Ranjeet

has written 1 SperlingViews. Currently, Ranjeet is living in Buffalo, NY and has a little something to say:

Buffalo, NY sells itself short. It is great place Posted On: 11/15/2007 8:34:16 AM

Buffalo's inner suburbs afford easy access to the city and great places to live with open, tree-filled neighbourhoods and parks. You can even ride your bike (with burley attached and with care) to the city zoo, the art gallery and the upper reaches of the downtown area. The science museum and the aquarium are within easy driving distance, as are decent bike paths. I can walk, bike or run my kids to preschool or school and activities (swimming, music lessons, library, community center etc.) and the same goes for adult activities (yoga, fitness etc.). The city has a good philharmonic orchestra, chamber music, art gallery (a gem!), a decent sized and expanding zoo, a reasonable science museum for children and plenty of music of a broad range of genres. It has a fair amount to offer in terms of "multicultural offerings", for example quarterly or more frequent performances of Indian music and dance, an active tango community, even some good flamenco music etc.

The weather gets a bad rap, mostly from the locals, who would rather grouse about the snow than go out and play in it. Fall winter and summer are great, spring is the only damper in terms of weather. I wouldn't call it a X-country skiers' paradise, but it is pretty good. One can often ski in the local golf courses within 5 minutes drive. Lots of flatwater paddling, for whitewater you have to drive at least 2 hours (no, the falls don't count). There is even good climbing on the Niagara Escarpment less than 2 hours from Buffalo, in Canada. Did I mention Canada and Toronto?

The inner suburb schools are excellent, the neighbourhoods are "safe" (read that as you will), some are very very ethnically homogeneous, Buffalo is one of the most segregated cities in the US. The outer suburbs I consider cultural wastelands: lots of space, no trees, no sidewalks, few community offerings, you have to have your own playsets in your own yards since there are not that many public playgrounds, no public swimming lessons, long commutes to the city. You might like all this, it's just that if you don't, don't be surprised by it, it goes with the "low taxes" territory. Plenty of young families are living well in the city itself.

As far as religion goes, the Center For Inquiry is headquartered in Amherst, and they are making efforts to have more community oriented programming.

Down sides? The economy. You can't move here and expect to find a job, but if you have a portable job or are offered one here don't discount it. Also, alas, no big mountains nearby.