From: kasprj@operators.its.rpi.edu (Jim Kasprzak)
Subject: Re: Troy
Reply-To: kasprj@rpi.edu
Organization: The Big Wedge 
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 18:49:36 GMT

In article <1992Dec18.181416.5429@nynexst.com>, selvin@nynexst.com (Al Selvin) writes:
|> 
|> My wife and I walked around Troy for most of a day last year.
|> Despite the venom heaped on its head ("Troylets"), we thought it
|> was a neat town. Old houses, evocative architecture, etc.
|> 
|> Why do people revile Troy so much?
 
 As someone who's spent most of the past six years in Troy, and has
actually grown somewhat fond of it, let me take a crack at that.
 
 Most of the people you see posting about Troy are RPI students. 
The majority of them come from suburbs or large cities, both of 
which are different from Troy. It's noisier and dirtier than the 
suburbs and less interesting than the big cities. So there's an
element of disappointment there. 
 
 Also, they go to RPI. RPI makes people miserable. Miserable 
people tend to grumble about whatever is handy, and Troy is very
handy. They overemphasize all the legitimate bad points, and 
forget the good ones.
 
 Troy is not the most beautiful and exciting city in the world 
(or even in upstate New York), but it has its redeeming features.
The downtown area has done an excellent job of preserving its 
historic architecture, so much so that parts of it were used for
shooting "Age of Innocence", set in the 1870s, and "Ironweed", 
set in the 1930s. It's a great "walking town" if you live or 
work in the downtown area, with plenty of restaurants and shops
which have done a pretty good job of keeping their head above 
water economically in these troubled times. And culture - yes,
Troy has a good amount for a city of 50,000 which is right next
to the state capitol. Check out the schedule of performances at
the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. Be there for the Victorian 
Stroll in the winter or the Flag Day Parade in the summer. Visit
the home of Herman Melville, the Burden Iron Works building, 
or Oakwood Cemetery (you're in for a surprise if you don't 
believe there can be such a thing as a beautiful cemetery). Take
a stroll through Russell Sage College's campus between First and
Second Streets, one of the most beautiful spots in the city 
(and I don't mean just the students (-:). RPI has its scenic and
historic side too, if you can tune out the (largely justified)
grumbling of the students.
 
 To be fair, there are good reasons to complain about Troy. It's
an ex-industrial city, and like any ex-industrial city, it's got
a lot of ugly abandoned factories and uglier attempts at "urban
renewal" (the Uncle Sam Atrium is a true blight on the landscape).
It's a college town, and like any college town, it's got plenty of
seedy student housing and noisy student-oriented bars. It has its
slums and low-income areas, which are close to (and in some areas
overlap) the student housing areas. And the town-gown relations 
are terrible - natives see RPI as filled with snotty rich kids, 
and RPI students see natives as small-minded fools. (Of course I'm
generalizing; there are open-minded people on both sides, but they
often get shouted down.) 
 
 Troy isn't perfect. But what place is? Give it a chance.
------------------------------------------------------------------
     __  Live from Capitaland, heart of the Empire State...
 ___/  | Jim Kasprzak, computer operator @ RPI, Troy, NY, USA
/____ *| Sam Adams,Spaten# Life is too short #Hudson Lager,Beck's 
     \_| Pilsener Urquell#to drink cheap beer#Pete's Wicked Ale
      ====  e-mail: kasprj@rpi.edu or kasprzak@mts.rpi.edu 
 
Newsgroups: alt.culture.ny-upstate