What is Upstate??? (New York, Buffalo, Rochester: insurance, houses, schools)

[Glen NY]

Bellafinzi, You're right and I should qualify "the city" I meant New York City. Now living up here the term "the city" has come to mean Syracuse. Words like "upstate" are relative words, but from a NYC perspective, everything north of the city is "upstate". Now living up here we call some of wallkillers' area downstate.

[Phish Head]

i'm informed, you are correct. I did a long tour of the state, starting in Westchester County to Albany, Saratoga, Utica, Syracuse, and finally Rochester. Its amazing- Albany accents are similar, though not completely like, New England accents. As you travel west, it changes. At Syracuse, it seemed like a Pennsylvania accent, with a bit midwest. By the time I got to Rochester, it was just like a midwestern accent, similar to Ohio or Michigan. Never got to Buffalo, but I assume it's an even stronger Midwest accent.

Fascinating that there is so much diversity in NY State, in the landscape as well as the accents. For such a small state (compared to western states, anyway)....

[arp.robinson]

Being from Poughkeepsie and having relatives in the Mid west it was a regular occurance when I said I was from New York they thought NYC. I would have to refer to being from New York State as opposed to NYC to clarify.

I had a coworker in the military who was from Plattsburgh. He considered himself from Upstate and would laugh if I counsidered myself the same.

As stated before from a NYC point of view anything that's north of the NYC/LI and perhaps now the suburbs is upstate. Unfortunately it's no longer just Westchester that is the "burbs" due to the real estate boom and the fall of IBM in the 90's the Poughkeepsie(Lower Mid Hudson Valley) area became a bedroom town for those commuting to NYC. Realtors have taken advantage even further in the last 10-15 years of the choice affordable real estate with about an 1.5 hour train ride to Grand Central.

[farrellw]

I am laughing at all of this thread. I am from Plattsburgh, NY which is twenty minutes from the canadian border. I think of our area as upstate with no doubt. I find it funny when they say the lower are upstate. I stumbled on this forum when doing research on my city for a final project in my college class.

[livecontent]

This subject could be considered funny but it is also tragic I was born in NYC and moved to Western New York, near Buffalo, when I was a child. In 1968, I commuted and went to SUNY Buffalo, I can still remember how terrible the people from New York City Area treated people from the Buffalo area---I am from "THE CITY" and you are not important. After the Army (where there were plenty of loud and pushy New Yawkers) I went to SUNY Binghamton and the same attitude was apparent with the arrogance of the New Yawkers. I have lived Dutchess County and again I saw the same miserable 'know it all" personality of the New Yawker which to them everything north of Westchester County was nothing. Unfortunately this attitude, has permeated the politics and the economics policies of New York and have contributed to the severe decline of the state with the exception of Metro NYC area.

When is New York going to consider itself a unified state and that the economics of the the whole are important?? Maybe the suggestion of splitting the state and making NYC metro a separate state and allow the rest of the state to become independent or to join a state, like Ohio, Pennsylvania or Vermont which would be more responsive to the needs of these ignored people.

Now forty years latter, It is even worse, economically, in "upstate" and the attitude still prevails. I now live in Colorado; I do not see the same attitude of Denver people to the rest of the state or to the rural areas of Kansas, Wyoming or Nebraska. Denver considers it self a regional center of the West and people from other areas are not considered trash.. I would never go back to the ghettos which are being created by the self-centered New Yawk demigods. I would suggest anybody thinking about New York read all the postings and you will see that many people have this arrogant New Yawk attitude and treat the rest of the state with disdain. It is such a shame to allow the Empire State to disintegrate and fail to serve many wonderful people of the state.

[I'minformed2]

Yes.... NYC area people definitely have a "holier than thou" attitude towards upstaters. They think everyone north of Westchester is an undeducated hick. This isn't the attitude of all in the NYC area, but it definitely exists. They diss Buffalo for it's bad economy, yet don't seem to realize that a HUGE contribution to the bad economy in that area (and to at least some degree all of the upstate metros) is the fact that the downstate-controlled government makes the state VERY unfriendly to businesses. It costs so much that many companies have to cut job or leave the state altogether. They think that because people are willing to pay that much to have a business in NYC (which I will admit is understandable... NYC is a great place and if you can afford to start a business there, it will probably do much better than most other places) they can force the WHOLE STATE to have to be that expensive. They really should split the state and let Upstate NY become its own state. The region has A LOT of potential as well as great people, and some of the most beautiful scenery in the country. It would probably do phenominaly better economically if it wasn't dictated by the NYC area politicians. I do believe that Spitzer truly is looking out of upstate and will help it significantly though. So there is hope.

[OvertaxedOnLI]

Most Long Islanders consider "upstate" to be anyplace north of Westchester County.

But you have to also realize that we're the same people who, despite clear geographical evidence that Queens County is clearly the westernmost part of Long Island, always have/always will consider Queens "part of The City". Likewise, a resident of Queens would take any suggestion that they could possibly be "Long Islanders" as a mortal insult!

[JustSayNo]

So true overtaxed, so true, Remember Brooklyn is ALSO a part of LI, but is considered part of the city. I always used to love driving West on 25A, Northern Blvd. and you so know when you croos the Nassau/Queens line....it changes immediately!

Ah LI and it's attitude........

[I'minformed2]

well technically they have a point.... I mean, Brooklyn and Queens are indeed part of NYC. They aren't just "considered" part of the city of New York, they are the two most populous boroughs of it.

[NYer]

Yeah, but look at the map, there is- that alligator shaped island, and a big chunk of it is considered to not be "of" it even though they are "on" it!

There is a huge difference in government spending for infrastructure so that is why it is so obvious when you cross over from the island to Brooklyn or Queens, or vice versa, even before you get out of the car to speak to people!
Sort of like Garden City & Hempstead- you cross that street and bang! From the ridiculous to the sublime (I'll let the reader sort out which is which!)