Sometimes it’s easy to fall into a ‘woe is Geneva’ frame of mind. Yes, our taxes are high but so is our quality of life, depending on what you’re looking for. Different populations want different things from their communities. We addressed an earlier post “ReThinking City Living” to the needs of young families and did a post on the benefits of downtown living for those seeking a more urban cultural experience [link to ‘downtown’ post]. There’s another group that gets a lot of media attention nationally, but not much attention locally and that’s the ‘baby boomers.’ Each year, Money Magazine issues a report on the “Best Places to Retire.”
The most recent list is prefaced with the following:
“Many baby boomers dream of retiring somewhere by the water. These half-dozen places are on a lake, a river or an ocean - yet won't sink your retirement budget.”
In addition to affordable housing stock, these retirement recommendations also focus on communities with “top-notch health care, loads of culture, lots of green space.” Although Rochester, NY and several downstate communities made the list in 2006, we didn’t find any cities in New York State on the list for 2008. It is worth noting that this is Money Magazine, so when they’re picking a handful of communities to feature they’re likely to go for places with lower taxes, but even when that’s factored into things, we believe that Geneva meets all of the magazine’s criteria as one of the best, and here’s why:
- You can by more house for less money in Geneva than in most of the places featured.
- Geneva has its own hospital, with a cardiac practice affiliated with Rochester General Hospital, and is within an easy drive to several highly ranked facilities for various specialties.
- There are an abundance of golf courses, public tennis courts, and other recreational opportunities.
- The lakefront is open, accessible and quite active.
- The Smith Opera House and the local groups affiliated with the performing arts and the Colleges bring a variety of cultural offerings into the community; additional events from festivals to Broadway shows are available year round within a short driving distance.
- Visiting grandchildren would have lots of things to see and do.
- The community is ethnically and racially diverse, including the influx of people affiliated with the Colleges, Hospital, and Experiment Station.
- Downtown features retail, restaurants, and eclectic offerings such as a Natural Foods store, clothing, shoes, and jewelry.
- The climate is temperate, yet allowing the full experience of all four seasons.
- Natural beauty is all around, not just at the lakefront but the entire region.
- Geneva sits at the natural center of a growing wine region providing social, educational, and other opportunities.
So, by most of Money magazine’s key measurements, Geneva is the ideal place for retirees to relocate. But there are a few things that Money is looking for that Geneva lacks. First and foremost is a stable economic environment as it relates to taxes. Based on the city manager’s initial budget proposal, we might be working towards improving that situation, but the tax rate is still a deterrent for many prospective residents. Second, we do not have a sufficient selection of downtown housing (not to be confused with the proposed lakefront ‘suburb’ of downtown). Baby boomers, the research shows, are drawn to housing in a “pedestrian-friendly town center.” They are also drawn to communities that have made a commitment to green and sustainable development practices, because that demostrates a commitment to health and longevity. For instance, Fort Collins, Colorado and the surrounding area gets a nod for its commitment to clean air. These are conditions and initiatives that Geneva can do immediately and successfully. Our downtown buildings and infrastructure are the raw materials we can cultivate.
Perhaps the real challenge Geneva faces in attracting the attention and investment of baby boomers is a matter of self-perception. We need to break of out of the “take whatever we can get” attitude and move towards a “deliver what we deserve” point of view.
4 comments:
Perhaps I am being flippant, but I just moved into a definite "snowbird" community over in Canandaigua. Mostly folks in their late 50's and 60's. In my discussions with them, to a one they all say the winters here are horrible and that's why they head south every Labor Day. I know you mentioned the climate is "temperate" but c'mon, this is upstate New York. We're not fooling anyone, here.
I noticed that on the CNN Money list, of the three communities where you'd think the weather might bad (Durango, CO, Sequim, WA and St Joseph, MI) the article specifically mentions the weather is generally mild and pleasant for two of them. That means retirees think weather is important and who can blame them? Especially with high energy costs; many retirees tend to need warmer temps than usual to feel warmer, thus inflating heating bills.
