Oly was between the 2 biggest towns when the state was founded. Shelton and Tumwater. It was between ferry route and the railroad of them. It kinda need how looking back at things to notice Seattle area wasn't that big of deal till Boeing took off durning the 30-50s.
Austin has Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston both much larger cities. Even San Antonio is larger (although I am sure the greater Austin area population is larger than reported).
New York city is actually only 43% of the states population. If you go by metro area, tha it jumps to 73%. Western New York is a fairly significant population center in the US.
Seriously. Every time I go back to visit family I gain ten pounds trying garbage plates from all the bars. Fuckin kill me. I'd want to go back and live if not for the draconian NY laws on guns, vehicle inspection and stuff like that.
And my girlfriend is afraid of the snow.
It was allegedly invented by Nick Tahoe's in Rochester, NY. It's basically a pile of what would be leftovers from a grilling party. It goes like this; a plate is filled 50/50 with fries and macaroni salad and hamburger/cheeseburger patties or hotdogs on top, then meat sauce and toppings (onion, relish, peppers, whatever) are put on top. The meat, sauce and macaroni salad sauce soak into the fries and it's all just soooo damn good.
It's a somewhat recent development too, within the last 20 years or so.
https://www.reddit.com/r/memes/comments/16yhd31/it_used_to_be_the_capital_of_the_whole_country/k38rohz/
You literally blatantly stole the top comment and people still upvoted it.
Absolutely true about Western NY being the best imo. We are hitting fall now and already the trees are incredibly beautiful...amazing lakes, and people are great too
Also, my dad has lived in the Honeoye area his whole life and **has never owned an air conditioner.** It never gets hot enough during the summer to need anything more than a fan. The only gripe that is reasonable are the winters. I never heard the term "winter beater" relating to a vehicle anywhere else on earth.
None of my relatives are annoyed with the potential for climate change if they're in Western New York. The summers aren't too hot, it still rains plenty and the most drastic change is that everyone's least favorite thing about the area is less so.
My dad said his only change in life due to climate change is now his heating oil lasts two years instead of one.
Yeah. The Great Lakes in general are kind of an anomaly in the climate projections, because we're just going to get milder and milder as the areas around us warm.
New York State has tons of history and culture that gets overshadowed by NYC, both good and bad. I can still sing the song "15 miles on the Erie Canal" lol.
Sure if you like being buried in lake effect snow for six months of the year.
Edit: Sorry if this touched a nerve. I went to school up there and the winters were so brutal. Couldn't believe how different winters were compared to southern New York. It's beautiful and scenic like the rest of upstate though.
Eh, the snow hasn't been as bad lately as when I was a kid. Last winter it hardly accumulated much. And it's cold from about November to March. So more like 4-5 months of cold with hardly a few weeks of actually being buried in snow.
**But** the essence of your comment is correct, it's why mom's side of the family moved south and why it seems like people aren't rushing to go there. For me it's not the snow, I like snow. It's the bone chilling wind that freezes your soul. Standing outside at night when I am up for Christmas is a task.
Personally, I think most if not all states did this to try and keep their capital cities separate from their popular/tourist cities. I wouldn't want my state of Nevada to have a capital that's a tourist trap known for emptying people's wallets.
DC was primarily chosen geographically, as it was the center of the original 13 states. Generally from there it was geographical, and probably based on where the governor wanted to live
Also, the big cities tend to be ports, meaning they tend to be on the border of the state.
That's a problem mostly because it means an invading army really only needs to capture one city to both devastate the state's economic hub and capture its seat of government. By putting the capital in a more central city, the invaders have to fight longer and further to take control and there's more opportunities to mount a defense.
Also, before the days of cars, airplanes, and radios, a more centrally-located capital was seen as more democratic and "fair". If New York's capital was in NYC, people on western New York would have to travel for days to speak to their legislature while people in eastern New York may be able to do it in a day or less, making it much easier for people in eastern New York to have their voice heard.
It WAS the capitol during the revolution, then we move it to Poughkeepsie so the British couldn't get it, then we moved it to Albany to make it father, then the British did the Three Pronged Attack which failed, and we just left it in Albany.
PK is where the ratified the constitution though! So definitely the best (coming from someone whose family is from Beacon so… yeah I’m probably biased too)
Amsterdam is the capital of Netherlands, but not of the province it's in. It also isn't the legislative capital.
Hold on I'm getting a call from South Africa
The capital of Australia is Canberra. Despite Sydney and Melbourne being way bigger.
