BREAKING – Small Democratic Socialist town in middle of nowhere 8th most expensive to raise family
Democratic Socialism don’t come cheap in Ithaca, NY – Welcome to my world.
Ithaca, NY, loves it some Democratic Socialism of the Bernie Sanders type.
Ithaca is the second Most Pro-Sanders Zip Code in the nation, just behind the Mission District of San Francisco.
Here are the directions to my house, circa November 2008:
To live in Ithaca is to live in a city alive with anti-Bush, anti-war protest. I often joke that the directions to my house in Ithaca read as follows: Take a right at the fifth Obama sign, a left at the third “Impeach Bush” placard, bear right at the “Support Our Troops, End the War” poster, and we are the house just after the “There’s a Village in Texas Missing its Idiot” banner.
Ithaca really is “10 Sq. miles surrounded by reality”
We have pot-hole riddled roads, but plenty of social justice.
Oh, boy, do we have social justice. And SJW’s.
And high taxes. We pay as much in school/city/town property taxes on our tiny little Ithaca 1600 square foot house as we did on our house in Rhode Island that was almost than twice the size in both square footage and land — and Rhode Island is not exactly known for low taxes. And in Ithaca, that doesn’t even include trash collection — you need to buy a sticker per trash container.
The roads are abysmal, but did I mention we have social justice?
And vegans. Lots and lots of vegans.
And street protesters.
And street festivals.
And lunatic anti-Israel activists:
And bumper stickers:
Did I say bumper stickers?
Until 2010 redistricting, our Congressman Maurice Hinchey had the nickname “Red”.
So when I spotted this story at The Ithaca Voice, it wasn’t exactly a surprise, Ithaca makes list of 8th most expensive city in the U.S. to raise a family:
On par with other lists, Ithaca recently was named the eighth most expensive city to raise a family in the United States.
The list was complied using data from nonprofit think tank the Economic Policy Institute.
According to the MarketWatch website, the study measured the cost of living in each area based on costs of housing, child care, food, transportation, health care and other necessities (such as school supplies and clothing), and taxes.
The following are the top 10 most expensive places for a two-parent household with two children to raise a family, including the average cost of living in the city:
- Washington, D.C. ($106,493 )
- Nassau-Suffolk, N.Y. ($103,606)
- Westchester County, N.Y. ($99,592)
- New York City ( $98,722)
- Stamford-Norwalk, Conn. ($97,350)
- Honolulu ($94,092)
- Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, N.Y. ( $92,837)
- Ithaca, N.Y. ($92,603)
- San Francisco ($91, 785)
- Danbury, Conn. ($89,000)
Take another look at that list.
Ithaca ranks up there with some of the largest cities and toniest suburbs. And we are in the middle of nowhere.
When I say the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE, I mean the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.
Democratic Socialism don’t come cheap.
Welcome to my world. Again.
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Comments
I’m sure that the people in Austin will take not making the list as some sort of challenge. You are in our prayers!
ah, but what a gorges middle of nowhere.
I grew up in central New York. Ithaca would be fantastic if not for the unsightly pall of smug clinging to the place.
Predicted response from those who favor the democratic socialism? The isn’t enough government “oversight” of the economic forces creating the escalating costs. Or in other words, when you don’t get the desired results from government the solution IS ALWAYS more is needed. Followed by the need for more money to run more government, followed by more government to further control costs, followed by more money……
Come on over the hill to our cottage on Keuka and I’ll buy you a beer.
According to the bumper sticker “No Human Being Is Illegal.”
I wonder if that same person believes it’s perfectly fine to kill an unborn baby?
They’ll swear up and down that the child is anything but (calling the baby a ‘clump of cells’ is popular at the moment) to avoid facing whatever shrivelled husk of a conscience they still have.
Your description of Ithaca is spot-on, but I would argue that the reasons for the high cost of living is more complex than a predominance of “Democratic Socialism”. Another slice which also explains why it differs from the surrounding area: Cornell University (and Ithaca College). They employ professors, staff, grad students and bring in thousands of students needing housing which creates quite a thriving real estate market. One that survived the bust in 2008 and also means you could quickly sell that small house if you decide to leave the land of high taxes. So why do people live here in spite of the taxes? For a job, for family, for school; but also because it has a diverse and interesting community, good food, good music, and is set in one of the most beautiful places on earth. P.S. I prefer a fiscally and socially responsible government. I don’t think they have to be mutually exclusive.
Come on over the south hill to Camo Fest Sunday at the Chemung County Fairgrounds and I’ll buy you a beer too. 30 miles to the south it’s getting a bit fascist. Good music, though.
Flew into Ithaca Airport to talk with Cornell about an adjunct professor position several years ago. ONE, count it, ONE building with the control tower sitting on top. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a grass/dirt landing strip.
One thing that leaps out is that 5 of the top ten are all in NY. What this tells me is that people in NY are like the fleas in the empty fish tank which had a glass plate placed on the top. After the fleas jumped and jumped many times and hit the glass ceiling they stopped jumping high enough to hit their heads on the glass. This is the case with the NY taxpayers. They have been over taxed for so long that they no longer realise that they are over taxed and no longer complain.They also do not realise that the quality of their daily existence is well below what they are paying for.
The higher the number of bumper stickers, the lower the intellect of the driver.
CrowdPac.com measures which towns are most pro-Bernie by donations. Do you know of any sites that rank it by votes?
Oregon’s Dem primary went to Sanders by double-digits. Clinton only carried one county (and that by only 0.5%). Bernie won the college counties by over 20%.
The Dems around here like them some “Democratic Socialism”, I guess.
No wonder my faux-hippie-millionaire girlfriend in the 1990s used to go on and on about how amazing Ithaca was. You’ve explained much, sir.
And also, your produce is people.
Soylent green is people.
They want it to be expensive to raise a family. Zero-population growth is part of the lefty agenda, and for the most extreme, decreasing population and eventual extinction of humans, or at least white humans. I applaud the lefty movement to eradicate themselves.
You need to make it worse for them Prof.
Get a petition started demanding a city tax of 20% on purchases of goods and services. Name it and use “for the children” in the petition.
Give them as much full blown socialism as you can get votes for taxing them to the poor house. Make it hurt real bad for them.
No one is ever going to be able to talk sense into them so they need to feel the pain. Like Venezuela.
Prof…. seriously, Texas has some great law schools…. I’m partial to the Guns Up culture at Texas Tech, but you could even go work for the T-Sippers and it would still be more conservative than Ithaca. I’m telling you, you actually make money living in red counties in Texas just in what you save on taxes and cost of living.
“…but also because it has a diverse and interesting community, good food, good music, and is set in one of the most beautiful places on earth.”
Yep, and you can also say the same about Venezuela, Cuba, and most any African kleptocracy.
5 of the top 10 are in New York state. No wonder the two leading Presidential candidates, whom are both lifelong Dems, are from there. Facts and statistics are pesky things, aren’t they?
Man, I feel sorry for you living there, any chance you can escape…….or at least get paroled?
And the saddest thing of all is that they probably see their place on the list as a source of pride! That’s whack…
After reading the article and giving the POT-whole predicament the city is in — if only the rich in the town would pay their fare-share Ithaca would be Obama’s Utopia!
“High above Cayuga’s waters… “