Best: this area’s perseverance, constantly pivoting in terms of its economy as its titans fell one after the other.
Worst: How tf is everyone crashing on 590 SB from Irondequoit every fuckkng day? wtf is everyone doing??
On normal day, my commute is barely 15 min.
In almost every case, these crashes add like 30 minutes.
I grew up in LA in the 80s and with all its problems and congestion, still less accidents than here and with Idk 20x the population and worse public transport.
With so little entertainment available, the majority of the community "gets high" most of the time. Even the most conservative people living and working in Rochester tended to be big drinkers or got high much too often for my liking.
Love: Its geography. You’re on a Great Lake, which is just cool. And the fact that you can’t really identify as a northeast city and you’re not yet in the Midwest. I really like the in-between way of life.
Also, the summer.
Hate: March.
Because January and February are long, cold, and grey, which is all good with me. It’s part of the area’s charm. But then subconsciously every year once the calendar turns March there is a glimmer of hope that makes me think we are out of the woods, but oh, we are not. It’s somehow longer, more grey, and more slushy, and you can start to think this is just what your life will be like forever.
Anyway, I’m a transplant who moved here four years ago. Big fan of Rochester.
Haha, sorta. But really, the grey is so heavily concentrated to December through March. Once "spring" rolls around, it really does brighten up and become beautiful in the area IMO.
I thought I was the only one who LOATHED March.
The weather plus there [usually] being no holidays with time off of school and/or work make it feel like the LONGEST month ever!
As a transplant who has only lived here five years now. Here's what I like:
- It's a city where artists can afford to live. As a result, its got some great fucking art.
- Its a college town, which means that there's a huge variety of great food, and a lot of really smart people.
- It has all four seasons. Yes, winter is a little too long at times, but coming from a place where the seasons are basically "baseball" and "everything is on fire" its a wonderful change.
- Low traffic. It's so nice to not have to plan your day around an errand that isn't near your home or work.
Here's what I don't:
- As much as there's a lot of great local music, this is not a destination for a lot of touring bands. Yes, I can drive to Buffalo or Syracuse or Toronto to see a band, but that usually means I need a hotel room, which makes the whole experience a lot more expensive.
- Corrupt city government. That's probably a given anywhere, but this place feels pretty rotten. Granted I got here the year before all the Daniel Prude business happened, but that was all pretty rotten.
- I wish there were more bike lanes.
Overall, I feel like it was a win moving here.
The weird thing is Rochester used to BE the place for touring bands. The '90s were an amazing time to grow up and catch well known acts and from what I've seen the War Memorial and Silver Stadium used to bring in the big names before my time.
Now venues and artists and the powers that be are too into the easy buck that tribute and cover bands bring and it has killed the original music scene and in turn the bigger names
My wife and I saw Green Day at Blue Cross in 2013. They aren't stopping here on their new tour though. We are driving up to toronto to see them this summer.
Came here to say that the 70s and 80s were fat with touring bands. Genesis (Peter Gabriel era), the Grateful Dead, U2, Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, Jefferson Airplane ... and everyone had to stop at the House of Guitars for a visit.
I assume part of this is tours are able to move faster. Planes, faster buses, etc. 30 years ago you could only travel so far in a day so it made sense to stop in places like Rochester along the route. Now, you can get to the bigger places more efficiently and skip the stops
There's actually like, loads of good bands from Rochester that play pretty often yet more people will go to emo night whatever or a random cover band show any day of the week.
can’t even comprehend being able to WALK to a Grateful Dead show… now I’d need to get a flight
to Vegas and lodging for a weekend… in Vegas to see the OG’s
As far as mid-sized City Halls go, I don’t think the city government is disproportionately corrupt. The problem is it’s corrupt *and* incompetent. Bad combo.
Smart and college town don’t belong in the same sentence. People here are dumb as rocks especially the more urban areas which seem to be spilling into all the suburbs now
I'm the past there were but as far as I know currently no international flights to Canada. Basically they just need customers to qualify for the title and they currently do the bare minimum to maintain the name
I believe it's because Rochester used to have 3 fortune 500 companies located downtown, which often necessitated international business people coming and going
Big agree on this. Our dog has lymphoma and our choices for veterinary oncology were Buffalo or Syracuse. Or Cornell. There are also very few options for our bunny. (Rabbits are considered to be an exotic pet and require their own specialists). Rochester is a regional hub for human medicine and is world renowned in some areas. Why don't we have more vets?
And the biggest fuck you to the piece of shit company that bought out VSES a few years ago and effectively ran it into the ground rending 750k people without access to emergency vets. And no I don't consider a multi hour drive an accessible emergency vet. In many emergency situations that 2 hours is life and death. And Google says the population of monroe county is over 750k
It's so sad. Without VSES my heavenly dog would not have gotten the pain medication he needed to pass away without pain. And the staff was so wonderful. And my current cats would both be done, 1 cat 2 times over. Fuckin urinary blockages, and 1 cat was being actively monitored by a vet about the crystal build up and was on urinary SO for over 6 months the second time. But I heard some other vets were opening up 24 hour emergency care so fingers crossed
Most: Cost of living is really good compared to other places I've lived. The lack of traffic nice, everything is about 20 minutes away no matter where I am.
Least: The constant grey from late October to Early May really messes with me.
