Nothing but troubled times upstate

Tea Party, mad as hell, angry people, etc. Everybody has a theory on why Carl Paladino won the Republican nomination for the dubious opportunity to run against Andrew Cuomo for governor in November. We downstate residents are too busy to understand how people like Carl Paladino can win anything.

People living in Manhattan or Levittown are consumed with their own local issues.

Threatened fare hikes on the subways and commuter lines, increases in school taxes, battles over affordable housing in Yaphank and a continuing recession are the kinds of issues that get the attention of the average downstater.

But there’s a place called upstate New York where things have been bad not just this year but for the past 50 years. Living in many parts of New York state may be stressful, but living in cities like Buffalo, Syracuse and Rochester is downright depressing.

Long Islanders and New York City dwellers should be forced to make a trip every few years to some of the upstate inner cities to see what decay, poverty and economic decline is really like. Upstate New York is fertile ground for any politician to win an election because things are just plain bad.

Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer had state police deployed in cities like Utica because gang violence had gotten out of control and the local police force couldn’t handle it. If you want to see what empty stores really look like, take a walk through downtown Buffalo or Syracuse and you’ll see miles of them. Industries come and go on Long Island, but few businesses announce that they are moving to upstate communities. Thanks to Richard Kessel, who chairs the New York Power Authority, companies like Yahoo have chosen to open offices in Buffalo. Kessel has also helped keep Alcoa’s 1,000 jobs in Massena with some low-cost power incentives.