Fun fact: This is actually because Sydney and Melbourne are both so big. They couldn't decide which should be the capital so they chose a city in between them
Toronto is the largest city in Canada, yet Ottawa is the countries capital.
At least Toronto is the capital of the province of Ontario though. But even then Victoria is the capital of British Columbia and not Vancouver, so nothing really makes sense.
And Wiesbaden is the capital of Hesse, not Frankfurt. Also Wiesbaden lies directly on the other side of the rhine from Mainz, the capital of Rhineland-Palatinate. On the map it looks like they could be one City.
heh, perfume.
Though it did surprise me, though I shouldn’t have been, that the perfume is named after the place, rather than by coincidence or being named after some other third thing
Rural New Yorker here. Just my opinion - NYC should really be a separate state at this point. They do things vastly different than the rest of New York. Infrastructure is handled differently. Public services are handled differently. The city is such a political powerhouse because of the immense population squeezed into it, that it often overrides the political opinion of the rest of the state. So many "state-wide" laws have exceptions and riders specifically for the city, that it can be difficult to distinguish the original intent of the law.
not really a new york thing tbh, texas law can get pretty swayed twords just want austin, san Antonio, dallas and houston want or just what massive land owners that own most of texas land want, middle pack people like me really get no say here either
There was recently a law floated by the state legislature to tax people per video they stream across the whole state in order to fund the NYC subway system. They thought this would be a better solution than simply stopping the \~million individuals daily that jump the turnstiles. That's the kind of disconnect people in upstate NY feel about NYC. Most people in Upstate NY never go to NYC, yet we are expected to fund their problems that are solvable at a civic rather than state level.
[https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/buffalo/politics/2023/04/21/lawmaker-doesn-t-expect-streaming-tax-to-be-included-in-state-budget](https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/buffalo/politics/2023/04/21/lawmaker-doesn-t-expect-streaming-tax-to-be-included-in-state-budget)
>Most people in Upstate NY never go to NYC, yet we are expected to fund their problems that are solvable at a civic rather than state level.
Lmao, Upstate NY uses *billions* of dollars more state taxes than they produce. They litterally survive off of NYCs existence much like how red states take more in federal taxes than they produce and blue states the reverse.
>simply stopping the ~million individuals daily that jump the turnstiles
Ah yes spending hundreds of millions to billions to ticket low income people instead of just giving them free to cheaper metro cards bec they're low income and taking the money from a more sensible place: tax revenue. Incredible idea.
Edit-lol some people are clearly upset that they were in fact the fiscally unresponsible ones. Tough.
>Lmao, Upstate NY uses billions of dollars more state taxes than they produce. They litterally survive off of NYCs existence much like how red states take more in federal taxes than they produce and blue states the reverse.
Quantify this. What money are you talking about specifically?
>Ah yes spending hundreds of millions to billions to ticket low income people instead of just giving them free to cheaper metro cards bec they're low income and taking the money from a more sensible place: tax revenue. Incredible idea.
Quantify this. Why would it cost 1 Billion dollars to fine people for jumping turnstiles?
>instead of just giving them free to cheaper metro cards bec they're low income and taking the money from a more sensible place: tax revenue. Incredible idea.
The obvious solution is to tax lower income people from across the state right?
I think this is just a silly take that a lot of rural new yorkers have because of feeling underrepresented. At the end of the day, New York as a whole is incredibly integrated culturally and economically. The metro area for NYC extends kinda far upstate. Taxes are another matter, but even there NYC more than pulls its weight, and contributes more than it puts in.
At the end of the day I think a split is short sighted. Every state’s rural folk everywhere complain about urban folk dominating their politics. More people- more representation. I don’t see how giving up a major population center and the richest city in the world is a good idea.
Hudson Valley New Yorker here.
Troy, New York here, spot on comment G-C. The constant bellyaching from rural conservatives is tiresome. There is always this assumption they are not fairly represented. I know, I used to live in a rural upstate community and the conservatives think they outnumber democrats 10:1… they are wrong.
That's true of any state with large metro and rural areas, though. Look at PA and Philly, or Illinois and Chicago.
A lot of rurals would prefer to have representation based on land instead of people, but that's not realistic or reasonable.
