It”™ll be a tale of two states if a group achieves its goal of splitting New York into two broad, loosely-aligned regions.
An effort out of Albany County started on the web last month looking to divide the state into autonomous upstate and downstate pseudo-states. The regions would reflect the differing life views of upstate and downstate residents.
The website “Divide NY into New Amsterdam and New York” suggests sawing off the New York City metro area into a downstate region called New York that would include Long Island, Westchester and Rockland counties. New Amsterdam would be made up of the 52 other counties in New York including Putnam.
The website and a related Facebook page were formed by a group called the Upstate Conservative Coalition, according to the Washington Times, which called the organizers a “tea-party style group.” Roughly 7 million of the state”™s 19 million residents would be in the downstate region, the Times said.
The move wouldn”™t officially be an upstate secession because a “token” state government would continue to operate. Keeping the regions loosely unified is a plan more likely to find support, the website said, because it would prevent the need for federal approval of a 51st state, “Since Congress is unlikely, in the foreseeable future, to give the northeast two more U.S. Senate seats.”
According to the proposal, the state legislature would pass an amendment to establish the regions. Then, every 20 years residents of both regions would vote on whether to hold a statewide constitutional convention. If approved by a majority of voters, then delegates would be elected for the convention the following November. Convention delegates than could submit any proposed state constitutional amendments to voters via a statewide referendum.
The geographical biases of Albany policymakers has often been a point of contention, with more sparsely populated upstate regions feeling the state legislature is unevenly represented by the more densely populated downstate regions. There have been criticisms from other cities in the state that lawmakers overtly siphon state tax dollars to New York City.
But it hasn’t just been an upstate-downstate clash. Some  suburban downstate residents and representatives have complained their areas pay high taxes due to state policies, thereby subsidizing state programs. As recently as 2011, local officials in Long Island were calling for those communities to form a 51st state. Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, a Republican, had even called for the formation of a commission to study a possible secession, according to Newsday.
This misguided effort seeks to divide rather than unify, and ignores the fact that New Yorkers should celebrate the diversity of the Empire State rather than see it as an obstacle. As a Brewster resident that borders that Westchester “red line,” I appreciate that we get strength from our differences up and down the Hudson Valley, both culturally and commercially. Let’s start understanding how divergent strengths improve us all!