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We Surround Rochester
Aug 28, 2010, Washington DC
Thanks to Charlie for finding this article in he Albany Times Union. BTW, this didn’t even make it into the Democrat and Chronicle. RV
By Casey Seiler
Albany Times Union
Should upstate New York go its own way? And what would we call ourselves — Upstatonia? Newer York? Adirondackiana?
These are just a few of the questions raised by a bill recently introduced by a handful of Republican state senators calling for a referendum that would ask, “Do you support the division of New York into two separate states?”
The bill, which you can read in its entirety after the jump, is co-sponsored by Joseph Robach (R-56th District), William Larkin (R-39th District), Michael Ranzenhofer (R-61st District), James Seward (R-51st District) and Dale Volker (R-59th District). Coincidentally, all are upstate legislators and represent largely rural districts.
The idea of a divided New York is not a new notion.
Just off the top of our heads, we can think of a few implications of upstate becoming the 51st state — and we’re assuming that’s how it would be done geographically, as opposed to, say, drawing the border down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
- Republicans would almost certainly find themselves back in power positions.
- The governor of upstate would probably do most of his work at the Capitol.
- The New York Times would need a new city to kick around in its editorial headlines (e.g. today’s MTA-related “Thanks a lot, Albany”).
- The members of the Long Island branch of the state GOP would find themselves feeling very, very lonely.
- The so-called “Bear Mountain Pact” — the unspoken rule that, y’know, what happens in Albany stays in Albany would have to be renegotiated.
We’ve called Robach’s office for more background.
Introduced by Sens. ROBACH, LARKIN, RANZENHOFER, SEWARD, VOLKER — read
twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the
Committee on ElectionsAN ACT to provide for a referendum on the question “Do you support the
division of New York into two separate states?”; and providing for the
repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereofThe People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. At the request of the county legislature or other similar
2 governing body of any county, there shall be submitted by the board of
3 elections of such county to the voters of such county at a general
4 election held on or before December 31, 2010 the following question: “Do
5 you support the division of New York into two separate states?”
6 § 2. Such question shall be submitted in the manner provided in the
7 election law, and the provisions of such law, not inconsistent with this
8 act, relating to the submission of and to the taking, counting and
9 returning of the vote and canvassing the results upon a question submit-
10 ted pursuant to law to the voters of the state shall apply to the ques-
11 tion herein required to be submitted. The ballots shall be in such form
12 as prescribed by such law. When a board of elections shall have
13 completed its canvass of the results of the vote upon such question, it
14 shall forthwith certify the results of the vote upon such question to
15 the secretary of the senate and clerk of the assembly.
16 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire January
17 1, 2011 when upon such date the provisions of this act shall be deemed
18 repealed.
All POW-MIA
7 responses so far ↓
1 Hannah Elise // Mar 26, 2009 at 8:29 am
Personally, I’ve always jokingly said that we should simply annex NYC off onto NJ and let them have ‘em, but…
I’m interested to know what the practical implications of a state split would look like, to be quite honest. Any ideas?
2 rochester_veteran // Mar 26, 2009 at 8:49 am
Hannah,
Thanks for posting. Let me see if I can get Charlie over here to discuss this as he’s been involved in the Upstate Secession issue for a while.
RV
3 Charlie // Mar 26, 2009 at 10:18 am
Hannah, I have written numerous letters and essays about Secession and believe it is the best possible solution for BOTH sides to NY’s problems.
So many of our problems are created by the population imbalance. What is right for an Urban/NYC environ may be harmfull to a rural setting. For example NY’s Medicaid may be good for NYC and may be affordable when spread over a large population. In Monroe County Medicaid is $150Million per year. NOT GOOD!
There are many other aspects. I want to help, but I tend to ramble. Here is an essay RV posted for me a while ago. If there is anything more, Please ask.
http://rochesterconservative.com/blog/upstate-ultimatum/
4 The.. Newer.. York? « Pages Left Unturned // Mar 26, 2009 at 8:29 pm
[...] idea of annexing NYC off onto NJ and letting them have ‘em. This morning I was tipped off by RochesterConservative’s link to the Times Union article “The war between the [...]
5 MM // Mar 28, 2009 at 9:31 am
Don’t you know what will happen? After you split NY into the sane and insane, the insane will start to look to escape the realities of their policies. And they’ll move into the sane portion and then guess what? They’ll start to institute the exact same policies that ruined their former place of residence.
Think I’m mistaken? I live in Colorado where just a few years ago, we were a fairly solid red state. Republican gov, both statehouses, both Senators and 5 of 7 House districts.
Now, with the help of several big dollar dems and a huge influx of out of state liberals fleeing the ruined state of CA, they have turned this state blue. And guess what? They have repealed TABOR, our tax returning instrument, have sucked up to unions, have killed producing huge amounts of energy from our resources, have turned to “green jobs” another sure fired way to add expenses. The state has hired almost 3,000!! new employees since the first of the year and baby, they’ll all union.
So pretty soon, we’ll be in a similar situation like CA and then where will they go next? They’re like locusts, ravaging every local they inhabit.
There’s a saying floating around here. Now that it’s too late-get along or get the fuck out
6 rochester_veteran // Mar 28, 2009 at 10:03 am
MM,
I lived in Denver for 3 years and met my wife there.
It’s a shame with what’s happened to Colorado. The same thing happened in Washington State, with people moving there from California.
I don’t think the crazies will move to Upstate New York though. Although we have our share of resident lefties, the winters here get pretty brutal and act as a population deterrent!
7 phantomlord // Mar 30, 2009 at 10:39 am
I’ve outlined a plan which would basically split NY along socio-economic boundaries as much as geographic ones… It would entail New York City State taking Long Island and the entire Hudson corridor up to Albany with it, meaning all those people that live outside the city in their posh upper class houses would remain in NYCS. They aren’t going to move farther away from the city or else they won’t be part of the action anymore and aren’t going to suffer a 3-4 hour drive to get to work every day. Not only that, but “nobody” wants to live in Binghamton, Utica, etc, especially not the upper crust folks.
The upstate/western NY state will be free to focus on our needs rather than being told what we need by the people who live in NYC. Let’s face it, what is good for NYC isn’t necessarily what is good for upstate/western NY… we’re just too different, and the NYC folks are too self centered to care. They constantly force their agenda on the rest of us and dismiss how they negatively impact the rest of the state.
I don’t fear what’s happening to Colorado happening to the state that would be upstate/western NY. Frankly, we’re just too economically devastated for anyone to really want to live here and it will take a long time to fix the damage that has been accruing for decades. We aren’t an already primed state ready for people to move to like Colorado was.
See http://www.rochesterconservative.com/images/newnewyork.gif for a map of how I would split the state.
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