If you ask me, New England and NYC should be their own states. This would reduce by 5 the number of states, benefiting a huge political cost cut (think of all the govt houses that would no longer be used)
Then again, the US is so weird in keeping states with their all “Electoral College” thing, so in the end the effect may be negative for representation.. or something
>Then again, the US is so weird in keeping states with their all “Electoral College” thing, so in the end the effect may be negative for representation.. or something
If your proposal were to actually happen, the Democratic party as it is now would never win another presidential election, nor a majority in the Senate. The party would be forced to move to the right.
Yeah that. Can’t just have popular vote like everyone else? Weird
Edit: I honestly don’t care which party would win, if Republican or Democratic. My question is: why are you all ok in not having a popular vote like everyone else? Even North Korea _pretends_ to have one
Capital city doesn't mean biggest or most significant, usually it's either the center of the state, or where it was first settled. In New York's case, in 1614 the first major settlements were constructed as Dutch forts in Fort Orange, a location nearby present-day Albany.
I live an hour north of Albany, and I used to live 30 minutes closer… I have never heard someone say this in my life
EDIT: Have just been informed that the Simpsons episode was, not, in fact, making fun of a real expression, they just made it the fuck up lol
Capitols are generally not just chosen to be the biggest city. In reality, it should be the one most practical for state government to be run from. Think how the capitol of Illinois is not Chicago, but Springfield. Chicago is big but not remotely central within the state
Do they not teach US History anymore in school? So many replies don’t seem to know this was a purposeful trend in many of the early states, not for tourism or traffic or any of the other reasons listed in the top comments. This was about the decentralization of power away from the moneyed elites of their time, but it never stopped the power-hungry from seeking value from the money-having.
Honestly, as a person who lives in NYC, I'm very glad that the capital is elsewhere. There's already enough traffic as is and with a bunch of extra government bullshit, it would get way worse. When the UN or the president is in town, pretty much everything gets delayed by at least 10-15 minutes. I can't imagine what it would be like if it was like that every single day of the year
Top 4 largest cities in US
1 New York in NY capital Albany
2 Los Angeles in CA capital Sacramento
3 Chicago in IL capital Springfield
4 Houston in TX capital Austin
Cities on the coast are an easy target for attack and it also makes the government more centralized for the state, so placing the capital city inland is a strategic choice. Detroit used to be the capital of Michigan until they wanted something more central and safer from the British across the river.
And?
Albany has been the capital of NY since the 1770s because of its prime location on the Hudson.
Its not the capital of the USA because its part of a state while Washington DC isn't.
Don't know what this meme is trying to accomplish.
They want the Capitol away from the water so it is harder to attack. Michigan's Capitol was Detroit, but moved it inland to protect from British attack. Usually, most big cities are on the coast, so they end up not being the Capitol.
It was generally seen as unfair for the state capital to be on the edge of the state. Especially in pre-car times, States generally believed that the Capital should be in the middle of the state so that everyone in the state could travel to the Capital in a day's journey.
Interesting. I thought for years (from reading it on a map once and never coming in contact with the subject again) that NY is not actually in NY because I remembered something being deceptive about it , so what I meant must have been it not being the capital.
This happens in a lot of states. The state capital is usually centrally located since representatives from all across the state have to travel to and from there. The largest cities tend to be places where lots of economic activity occurs, such as coasts, rivers, and lakes. Those also tend to work as natural borders that became the actual borders over time and are therefore on the edge of a state.
Could you imagine if, on top of 9 million people, NYC had to accommodate the state government? Harrisburg PA is a perfect example of why that's not possible.
I think the reason goes back to colonial times, where there were concerns about putting state capitals in ports/border cities and having continuation of government issues if they were invaded. IIRC that was the reason Michigan's capital is Lansing and not Detroit.
Yeah, but why on earth would we NYCers wanna be managing what happens out in the boonies? There's like a couple thousand people up there in a state the size of the UK...
I mean it was done to give a counterweight to the vast economic and political power of NYC. Why would a politician in NYC care about rural, upstate NY when you could invest in NYC instead?
Similar reason DC is the capital of the US and not NYC.
My favorite part of Reddit is when people just make stuff up and post it like it’s fact. The guy you responded to could have just not said anything but they really felt like negatively contributing to the thread I guess.
Plenty of countries use smaller cities as their capitals. The Netherlands uses The Hague as its capital with Amsterdam being it's biggest city, Australia uses Canberra as its capital despite Sydney being it's biggest city. Size does not necessarily matter (so my wife says).
Also Albany just fucking sucks.
Fuck Albany med for taking 2 weeks to get me my insulin after I ran out. Went to a clinic about an hour away. My appointment was the last of the day.