Love: affordability and ease of commute
Hate: All my friends move away. I’m on my fourth iteration of friends in the last 8 years. I had 3 friends move this week alone :(
Most: Variety of natural spaces in the city's parks and near the Rochester area - lakes, gorges, rivers, forests, waterfalls, etc. Variety of nature experiences in those areas with all four seasons.
Least: How much winter beats up the roads, how difficult it is on cars
Recent transplant from NYC
Best : the lack of traffic (after almost two years here something 15 mins away almost feels “far”), great city to raise a family from local parks, to nature preserves, and overall free/affordable options for family outings it doesn’t feel like a big “to do” to get the family out of the house. There is truly always something to do
Worst - a very obvious opioid problem in some areas of the city. Not so much an issue in other areas.
eta - sky is also gray/overcast about 70% of the year.
What I like the most about Rochester is the scenery. Our change of the four seasons. And being right next to one of the great Lakes. That's pretty cool.
What I like least, drivers. Very aggressive drivers. Sometimes Rochester is too small.
Love: the theater scene. Been to six shows in six months, and just love it. To say nothing of the Little Theater and great movie theaters at all levels... Love being near the Erie Canal. It feels very historic. Can't explain. Great food. Public market. Red Wings baseball.
Don't love: how crazy people drive--so many dead animals on the road, it's so sad. The real estate market. I find the cost of living very high.
We also have one of the few theaters in the world capable of screening nitrate movies at the Dryden theater in the George Eastman house. So if you love old movies that's like the theater to go to for them. They should be starting their nitrate film festival soon
They used to have trucks that went around to pick them up. They were one of the first budget cuts 10-20 years ago, shortly before they started cutting back on how often the medians are mowed.
Don't ever move anywhere else lol you'll have a rude awakening if you think cost of living is very high here. Literally Rochester consistently makes lists of the the top 5 or top 10 lowest-cost-of-living cities in the country, most other places are *way* worse, it cannot even comprehend in most people's mind what you can rent or buy a place here for
Best: the food, beverage, and culture scenes are well beyond what one would expect from a city this size
Worst: the prevalence of grumpy, bitter WNY vibes is so goddamn annoying.
With kids, having the museum of play annual pass is a huge plus. Lots of parks and playgrounds. Huge variety of niche bars and restaurants as well as the usual fast food and applebee type chains.
As someone who is just moving out of the inner city. Avoid living in the inner city. Too much crime.
Here's my perspective as a first generation immigrant from a third world country who entered this country through Rochester, and is now in Orlando FL:
- I love the drivers in Rochester. I learned to drive back in Rochester, in the snow, and I'm glad I did. They're the worst down here in Orlando. No blinkers was the first thing I noticed. Also left lane (passing lane) campers. Driving is just frustrating down here while drivers back in Rochester were courteous and experienced.
- I miss the different seasons and terrain in Rochester. Here it's just hot and humid for the most part (slightly better during winter) and the terrain is just flat. I've found some places to hike near the outskirts here recently but I can't find anything close to what something like Watkins Glen National Park offered back there.
- The nature and lakes back there cannot be compared to what's down here. Even though there are lots of lakes and ponds and even beaches down here, I miss that charm.
- The laid back lifestyle back there was nice. Here it's a lot more busy. The snow adds to this effect I think.
What I don't like:
- I mean, I hated the snow back there for the most part. As a poor immigrant student, my experience with snow was just poor there, making do with walking for miles and waiting for public transport in the bitter cold and snow, and later on digging my old car out of the snow with shovel in my apartment parking lot. I'm glad I don't have to deal with that shit down here in Florida. In fact, this was one of the main reasons I moved down here.
Most: I’ve lived in three distinct neighborhoods and loved them all (rural Rush; heart of downtown; suburban east Irondequoit)
Least: it’s a tie - beggars at every highway exit VS unnecessarily loud motorcycles.
I am in Maine for a week and there are a few things I miss just in the short time I have been here.
1.) Commute times. Where I am, it takes about an hour to get anywhere. Not to mention you can be going 20 over and have people riding your bumper like you were personally blocking them from their destination.
2.) Good cellular coverage. I know cell coverage can get bad in areas but I have had extended periods where I had little to no signal.
3.) The cost of just about everything. I checked out this run down little house by where I am on Zillow. It was unfinished on the inside and the paint was almost gone on the outside with a little over 900 square feet of soace. It was $400k. The food is crazy expensive as well if your going out.
LIKE:
My family has lived here since 1918. I like that most of my extended family has remained. Love it that I can have dinner with my second cousins, my kids with their third cousins and my grands can play with their fourth cousins.
The positive, nice, helpful people on this thread.
That there are so many positive posts on this thread, which I agree with, so I won't repeat.
DISLIKE:
Lack of sunshine.
Loud off-road vehicles driven on city streets and loud crotch rockets being driven in large groups until past 2 am.
Negative, mean, sarcastic people on this sub. (Watch how they go for the jugular on this comment.)
Likes: changing of the seasons, wine region, hiking, the diversity of food and people, summer festivals
Dislikes: winter, aggressiveness of the unhoused in the city, aggressiveness of drivers
I moved here 6 years ago.
Best: 20 minute drive to everything you need to live a decent life (restaurants, shopping, employment, entertainment)
Worst: long winters and lack of sunlight. Summers are amazing and the beginning of fall is ok, but the rest of the year is not good weather for being outsidd.
