NYC to become the 51st state of the US??

[Sunflare]

There is talk in the news, again, about Queens councilman Peter Vallone Jr. who is re-introducing legislation to begin looking into the possibility of New York secession from New York State to become the 51st state of America.

This idea was brought up some years back , I realized when I googled the subject, so the idea is nothing new, but it seems to be regaining popularity again according to a report I heard from News radio station 1010 WINS this morning.

Is this actually feasible? Or is this man just crazy with this proposal? Maybe it's possible. . . . Hong Kong existed as a seperate entity from China for over a hundred years.

Any thoughts?

Links to past articles on subject:

"The Independant Republic From New York"
New York Magazine
By JENNIFER SENATOR
Copyright 2004

http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/rnc/9573/index1.html

"Throwback or Futureworld? New York as 51st state"
Queens Press
By MICHAEL SCHENKLER

http://www.queenspress.com/archives/...3/0214/nfp.htm

"Secession Bill at City Council Again"
Gothamist
By JEN CHUNG
Copyright 2006

http://gothamist.com/2006/05/15/secession.php

[AngryABCGirl]

What would be the point of doing so? Why shouldn't los angeles do the same then (considering it covers a lot more land area than new york?)

[Sunflare]

Originally Posted by AngryABCGirl

What would be the point of doing so? Why shouldn't los angeles do the same then (considering it covers a lot more land area than new york?)

Thats a good point. In fact that was the same concern the author of the New York magazine article on the subject mentioned.

To quote. . . . .

"But, as any New Yorker can appreciate, space would be an issue. We’d need to build prisons, for instance, and it’s hard enough to find transfer stations for our sanitation. The city would be more reliant on tourism than ever, which might mean subordinating the needs of its resident population to those of its transient guests, as in (ulp) Las Vegas. Because islands depend heavily on the places that supply them with goods, we’d be vulnerable in times of crisis, and as it is, we probably wouldn’t have enough shipping capacity or container space."

From the article " The Independent Republic of New York " from New York Magazine.

[Yeahman]

This idea comes up all over the US all the time.
The cities that want to secede tend to be richer cities and secession requires approval by the state legislature so it never works.

Dunno if it's true but I read a while back that if NYC seceded as a separate country the US would no longer have a trade deficit. NYC has to import everything and exports nothing.

[Sunflare]

Originally Posted by Yeahman

This idea comes up all over the US all the time.
The cities that want to secede tend to be richer cities and secession requires approval by the state legislature so it never works.

Hmmm. True. I think politicians ,in modern times, on and off, has been trying unsucessfully to make NYC secession happen since 1969. In that year a writer named Norman Mailer and columist Jimmy Breslin ran on a independant ticket for mayor of NYC challenging Mayor John Lindsay with the goal of making New York City the 51st state.

Originally Posted by Yeahman

Dunno if it's true but I read a while back that if NYC seceded as a separate country the US would no longer have a trade deficit. NYC has to import everything and exports nothing.

Correct me guys if I'm wrong. . . .

It seems that New York City enjoyed a surge in total exports in trade in the 1990's (The number of exports actually doubled in NYC) but the city slowly began to fall behind Los Angeles and Detroit before the year 2000.

Now according to sources, Detriot is #1 in total exports. (( )) Which does'nt make any sense to me, Detroit is'nt exactly the richest city in the US. Maybe someone can explain to me why this is so.

In terms of trade deficit today, New York City is #2. The city with the highest deficit in trade is Los Angeles, CA.

[Napoleon Chynamite]

LA doesn't even pump its own water...it's all from NorCal because basically LA is a big city in the middle of perhaps one of geographically the worst possible regions to ever build a city, much less a bustling metropolis surrounded by never-ending suburbia.

[Sunflare]

Originally Posted by Napoleon Chynamite

LA doesn't even pump its own water...it's all from NorCal because basically LA is a big city in the middle of perhaps one of geographically the worst possible regions to ever build a city, much less a bustling metropolis surrounded by never-ending suburbia.

I guess you mean that Los Angeles is a horrible location because it geographically sits on the 'Pacific ring of fire', particularly the San Andreas Fault, waiting for total annihilation by a devestating earthquake or hit with a tsunami like it did during the great Chilean earthquake in the 1960's.

Why can't LA pump its' own water, I wonder? Because of the locations' potentially arid and dry climate and lack of adequate fresh water sources, making it less that ideal for the building of resevoirs, pump stations, and so forth to sustain its' own need for water?

[Yeahman]

Originally Posted by Crystal Clear

Now according to sources, Detriot is #1 in total exports. (( )) Which does'nt make any sense to me, Detroit is'nt exactly the richest city in the US. Maybe someone can explain to me why this is so.

Trade balance is not the only factor in determines how wealthy a region is. E.g., despite the enormous trade imbalance, Chins isn't richer than the US.
One would expect Detroit to be the #1 exporter in the US. Cars are expensive. I'd guess that Seattle is #2?

[Sunflare]

Originally Posted by Yeahman

One would expect Detroit to be the #1 exporter in the US. Cars are expensive. I'd guess that Seattle is #2?

With cars? No I wasn't aware of that. . . . I'm not sure.

But I read that there is plenty of industry there. Many of the major pharmaceutical companies that make up the giant GlaxoSmithKline are located in Seattle. So is major comanies like McCaw cellular (AT&T), Microsoft, Nintendo of America, and wireless communications company T-Mobile.

A major truck manufacturer, PACCAR, are located in Seattle too, and major manufacturer Boeing was there until some time back when they moved operations to Chicago.

[SunWuKong]

some people want Northern Virginia to become its own state, too. Northern Virginia is mostly Democrat as opposed to the rest of Virginia which is mostly Republican. it's demographic is quite different too, basically acting as a suburb of DC, with a lot of young transient professionals.