<p>So what is the recession looking like from your point of view? Are different areas of the country feeling things differently? I'd like to hear how the parents on this forum see the local economy.</p>
<p>For me, we still have our jobs, but two non-profits I work to support - a dance school and a montessori school - are close to shuttering their doors at the end of this semester. Our local arts institutions are sending out emergency funding requests. </p>
<p>What are you seeing?</p>
<p>My son’s public charter school is struggling. Although it’s relatively new and probably would have struggled no matter what since it’s starting up.</p>
<p>At the mall last Saturday there were several closed/shuttered store fronts which was scary since this is a large, previously successful mall.</p>
<p>We both still have our jobs so far: college prof and engineer.</p>
<p>MANY houses on the market in our town and prices are dropping. These houses would have been snatched up a couple years ago for far more money.</p>
<p>I have to say seeing the closed storefronts really shook me up a little. It made me think twice about spending >40,000 a year for boarding school. Maybe we should save that money for a rainy day.</p>
<p>We are seeing local public schools doing everything they can to increase school taxes as little as possible while still absorbing sizeable cuts in state aid. I live in NY, where the loss of wall street hits the state tax revenue as hard as it does all those people who won’t be getting those bonuses this year (excepting AIG, of course). People are very skittish - but I don’t know how much of that is based on reality and how much on hype. Obviously, those whose retirements are hinged to market performance are putting off the retirement party for the time being. </p>
<p>The reality is that own area is actually experiencing 1% growth. We have a major nanotechnology company that recently closed on a deal with the state to build a billion dollar chip manufacturing facility. This will have a major local impact. Hopefully, I’ll have equity in my house again in a few years!</p>
<p>I’m not sure how the private schools are doing. There aren’t very many to begin with. I am involved with a non-profit performing arts center that offers classes in eveything from belly dancing to fencing and stages professional theatre productions. Enrollment has not dropped yet. There are still tons of girls in my daughter’s dance classes and I have tickets to a chamber music concert tomorrow.</p>
<p>My community is so small and insular that the effects that we are feeling are the ripple effects of the state’s problems. There is less money coming from Albany for the schools. So we aren’t replacing a teacher who is retiring, putting off buying a new bus, etc. No programs have been cut, but then again, the programs offered are generally only those mandated by the state and/or feds. Our district is so small (<1200 K-12) that when two kids whose SLD requires out of district placement that costs over 130,000 move in; it really throws the budget into a tailspin. That has nothing to do with the economy. It could happen at any time.</p>
<p>We are not that far from you in geography, Grejuni. Here I look at each of the towns in the surrounding areas, and in terms of those with downtowns, it is a mixed bag. In Summit, NJ a few weeks ago (after not being there for months) which had many Wall St. types driving up the price of real estate, I was shocked to see so many stores empty. Many of them had been vanity type operations to start, I think (decorating, stationer, other knick knack typ stores). In one of the smaller towns, which really has no down town, closed restaurant, and decorating store. Bank branches closed (well that I am sure is everywhere) in many places. </p>
<p>Many people talk of pulling the kids out of private school (full tuition types), and we will see who really leaves soon. I think there was no shortage of applications for school, but as much as I wanted to ask about full pay vs financial aid, I could not bring myself to do it. I know that we received the appeal for funds specifically to go toward financial aid, and the accompanying letter about supporting current students, which I think was not uncommon over the last several months. Tuition was also increased.</p>
<p>I think that the public schools will also suffer in terms of funding and here they are fairly crowded. The real estate market seems fairly moribund. We ask mom and pop stores how they are doing whenever we shop at them, and the last couple of months have been rough for many even at convenience stores and pizzerias.</p>
<p>Neato - I am glad to hear that someone wants to build a major facility in upstate NY. As a former NYS resident, I found it dismaying that the resources in upstate ny were often overlooked for many reasons. My H thinks that a high speed train line to the NY suburbs would help, but we would not expect to see something like that. A few years ago we were in Boston, and got a look at what was done there with the “big dig” and other projects and it was impressive. It always seemed to me that NYS got shafted on the federal money for things like that. The roads surrounding NYC are still unbelievably bad.</p>
<p>Real estate never bubbled up in the city, so we haven’t seen big nosedives in housing prices like Nevada or California. </p>
<p>Jobs are more of the issue. People who work for the city/state/county are getting furloughs and pay cuts. The big employers are doing layoffs. The school districts all have budget deficits. </p>
<p>But the private schools seem full and some are adding pre-school classes. Maybe there is no lack of demand for the most expensive private schools. But Catholic schools and Montessori schools who serve more of the middle class do seem to be closing down. And the arts organizations are at risk of having their funding dry up from private and public sources.</p>
<p>I work in an auction house in Virginia, and while there is no shortage of items coming in (many people now selling family silver that they don’t use, etc.), we have noticed a definite downturn in the prices people will pay. For about six weeks we felt a real paralysis in potential consignors who wanted to sell things because they needed the money, but were so hesitant to part with anything for the fear that the items wouldn’t bring much, and then they’d have nothing. We had many old coins in a recent auction and they did terrifically well…we get frequent calls from people looking for gold coins. So while auction houses see many things coming in at these times, if our bidders fade away, we’ll also lose consignors…our auctioneers are very worried to say the least.</p>
<p>I notice a number of newly empty storefronts. Storefronts which have been empty for more than four months aren’t turning over. This could be due to a downturn in business, but it could also be due to landlords demanding rents which are too high to support.</p>
<p>Restaurants are doing poorly. Many more coupons arrive in our mail, offering rebates. Some department stores are offering discounts and rebates to drive customers into their stores. I don’t know if it’s working. About a year ago, the area saw an upswing in people offering personal fitness training. Most of them have gone out of business.</p>
<p>The housing market is holding up in our town, but that could be due to a general reluctance to move. House prices in neighboring towns are declining, so our town’s stability is most likely temporary.</p>
<p>The family business is holding up. Friends who are software contractors are able to find clients, but there’s harder bargaining over pricing. They are doing better than lawyers, though, which probably explains the rise in the number of computer science students.</p>
<p>My impression is that people are spending carefully. I attended a young child’s birthday at an indoor play area. There weren’t any other parties on that weekend afternoon. The number of young children (9 and under) is decreasing, but that was the first time I had ever seen only one birthday party on a weekend. Usually, at least three would be scheduled at a time.</p>
<p>In our community on some roads every third commercial storefront is vacant. It is frightening!</p>
<p>California has had empty stores for a couple of years. But now we’re seeing more “for rent” signs in front of houses where previously there would be 40-50 applications accepted for each vacant rental. Now they aren’t even getting rented. I don’t know where everyone went. Mexico maybe?</p>