March 27, 2006
Escape From New York
Didn't blog over the course of the weekend, and probably won't post much during the next few days, either. We have something of a family reunion is going on at my place, with my wife's sister and her kids up from Florida, and my wife's parents down from New York, and we're having a blast.
They're all looking at real estate and thinking about joining us in the area, and if they do, my wife's brother and his family probably won't be too far behind. The crappy schools, over-priced real estate, and high taxes are pushing them out of both upstate New York and West Palm Beach, and they're looking here like so many people have before them.
Based upon people I've met, I think half of Poughkeepsie, NY has relocated to Cary, NC. They didn't jokingly nickname it C.A.R.Y. -the "Containment Area for Relocated Yankees" - for nothing.
Why are people moving?
Houses are going for over $190 a square foot in the part of NY my wife's family is from for a 40 year-old home, and they're paying outrageous property taxes to support public schools that are both under-performing and increasingly dangerous.
Here is NC, we're building a home for less than $90 dollars a square foot, pay considerably lower taxes, and have our kid attending one of the top school systems in the nation.
I think that's what they call a "no-brainer," isn't it?
Yeah, but Cary is the overpriced area in Wake County, too. When my parents moved to the Triangle, they picked a spot that's almost in Durham County, and only 10 minutes or so from the airport. There weren't any schools nearby when we moved there, but now there's the Leesville schools, which are some of the best in the county. And you get a whole bunch more yard than in Cary. Did I mention it's not part of any city, so you only pay county taxes?
I live in NYC now, but I think that living in the best city in the world is enough to put up with the taxes and real estate issues (as for the schools, we're going the homeschool route -- and the "cultural capital" here makes it a fabulous choice). That's not true for Poughkeepsie, of course.
Posted by: meep at March 27, 2006 05:02 AMHave a wonderful time enjoying and treasuring family fellowship.
Posted by: Old Soldier at March 27, 2006 08:58 AMI'd heard about the Containment Area before I relocated here from my native California. That's why I live on the western edge of Wake county. When I came here, I did so intending to fit in as much as possible - not a difficult thing for me, really, since NC values are much like the values of the CA where I grew up in the 60s.
Plus, I figure if you're going to relocate to get away from the crappiness of, say, New York, it's best to leave your crappy New York mindset behind... something the majority of yankees seem to have neglected to do. They go to all the trouble of leaving Craptown, and then they try to make this place into a small Craptown. Idiots.
Posted by: Russ at March 27, 2006 10:44 AM"...something the majority of yankees seem to have neglected to do."
Russ, I take exception to your generalization. I am a Yankee who is proud of my heritage. I've lived in the south for many many years and none of my neighbors have ever complained about my attitude. The "attitude" that you refer to seems more appropriately associated with the big cities no matter which region there are in (e.g. NYC, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, LA, SF, etc.) I will say that Nashville and Dallas are two cities without attitudes.
Posted by: Old Soldier at March 27, 2006 12:23 PMI'm also not sure what Russ means by a "crappy New York mindset."
While I left New York for the reasons noted in the article, I've always gotten along well with the folks from upstate New York who seem to be the bulk of New Yorkers moving this way. They're good folks.
Posted by: Confederate Yankee at March 27, 2006 12:58 PMIndeed. Perhaps "New York City mindset" would have better conveyed my idea.
The crappy mindset is more a function of big cities, regardless of where they are geographically. Having lived in LA, Chicago, and the San Francisco Bay Area, I've seen the attitudes in action up close and personal.
People leave the big cities to go to smaller towns, and then complain because there isn't an opera company or a Zabar's in their new town. Cry me a river.
Posted by: Russ at March 28, 2006 12:04 AMActually, having moved from Raleigh to NYC, I've gotta say that many of the =residents= here are very nice people. I've talked to more strangers here than I ever did growing up in the South (part of that is a volume situation, and the fact I ride mass transit instead of driving now.)
That said, I couldn't stand the Yankees who invaded the South, bitching about not getting a decent bagel or hating the local minor league ice hockey team (which forthwith got replaced with an overpriced NHL team). If you wanted your Yankee culture, why did you leave NY? Come to NC for the barbecue, not for our ersatz Yankee "culture".
Posted by: meep at March 28, 2006 05:59 AMAs a not so recent transplant from NYC I have to tell you we don't all have this "mindset" a******. I mean f*** heck man.
Just kidding. It is great living down here in NC. Honestly I wish everyone from around had the opportunity to live in NYC for a while. And I wish that those who do have that Yankee attidude, mainly NJ trash, would come down here and live a little.
The NC education system however is a wreck. Wake County and Chapel Hill Carrboro, hae some fo the best schools period. However the rest of the state cannot say the same. I truly realized this after visiting www.donorschoose.org, and seeing on all the areas you can help teachers, NYC, LA, SF, Texas etc., NC & SC are on there as well. Says something.
Posted by: Nick D at March 29, 2006 03:16 PMYou're from Po-town? Proud graduate of Dutchess County Community College (13th grade) here, transplanted from Marlboro, NY (across the Mid-Hudson bridge...the "poor" side of the river!) to lovely Fairfax, Va.
Go Patriots!
Posted by: Nico the Magnificient at March 30, 2006 04:47 PM
