FOUNDING
The Upstate New York Towns Association, Inc. was formed on July 18, 2013 because there are needs and interests of towns in upstate New York that are different than the needs and interests of towns in downstate New York.
PURPOSE
The purpose of the Association is to deliver quality programs and services to Upstate NY towns by promoting the common good and general welfare of the towns and their residents.
MEMBERSHIP
Membership is open to towns in Upstate New York defined as NY state towns which are north of Interstate 84.
http://www.upstatenytownsassociationinc.org/
THREE POINT PLAN
1 PROMOTE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN UPSTATE NY TO CREATE JOBS AND INCREASE POPULATION
2 PROMOTE INCREASED ACCESS TO TECHNOLOGY IN UPSTATE NY
3 PROMOTE AN UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT FREEDOM MEANS IN UPSTATE NY
Everyone in N.Y. is getting fracked. In fact the whole country is getting fracked.
Marcellus Shale envy: New trucks, snowmobiles in ‘every’ Pa. driveway
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2015/02/some_serious_marcellus_shale_e.html
Nearly everyone, it seems, in New York State’s economically stagnant Southern Tier has a story of Marcellus Shale success in neighboring Pennsylvania.
The bartender at Birtchy’s Joint knows a New York truck driver who doubled his income simply by going south of the border to work for a Pa. employer tied to the thriving fracking industry there.
A lunch patron at Jane’s Diner laments why Upstate New York can’t have its piece of the natural gas pie. Ironically, she says this while proceeding to devour a slice of the restaurant’s to-die-for chocolate and peanut butter pie.
And business owner after business owner sing the blues over slipping sales, plunging town populations and increasingly cash-strapped consumers. All this, while just south in prosperous Pennsylvania, the cash registers of their commercial counterparts are ringing like never before.
Simply put, there is some serious Marcellus Shale envy here in New York’s Southern Tier.
...This is a tale of two sides of the Marcellus Shale.
To the south, in Pennsylvania, Conklin Town Supervisor James Finch sees a new truck in every driveway, a new snowmobile in every shed and new siding on every house — all of it fueled by fracking.
Meanwhile to the north, New York’s Southern Tier towns have gone from struggling to starting to die, Finch says.
“The prosperity over there is great,” Finch said of Pennsylvania. “Here, we have nothing.”
Such is economic situation and public sentiment that is fueling talk of secession in New York towns that stretch along Pennsylvania’s border....
They would have to close the door as everyone West and North West of NYC ( excluding Schenectady and Albany ) would be trying to get aboard and get away from the perfumed Prince Andrew and the dysfunction that is NY State.
New York State should donate New York City to New Jersey, and Pennsylvania should also donate Philadelphia (aka West Camden) to New Jersey.
All three states would be improved.
A ban on fracking is a regulatory taking, and landowners should be compensated.
How Marcellus Shale divided a state: ‘Left-wing wackos’ vs. struggling small towns
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2015/02/how_marcellus_shale_divided_a.html
...This is how some of the put-upon people of New York State’s Southern Tier see themselves, and many are sick and tired of it.
Their slice of the sprawling, diverse Empire State is a world away from the affluence, urban density and gleaming skyscrapers of New York City. Yet, some Southern Tier residents feel as if the powerful New York City politicians with voting blocks on the New York General Assembly and strong voices in the Governor’s Mansion control their fate from afar.
The bones of contention in this age-old Upstate-Downstate rivalry are many: Taxes, especially property taxes, economic development, income and jobs.
Still, the Southern Tier always believed it had an ace in the hole.
That was the resource-rich Marcellus Shale and all the natural gas locked away in this geological formation millions of the years in the making.
The shale runs wide and deep underneath the dying towns all along New York State’s border with Pennsylvania. And beneath the Marcellus lies a whole other formation — the Utica Shale.
Simply put, the area has the potential to be producing natural gas for decades, if not centuries. And many in the Southern Tier believed it was their destiny to tap this game-changing economic resource as if it were a divine gift to this depressed area, arriving just in time to save it....
Nice idea, but it would require either a Constitutional amendment or approval from the NY state legislature. The Constitution does not allow formation of new states from the territory of existing ones without the approval of the existing state in question.
I personally think any city with a population over 500K should be forced to form their own state - thereby releasing the former states citizens of the tyranny of that city’s population.
Imagine Illinois without Chicago, Cali without LA/SF, etc About 25 cities are over 500k, the leftover state become substantially less liberal; but the country as a whole more conservative.