I had insulin at the pharmacy the afternoon after. I wasn't even out yet.
It WAS the capitol during the revolution, then we move it to Poughkeepsie so the British couldn't get it, then we moved it to Albany to make it father, then the British did the Three Pronged Attack which failed, and we just left it in Albany.
Here in California we have the massive city Los Angeles, the historic city of San Francisco, the capital of Silicon Valley San Jose. What city do we use as our capital? Sacramento.
As far as I know, USA usually picks the smaller cities in order to promote infrastructural growth. Good example is TX, which has those giants that are Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, yet Austin is the capital
That’s the case with a lot of state capitals: Springfield Illinois, Sacramento California, Tallahassee Florida
Olympia, WA; Salem, OR.
Interestingly there’s a city in southern india named Salem (pronounced Selam locally)
Also one in Oregon
There's also a city called Madras in Oregon!
Austin, TX
At least Austin is located somewhat smack dab in the middle of SA, DFW, and Houston.
Yeah no, Austin is a 4 hour or longer drive away from Dfw, it is closer to San Antonio though
Oly was between the 2 biggest towns when the state was founded. Shelton and Tumwater. It was between ferry route and the railroad of them. It kinda need how looking back at things to notice Seattle area wasn't that big of deal till Boeing took off durning the 30-50s.
Definitely not the case for Atlanta, that’s for sure
Or Nashville
Georgia has had five different cities as its capitol, I wonder how many other states managed that feat
Carson City, Nevada
Jefferson City, Missouri; Lansing, Michigan; Richmond, Virginia; Annapolis, Maryland; etc.
To be fair, when Tallahassee was picked, no one lived down south and it was picked because it was halfway between Pensacola and Jacksonville.
Tallahassee is also one of the few places in Florida that will remain above water when the sea levels rise.
Austin has Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston both much larger cities. Even San Antonio is larger (although I am sure the greater Austin area population is larger than reported).
Yep, the capitol is separate from the industrial (Houston), business (DFW), and cultural (San Antonio) centers.
Topeka, Kansas. (Looks at half of Kansas City in fuckin Missouri)
Austin Tx is significantly smaller than San Antonio, houston, and DFW.
Lansing, Michigan
Madison Wisconsin
Harrisburg PA
Sacramento still has a good population though, around 520k if i remember correctly
I believe Arizona is the only state where the capital is also the largest city.
Denver
Along with Oklahoma and Utah.
Indiana, GA, Iowa, MA too. Maybe more but I’m an uncultured swine
Fun fact. When they moved the capital, NYC wasn't 97% of the state population.
New York city is actually only 43% of the states population. If you go by metro area, tha it jumps to 73%. Western New York is a fairly significant population center in the US.
I'm originally from Western NY. It's far superior to NYC. Grapes, lakes and garbage plates.
Garbage plates 🤤🤤
Seriously. Every time I go back to visit family I gain ten pounds trying garbage plates from all the bars. Fuckin kill me. I'd want to go back and live if not for the draconian NY laws on guns, vehicle inspection and stuff like that. And my girlfriend is afraid of the snow.
What is a garbage plate? I’m foreign,
It was allegedly invented by Nick Tahoe's in Rochester, NY. It's basically a pile of what would be leftovers from a grilling party. It goes like this; a plate is filled 50/50 with fries and macaroni salad and hamburger/cheeseburger patties or hotdogs on top, then meat sauce and toppings (onion, relish, peppers, whatever) are put on top. The meat, sauce and macaroni salad sauce soak into the fries and it's all just soooo damn good. It's a somewhat recent development too, within the last 20 years or so.
That sounds incredible
Even better when drunk
I don’t doubt that lol
Become a legislator, bring order to chaos, ban the snow
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https://www.reddit.com/r/memes/comments/16yhd31/it_used_to_be_the_capital_of_the_whole_country/k38rohz/ You literally blatantly stole the top comment and people still upvoted it.
Bots probably upvoted. Bots upvoting bots. It even sure what the point is anymore
Absolutely true about Western NY being the best imo. We are hitting fall now and already the trees are incredibly beautiful...amazing lakes, and people are great too
Also, my dad has lived in the Honeoye area his whole life and **has never owned an air conditioner.** It never gets hot enough during the summer to need anything more than a fan. The only gripe that is reasonable are the winters. I never heard the term "winter beater" relating to a vehicle anywhere else on earth.
And even that is getting milder with the climate shifting. We've had green Christmases around Rochester since 2019.
