Divide New York into Two States? (Buffalo, Niagara Falls: live, vs., centers)

[londonbarcelona]

Originally Posted by nunoco

I don't mean to be rude, but this is just wrong. NYC pays more taxes to the state and to the federal government than it gets back in benefits. That's just a fact, and has been for 150 years, at least. And the commuters in NJ and CT do pay NY taxes. Ask them.
I agree that Albany does a poor job of distributing tax revenue; seems like most of it goes to Joe Bruno's district, or to build prisons, or (and here's one thing you should be mad about that NYC's getting) new basketball arenas.
The bigger issue? NYC and NY state send tons of tax money to Washington, and never see it again. Your quarrel is not with downstate, but with Down South. Atlanta and Raleigh and Jacksonville (and Phoenix and Dallas) are getting YOUR tax dollars, leaving Utica and Buffalo to suffer.
It's easy to be a low-tax state when you're stealing New York's taxes.

Don't add Phoenix in there. It may be new, but it's problems are beginning to mirror many rustbelt cities. Phoenix has an uneducated population, that will be its downfall.

[aka_mouse]

Originally Posted by londonbarcelona

The first thing Buffalo needs to do it get rid of all the welfare recipients. Make it harder to get and they will go elsewhere. If the city gets cleaned up people will come back.

This isn't a 'solution' to anything. It actually sounds like the meaningless garbage you'd hear out of Rush Limbaugh or something.

[Canadarago]

My 2 cents:

- Upstate cool summers are going to be a big reason why people will retire there. Who can stand the 90+ degree weather 8 months out of the year in FL? And have you spent time in the summer south of VA (not in the mountains)? Yeah, there is snow upstate, but upstate folks know how to deal with it and drive in it - NYC: try driving to work on the Belt after 2 inches fall.

- NYC is very long overdue for the "big one" as they say. A force 4 hurricane hitting at high tide will put some LI locations such as Long Beach under 12 feet of water and that water will be up to Merrick Road, 5 miles inland in some places. In addition, LIPA, the power authority on LI, will take weeks to get the power back on (their history guarantees this) while hundreds of thousands are stranded because they can't evacuate to the mainland - there are 3 bridges that will clog instantly. Allstate will not issue new homeowners policies in the NYC area because their actuaries fear this scenario. It's not a matter of if, but when.

- Retirees will help upstate. They will not care about the job market but will care about health care and upstate is improving in this aspect - my folks up in Richfield Springs recently had knee and back surgery at Bassett in Cooperstown and rave about it. Retirees will renovate a lot of the older houses.

- NYS is just plain beautiful and retains much of the 50s charm it had when I was a kid, and it's BIG - Catskills, Dacks, Hudson Valley, Lake George, Belleayre, Finger Lakes, Letchworth, all in one state and the roads are good. And when the jet stream positions itself over Thruway exit 16 as it does frequently - there is actually a weather divide between NYC and upstate.

Just about all my family lives on the line between Albany and Utica - all transplants from NYC area - and they love it. And every time I go upstate I find another gem: Cazenovia, Wellsville, Sacandaga Lake, etc. Family mostly works in healthcare and ministry, which along with education and government, appear to be the growth sectors upstate.

Hopefully, many of the soon-to-be retirees in the next 10 years - there are 70 million projected - will see the same opportunities. The cost of everything in NYC/LI seems to be causing much heartache for those of my friends' parents who retired years age and stayed.

I always hated to come back from vacations upstate ( still do). Can't wait to make that permanent trip up the Thruway....

[londonbarcelona]

Originally Posted by aka_mouse

This isn't a 'solution' to anything. It actually sounds like the meaningless garbage you'd hear out of Rush Limbaugh or something.

Sorry, but if I were a really lazy person, not have to work, and could get free money easily in a certain city, I'd move there. Except, I'm not lazy.........

[Jdawg8181]

Originally Posted by Canadarago

My 2 cents:

- Upstate cool summers are going to be a big reason why people will retire there. Who can stand the 90+ degree weather 8 months out of the year in FL? And have you spent time in the summer south of VA (not in the mountains)? Yeah, there is snow upstate, but upstate folks know how to deal with it and drive in it - NYC: try driving to work on the Belt after 2 inches fall.

- NYC is very long overdue for the "big one" as they say. A force 4 hurricane hitting at high tide will put some LI locations such as Long Beach under 12 feet of water and that water will be up to Merrick Road, 5 miles inland in some places. In addition, LIPA, the power authority on LI, will take weeks to get the power back on (their history guarantees this) while hundreds of thousands are stranded because they can't evacuate to the mainland - there are 3 bridges that will clog instantly. Allstate will not issue new homeowners policies in the NYC area because their actuaries fear this scenario. It's not a matter of if, but when.

