seems to be there consistently is US Airways. (Others come and go over time.)

OK. I guess that's a lot.... I'll stop now.

[hobokenmom]

I went to Cornell, and I spend a week up there every summer with my kids. It's beautiful.

As for Ithaca, it's a university town with a lot going on, but as you drive out of Ithaca, you can definitely see some upstate NY poverty (just drive along route 79).

To me, it's a similar city to Boulder, Colorado, in that it's very liberal and has the Commons (which they also have in Boulder).

I'm not sure I could live there all year round, but it is a nice place.

[cilantromapuche]

I live about 45 minutes away. There is another mom (juliasmom? maybe) who lives in Ithaca. It is a very gorgeous area and it is named one of the most environmentally friendly places in the country. It is not near a lot of commercial shopping places that you may be used to if you live near a big town. I love where we live and prefer to live with more "cultural" things to do than hang out in a mall. NYC is 4 or 5 hours away, DC and Boston are about the same.
I would visit before I moved here because its not for everyone. And they do have an airport or the Syracuse airport is an option (that is important for us because we travel a lot).
There's a lot of great people and very mom friendly.

c

[juliasmom05]

Yep. We live there. Ithaca, itself, definitely not a Deliverance sort of place :). I'm out of town at the moment, but feel free to email. I'll try to answer your questions when I get back into town.

Ithaca is one of those towns that people either really love and want to stay here for ever, or either really hate. They describe it as "centrally isolated" which means that it is within 4-7 h away from lots of places (NYC, Boston, Toronto, Philadelphia, Montreal).

But, it is a small town. Although because of the influence of Cornell and Ithaca College, it is unlike any other town in the surrounding area. A bumper sticker that you often see is "10 sq. miles surrounded by reality". I can't remember the exact figure, but it touts itself as having the highest number of people with higher degrees per capita (or something like that).

As someone mentioned, central NY is quite depressed economically. There are not a lot of job opportunites. If you have a job, then it is a great place to come. If you don't have a job, then it can be extremely difficult.

DD's is only 2, so I don't know much about the schools. As anywhere, there are good elementary schools and not so good ones. There was one several months ago, that failed the no child left behind statute and was forced to allow some of the students to enroll in other schools. I think were lots of issues regarding this, and am not sure it speaks to the quality of the school perse. As people mentioned there is only one high school. DH went there, but he hated high school, so he doesn't have great things to say about it ;).

Although sometimes, I crave a larger city, there are things to do for families:

There is the Sciencenter which is actually quite good. They change the exhibits around every few months so it doesn't get boring.

http://www.sciencenter.org/

There is the Museum of the Earth. DD's a little too young for it, but it looks like older kids would enjoy it.

http://www.museumoftheearth.org/

There is the Cayuga Nature Center which has a 50 foot tree house.

http://www.cayuganaturecenter.org/

Cornell has the Herber F. Johson Museum of Art

http://www.museum.cornell.edu/

Culturally for a small town, it is quite good. There is plenty of theater and classical musical series and it is the the North American seat of His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama.

Less than an hour away, there is a zoo in Syracuse, an airplane museum, and the Corning Glass Museum where you can blow you own glass.

There are plenty of outdoor activities including hiking, cross country skiing, down hill skiing, swimming at the bottom of waterfalls, etc.

Ithaca fought hard to prevent superstores from coming in, but several years ago, it all changed. There is now a Walmart, Target, Lowes, HomeDepot, Best Buy, Pier One, etc.

I can send you the weekly real estate listings if you want to get an idea of the real estate market and land prices. A newspaper is also published a couple of times a year that is directed to families with children that may give you an idea of things available for children and another one "Ithaca Times" that may give you an idea of the cultural activities available. If think that this stuff might be helpful, email me and I will send the info to you.

Marci

[scoop22]

we live about 45 min from Ithaca. Dh works in Ithaca over summer vacations. Since we live in a small town we often go to Ithaca to do things. When our families come to visit they always ask to go to the wineries. As for schools and such I hope someone else can help you out. IT hasn't been to bad lately, and i dont' know where you are from but think SNOW.... and lots of culture.
http://b2.lilypie.com/XbITm4.png

[american_mama]

Although I haven't been to Ithaca lately, I did my undergrad at Cornell and grew up in Syracuse, an hour away, and my parents still live in Syacuse. It is not a deliverance kind of place, no no no; the idea itself is somewhere between comical and insulting. You should go visit. Did your husband go to undergrad at Cornell? If so, they have a nice reunion program every 5 years after your graduation year, which would give you a reason to visit and lots of events to enjoy.

Someone mentioned the interstate, so I wanted to say that Ithaca is about 30 minutes from the interstate, not hours away. Those thiry minutes to the interstate are in countryside, but not vast empty space stretching to the horizon or anything. I suspect the population of Ithaca is between 30,000 and 100,000 people (just saying that to say it's not a tiny town.) It's in a beautiful, hilly area, with waterfalls and gorges dotting the landscape. There is a pedestrian mall downtown (the Commons), and the town is home of the famous Moosewood Restaurant (they wrote all the cookbooks by the same name). It's a fairly liberal town, but, like every place, you meet a range of people.

I don't know anything about the public schools except that Ithaca has one large high school, which always struck me as interesting because everyone, rich or poor, academically inclined or not, ends up together, very different from suburbia where your high schools are only as heterogenous as the neighborhoods they serve. Ithaca High School sends more students to Cornell than any other high school in the country. I had the impression as an undergrad that the high school was quite good.

