Evergrey
Apr 5, 2011, 10:34 PM
http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20110402/NEWS01/104020366/1112/UE-board-meeting-rescheduled/Opportunity-s-knocking-many-new-residents-Binghamton-provides-hope-
Opportunity's knocking: For many new residents, Binghamton provides hope
http://cmsimg.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=CB&Date=20110402&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=104020366&Ref=AR&Profile=1112&MaxW=640&Border=0
BINGHAMTON
It took two tries for Tovan Whaley to get serious about his adopted city.
The first time, he was a 12-year-old Brooklyn kid, brought to Binghamton by his mother for a safer life.
That only lasted a few years, and Whaley went back to the big city, where he soon found trouble and trouble found him. Stupid stuff, he says now.
The intervention of a Brooklyn teacher sent Whaley back to school at 17.
"I don't know what he saw in me, but he saw something," Whaley said.
Whatever it was, it put Whaley on a different path, one that led to a job, and goals, and, again at his mother's urging, a return to Binghamton to live with his aunt and uncle in Binghamton's First Ward.
Now 19 years old, Whaley works full time at the McDonald's restaurant on Upper Front Street and he's being trained as a manager. He's looking to enroll in college, too, and while he says there isn't enough to do in Binghamton — a common lament for people his age — Whaley said he could see himself settling in for a while.
Like Whaley, more and more people are finding their way here, according to statistics from the 2010 U.S. Census, released last week. They're passing and replacing an almost equal number who are on their way elsewhere.
What was most surprising about the recently released census figures was the city as a whole lost only four people, going from 47,380 to 47,376 people in 10 years, said Tarik Abdelazim, Binghamton's planner.
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Opportunity's knocking: For many new residents, Binghamton provides hope
http://cmsimg.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=CB&Date=20110402&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=104020366&Ref=AR&Profile=1112&MaxW=640&Border=0
BINGHAMTON
It took two tries for Tovan Whaley to get serious about his adopted city.
The first time, he was a 12-year-old Brooklyn kid, brought to Binghamton by his mother for a safer life.
That only lasted a few years, and Whaley went back to the big city, where he soon found trouble and trouble found him. Stupid stuff, he says now.
The intervention of a Brooklyn teacher sent Whaley back to school at 17.
"I don't know what he saw in me, but he saw something," Whaley said.
Whatever it was, it put Whaley on a different path, one that led to a job, and goals, and, again at his mother's urging, a return to Binghamton to live with his aunt and uncle in Binghamton's First Ward.
Now 19 years old, Whaley works full time at the McDonald's restaurant on Upper Front Street and he's being trained as a manager. He's looking to enroll in college, too, and while he says there isn't enough to do in Binghamton — a common lament for people his age — Whaley said he could see himself settling in for a while.
Like Whaley, more and more people are finding their way here, according to statistics from the 2010 U.S. Census, released last week. They're passing and replacing an almost equal number who are on their way elsewhere.
What was most surprising about the recently released census figures was the city as a whole lost only four people, going from 47,380 to 47,376 people in 10 years, said Tarik Abdelazim, Binghamton's planner.
...