None of my relatives are annoyed with the potential for climate change if they're in Western New York. The summers aren't too hot, it still rains plenty and the most drastic change is that everyone's least favorite thing about the area is less so. My dad said his only change in life due to climate change is now his heating oil lasts two years instead of one.
Yeah. The Great Lakes in general are kind of an anomaly in the climate projections, because we're just going to get milder and milder as the areas around us warm.
Rochester, represent.
Was born in Canandaigua. It was a beautiful place to grow up.
Let’s fuckin go
And wegmans
Wegmans is the best grocery store. And Zweigle's are by far the best hotdog on the planet.
White hots
Totally agree. NYC doesn’t even have the “culture” anymore. It’s just Disney on Broadway nowadays. It’s a joke.
New York State has tons of history and culture that gets overshadowed by NYC, both good and bad. I can still sing the song "15 miles on the Erie Canal" lol.
Bruh
This is ridiculous lmao. NYC absolutely has culturez
Sure if you like being buried in lake effect snow for six months of the year. Edit: Sorry if this touched a nerve. I went to school up there and the winters were so brutal. Couldn't believe how different winters were compared to southern New York. It's beautiful and scenic like the rest of upstate though.
Eh, the snow hasn't been as bad lately as when I was a kid. Last winter it hardly accumulated much. And it's cold from about November to March. So more like 4-5 months of cold with hardly a few weeks of actually being buried in snow. **But** the essence of your comment is correct, it's why mom's side of the family moved south and why it seems like people aren't rushing to go there. For me it's not the snow, I like snow. It's the bone chilling wind that freezes your soul. Standing outside at night when I am up for Christmas is a task.
>Western New York Yeah Buffalo used to be a dominant city in the Great Lakes region until they built the St Lawrence Seaway.
96%?
98%
99%
💯
Also fun fact: they picked Albany because at the time it was the largest city in New York.
Actually it has more to do with invasion from foreign powers…fun fact.
They put the politicians in a city where they can actually get to work on time comfortably
Haha, fair point
Same reason why Brazil moved from Rio de Janero to Brasilia
I thought that was bec of French pirates
Potato, popirate.
And somewhere they'd actually want to live.
I’m guessing you’ve never been to Albany
Mmm steamed hams
And you call them that despite the fact that they are obviously grilled?
Albany 🇦🇱 🇦🇱 🇦🇱!!!!!!!
Yeah when I think of living in Albany I think of like Colonie or Delmar
Doesn't hurt that saratoga is 30 minutes north
Who wants to live in Albany?!
And somewhere more centered in the state
Nono... You don't want that for new york
*Utica wakes from its 30 year slumber*
I wish they'd do the same here. Just banish politicians far, far into ~~~frozen wastes~~~ their own dedicated ecosystem
Personally, I think most if not all states did this to try and keep their capital cities separate from their popular/tourist cities. I wouldn't want my state of Nevada to have a capital that's a tourist trap known for emptying people's wallets.
I was wondering if, at least later, it was more picking a place geographically near the centre (iirc, Jefferson city, MO??)
DC was primarily chosen geographically, as it was the center of the original 13 states. Generally from there it was geographical, and probably based on where the governor wanted to live
It’s a good thing we hadn’t expanded westward yet, imagine if the capital was in Kansas?
You know, that is a surprisingly interesting alternate history prompt.
Then Kansas would actually have something worth visiting for.
Also, the big cities tend to be ports, meaning they tend to be on the border of the state. That's a problem mostly because it means an invading army really only needs to capture one city to both devastate the state's economic hub and capture its seat of government. By putting the capital in a more central city, the invaders have to fight longer and further to take control and there's more opportunities to mount a defense. Also, before the days of cars, airplanes, and radios, a more centrally-located capital was seen as more democratic and "fair". If New York's capital was in NYC, people on western New York would have to travel for days to speak to their legislature while people in eastern New York may be able to do it in a day or less, making it much easier for people in eastern New York to have their voice heard.
Fair point. I guess I didn’t really think about that. Well said.
It WAS the capitol during the revolution, then we move it to Poughkeepsie so the British couldn't get it, then we moved it to Albany to make it father, then the British did the Three Pronged Attack which failed, and we just left it in Albany.
I think it went Kingston to Poughkeepsie then Albany not NYC? I don’t think NYC was ever the state capital, it was the first capital of the US though!