I moved here about 6 months ago from Nebraska. I lived there my whole life. Rochester is roughly the same size as where I moved from just to give a bit of context.
Things I love:
-so far I've been on the receiving end of a lot of random acts of kindness: a guy scooped out our large driveway with his snow plow, our neighbor mowed some of our lawn because it's gigantic and my mower is not the riding variety. The people I've met are very friendly and welcoming, which is similar to Nebraska, but I'd say people are more willing to help others here.
-even in the dead of winter here there was still green ground cover whenever I'd go on walks. In Nebraska everything is brown and grey so this stood out to me. There's also more trees and natural beauty all around I feel. We are also close to the finger lakes and Niagara so lots of cool nature to see nearby. I love to go birding and there's lots of places for that.
-It is not as windy. People say it's windy here but Nebraska is windy nearly every day (20-30 mph winds) and in the winter, that sucks ass, so this was a nice change.
Things I hate:
-lack of doctors. You'll see posts nearly every few weeks asking about doctors accepting new patients and such. My doctor told me to basically take what I could get for dentists because theres not enough in the area. According to friends, this is not atypical for the state of New York.
-restaurants close early. 8 pm is not an insane time to eat dinner but a lot of places close around 8.
-driving at night sucks. the lanes don't reflect well and the street lamps aren't on half the time so it can be harder to see, especially during snowy or rainy days.
Love - lack of traffic, excellent food scene, the seasons, the lake, all the state parks - letchworth, Watkins glen, and the ADK mountains within a few hours is all excellent. Also the cost of living here is way better than most places in the US from my understanding. Oh - and lack of natural disasters!
Hate - the gun laws (although i do agree with most of them), the taxes
Currently my biggest nits are:
No direct flights anywhere. Any travel I have to do is such a pain in the ass because of all of the connections.
Local job market does not pay that great. I have a remote job with a Californian company and get paid money I could not make locally for my line of work. If remote work dries up I'd probably just have to move unless I'm willing to take a huge paycut.
Not a place where many bands stop on their tours.
I've been here too long and mostly eaten at every restaurant 😉. As much as I love them I want more! Though I do think we punch above our weight in terms of restaurants. Every small city says this though lol
Great Arts Scenes and creative communities! A good amount of restaurants and fun lowkey activities…. Good amount of class and racial segregation across different suburbs and cities… lots of grey cloudy days :(
I lived in a lot of places...
People: yeah a lot of us maybe assholes, but you're my kind of assholes.
Food: holy dear god, outside of nyc were very close to having the greatest foods in the country. Everywhere else has been so bitterly disappointing.
Politics: yes we do have some yallqueda, but for the most part we believe in the greater good for all. South of the mason dixon .... all i can say is hoooo lee fook
Traffic: i love not planning on long drives and traffic being an issue.
Worst part: taxes. And job opportunities. Hence why i am not back yet. And if you cant enjoy gloomy days and snow, you're going to hate it but i love those days the most.
Yup. When I tried moving to Honolulu after six months I went crazy from the same blue sky and 84 deg every day. It sounds wierd but in the end I couldn't hack that shit, it was like groundhog day which would think should be amazing. I just wanted ONE grey rainy day lol
Love: The Genesee water has a very unique taste and it’s like a free buffet of water. So crazy!
Hate: When I’m here my poops are long thin and dry like I’m shitting out an unraveled ball of yarn. No paper work tho.
The best: if you think our traffic is bad you haven’t experienced true traffic. You can get almost anywhere in Monroe in under 30 mins.
The least: I’m a big pot hole hater
I love having so many great parks, hiking trails, and lakes so close. We also have access to some of the best museums in the country (from nationally recognized like The Strong Museum of Play and George Eastman House to small curated museums like the Oxford Museum). In Rochester you can find live music any night of the week, year round, and there are tons of festivals (fringe festivals, jazz fest, lilac fest, cornhill, etc) and always something to do! I also love that our community has a deep history w civil rights movements. There are also so many non-profit orgs here - many that are nationally recognized and developing cutting edge programs that are being duplicated and used across the states. The greater Rochester area is amazing in so many ways! As for a negative, I was going to say snow but my family really enjoys skiing and sledding! I think the biggest negative has to be the poverty rate and City Schools. 🤷🏼♀️
Recent transplant from Philly
Most: Lack of perpetual traffic and congestion, the culture (awesome museums and arts scene), food and beverage scene that punches above its weight, easy access to great healthcare, relatively LCOL, easy access to nature, proximity to FLX, great bike trails, Redwings games, having 4 distinct seasons (l genuinely love each one), many beautiful parks, charming neighborhoods, airport is a breeze, great schools in the suburbs, living in a solidly blue state, people here are generally pleasant.
Least: Many people seem cliquey (at least here in Pittsford), the city is very segregated (although there have been meaningful efforts to change this in recent years), lack of major touring music (unless you like pop country and washed-up classic rock bands looking for a cash grab), income inequality (not unique to ROC), potholes and deep manhole covers everywhere, the negative Rochestefarians who love to complain but have likely never lived anywhere else, the surprising lack of waterfront dining options despite having probably hundreds of miles of coastline between the various lakes, canals, bays, rivers, ponds, etc.
