Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/04/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]But this is normal development, old industries die, new ones spring up. I lived for a couple of years in upstate NY (Buffalo) and can attest to the beauty of the area. I actually thought that Buffalo was an extremely livable city, with the SUNY campuses, good cultural life, cheap housing, good ethnic food, a downtown still populated by middle- class people etc., and the most civilized country in the Americas right next door. Nathan Nathan Wajsman Alicante, Spain http://www.frozenlight.eu http://www.greatpix.eu http://www.nathanfoto.com Books: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/search?search=wajsman&x=0&y=0 PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws Blog: http://www.fotocycle.dk/blog On Apr 15, 2009, at 12:03 AM, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote: > > On Apr 14, 2009, at 5:14 PM, Bruce wrote: > >> but what has replaced this decline? or has youth just moved away, and >> whereto? > > > The population in most of the communities has remained stable or > slightly declined for several decades. Young people see no future in > staying near home unless there is a family business they can > inherit. Towns near NYC have become bedroom communities for > commuters. They have no industrial base. There are several large > tech companies in the region, most notably IBM, but they offer > employment to the intellectual few. And even they have outsourced > many jobs to Asia. Towns further away from big cities have simply > declined. Property in upstate NY is comparatively cheap. Cities as > far west as Rochester are suffering the fallout from Kodak layoffs > and the bankruptcy of Global Crossing. Most of my son's 1985 and > daughter's 1990 high school classes moved away. Following college a > substantial number went into New York's financial industry to be in > the center of the action - and you know where that got most of us. > After a stint in the Navy during the first Iraq war, my son got an > MBA from the Univ. of Indiana business school and ended up running a > portion of Sony/Ericsson's US television operation, based in > Atlanta. My daughter ended up a TV writer/producer for an ABC > affiliate station in a major market. My next door neighbor's kid is > a Microsoft millionaire and 3000 miles from home. The average > distance from us of members of our immediate family is 400 miles. > And that is an improvement. For a while it was over 2000 miles. > > The tragedy is that the Hudson Valley is an incomparably beautiful > area. The river cuts through the Appalachian mountain range and > presents vistas equal to the best of the Norwegian fjords. My > Norwegian wife certifies that this is a fact. It has been called the > most picturesque waterway in America and nurtured the first purely > native art movement, the "Hudson River" school. I've cruised down > the Rhine and the Hudson and the Hudson is far prettier - but it has > only one castle and that made of concrete. It does have the summer > homes of the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, and Roosevelts on the shore > to make up for being castle impaired. European photographers, if you > doubt my assertion, take a trip on the Hudson and see for yourself. > > In fact, as soon as I finish editing the 20,000 or so photos I've > spent the past year scanning into iPhoto, many of the Hudson > Valley, I'll start posting them. > > Larry Z > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information