Why the Southern Tier of New York wants to secede Pennsylvania

Wow, this part of New York looks like Pennsylvania. Wow, this part of New York may become Pennsylvania. Not really. But, the idea is out there. Fifteen towns in the Southern tier of New York announced that they would consider seceding from the Empire State to join their more conservative and depressed citizens of Pennsylvania. I am from Upstate New York and yes, I am sick of meeting people from other states and being asked “how many other families lived in my apartment growing up” or “how many times I have been mugged” but secession would be very foolish for these communities.

There is no question about it Upstate New Yorkers and Downstate New Yorkers are different. They are different culturally, ideologically, and financially. Upstate still holds onto late 19^th century neo-liberal ideology of private institutions such as the family, and church to govern and administer community issues. Downstate takes a more modern utilitarian systems approach to solving problems. The city has made a huge comeback since the 1970’s. Upstate continues to struggle, even though Buffalo is on a serious rebound. There is also a representative issue. Most NYS legislators are from Downstate districts.

Upstate feels ripped off. First the city uses us for the Erie Canal then hangs us out to dry. Now they won’t let us poison our water with hydro-fracking OR poison our communities with casinos. On top of all that I have to pay ridiculously high taxes that are probably going to welfare recipients Downstate who are too lazy to work and are just cheating the system. Right.

The truth is New York City and the Downstate Suburbs give far more in taxes and other revenues than they get in state-funded expenditures. The rest of state, by contrast, gets significantly more than they give. A Rockefeller Institute study published in 2011 found that New York City’s share of state revenue payments is around 45 percent, and it receives 40 percent of expenditures. The Downstate Suburbs provide about 27 percent of taxes and other revenues, compare to the 17 percentage points they receive in aid for education, health care, state payroll, and other expenditures. By contrast, the ‘Rest of State’ region provides 24 percent of the revenues and receives 35 percent of expenditures. That may surprise a lot of people, but it makes sense. The city is fucking expensive; it costs $50 a second to be awake. That is where the money is.

Even though economic decisions have sparked this Southern Tier secession movement, the underlying problem is more cultural/ideological. Upstate just doesn’t seem to identify with Downstate, they don’t understand it. Grandma says the city is filled with desensitized sinners lacking Christ. Billy Bob Binghamton doesn’t have much to talk about with Billy Brooklyn. I mean the only gun Billy Brooklyn owns is a pistol, which is almost useless for hunting deer.

How likely is a secession to Pennsylvania? Not. To secede from New York, the proposal would have to be passed by both the New York and Pennsylvania State Legislatures, and then approved by the federal government. You mean the federal government that is about to shut down the Department of Homeland Security because of gridlock? Yeah. Okay, never mind go back to eating hot pockets in your camo pajamas Upstate.

This whole secession thing isn’t exactly a new issue. In 2008 a bunch of Red Bull’d up Long Islanders in Tapout shirts high on molly they bought with their mom’s credit card on Silk Road wanted to secede. It is somewhat understandable, they do get ripped off pretty hard by the tax allocations and they also don’t exactly identify with the City or Upstate. But come on, do we seriously want to make kids try and remember another tiny ass Northeastern State?

The most realistic version of an Upstate Downstate split is kind of odd. Instead of splitting New York into two distinct states, some advocates propose one state controlled by two autonomous regional governments. The downstate region would be called New York and include the counties of Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond, Nassau, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester, basically New York City and its neighboring counties, including Long Island. The upstate region would be named New Amsterdam. This has been proposed by the Upstate Conservative Coalition, a conservative group that launched a Facebook page called Divide NYS into New Amsterdam & New York, and a website, NewAmsterdamNY.org. This plan would not require the federal government’s approval. The idea could be adopted in a constitutional convention. The next New York Constitutional Convention is scheduled for November 2017.

I understand that Upstate feels their interests were ignored in the hydro-fracking ban. It is also easy to understand why they don’t feel they identify with the city or the state, which is a problem. It is crucial that Albany tries to work on some long-term solutions to help start up New York. No, STARTUP NY is not the answer. Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Billion dollar investment in Buffalo seems to be working and is helping Buffalo become a city with pride once again. In January, Cuomo did propose a thunder dome style competition where seven upstate New York regions will compete against each other to win $1.5 billion in economic development money. If the Southern Tier can finish in one of those top 3 spots they will be awarded $500 million. This could help mend the blows Southern Tier took from State ban on hydro-fracking and not being awarded a Casino contract.