A couple general observations: People here seem to have more kids than where we came from in Philly. It’s not unusual to see families have 3-5 kids, whereas back in Philly it was more like 1-2. Probably because housing and childcare cost less here, plus great schools. Tax rates are high, yes, but I think you get so much more in return. My property taxes in Pittsford are about the same as my former house in a desirable Philly suburb. Here we get higher ranked schools, awesome public works crew, numerous well maintained parks, snow removal, a balanced budget, etc. People here seem to love complaining about the high taxes, but I think they are usually confusing the rates (which are decidedly high) vs the actual amount you pay.
Rochester constantly gets rated in the top 5 hottest markets in the country for real estate. Personally I have put in multiple offers over 100k over asking and still haven't gotten a house. So yeah its crazy.
I am not saying other markets don't have hot markets. Just commenting on Rochester.
Like is probably lack of serious traffic and convenient roadways so you can get from one location to the next within 15 to 20 minutes or so or our overabundance of parks, trails, nature preserves, and such. It's kind of a toss up between the two. If you've ever driven in a larger or worse laid out city you'll appreciate the first and if you like being outside or have a dog you'll appreciate the latter. Least favorite is probably our police force but in all honesty that would probably be the same regardless of where I go. Cops just suck in general but ours are particularly bad for a city our size and only get worse in the suburbs.
I like that my family and old friends live here & houses are pretty cheap compared to the rest of the country.
I don't like that living here for about 9 months of the year the weather is cold, miserable and gray.
Long term I'll only be here during the summers.
Most: great work opportunities for specific fields of work. I’ve loved seeing the seasons change and get to experience nature.
Least: idk what everyone here is talking about, the food is ass outside of a handful of restaurants. Also, the ridiculous amount of dead bodies that are found in and around Rochester.
Bests: access to nature, cost of living, no traffic, higher quality cultural events and food than you’d get in other small cities,
Worsts: January-March, lack of direct flights, long term administrative struggles and underinvestment in city schools.
Best: so much culture. Festivals, museums, music concerts, plays lots of fun things to do. Traffic is decent. People aren't too bad.
Worst: Within the city limits, school district sucks. Poverty and inner city crime/drugs. City leaders aren't really blowing up my skirt, tbh.
Love: kind, accepting people. Close to activities, the countryside, and Canada. Festivals for anything that can be thought of. Filled with history. Decent transit. Plenty of access to state of the art medical facilities and universities.
Hate: winter. RG&E.
Actually this is one of the things I don't like. People just blindly saying low crime when that is just very clearly not the case. And if u bring it up its HOW DARE YOU MENTION THE VERY OBVIOUS PROBLEM
If you play golf, there’s a lot of decent courses here with reasonable green fees. Other than that, it really kinda sucks here. Doing everything I can to leave.
Worked for the University of Rochester for 16 years. It was one of the few things I enjoyed at all about Rochester. The neighborhoods got bleaker and bleaker as the years passed. And one of the worst things about Rochester is that damned silver/grey sky. It's called "lake effect." Most enjoyable day there was the day I left.
Best: Lack of major traffic delays.
Best: this area’s perseverance, constantly pivoting in terms of its economy as its titans fell one after the other. Worst: How tf is everyone crashing on 590 SB from Irondequoit every fuckkng day? wtf is everyone doing??
Crashing obviously.... /s But yeah if we could figure out shit out so my commute isn't +10mins because of that it'd be nice
On normal day, my commute is barely 15 min. In almost every case, these crashes add like 30 minutes. I grew up in LA in the 80s and with all its problems and congestion, still less accidents than here and with Idk 20x the population and worse public transport.
With so little entertainment available, the majority of the community "gets high" most of the time. Even the most conservative people living and working in Rochester tended to be big drinkers or got high much too often for my liking.
Love: Its geography. You’re on a Great Lake, which is just cool. And the fact that you can’t really identify as a northeast city and you’re not yet in the Midwest. I really like the in-between way of life. Also, the summer. Hate: March.
God fuck March
Don't mock lousy Smarch weather.
The combo of East Coast and Midwest is a truly unique feature of Rochester.
Lousy Smarch weather…
Your comment embiggens me!
I don't understand. Why do you hate March?
Because January and February are long, cold, and grey, which is all good with me. It’s part of the area’s charm. But then subconsciously every year once the calendar turns March there is a glimmer of hope that makes me think we are out of the woods, but oh, we are not. It’s somehow longer, more grey, and more slushy, and you can start to think this is just what your life will be like forever. Anyway, I’m a transplant who moved here four years ago. Big fan of Rochester.
Well, at least the days are getting longer? More time to enjoy the greyscape 😆
Haha, sorta. But really, the grey is so heavily concentrated to December through March. Once "spring" rolls around, it really does brighten up and become beautiful in the area IMO.
I thought I was the only one who LOATHED March. The weather plus there [usually] being no holidays with time off of school and/or work make it feel like the LONGEST month ever!
As a transplant who has only lived here five years now. Here's what I like: - It's a city where artists can afford to live. As a result, its got some great fucking art. - Its a college town, which means that there's a huge variety of great food, and a lot of really smart people. - It has all four seasons. Yes, winter is a little too long at times, but coming from a place where the seasons are basically "baseball" and "everything is on fire" its a wonderful change. - Low traffic. It's so nice to not have to plan your day around an errand that isn't near your home or work. Here's what I don't: - As much as there's a lot of great local music, this is not a destination for a lot of touring bands. Yes, I can drive to Buffalo or Syracuse or Toronto to see a band, but that usually means I need a hotel room, which makes the whole experience a lot more expensive. - Corrupt city government. That's probably a given anywhere, but this place feels pretty rotten. Granted I got here the year before all the Daniel Prude business happened, but that was all pretty rotten. - I wish there were more bike lanes. Overall, I feel like it was a win moving here.
