Unsolved problem

Upstate just can't catch a break

September 5, 2005

As Republicans and Democrats sharpen their knives for New York's upcoming gubernatorial race, the issue that will underlie that contest - one that always shadows races for governor - is coming to the foreground: the economic disparity between upstate and downstate.

If anything, the situation for Western and Central New York is even worse than usual. The Fiscal Policy Institute's latest look-see at the state's big economic picture shows that over the past four years, Western and Central New York have lost 50,000 jobs. That shrinkage is just a continuation of a trend that every gubernatorial candidate for years has promised to try to reverse. It was upstaters' fury that denied Mario Cuomo a fourth term, and it's upstaters' disillusionment that probably helped Gov. George Pataki decide not to seek a fourth term.

What really makes it hurt for Western and Central New Yorkers is watching some parts of upstate move back into the positive growth column. The institute's report says that the Hudson River Valley - including places like Poughkeepsie and Albany, all the way up to Glen Falls - is enjoying real economic growth. When you add that area to Long Island and the northern suburbs, you get a region that has gained 61,000 jobs between 2001 and 2004, up 2.3 percent.

So Eliot Spitzer, the likely Democratic nominee, and whoever the Republican candidate may be, have a challenge: Figure out what the Hudson Valley has been doing right and promise to do it for the rest of upstate.