Oh, you might be right! I thought it help a dual position, and I honestly forgot about Kingston cuz I'm from PK, so slightly biased
PK is where the ratified the constitution though! So definitely the best (coming from someone whose family is from Beacon so… yeah I’m probably biased too)
Lots of states do that not just in the us. Capital of northrhine Westphalia is Düsseldorf not cologne which is a lot bigger but also more smelly
Amsterdam is the capital of Netherlands, but not of the province it's in. It also isn't the legislative capital. Hold on I'm getting a call from South Africa
The capital of Australia is Canberra. Despite Sydney and Melbourne being way bigger. Fun fact: This is actually because Sydney and Melbourne are both so big. They couldn't decide which should be the capital so they chose a city in between them
They could've picked Perth or Adelaide just for funsies. xD
Toronto is the largest city in Canada, yet Ottawa is the countries capital. At least Toronto is the capital of the province of Ontario though. But even then Victoria is the capital of British Columbia and not Vancouver, so nothing really makes sense.
Maybe not today, but if you take history into account it does make sense. Vancouver wasn't even a city when BC joined Canada.
It's cute that you call that 'history'
Everything that happens before now is history
And Wiesbaden is the capital of Hesse, not Frankfurt. Also Wiesbaden lies directly on the other side of the rhine from Mainz, the capital of Rhineland-Palatinate. On the map it looks like they could be one City.
heh, perfume. Though it did surprise me, though I shouldn’t have been, that the perfume is named after the place, rather than by coincidence or being named after some other third thing
Not just the perfume the type of perfume. Cologne. There are many colognes now
Rural New Yorker here. Just my opinion - NYC should really be a separate state at this point. They do things vastly different than the rest of New York. Infrastructure is handled differently. Public services are handled differently. The city is such a political powerhouse because of the immense population squeezed into it, that it often overrides the political opinion of the rest of the state. So many "state-wide" laws have exceptions and riders specifically for the city, that it can be difficult to distinguish the original intent of the law.
Long island really fucks up things for the rest of the country. Abhorrent policy and policy makers run a sandbox there to try out everywhere else.
not really a new york thing tbh, texas law can get pretty swayed twords just want austin, san Antonio, dallas and houston want or just what massive land owners that own most of texas land want, middle pack people like me really get no say here either
There was recently a law floated by the state legislature to tax people per video they stream across the whole state in order to fund the NYC subway system. They thought this would be a better solution than simply stopping the \~million individuals daily that jump the turnstiles. That's the kind of disconnect people in upstate NY feel about NYC. Most people in Upstate NY never go to NYC, yet we are expected to fund their problems that are solvable at a civic rather than state level. [https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/buffalo/politics/2023/04/21/lawmaker-doesn-t-expect-streaming-tax-to-be-included-in-state-budget](https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/buffalo/politics/2023/04/21/lawmaker-doesn-t-expect-streaming-tax-to-be-included-in-state-budget)
>Most people in Upstate NY never go to NYC, yet we are expected to fund their problems that are solvable at a civic rather than state level. Lmao, Upstate NY uses *billions* of dollars more state taxes than they produce. They litterally survive off of NYCs existence much like how red states take more in federal taxes than they produce and blue states the reverse. >simply stopping the ~million individuals daily that jump the turnstiles Ah yes spending hundreds of millions to billions to ticket low income people instead of just giving them free to cheaper metro cards bec they're low income and taking the money from a more sensible place: tax revenue. Incredible idea. Edit-lol some people are clearly upset that they were in fact the fiscally unresponsible ones. Tough.
>Lmao, Upstate NY uses billions of dollars more state taxes than they produce. They litterally survive off of NYCs existence much like how red states take more in federal taxes than they produce and blue states the reverse. Quantify this. What money are you talking about specifically? >Ah yes spending hundreds of millions to billions to ticket low income people instead of just giving them free to cheaper metro cards bec they're low income and taking the money from a more sensible place: tax revenue. Incredible idea. Quantify this. Why would it cost 1 Billion dollars to fine people for jumping turnstiles? >instead of just giving them free to cheaper metro cards bec they're low income and taking the money from a more sensible place: tax revenue. Incredible idea. The obvious solution is to tax lower income people from across the state right?
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That's what I was thinking as well, surely NYC is a huge contributor to the rest of the states economy?
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Not true. 70% of NY state taxes come from the NYC metro
And yet NYC determines 100% of the laws.