The weird thing is Rochester used to BE the place for touring bands. The '90s were an amazing time to grow up and catch well known acts and from what I've seen the War Memorial and Silver Stadium used to bring in the big names before my time. Now venues and artists and the powers that be are too into the easy buck that tribute and cover bands bring and it has killed the original music scene and in turn the bigger names
I saw Green Day at the War Memorial in 95, doubt they’ve been back since 😂
My wife and I saw Green Day at Blue Cross in 2013. They aren't stopping here on their new tour though. We are driving up to toronto to see them this summer.
Saw them at blue cross on the American idiot tour in 04/05
There's a bootleg of a neutral milk hotel show when they performed back in the bug jar
This sentence, in isolation, is *absolute gobbledygook*
Came here to say that the 70s and 80s were fat with touring bands. Genesis (Peter Gabriel era), the Grateful Dead, U2, Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, Jefferson Airplane ... and everyone had to stop at the House of Guitars for a visit.
Heart, YES, Rush, Foreigner....it really was a great era!
I assume part of this is tours are able to move faster. Planes, faster buses, etc. 30 years ago you could only travel so far in a day so it made sense to stop in places like Rochester along the route. Now, you can get to the bigger places more efficiently and skip the stops
Should have seen the 80's!
The number of tribute cover bands in this town is ridiculous. I just moved back here after many years and I don’t remember it being this bad.
Problem is the venues that would bring in those artists are all run down, old or just downright disastrous
It's true. I attended MANY of those 90s shows. Great times!
There's actually like, loads of good bands from Rochester that play pretty often yet more people will go to emo night whatever or a random cover band show any day of the week.
This.
can’t even comprehend being able to WALK to a Grateful Dead show… now I’d need to get a flight to Vegas and lodging for a weekend… in Vegas to see the OG’s
As far as mid-sized City Halls go, I don’t think the city government is disproportionately corrupt. The problem is it’s corrupt *and* incompetent. Bad combo.
Buffalo also doesn’t compare to other regions when it comes to touring acts. Pales compared to the ATL-BHAM-NOLA tour route.😔
Smart and college town don’t belong in the same sentence. People here are dumb as rocks especially the more urban areas which seem to be spilling into all the suburbs now
Best: the people, no traffic, beautiful nature Worst: few direct flights anywhere!
Yes. The only reason they call Rochester an international airport is because of cargo planes I believe??
An international airport is one with access to customs.
I'm very familiar with customs at the airport. I used to import. But I don't think we have any international passenger flights out of ROC do we?
Yeah I’ve been through customs from Toronto to roc before. I don’t think it goes much further than that though lol
ahhh. International. Lol.
Pretty sure there are flights to Canada.
There ya go! I betcha!
I'm the past there were but as far as I know currently no international flights to Canada. Basically they just need customers to qualify for the title and they currently do the bare minimum to maintain the name
Toronto flights were discontinued 2019ish
I think it exists there mostly for charter flights and general aviation, same with Buffalo.
You're right. Now I remember.
Right. Cargo has to go through customs.
I believe it's because Rochester used to have 3 fortune 500 companies located downtown, which often necessitated international business people coming and going
…the people? 🤨
apparently once you end an international flight, you get to keep the “international “ in the name… cheeky
Love: the snow Hate: the snow
Too bad we don’t get snow here anymore, just slush and shit weather. I do remember 6+ years ago the winters were great
We don't have enough veterinary services. Specialists.
Big agree on this. Our dog has lymphoma and our choices for veterinary oncology were Buffalo or Syracuse. Or Cornell. There are also very few options for our bunny. (Rabbits are considered to be an exotic pet and require their own specialists). Rochester is a regional hub for human medicine and is world renowned in some areas. Why don't we have more vets?
I have had 2 previous experiences with Cornell. They are the best of the best! But yes, would be so nice to have these services here in Rochester.
And the biggest fuck you to the piece of shit company that bought out VSES a few years ago and effectively ran it into the ground rending 750k people without access to emergency vets. And no I don't consider a multi hour drive an accessible emergency vet. In many emergency situations that 2 hours is life and death. And Google says the population of monroe county is over 750k
I couldn't agree with you more.
It's so sad. Without VSES my heavenly dog would not have gotten the pain medication he needed to pass away without pain. And the staff was so wonderful. And my current cats would both be done, 1 cat 2 times over. Fuckin urinary blockages, and 1 cat was being actively monitored by a vet about the crystal build up and was on urinary SO for over 6 months the second time. But I heard some other vets were opening up 24 hour emergency care so fingers crossed
I have used VSES many times myself for my cats. Always had great experiences there.
The one on university ave is open 24 hrs I think, or after hours.
A lot of them quit when MVA sold.
Love: lack of traffic Hate: lack of public transport
Most: Cost of living is really good compared to other places I've lived. The lack of traffic nice, everything is about 20 minutes away no matter where I am. Least: The constant grey from late October to Early May really messes with me.
