Posted on 01/03/2014 9:16:20 PM PST by Olog-hai
Melissa Grothues and John Steele bailed from Buffalo last year. Dissatisfied with their bank jobs, the 25-year-old college graduates sold the house in suburban Amherst, posted ads for possessions on Craigslist and drove cross country to San Diego for a fresh start. […]
The young couple is hardly alone in exiting upstate New York. More people are leaving the region than moving into it, contributing to a largely stagnant population. The trend has helped lead to New York losing four congressional seats in the last two Census counts and is about to cost the state some prestige. At some point early this year, Florida is expected to surpass New York as the third most populous state, according to projections by The Associated Press. […]
Why are people leaving upstate New York? Some complain that taxes in New York are too high. Others, like Grotheus, say there are better job opportunities elsewhere. …
(Excerpt) Read more at bigstory.ap.org ...
I remember waking up with a delightful female after a BD party for me in Albany, there was six inches or so of snow on the ground.
I’m a Taurus. My BD is near mid-May.
Sometimes I really miss upstate NY.
Not now!
If it did and Coumo wasn't the Mini-Me-Dictator he is and allowed Fracking in this region cam you imagine the turn-around?
FWIW I have a friend in the area and have spent sometime their. The Fruits grown and harvested in late August are amazing and this on top of Corn etc. The wine guys have found it out too, great for grapes. The lay of the land is stunning.
Can you also imagine if they Spun off from the rest of the State and became "Reaganville" and how prosperous the area would be without NYC and Albany?
Lol. Was it me?
I know I went to Albany more than once, and drank there more than once, with my roommate. Varying amounts of snowfall. Probably in ‘96 or ‘97.
My b-day is also mid May.
AND I do miss parts of upstate NY. The finger lakes, especially around Cayuga and Seneca.
I grew up (that’s debatable!!) at the western edge of the Finger lakes, near Conesus lake, in Livingston county.
I miss the lightning bugs. The berries, strawberries and black raspberries.
REAL seasons where the maples change their leaves practically overnight.
Fresh sweet corn, mean pick it and you can be eating it 20 minutes later!
Lot of EXCELLENT cheese from that part of the country!
GOOD Italian food. I mean TO DIE FOR Italian food.
I may get back there sometime, but not in any rush now...
Grew up north of Syracuse. Still miss the white hotdogs served at Hyde’s in Liverpool.
Don’t miss the potential for significant snow from October through mid-May and the 25 to 35 below zero temps that happen every winter.
Oh yeah, the dogs, there ya go!
Most of my family is still back there, and I guess it’s been fairly mild the last ten or so years.
But I remember looking out the window one January and seeing the deer pawing through the snow trying to find apples... probably 30 or 40 deer that night.
Somewhere in the neighborhood of ten to twenty below.
That’s life threatening stuff. You don’t even want to take the smallest chance then. Gotta hunker down as best you can!
Well, they both had jobs, so they're willing to work. They sold their house, so they probably aren't deadbeats or seriously overextended, and they are smart enough to leave New York, so they should be able to do well in Texas. Seriously.
When I was 9 a family from NYC moved into the neighborhood. They had a kid my age who informed me that he couldn't play with Southern kids because we were "backward". It didn't hurt my feelings because he was very obviously a weenie.
For a while there were orgasmic news reports every time a company brought 30, 50 or 100 jobs into the area. Each job creation story was accompanied with tales of how a local politician had put forth Herculean efforts to cut through red tape and regulation, making everything happen in only a couple of years. To me it seemed that, of such exceptional efforts were needed, the default condition is pretty hostile to business.
Now upstate features shrinking towns and politicians reluctant to consolidate since they may be left standing when the music stops. Schools and churches closing. Kids going away to college and never coming back as they had no job prospects. Eventually you end up with an aging population featuring people who live there because they've lived there their whole lives. We sold ou house and left. In NJ now but will probably end up in PA for its lower taxes.
I know that guy, he's the one who wears his underwear as a hoodie.
I want to suggest that all NYers who are unhappy move to San Diego or Texas. If going to San Diego, avoid Arizona - after all, you might want to visit Las Vegas on the way. But feel free to move to Texas.
Then write any of the NYers in Arizona, and tell them how great your life is and how they ought to join you.
We have several NYers and NJers in the neighborhood. It was easy to identify them...they were the ones who voted to keep the HOA, but were outvoted 85-15. Now that they don’t have an HOA to use to rule everyone elses’ lives, they are the ones who go around with sour pusses and complain that Arizona isn’t progressive enough.
I’m still waiting to meet a person from NY or NJ who wants to be free, and who is willing to let the others around him live free. But I’m only 55, so maybe someday...
People with an ounce of sense and no chip on their shoulder (elitist or otherwise), can get along with Texans easily.
Amherst is downstate to anyone who actually lives upstate.
I left in 2000, never looked back, and called myself a lucky man.
OK - I double checked my “facts” and discovered that I’m full of smelly brown stuff. I was thinking Amherst was in the Catskills. I’ll turn in my upstater card, um, soon.
Mea culpa. But I can’t promise not to post first and think second again, now can I?!? ;-P
(1) safety
(2) reasonably priced and quality housing
(3) easy access to shopping and necessities,
(4) recreational/cultural oppotunities
(5) availability of public transportation if I ever couldn't drive
In NYS, maybe Rochester would provide all of that. But strangely (who'd think it?) there are towns south of Cleveland that meet ALL of those criteria.
I could see rural NYS having a future when federal and global govenments collapse. There's a lot of sparsely populated land and plenty of resources for self-sufficiency.
I guess I’m still waiting to meet a NYer with “an ounce of sense and no chip on their shoulder”. The ones I run into all complain that Arizona is filled with hicks who ought to appreciate the wisdom and insight of NYers who only want to lift us up to their level.
I think this is why cuomo is blocking fracking. He does not want upstate to climb out of the hole they have been in for decades and be real contenders in Albany.
Wow, I didn't think of that. It would change the center of gravity of NY as you follow the money you'll find the power. Some poor farmer who has been trying to eek out a living for eons can now tell Coumo and his like apperachik buddies in NYC and in Albany to go pound sand as they reach the land of critical mass from the royalties under their land that they allowed to be drilled on. Can't allow independent minds then have capital and power to challenge their Statist Paradigm.
Let us hope their is Nat-Gas all the way to the shores of Lake Ontario so these hard workin' folks can tell them exactly what they think, unfiltered...
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