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| Are Newcomers wearing blinders regarding Middletow - 10/1/2008
Having lived in Middletown for the last 12 years, I have seen enormous changes. I can only imagine what natives have noted. Firstly, by Manhattan standards apartment living is by far more affordable "if" I stress your income is decent enough. The employment opportunities here are mainly blue collar minimum paying jobs. Most commute to Manhattan in order to "live". Crime, where did the stat of 1 percent come from? In the past 2 months2 murders have taken place downtown! It has some cute shops, new cafes... Lacking a real community fun atmosphere,NYC's Greenwich village had back in the 70-80's. Goshen is far prettier. Not intended to insult, I call Middletown the cesspool of Orange County! The schools (Public)are below average. Having one High School, housing Police Officers, many Sentinels walking the floors monitoring 5 gangs !! it maintains a LOCK DOWN POLICY reserved for inmates. The Punk who threatens and bullies kids has the right to be there. WHY????????? We all live by laws, those who break them under 21 are referred to counceling, at our tax paying expense. All the problems the City held, have moved up here. Manhattan has been whitewashed for the Tourists, Middletown welcomed Section 8 !! Lastly, there is nothing to do, unless wandering the Mall aimlessly thrills you. No real facilities for Teens to go and feel secure. My advice is to heed my rantings. Last week I missed getting my purse snatched by two minutes, as the woman left the store I was in before me, thrown to the ground. Yep, all is Peachy Keen here. Dont get me started on Police, or Local Newspaper which selectively omit actual crime going on, never reporting it. Why???? Because Middletown would seem far less appealing. Best time to scope it, summer when school is out. Oh yes traffic is unreal due to the population growth. Health care- yeah its great. As I waited at Horton Hospital, 3 people died in Ambulances who were in cardiac arrest because some welfare recepient took valuable time with a darn toothache. Wake up and smell your Starbucks!
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| Very nice town, but gets a bad wrap. Dunno how - 8/1/2008
Well first off let me say I like, but not love middletown. I am originally from the city. I have been here for one year and my mom has been here for a few. Im a young kid who moved back in with mom so I could attend the college that is not to far from us.
What I have noticed about Middletown is the gossip passed on about it. You will get those people from Goshen, Pine Bush, or other cities and towns that are close by, who make lil judgements and remarks about a city they dont live in. When I moved up here I tried to get a feel about the people and if there was a crime level or any of that stuff. Its very very low up here.
I think in 4 years up here my mom has heard about one murder, and a handful of store robberies. The robberies mostly ended in someone being arrested due to good citizenship. Now coming from queens, nyc. These small numbers are unthinkable even in one week. I lived in a great neighborhood down there but you have to take into consideration that queens is maybe 3 to 4 times the size of middletown.
So I liked the fact that crime was not a problem here. Also there are many city transplants here, as well as some long island ones. Most have been here for a few years, or the kids my age came up during there pre teens. Their parents bring them up for a better life at half the cost.
Cost of living is great. The house my family lived in before was twice the cost in Queens, and but maybe a third as nice and comfortable. You pay an arm and a leg just to have a decent home in the city. In most cases people just get apartments if they do not have a big family.
In response to "the good bad and ugly", well your living conditions are a product of your lifestyle and choices. I will say that mainly the downtown neighborhood, can give you that lower quality of life feel. But then again every city has its areas, and thank god there is no persistent crime in this city despite some of the poorer areas. Most of the time lower income perpetuates crime in a city. But it seems the immigrants who occupy these areas just want a better life that they moved to this country for. Its not like the lower income areas of Newburgh, that are just rife with crime and poverty.
But I have noticed most of the people who move here from the city are professionals with children and they buy houses in new private community areas and what not. Down town businesses are really nice looking and I have not witnessed any illegal activity in the area yet. Do I need glasses? =/
Yet I constantly here gossip about what goes on here. And read in some forums about where you should live and what not, as opposed to middletown, from people who do not live here. One guy went on to say " how comfortbale would you feel as a white male in a town that is maybe 40% white". Then it clicked. It seems that some people just see minorities and automatically make negative assumptions. The town is about 35%latino(mostly mexican but some PR) and they comprise most of the lower wage areas. Whites, Asians and African Americans share a split of the middle income and higher income areas. The private community I live in is fairly mixed with white, black, latino, and some asian.