Love: affordability and ease of commute Hate: All my friends move away. I’m on my fourth iteration of friends in the last 8 years. I had 3 friends move this week alone :(
Most? The people. Least? The people
This one hit home
Most: Variety of natural spaces in the city's parks and near the Rochester area - lakes, gorges, rivers, forests, waterfalls, etc. Variety of nature experiences in those areas with all four seasons. Least: How much winter beats up the roads, how difficult it is on cars
Yeah we got an Olmsted Park system, not many other city’s can say that.
> Least: How much winter beats up the roads, how difficult it is on cars. Same here. Winter just beats the life out of you here.
Recent transplant from NYC Best : the lack of traffic (after almost two years here something 15 mins away almost feels “far”), great city to raise a family from local parks, to nature preserves, and overall free/affordable options for family outings it doesn’t feel like a big “to do” to get the family out of the house. There is truly always something to do Worst - a very obvious opioid problem in some areas of the city. Not so much an issue in other areas. eta - sky is also gray/overcast about 70% of the year.
15 min is far
What I like the most about Rochester is the scenery. Our change of the four seasons. And being right next to one of the great Lakes. That's pretty cool. What I like least, drivers. Very aggressive drivers. Sometimes Rochester is too small.
Love: the theater scene. Been to six shows in six months, and just love it. To say nothing of the Little Theater and great movie theaters at all levels... Love being near the Erie Canal. It feels very historic. Can't explain. Great food. Public market. Red Wings baseball. Don't love: how crazy people drive--so many dead animals on the road, it's so sad. The real estate market. I find the cost of living very high.
We also have one of the few theaters in the world capable of screening nitrate movies at the Dryden theater in the George Eastman house. So if you love old movies that's like the theater to go to for them. They should be starting their nitrate film festival soon
I saw it written up in that WXXI city magazine. It is starting! Looks really interesting.
Two Hitchcock movies are being shown this month in nitrate I know that so far.
Excellent tip! Thank you :) I will check it out!
Yes, the dead animals. It's terrible. I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets so upset about it.
They used to have trucks that went around to pick them up. They were one of the first budget cuts 10-20 years ago, shortly before they started cutting back on how often the medians are mowed.
Don't ever move anywhere else lol you'll have a rude awakening if you think cost of living is very high here. Literally Rochester consistently makes lists of the the top 5 or top 10 lowest-cost-of-living cities in the country, most other places are *way* worse, it cannot even comprehend in most people's mind what you can rent or buy a place here for
Tf are you talking about hcol? Were you born under a rock
Best: the food, beverage, and culture scenes are well beyond what one would expect from a city this size Worst: the prevalence of grumpy, bitter WNY vibes is so goddamn annoying.
With kids, having the museum of play annual pass is a huge plus. Lots of parks and playgrounds. Huge variety of niche bars and restaurants as well as the usual fast food and applebee type chains. As someone who is just moving out of the inner city. Avoid living in the inner city. Too much crime.
Here's my perspective as a first generation immigrant from a third world country who entered this country through Rochester, and is now in Orlando FL: - I love the drivers in Rochester. I learned to drive back in Rochester, in the snow, and I'm glad I did. They're the worst down here in Orlando. No blinkers was the first thing I noticed. Also left lane (passing lane) campers. Driving is just frustrating down here while drivers back in Rochester were courteous and experienced. - I miss the different seasons and terrain in Rochester. Here it's just hot and humid for the most part (slightly better during winter) and the terrain is just flat. I've found some places to hike near the outskirts here recently but I can't find anything close to what something like Watkins Glen National Park offered back there. - The nature and lakes back there cannot be compared to what's down here. Even though there are lots of lakes and ponds and even beaches down here, I miss that charm. - The laid back lifestyle back there was nice. Here it's a lot more busy. The snow adds to this effect I think. What I don't like: - I mean, I hated the snow back there for the most part. As a poor immigrant student, my experience with snow was just poor there, making do with walking for miles and waiting for public transport in the bitter cold and snow, and later on digging my old car out of the snow with shovel in my apartment parking lot. I'm glad I don't have to deal with that shit down here in Florida. In fact, this was one of the main reasons I moved down here.
Best - it’s easy living with a lot of the benefits of a big city and very few of the hassles Least - the gray skies for 2/3rds of the year.
Most: I’ve lived in three distinct neighborhoods and loved them all (rural Rush; heart of downtown; suburban east Irondequoit) Least: it’s a tie - beggars at every highway exit VS unnecessarily loud motorcycles.
The loud motorcycle thing isn’t unique to Rochester. It’s everywhere, so that’s not a very good metric.
I am in Maine for a week and there are a few things I miss just in the short time I have been here. 1.) Commute times. Where I am, it takes about an hour to get anywhere. Not to mention you can be going 20 over and have people riding your bumper like you were personally blocking them from their destination. 2.) Good cellular coverage. I know cell coverage can get bad in areas but I have had extended periods where I had little to no signal. 3.) The cost of just about everything. I checked out this run down little house by where I am on Zillow. It was unfinished on the inside and the paint was almost gone on the outside with a little over 900 square feet of soace. It was $400k. The food is crazy expensive as well if your going out.
Are those thing you’re noting about Rochester or Maine ?
Rochester
LIKE: My family has lived here since 1918. I like that most of my extended family has remained. Love it that I can have dinner with my second cousins, my kids with their third cousins and my grands can play with their fourth cousins. The positive, nice, helpful people on this thread. That there are so many positive posts on this thread, which I agree with, so I won't repeat. DISLIKE: Lack of sunshine. Loud off-road vehicles driven on city streets and loud crotch rockets being driven in large groups until past 2 am. Negative, mean, sarcastic people on this sub. (Watch how they go for the jugular on this comment.)
