Another story about the dire straits of Upstate NY. http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/111709/us-cities-running-out-of-people. Two out the 7 worst cites are in Upstate NY.
Upstate NY is being drained like a malnourished African tit for downstate pension and entitlement needs. It has never been more apparent. When times are good people can look the other way. What do people do when do when things aren't going well? It is well past the time to have Upstate succeed from the rest of NY. I cannot tell you how often I run into someone from Upstate NY. I was in Paris, France and I ran into someone from Irondequoit. I was on the Appalachian Trail and I ran into someone from Mendon. I was in Kroger in Georgia and met someone from Fairport. Like my boss says (he's from Fredonia) "they have ruined that state". None truer words. Remember the "I Love NY slogan"? Where has that tourism effort gone? Sadly it has been abandoned. Where are the lower (even just reasonable) taxes, fuel prices, or other incentives (favorable legislation duh!) for business? Your answer is as good as mine since none of these economic stimulating conditions exist.
Similar to the the African Country Sudan being split where the north is preventing the sale of the south's oil, NY is in a similar situation. Moratorium after moratorium on gas drilling permits in the Southern-tier (the most depressed part of the state) has gotten to the point of being criminal and has brought levels of regional tensions that the area has never known. I think the word "flashpoint" is a good one. http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/12/23/1302325/control-of-sudans-oil-a-big-issue.html
DJ and I went downtown Atlanta for New years eve. We did the "Peach Drop" experience along with 150,000 of our now close friends. The crowd is very well behaved. There is concern for each other in a scene like that even when the mobs are moving as waves with distributed pressures. We are all connected. The MARTA trains really behave differently when they are jammed with thousands of riders. http://www.tripsmarter.com/travelinfo/atlanta/events/new-years-eve-peach-drop.
