In his state of the state address yesterday in Albany, governor Eliot Spitzer said, “It is time for downstaters to do for upstate what upstaters did for downstate at the turn of the century.” That was his segue to announcing a plan to contribute $1 billion for revitalization efforts to boost upstate New York’s lagging economy. The governor has already proved himself a champion of upstate’s welfare locally by providing funds to tear down part of a non-used Psych Center in West Utica that looms over that part of the city like a haunting reminder of Utica’s not so pleasant past. Cosmetic touches like this may seem frivolous at first, but the governor’s savvy progressive agenda is aware of a basic, fundamental fact. In order to attract outside businesses and investors, cities like Utica must first eliminate eyesores such as vacant sanatoriums and dilapidated textile factories. It is very simple: if you destroy it, they will come (this, for those of you not steeped in modern cinema, is a reverse play on the famous line spoken by the spirit in the corn fields from the movie Field of Dreams who whispers, “If you build it, he will come.”)
As a Utican and an upstater, I am thankful for the governor’s announcement of the proposed windfall. I do not feel like the pride of my city has been insulted by wealthy, sophisticated downstaters in this latest gesture. I also do not feel like it is a too-little-too-late plan that is bound to fail due to upstate’s deeply ingrained problems. The high rates of poverty, scarcity of jobs and shrinking upstate population need to be addressed. If anything, these issues are a slap in the face to the greatest state in America. It is mind-boggling how the state that boasts the largest city in America (and possibly the world) and has a broad accumulation of wealth–not to mention vast cultures of art and is also an entertainment mecca–can have a perennially lagging upstate region that is behind the times in terms of everything. This is preposterous!
I am glad the governor is combining forces with downstate interests to help out upstate. I only think it’s sad that the people in upstate New York are too limited in their talent and resources to find ways to turn things around for themselves. Downstate is happy to be upstate’s benevolent big brother, but when is it going to tire of hearing whiny upstaters complain about their miserable towns and cities?
If I move it will not be because better opportunities exist elsewhere (which they do). It will be because I will have become overly frustrated looking at the dependent little babies in upstate who are too depressed and too incompetent to do anything for themselves.
I will end by quoting the words from a Rage Against the Machine song: “If we settle for nothing now, we’ll settle for nothing later.”
Wow! You are pissed.
Thanks to your comment, Laurie, I renamed my post with a more appropriate title. The former title of “Eliot Spitzer’s $1 billion dollar contribution” was a little too prosaic for the overall tone conveyed in the post.
If you’re anything of an Alice Cooper fan, you may realize that I ripped off this title from one of his 1970s songs about dead babies.
Pretty clever…pretty clever! Although I think his song was titled “Million Dollar Babies” if I’m not mistaken. I was a big Alice Cooper fan in high school.
Actually, I think the song is about consumerism and how big corporations will dump $1 million into every child by the time it’s eighteen years old to get them to look like, dress like, act like, enjoy the fashions the corporations push, etc.
I guess you’re right. I also heard once long ago that the average American parents will spend approximately $1 million on each child they have by the time he or she turns 21 years old on things like clothes, educational expenses, medication, insurance, etc. This could be another reason why we’re all million dollar babies.