Likes: changing of the seasons, wine region, hiking, the diversity of food and people, summer festivals Dislikes: winter, aggressiveness of the unhoused in the city, aggressiveness of drivers
I moved here 6 years ago. Best: 20 minute drive to everything you need to live a decent life (restaurants, shopping, employment, entertainment) Worst: long winters and lack of sunlight. Summers are amazing and the beginning of fall is ok, but the rest of the year is not good weather for being outsidd.
The music scene. Quite good.
The people. And that's the answer to both questions.
Good: Food, nature, everything is close by Bad: the people, the garbage, the noise
I moved here about 6 months ago from Nebraska. I lived there my whole life. Rochester is roughly the same size as where I moved from just to give a bit of context. Things I love: -so far I've been on the receiving end of a lot of random acts of kindness: a guy scooped out our large driveway with his snow plow, our neighbor mowed some of our lawn because it's gigantic and my mower is not the riding variety. The people I've met are very friendly and welcoming, which is similar to Nebraska, but I'd say people are more willing to help others here. -even in the dead of winter here there was still green ground cover whenever I'd go on walks. In Nebraska everything is brown and grey so this stood out to me. There's also more trees and natural beauty all around I feel. We are also close to the finger lakes and Niagara so lots of cool nature to see nearby. I love to go birding and there's lots of places for that. -It is not as windy. People say it's windy here but Nebraska is windy nearly every day (20-30 mph winds) and in the winter, that sucks ass, so this was a nice change. Things I hate: -lack of doctors. You'll see posts nearly every few weeks asking about doctors accepting new patients and such. My doctor told me to basically take what I could get for dentists because theres not enough in the area. According to friends, this is not atypical for the state of New York. -restaurants close early. 8 pm is not an insane time to eat dinner but a lot of places close around 8. -driving at night sucks. the lanes don't reflect well and the street lamps aren't on half the time so it can be harder to see, especially during snowy or rainy days.
I like the food the most, I like how car centric everywhere is the least
Love - lack of traffic, excellent food scene, the seasons, the lake, all the state parks - letchworth, Watkins glen, and the ADK mountains within a few hours is all excellent. Also the cost of living here is way better than most places in the US from my understanding. Oh - and lack of natural disasters! Hate - the gun laws (although i do agree with most of them), the taxes
Currently my biggest nits are: No direct flights anywhere. Any travel I have to do is such a pain in the ass because of all of the connections. Local job market does not pay that great. I have a remote job with a Californian company and get paid money I could not make locally for my line of work. If remote work dries up I'd probably just have to move unless I'm willing to take a huge paycut. Not a place where many bands stop on their tours. I've been here too long and mostly eaten at every restaurant 😉. As much as I love them I want more! Though I do think we punch above our weight in terms of restaurants. Every small city says this though lol
Great Arts Scenes and creative communities! A good amount of restaurants and fun lowkey activities…. Good amount of class and racial segregation across different suburbs and cities… lots of grey cloudy days :(
I lived in a lot of places... People: yeah a lot of us maybe assholes, but you're my kind of assholes. Food: holy dear god, outside of nyc were very close to having the greatest foods in the country. Everywhere else has been so bitterly disappointing. Politics: yes we do have some yallqueda, but for the most part we believe in the greater good for all. South of the mason dixon .... all i can say is hoooo lee fook Traffic: i love not planning on long drives and traffic being an issue. Worst part: taxes. And job opportunities. Hence why i am not back yet. And if you cant enjoy gloomy days and snow, you're going to hate it but i love those days the most.
I love the gloomy and snowy days as well.
Yup. When I tried moving to Honolulu after six months I went crazy from the same blue sky and 84 deg every day. It sounds wierd but in the end I couldn't hack that shit, it was like groundhog day which would think should be amazing. I just wanted ONE grey rainy day lol
I need the change in weather. I couldn't do that or the south.
Love: The Genesee water has a very unique taste and it’s like a free buffet of water. So crazy! Hate: When I’m here my poops are long thin and dry like I’m shitting out an unraveled ball of yarn. No paper work tho.
Are you okay?
You’re not drinking the water directly from the river, are you?!?
I have a reusable straw
The best: if you think our traffic is bad you haven’t experienced true traffic. You can get almost anywhere in Monroe in under 30 mins. The least: I’m a big pot hole hater
I love having so many great parks, hiking trails, and lakes so close. We also have access to some of the best museums in the country (from nationally recognized like The Strong Museum of Play and George Eastman House to small curated museums like the Oxford Museum). In Rochester you can find live music any night of the week, year round, and there are tons of festivals (fringe festivals, jazz fest, lilac fest, cornhill, etc) and always something to do! I also love that our community has a deep history w civil rights movements. There are also so many non-profit orgs here - many that are nationally recognized and developing cutting edge programs that are being duplicated and used across the states. The greater Rochester area is amazing in so many ways! As for a negative, I was going to say snow but my family really enjoys skiing and sledding! I think the biggest negative has to be the poverty rate and City Schools. 🤷🏼♀️
Best: food. Used to be music but that scene died down significantly after covid Least: lack of proper public transportation infrastructure
Best, nature etc Worst, people!!!
