Personal Injury Law

Elmira, New York? Our Shrinking Hometown?.

By JimReed

Image from Wikipedia

A story today on the WETM-TV website (pasted below) got me thinking about my hometown– Elmira, NY.

I have lived in Elmira my whole life.  I love my hometown.  Warts and all.

Many folks live here because they have to– this is where their job is.  I live here because I chose to.  I could work as a lawyer almost anywhere in the country (or even the world) but I chose to come back to Elmira after turning down a MUCH more lucrative job in Washington, DC (OK, no one ever said I was smart!  .   I have NEVER regretted my decision to come “home” because I love it here.

Elmira is located in a beautiful part of Upstate NY called the Finger Lakes region.  Despite its scenic beauty, Upstate NY has suffered economically.  Heavy industry long ago dried up and the local economy is gasping for breath as it converts to service jobs, tourism and other smaller industries.

Even though it’s not an easy time to be an Elmiran, I love living here–

• I love my eight minute commute,
• I love walking down the street and having people actually say “hi” to one another,
• I love knowing where my three teenagers are going to get in trouble (because I went there myself thirty years ago!),
• I love knowing that if I was in trouble and needed help, there would be LOTS of people at my door offering their help.      Can’t put a price on that…….

Guess, I wasn’t so dumb after all when I turned down that Washington, DC job….

Thanks for reading,

Jim Reed
jreed@zifflaw.com

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Full post as published by New York Injury Law Blog on March 31, 2008 (boomark / email).