Why I Left Rochester and Upstate/Western NY
Now Playing: newest Ben Harper album
Topic: Creative Class
I left upstate NY (or western NY as I say to non-natives who think of Albany when I say upstate) for many reasons, primarily economic and social reasons. First read Richard Florida's Rise of the Creative Class or Flight of the Creative Class (still in my reading queue) for some background on what western NY is facing and check out Greater Rochester Enterprise and The Rump Group, both Rochester-based organizations trying to improve the economic development of my hometown and promote the Flower City to the rest of the state and to the rest of the country. Kodak and Xerox aren't what they used to be as employers for the city and region.

Lastly, read this NYT article "Flight of Young Adults Is Causing Alarm Upstate" to round out the picture. All of this explains why I left my hometown of Rochester in western New York for greener pastures:

" In almost every place upstate, emigration rates were highest among college graduates, producing a brain drain, according to separate analyses of census results for The New York Times by two demographers, William Frey of the Brookings Institution and Andrew A. Beveridge of Queens College of the City University of New York. Among the nation's large metropolitan areas, Professor Frey said, Buffalo and Rochester had the highest rates of what he called "bright flight." "