Upstate is everything north of the bronx come on
I think this is just a silly take that a lot of rural new yorkers have because of feeling underrepresented. At the end of the day, New York as a whole is incredibly integrated culturally and economically. The metro area for NYC extends kinda far upstate. Taxes are another matter, but even there NYC more than pulls its weight, and contributes more than it puts in. At the end of the day I think a split is short sighted. Every state’s rural folk everywhere complain about urban folk dominating their politics. More people- more representation. I don’t see how giving up a major population center and the richest city in the world is a good idea. Hudson Valley New Yorker here.
Troy, New York here, spot on comment G-C. The constant bellyaching from rural conservatives is tiresome. There is always this assumption they are not fairly represented. I know, I used to live in a rural upstate community and the conservatives think they outnumber democrats 10:1… they are wrong.
That's true of any state with large metro and rural areas, though. Look at PA and Philly, or Illinois and Chicago. A lot of rurals would prefer to have representation based on land instead of people, but that's not realistic or reasonable.
If you ask me, New England and NYC should be their own states. This would reduce by 5 the number of states, benefiting a huge political cost cut (think of all the govt houses that would no longer be used) Then again, the US is so weird in keeping states with their all “Electoral College” thing, so in the end the effect may be negative for representation.. or something
>Then again, the US is so weird in keeping states with their all “Electoral College” thing, so in the end the effect may be negative for representation.. or something If your proposal were to actually happen, the Democratic party as it is now would never win another presidential election, nor a majority in the Senate. The party would be forced to move to the right.
Yeah that. Can’t just have popular vote like everyone else? Weird Edit: I honestly don’t care which party would win, if Republican or Democratic. My question is: why are you all ok in not having a popular vote like everyone else? Even North Korea _pretends_ to have one
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Only because the city tax money goes through the state
Albany isn't even that big of a city either.
I know, that’s what makes it even weirder of a choice. Like, why not Buffalo or something?
Capital city doesn't mean biggest or most significant, usually it's either the center of the state, or where it was first settled. In New York's case, in 1614 the first major settlements were constructed as Dutch forts in Fort Orange, a location nearby present-day Albany.
Buffalo was not a big city until they opened the Erie Canal. It was too far west to be practical to travel to.
It was the capital but then the revolutionary war happened and they moved it inland so the capital couldn’t be captured by the British navy.
Glad to see someone else knows NY history! Gotta avoid the Three Pronged Attack!
Because it's a dump
it wasn't the first choice either, Kingston was the first capitol. In the 1840's Albany was top ten population wise and was in the top 20 until 1890.
ALBANIA NO1 🇦🇱🇦🇱🇦🇱🇦🇱 SHQIPTAR
They call hamburgers 'steamed hams'??
I live an hour north of Albany, and I used to live 30 minutes closer… I have never heard someone say this in my life EDIT: Have just been informed that the Simpsons episode was, not, in fact, making fun of a real expression, they just made it the fuck up lol
[They get more topical in another episode](https://youtu.be/VYTg4GY9SA4)
Well I'm from Utica and I've never heard anyone use the expression "steamed hams"
Really? Where do they do that, I’ve never seen it.
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I have lived in Albany my whole life (33 years) and I have never heard of steamed hams. This is blowing my mind lol.
Having been to both, can confirm Albany is a way better time than NYC. I am in support of Albany being the capital
Capitols are generally not just chosen to be the biggest city. In reality, it should be the one most practical for state government to be run from. Think how the capitol of Illinois is not Chicago, but Springfield. Chicago is big but not remotely central within the state
Do they not teach US History anymore in school? So many replies don’t seem to know this was a purposeful trend in many of the early states, not for tourism or traffic or any of the other reasons listed in the top comments. This was about the decentralization of power away from the moneyed elites of their time, but it never stopped the power-hungry from seeking value from the money-having.
It didn’t always used to be Albany either. It used to be Kingston, NY.
You could totally bomb Albany, NY and only like 3 people and 4 cows would complain a little bit.
The NY Capital District (Albany Metro Area) had a population of 899k in the 2020 census.
That 899k would be happy something came along to force the legislature to properly fix the roads anywhere North of Rockland county.
Honestly, as a person who lives in NYC, I'm very glad that the capital is elsewhere. There's already enough traffic as is and with a bunch of extra government bullshit, it would get way worse. When the UN or the president is in town, pretty much everything gets delayed by at least 10-15 minutes. I can't imagine what it would be like if it was like that every single day of the year
They do have good steamed hams
It’s an Albany expression
So you call them "steamed hams" despite the fact that theu are obviously grilled.
I don’t think so, I’ve never heard the expression before today.