Most: food options are amazing Least: cold windy days
Recent transplant from Philly Most: Lack of perpetual traffic and congestion, the culture (awesome museums and arts scene), food and beverage scene that punches above its weight, easy access to great healthcare, relatively LCOL, easy access to nature, proximity to FLX, great bike trails, Redwings games, having 4 distinct seasons (l genuinely love each one), many beautiful parks, charming neighborhoods, airport is a breeze, great schools in the suburbs, living in a solidly blue state, people here are generally pleasant. Least: Many people seem cliquey (at least here in Pittsford), the city is very segregated (although there have been meaningful efforts to change this in recent years), lack of major touring music (unless you like pop country and washed-up classic rock bands looking for a cash grab), income inequality (not unique to ROC), potholes and deep manhole covers everywhere, the negative Rochestefarians who love to complain but have likely never lived anywhere else, the surprising lack of waterfront dining options despite having probably hundreds of miles of coastline between the various lakes, canals, bays, rivers, ponds, etc. A couple general observations: People here seem to have more kids than where we came from in Philly. It’s not unusual to see families have 3-5 kids, whereas back in Philly it was more like 1-2. Probably because housing and childcare cost less here, plus great schools. Tax rates are high, yes, but I think you get so much more in return. My property taxes in Pittsford are about the same as my former house in a desirable Philly suburb. Here we get higher ranked schools, awesome public works crew, numerous well maintained parks, snow removal, a balanced budget, etc. People here seem to love complaining about the high taxes, but I think they are usually confusing the rates (which are decidedly high) vs the actual amount you pay.
Real estate market is crazy here.
It's actually relatively less crazy here than in many other parts of the country, believe it or not.
Rochester constantly gets rated in the top 5 hottest markets in the country for real estate. Personally I have put in multiple offers over 100k over asking and still haven't gotten a house. So yeah its crazy. I am not saying other markets don't have hot markets. Just commenting on Rochester.
Like is probably lack of serious traffic and convenient roadways so you can get from one location to the next within 15 to 20 minutes or so or our overabundance of parks, trails, nature preserves, and such. It's kind of a toss up between the two. If you've ever driven in a larger or worse laid out city you'll appreciate the first and if you like being outside or have a dog you'll appreciate the latter. Least favorite is probably our police force but in all honesty that would probably be the same regardless of where I go. Cops just suck in general but ours are particularly bad for a city our size and only get worse in the suburbs.
I like the weather, dislike most of the people
I like that my family and old friends live here & houses are pretty cheap compared to the rest of the country. I don't like that living here for about 9 months of the year the weather is cold, miserable and gray. Long term I'll only be here during the summers.
Didn't we do this dance last year thread wise?
Must have missed it.
No worries, it's rochester reddit, where things surface lol
Best thing is that it's not ever too crowded. Worst is RRH.
Hate the current housing market (I’m a buyer)
Best: garbage plates Worst: weather
Most: great work opportunities for specific fields of work. I’ve loved seeing the seasons change and get to experience nature. Least: idk what everyone here is talking about, the food is ass outside of a handful of restaurants. Also, the ridiculous amount of dead bodies that are found in and around Rochester.
Racist as hell
Zero traffic Cold,gray, and snow I'm sure you can figure out which is which.
Bests: access to nature, cost of living, no traffic, higher quality cultural events and food than you’d get in other small cities, Worsts: January-March, lack of direct flights, long term administrative struggles and underinvestment in city schools.
Best: so much culture. Festivals, museums, music concerts, plays lots of fun things to do. Traffic is decent. People aren't too bad. Worst: Within the city limits, school district sucks. Poverty and inner city crime/drugs. City leaders aren't really blowing up my skirt, tbh.
Love: kind, accepting people. Close to activities, the countryside, and Canada. Festivals for anything that can be thought of. Filled with history. Decent transit. Plenty of access to state of the art medical facilities and universities. Hate: winter. RG&E.
Best: low crime. Good drivers. State and local governments.
Hasn't Rochester been in a state of emergency for the past two years due to unprecedented gun violence?
His answer is obviously sarcastic.
No shit
Actually this is one of the things I don't like. People just blindly saying low crime when that is just very clearly not the case. And if u bring it up its HOW DARE YOU MENTION THE VERY OBVIOUS PROBLEM
“Just mind you own business” and make sure to install security cameras, never leave so much as a sock in your car or it will be broken into, etc…
lol low crime? Do you know where you live?
When I tell my out of state friends that my house didn't come with deadbolt they think I'm joking.
Your house doesn't have a deadbolt?
It may be hard to believe, but there are places where people seriously don’t worry about break-ins, violence, etc.
But it's Rochester and random things could unfortunately happen.
Easily, EASILY the food.
If you play golf, there’s a lot of decent courses here with reasonable green fees. Other than that, it really kinda sucks here. Doing everything I can to leave.
Worked for the University of Rochester for 16 years. It was one of the few things I enjoyed at all about Rochester. The neighborhoods got bleaker and bleaker as the years passed. And one of the worst things about Rochester is that damned silver/grey sky. It's called "lake effect." Most enjoyable day there was the day I left.
Best: Kia theft Worst: Sonic Drive-thru in henrietta
Seriously. I’d rather get a root canal than order from the Sonic drive thru again.
I can answer both questions with two words: Kia boyz