Mythology and reality have a way of becoming synonymous, and, no, I’m not talking about the Bible. I’m talking, as I often do, about Upstate New York, this time about its pathologic obsession with the weather.
The narrative, worthy of a finger down the throat, goes something like this: Demographic shifts, particularly those bloating population figures down South, are rooted in the air temperature. That chill, which can come with the added feature of sunless days, has pushed people away.
As history has shown, enough repetition can yield reality.
But when that reality is simply perceived, there’s a better word—mythology.
Boring as it may be, the truth can be found in numbers.
Start with Boston, whose metro population has grown by 13 percent since 2000.
Take I-90 across the country to Seattle, whose metro has blossomed by 36 percent over the same time span.
Along the way, take a slight detour to Minneapolis, up 23 percent during that stretch.
Or skip all the driving and just cross the lake to Toronto, up 34 percent since the turn of the century.
The same truth can be found in apparently mundane metros.
- Omaha: up 30 percent since 2000
- Columbus (OH): 31 percent
- Madison (WI): 32 percent
- Indianapolis: 40 percent
- Des Moines: 51 percent!
And then there’s the metro that drives a stake through the heart of the weather obsessed.
It goes by the name of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Like Upstate New York, it’s on the wrong side of a Great Lake, otherwise known as cloudy as hell. And as is true in Upstate New York, the clouds like to share, in this case 75 inches of mostly lake-effect snow per year.
Yet the place has grown by 26 percent in the past quarter century.
So if a region smack dab in the middle of the Snow Belt is thriving, what is the actual reality?
It’s you, Upstate New Yorker, the one with no vision.
It’s you, the one whose incessant whining has kept young entrepreneurs away.
And it’s you, Upstate New York politician, the one who insists that despite living in one of the most tax-heavy states, the solution to all our problems is to raise taxes.
It’s you, the one who tortures the few entrepreneurs who do show up for business.
By all means, go ahead and blame Mother Nature all you want.
Just remember that the numbers show where the real answer lies—the mirror.