[BarbieSmith]

Went to Cornell and then stayed to 3 years working there! I liked it, but it *did* feel a little remote to me - I felt as though there were not *quite* enough opportunities to do educational/cultural/entertainment things. But otherwise, it is a GORGES (pun intended, the gorges are gorgeous) place, truly. There *is* a bit more of an air of sophistication and progressiveness (due to the universities) than most towns of it's size. It has the feel of a small/medium town, but the universities definitely give the whole town a different feel than most towns its size (in a good way, IMO).

I do not know stats, but I also got the impression that Ithaca HS was a pretty good place.

Other than that, ditto what Cheryl (especially) and Karen said...

Best of luck to you!
Barbie

[hobokenmom]

Barbie - What year did you graduate?

My DH and I both went to Cornell. I graduated in '91, DH graduated in '92, and he got his MBA in '93 (He did a 5-year program).

Our kids love Cornell. We go up to CAU every summer for a week.

[hobokenmom]

Karen - When did you graduate?

I just went to my 15 year reunion last June (I graduated in '91) and wouldn't you know it was rainy and about 50 degrees the first weekend in June.

I attend Cornell's Adult University (CAU) every summer for a week, and it's a great program (for adults and especially kids) My kids love love love Cornell. If you ever have the chance to do it, you should.

[MichelleRC]

If I stayed I would have graduated Cornell in 91 too! I left after 2 years to go to journalism school at NYU. I was the manager of the mens varisty soccer team for 2 years and have very fond memories of eating from the Hot Truck late at night :)

[BarbieSmith]

I am a 92 grad of the Hotel School! I managed Johnny's for a year after graduation :)

[american_mama]

How funny, Amy and Barbie. I am a '92 alum, HumEc. I always lived on North Campus, in case either of you or your DH did too. I know a few people from class of 91 from the hotel school; maye you know them too, Barbie, since it's a small school? I worked as a reunion clerk for two years and thought reunion seemed like so much fun, but have not yet been myself. I didn't have an active social life at Cornell, so it's highly unlikely I would run into anyone I know at reunion and that's been a disincentive to going.

[caheinz]

Heh. My grad advisor's DW is the one who pretty much runs the reunions. So I always heard lots about them! Haven't ever been, though.

[hobokenmom]

I was a CEH Major in HumEc (consumer economics and housing), so I'm sure we crossed paths at some point. I live on West Campus for two years and then in collegetown.

I was a founding sister at AoPi, but I was really NOT into the whole sorority thing about a year after I joined.

I'm not sure if I'm coming to reunions this year with my DH -- it depends if I can get my parents to watch the kids.

Have you been to campus? Have you seen how they ripped down the whole new part of MVR hall? They found it to be structurally unsound?

How cool that we've found a bunch of Cornellians here!!

[kimbe]

We lived 15 minutes south of Ithaca for about a year. We drove the 45 minutes to Binghamton for everything because Ithaca had nothing. (As Marci said though, that has changed and now they actually have stores.) Even though I still worked there, we moved 45 minutes south of Ithaca because we wanted to be closer to Binghamton since we felt there was more going on there. (AHL Hockey Team, larger movie theaters, chain stores, chain resturants, a Toys R Us, a Zoo.) As a whole, compared to other places I have lived, Ithaca was one of the most unfriendly places I have ever lived (people wise.) I agree with others that it was very isolated too. Not even from large cities, from ANY city. It is a drive to Binghamton, Syracuse and Elmira/Horseheads/Corning.

We have since left and I couldn't be happier. We were never really happy in the Ithaca or Binghamton area at all. IMO, although there are things to do, there weren't enough things to do. I am much happier now that we are in the suburbs of a large city.

That being said, there are some really great things about the area. The state parks are amazing -- although, you have to PAY to get into them even though your taxes in NYS are outrageous. Upstate NY is really beautiful at all times of the year. Fall is fantastic and even though I hated every part of winter, it was quite pretty. Upstate NY also has the grocery store Wegmans that I miss very very much! Cornell does offer a lot to the town. There are great plays and movies and things like that. If you like college hockey or wrestling, you will be at the right place. Both of those teams are fantastic. If you like college football -- my high school team had a bigger program! Cornell also makes THE best apple cider that I have ever had in my life -- hands down. If you like apples, it is the place to be -- they are yummy, fresh and cheap!

I hope that I helped a little. I can offer more information about Binghamton if you want any more information about that area. Feel free to pm me if you want.

ETA: If your DH is into fishing and outdoor sports, it is a great place to be. My DH loved bass fishing and there was plenty of that going on while we lived there.

[juliasmom05]

" Ithaca was one of the most unfriendly places I have ever lived (people wise.)"

It's funny, I had forgotten about this, but when I first moved to Ithaca that is exactly what I thought, too :-). Not sure if its changed, or I am just so used to it that it doesn't bother me as much.

Marci

[kimbe]

I definitely got used to it while we were there. When I was first walking around campus, I couldn't believe that people just kept their heads down and didn't look at you, didn't smile, didn't speak. I just started doing the same thing. I didn't think about it again until we moved down here --I think that now we live in the most friendly place! Chivalry lives here that is for sure. People are even nice when they drive -- that was a shock.

I must say though, I was lucky enough to work around some of the friendliest people there!

[juliasmom05]

"I must say though, I was lucky enough to work around some of the friendliest people there! "

Ditto :-)


Marci

[kristine_elen]

Thanks so much, this was really helpful. I'll bug you for more info if we get more serious about it. I've been looking at real estate listings online, too. Thanks again!

[caheinz]

My DH would agree with that statement. I was so entrenched in grad school and my department and lab (which were both very sociable), that it doesn't stick out so much.

Certainly, though, service sucks in that region.... I remember being taken aback when we moved to another area of the country where service did matter!