A new way to split NY State?

Quote: AZDuffman

And I can say from even more experience that the way the state itself behaves can differ wildly, once almost getting me in serious dutch with my boss when he didn't get it. FWIW I did it my way, knowing I would be dealing with the state boys longer than I would with him. Later he came around. That is another story if anyone cares to hear it.

Sounds like a good story.

There have been jokes that everyone in WA and OR states would be happier if they reconfigured using the Cascade mountains to divide into 2 states east-west instead of using the Columbia to divide into 2 states north-south. All the dirty liberal hippies in Portland and Seattle could vote together, and the redneck yokels from the backcountry could vote together too. Good times! (Will never happen.)

Quote: AcesAndEights

Sounds like a good story.

There have been jokes that everyone in WA and OR states would be happier if they reconfigured using the Cascade mountains to divide into 2 states east-west instead of using the Columbia to divide into 2 states north-south. All the dirty liberal hippies in Portland and Seattle could vote together, and the redneck yokels from the backcountry could vote together too. Good times! (Will never happen.)

I lived out there for nearly 10 years. I can categorically state that you are absolutely correct. It's very black-and-white in attitudes, lifestyles, priorities, just total extremes.

Quote: AcesAndEights

Sounds like a good story.

Here is the rest of the story. An ex-employee told my company's regulatory body, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) that they were cheating customers by under-applying chemical in termite treatments. Now, the standard was that you could use less but not more of what the EPA label allowed you to apply. However, you were supposed to try to apply the "label rate." Some soil just would not take the several-hundred gallons needed.

The problem was that the amount of work given in a day in most downstate offices was too much work in a day to even try to apply the label rate. Even if a truck pulled up and applied from start to stop (impossible based on refilling the tank alone) they could not apply nearly enough under ideal conditions. Upstate we did not have nearly as much work, west of Albany there are few termites in NYS.

So this guy gets fired and blows the whistle or rats, depending on your point of view. First step is an investigation. All branches received a visit from the DEC. "Visits" differed greatly from upstate and downstate.

Downstate the offices were raided. I do not exaggerate when I use that term. Employees were herded into a room and not allowed to use phones or restrooms. One was my boss, a VP-title manager who happened to be there the wrong day. News outlets were called. You can imagine how POed my boss was.

In my office two DEC officers politely pull up and come into the office. I know them. We don't have drinks or anything, but we are friendly working terms professionals. One used to manage a pest control office of a competitor and knows my salesman. I tell them I need to call my boss and they say, "we know, take your time." My sales manager offers them coffee.

So I call my boss and he is still hot from what happened to him. He tells me to throw them out of the office and call for an appointment. Tells me more by-the-adversarial-book stuff to do. I whoa-whoa him and explain that such an attitude may be the norm downstate and in NJ where he is used to, but such behavior is uncalled for in my DEC Region. I further explain that when we tried that in Binghamton the guy would not leave and we would poison a good relationship. 400+ miles away he could do nothing so relented.

Moving along, downstate they literally took the filing cabinets. For me they just said, "we will look and you can copy what we want to take." Now, I had just 75 active customers vs 8,000+ at some downstate locations, but the point is sometimes you need to know how to handle things.

Their return visit was another story, again if anyone cares.

Later the one DEC guy called me and stressed he was calling "off the record" to give me a chance to fix work done for his relative. I was fired before I could and heard they screwed up their chance and it became an investigation. Screw them.

New York City would have to take with it, Ulster, Delaware, Rockland, Greene and probably Schoharie Counties just because of the water system. Everything south of I-88 would have to go with New York City so you may as well throw in Binghamton and Schenectady/Albany.

Quote: AcesAndEights

Sounds like a good story.

There have been jokes that everyone in WA and OR states would be happier if they reconfigured using the Cascade mountains to divide into 2 states east-west instead of using the Columbia to divide into 2 states north-south. All the dirty liberal hippies in Portland and Seattle could vote together, and the redneck yokels from the backcountry could vote together too. Good times! (Will never happen.)

Cede them into Canada. We'll take Cascadia into BC.... :)

Quote: s2dbaker

New York City would have to take with it, Ulster, Delaware, Rockland, Greene and probably Schoharie Counties just because of the water system. Everything south of I-88 would have to go with New York City so you may as well throw in Binghamton and Schenectady/Albany.

An inter-state agreement could easily be reached, similar to the Colorado River Basin out west. NY already has agreements on the ports with NJ so it is not a stretch. I will agree that at least at first Albany would have to be some kind of "Imperial Free City" due to the Capital District Workforce. The state office campus is huge, just finding space in the "new" NY could take years, for a "new" capital presumably in Westchester County or maybe Staten Island.

Quote: TheCesspit

Cede them into Canada. We'll take Cascadia into BC.... :)

You would have to throw in a tour by Jennifer Jones to show how curling works.

Quote: s2dbaker

New York City would have to take with it, Ulster, Delaware, Rockland, Greene and probably Schoharie Counties ...

If you were attempting to have 50 states of roughly equal population, then your target would be 6.36 million per state . Keep in mind that Long Island (Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau, and Suffok) is 7.7 million people. So Long Island is already an oversized state.

Manhattan, Staten Island, Bronx, Westchester, and Hudson County in NJ is another 5.1 million . Together with LongIsland is 12.8 million (or two average size states).

Right now 17 states have population over 6.36 million, with 14 having under 2 million.

 California
 Texas
 New York
 Florida
 Illinois
 Pennsylvania
 Ohio
 Georgia
 Michigan
 North Carolina
 New Jersey
 Virginia
 Washington
 Massachusetts
 Arizona
 Indiana
 Tennessee

Quote: Pacomartin

If you were attempting to have 50 states of roughly equal population, then your target would be 6.36 million per state . Keep in mind that Long Island (Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau, and Suffok) is 7.7 million people.

Right now 17 states have population over 6.36 million, with 14 having under 2 million.

 California
 Texas
 New York
 Florida
 Illinois
 Pennsylvania
 Ohio
 Georgia
 Michigan
 North Carolina
 New Jersey
 Virginia
 Washington
 Massachusetts
 Arizona
 Indiana
 Tennessee

Florida is willing to participate in the Pacomartin Redistribution of Excess Population Plan. I've been authorized to speak for us who are civil enough to continue living as neighbors, numbering oddly enough exactly 6.36 million. I have a little list.....

Quote: AZDuffman

You would have to throw in a tour by Jennifer Jones to show how curling works.

That I am sure would tempt some people to become Canadian.

Curling is far tougher than it looks, having tried it once. Lots of balance and control required. But in the end, it's like crown green bowling. Of course, if you don't know how crown green bowling works....

Quote: TheCesspit

That I am sure would tempt some people to become Canadian.

Curling is far tougher than it looks, having tried it once. Lots of balance and control required.

I actually like watching it from time to time. Although I'm not going to bring a cowbell to the match, I have to draw the weird line somewhere.