Unfortunately, there's pretty much nothing Geneva can do about weather. Not directly. We have to find something that proves a draw to be here in spite of the weather. Concordantly, we have to avoid the classic northeasterner mentality of pretending a gale-force blizard "isn't so bad" and institute infrastructure that accommodates for the weather and makes it easier to deal with.
The classic example being the Skyway System in Minneapolis. I don't know the scale of Geneva quite works for a Skyway, but it's that kind of thinking that makes Minneapolis a livable city despite some really gnarly weather every October through May.
I have pointed out before and will again, that it is incorrect to say that Geneva has high taxes. You are correct to point to the high tax rate and also to the fact that the price of the housing (and commercial real estate) is low. As you know the tax is a sum of these two factors. The property tax collected on any given structure in Geneva is not high due to the low assessment (as justified by the low market value). I feel that much to much time is spent worrying about tax rates. I would like to see efforts devoted to maximizing value for the tax dollars spent.
For example come up with the $2,400 for the 305 Main St study. I have talked to several people, and we would all individually be willing to fund the study; if we believed that it would be used. We all believe that the goal is to put off action until the building has deteriorated to the point that it is no longer salvageable. Even if it is not true there is a belief that the city government has secret biases. Unless this can be changed this belief will inhibit outside investment in the city.
The Finger Lakes area is known all over the world, and has a positive image. Geneva specifically is known. Please recall that the runaway best selling book The Da Vinci from a few years ago featured Geneva NY in the first chapter. You can go anywhere in the world and the people with enough money to travel to Geneva NY will likely know of it; those that do not will know the Finger Lakes and have positive associations. Anyone in marketing would kill for this level of awareness in the target audience. The question is how best to exploit this. Comparisons to Fort Collins (pop 130,000, 65 mi from Denver and with many high tech jobs available) will not provide answers.
Aaron,
This is an interesting take on the post and we appreciate your participation in the discussion.
As for weather, we think Geneva is actually blessed in that we experience all four seasons without the accompanying natural disasters that other parts of the country experience. We don't generally have tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods. Sure, there's no question that we get winter here, but we don't get as much of the lake effect snowfall as Buffalo receives to our west, or places like Oswego to our east. So, amongst people who want a four-season destination, we think Geneva can hold its own against most communities.
Rochester does have a skyway, but its unlikely that Geneva would get one, if only by virtue of the lack of buildings that lend themselves to such a connection.
Mark,
We are having trouble following your logic. You say the taxes are not high because property assessments are, comparatively, low. But we say the taxes are high because the tax rate is, comparatively, high. You go on to point out that assessments are low because market value is low. But we say that the assessments (and market values) are low because people offer less for houses that have high taxes. In a past comment about taxes, you made a comparison between Geneva and Manhattan. In that regard, we agree that taxes are, comparatively, low. But our comments about taxes have been in comparison to what we see to be communities in direct competition with us for new residents and businesses, and our taxes compared with every other community in that category are, comparatively, high. So, we think it's right to focus on the rate because of its effect on competitiveness.
We agree, however, that maximizing the value is important. If our highest taxes (for the region and most of Upstate NY) also came with the most diverse array of government services, then maybe people wouldn't mind writing those checks, but some of these competing communities provide services that Geneva does not, at a lower price point.
We also agree with you about the need for City government to signal a willingness to invest responsibly in new businesses and commercial development. And the very point of this post was to highlight the positive features of the community that lead to the image of our region that you described. Perhaps a comparison to other communities is not helpful in every respect, but sometimes we can learn a lot about other community's best practices. The conditions you describe in Fort Collins harken back to our post about the rise of the creative class. In that sense, we think looking at Fort Collins' ability to create community branding and market itself to a particular demographic is particularly instructive.
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