- Retirees will help upstate. They will not care about the job market but will care about health care and upstate is improving in this aspect - my folks up in Richfield Springs recently had knee and back surgery at Bassett in Cooperstown and rave about it. Retirees will renovate a lot of the older houses.

- NYS is just plain beautiful and retains much of the 50s charm it had when I was a kid, and it's BIG - Catskills, Dacks, Hudson Valley, Lake George, Belleayre, Finger Lakes, Letchworth, all in one state and the roads are good. And when the jet stream positions itself over Thruway exit 16 as it does frequently - there is actually a weather divide between NYC and upstate.

Just about all my family lives on the line between Albany and Utica - all transplants from NYC area - and they love it. And every time I go upstate I find another gem: Cazenovia, Wellsville, Sacandaga Lake, etc. Family mostly works in healthcare and ministry, which along with education and government, appear to be the growth sectors upstate.

Hopefully, many of the soon-to-be retirees in the next 10 years - there are 70 million projected - will see the same opportunities. The cost of everything in NYC/LI seems to be causing much heartache for those of my friends' parents who retired years age and stayed.

I always hated to come back from vacations upstate ( still do). Can't wait to make that permanent trip up the Thruway....

This is all well & good but most people do not have jobs in healthcare and/or ministry. I work in the entertainment field- upstate has a severe lack of jobs in that field- and jobs, in general.

[Jdawg8181]

Originally Posted by aka_mouse

Why do people keep saying this? Its complete BS. Upstate NY gets no benefit from NYC .. AT ALL. Ship some ****ing money or jobs up here then talk about how we need you, otherwise, **** off. Lots of workers with the best jobs in NYC live in CT or NJ and thus dont even pay the NY taxes, who pays it? Upstate. Albany takes about 50% of the taxes Buffalo Collects.. you get only one guess as to where it gets distributed. And as you can see in other threads here Buffalo recently got ranked 2nd poorest city in the nation. We need our taxes for our own poor, not NYCs.

Id like to hear you make a serious argument about what money makes its way from NYC to Utica (probably the poorest actually), or Syracuse, or Rochester or Buffalo? Even Albany has big Ghettos - outside the state jobs they dont have **** there. NYC is a vampire on the rest of the state. Its the same for cities in England near London.

Hey NYC really is real cool , i respect that.. however - outside of that.. when it comes to economics and the general downstate arrogance that your are displaying.. cram it back up your ass. A couple ritchies buying property just outside the city dont make a difference at all.

Actually you are wrong...people from CT & NJ who work in the city are actually doubly-taxed...once by their own state and also by New York.

[Jdawg8181]

Originally Posted by aka_mouse

Why do people keep saying this? Its complete BS. Upstate NY gets no benefit from NYC .. AT ALL. Ship some ****ing money or jobs up here then talk about how we need you, otherwise, **** off. Lots of workers with the best jobs in NYC live in CT or NJ and thus dont even pay the NY taxes, who pays it? Upstate. Albany takes about 50% of the taxes Buffalo Collects.. you get only one guess as to where it gets distributed. And as you can see in other threads here Buffalo recently got ranked 2nd poorest city in the nation. We need our taxes for our own poor, not NYCs.

Id like to hear you make a serious argument about what money makes its way from NYC to Utica (probably the poorest actually), or Syracuse, or Rochester or Buffalo? Even Albany has big Ghettos - outside the state jobs they dont have **** there. NYC is a vampire on the rest of the state. Its the same for cities in England near London.

Hey NYC really is real cool , i respect that.. however - outside of that.. when it comes to economics and the general downstate arrogance that your are displaying.. cram it back up your ass. A couple ritchies buying property just outside the city dont make a difference at all.

And I could be wrong although I don't believe I am- New York County is the poorest county in the state....2nd being alleghany...so you keep talking aboit your poor when we have the poorest people here in downstate.

[aka_mouse]

Originally Posted by Jdawg8181

And I could be wrong although I don't believe I am- New York County is the poorest county in the state....

hahaha.. are you kidding me ?

New York county is MANHATTAN.


You are wrong.

[Jdawg8181]

Originally Posted by aka_mouse

hahaha.. are you kidding me ?

New York county is MANHATTAN.


You are wrong.

yes...and do you how many homeless people live on new york city's streets?

[aka_mouse]

Originally Posted by Jdawg8181

yes...and do you how many homeless people live on new york city's streets?

Im not even going to argue with you.. I want to see a source for this data.