I lived in Ithaca for 5 years and the Bronx for almost three. I know exactly what you're talking about.
Funny, I lived in South Lansing, just north of Ithaca until I was 4 years old. Then we moved to Orchard Park, south of Buffalo. I went to SUNY ESF at Syracuse and moved to NH in 1985.
That county around Ithaca is actually one of the few liberal/democratic voting counties in upstate NY all because of Cornell.