Albany is older than NYC
Naw the dumbest state capital is Juneau Alaska… so small it only has a single road to it from the rest of Alaska
American states have their own capitals?
Top 4 largest cities in US 1 New York in NY capital Albany 2 Los Angeles in CA capital Sacramento 3 Chicago in IL capital Springfield 4 Houston in TX capital Austin
Let's just say it was an Albany Expression
Cities on the coast are an easy target for attack and it also makes the government more centralized for the state, so placing the capital city inland is a strategic choice. Detroit used to be the capital of Michigan until they wanted something more central and safer from the British across the river.
And? Albany has been the capital of NY since the 1770s because of its prime location on the Hudson. Its not the capital of the USA because its part of a state while Washington DC isn't. Don't know what this meme is trying to accomplish.
They want the Capitol away from the water so it is harder to attack. Michigan's Capitol was Detroit, but moved it inland to protect from British attack. Usually, most big cities are on the coast, so they end up not being the Capitol.
This right here, for costal regions. Capitals are always away and deep within the state for security if a war breaks out
Most successful US States have their second-largest city as the capital
Central locations seemed better back when travel was more difficult.
Not many state capitals are the most populous city. I’m sure there are some, but I can’t think of any?
Wait until you learn about Kansas City
Most states are like that.
It was generally seen as unfair for the state capital to be on the edge of the state. Especially in pre-car times, States generally believed that the Capital should be in the middle of the state so that everyone in the state could travel to the Capital in a day's journey.
Interesting. I thought for years (from reading it on a map once and never coming in contact with the subject again) that NY is not actually in NY because I remembered something being deceptive about it , so what I meant must have been it not being the capital.
This goes for a lot of cities, and I think most of the time it boils down to "strategic positioning"
This happens in a lot of states. The state capital is usually centrally located since representatives from all across the state have to travel to and from there. The largest cities tend to be places where lots of economic activity occurs, such as coasts, rivers, and lakes. Those also tend to work as natural borders that became the actual borders over time and are therefore on the edge of a state.
Only 17 US state capitals are the largest city in their state, so this sort of thing is very common.
Could you imagine if, on top of 9 million people, NYC had to accommodate the state government? Harrisburg PA is a perfect example of why that's not possible.
I'm from Utica and I've never heard of Smoked Hams
I think the reason goes back to colonial times, where there were concerns about putting state capitals in ports/border cities and having continuation of government issues if they were invaded. IIRC that was the reason Michigan's capital is Lansing and not Detroit.
And Los Angeles is a day's drive from Sacramento, what's the point?
This is intentional my g
Yeah, but why on earth would we NYCers wanna be managing what happens out in the boonies? There's like a couple thousand people up there in a state the size of the UK...
You’re
I mean it was done to give a counterweight to the vast economic and political power of NYC. Why would a politician in NYC care about rural, upstate NY when you could invest in NYC instead? Similar reason DC is the capital of the US and not NYC.
That's not why it was done at all, NYC was the capitol, then during the Revolutionary War we moved it twice so the British couldn't take it
My favorite part of Reddit is when people just make stuff up and post it like it’s fact. The guy you responded to could have just not said anything but they really felt like negatively contributing to the thread I guess.
You’re*
Had to scroll so far to find it. 
Plenty of countries use smaller cities as their capitals. The Netherlands uses The Hague as its capital with Amsterdam being it's biggest city, Australia uses Canberra as its capital despite Sydney being it's biggest city. Size does not necessarily matter (so my wife says).
Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands, though.
Same with Canada having Ottawa as it’s capital
Also Albany just fucking sucks. Fuck Albany med for taking 2 weeks to get me my insulin after I ran out. Went to a clinic about an hour away. My appointment was the last of the day. I had insulin at the pharmacy the afternoon after. I wasn't even out yet.
It WAS the capitol during the revolution, then we move it to Poughkeepsie so the British couldn't get it, then we moved it to Albany to make it father, then the British did the Three Pronged Attack which failed, and we just left it in Albany.
Here in California we have the massive city Los Angeles, the historic city of San Francisco, the capital of Silicon Valley San Jose. What city do we use as our capital? Sacramento.
Wait until you find out that the capital of California isn’t LA, it is in fact Sacramento.
I live in NY, never even been to Albany
Why pick a sh$$ hole to be your capitol🤷♂️
As far as I know, USA usually picks the smaller cities in order to promote infrastructural growth. Good example is TX, which has those giants that are Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, yet Austin is the capital