Everyone gets along great, and all the kids know each other. It seems alot of these new condo or house communities are popping up alot. They all look very upscale with a fraction of city costs but that is changing as more people move to orange county. They are popping up in many other areas. Im a driver and see this alot.
Anyways my point of all this was to dispel Middletown rumors. Yes I know some people have had some weird experiences, but as far as I noticed every town has its areas of idiots. I would have to say middletowns is very small. But even so, most people who move here move to outer areas with new developments like my family did. People need to pick their homes based on the charcter of those around them. Not look around and go "oh different people live here so it must be a certain way". We all know many people have these prevailing thoughts based on stereotypes(even though everyone acts like they dont), but we should all learn to be less ignorant.
New homes for a great price is always great. Btw ours is a 3 Br, 2 and a half bath, with a great kitchen and living room, deck, and huge basement. Was about 212k 4 years ago. Easily 450K plus in the city in a good neighborhood.
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| the good, the bad and the ugly - 8/4/2007
i have lived in middletown my whole life and can speak from a lot of experience. the apartments aren't affordable at all, unless you get section 8 and then you are living with a lot of crime. i used to live in the projects and one time when my boyfriend opened up our front door he was propositioned by a drug dealer. we moved to a safer complex where our neighbors headlights were stolen and the condo's across the street recently had a gang shooting. a lot of people from the new york city have moved up here, bringing crime and high prices. i pay $850/mo for a one br aparment + utilities. and the only jobs are in the service sector making minimum wage up to $8/hr.
the only things to do in town are eat, go shopping at the mall, movies or the smelly bowling alley. we have all the popular chain restaurants and nothing upscale. there is a big hispanic population here so it would help to be bilingual. if you have a lot of money this place would be nice, but all you would be spending it on is housing.
there is no public transportation system. there are gangs and the wallkill police are corrupt (wallkill makes up one side of middletown).
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| A Brief Look - Housing/Cost of Living - 12/5/2006
Middletown, N.Y. is in the heart of Orange county about 90 miles or so north of Manhattan. This area is close to all spectrum of recreation related to the nearby Catskill Mountains and the Hudson River. Hiking, fishing, camping, hunting, winter recreation and a richness in the early history of the United States all combine to create an attractive prospect for relocation if your lifestyle leans toward those pursuits. The negative side of the situation is the fact that Orange county was one of the top 2 fastest growing counties in New York state! Spill over from more urban crowded, and expensive southern counties by families seeking more property and square footage and less crime for their buck. Willing to endure the 1hr 40min drive ( weather & traffic permitting)to the city everday to keep their higher salary to sustain their new life "in the country". This has naturally driven up the overall cost of living in this region and it is quickly losing it's "country charm". Local residents are hard pressed to afford the inflated costs of new or older homes as well as rents with the wage base that this area offers. You can't afford a 275,000 - 400,000 home on an average hourly wage of 8-12 per hour now can you!? All that considered their are some professional jobs that are available at a higher wage but much fewer obviously than closer to a larger community. On a more positive note, excellent basic health care from a 10 year old organization called Crystal Run Health Care. They specialize in recruiting new doctors with excellent credentials from top notch hospitals in Manhattan, i.e. Einstein University Medical Center, Columbia Presbytarian Medical Center, Mount Sinai etc.. Their cardiology department in particular is unsurpassed for a region such as this. Lucky for us here, this far from a large city, to have such quality of care. This is one of the first things that suffers when you elect to live in a more rural setting. If you have a waiting job offer with a decent salary or a reasonable retirement income then this part of New York can offer an incredible variety of activities. The Hudson Valley along the famous river of same name is known for it's excellent dining and wineries, fresh fruits and vegetables in season and as I mentioned before an incredible richness in the eartly history of our country. New England in the fall is also probably the most spectacular scenery you will ever see. A picture post card at every turn! Climate is cold in the winter with sno
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