Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 17:00:36 -0500
From: Steve Smith <sgs at aginc.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: West Virginia
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

Ted White wrote:
>
> Steve Smith wrote:
>
> > New York City has talked about seceding a number of times, most recently
> > in 1969.  Idea was to become a "free city", a la Singapore.  The idea
> > quietly sank when somebody pointed out what would happen if NYC was cut
> > off from funds coming in from the Federal and State governments ...
>
> Presumably the *outgoing* funds to Fed and State gov't would also be cut, so
> NYC would be at a net advantage, since it carries New York state on its
> financial shoulders.

>From my memory, NYC was going through a financial crisis at the time,
and the net flow of money was strongly into the city.

> I lived in NYC in 1969 and don't recall that particular secession movement,
> but, as a Brooklynite from 1962-70, I can tell you that there was a strong
> movement for Brooklyn to seceed from New York City and regain its
> independent city status.

It was part of the mayoral campaign of Jimmy Breslin and Norman Mailer.
I was in Arizona at the time; I have no idea if this was anywhere near
serious.

One correction -- they wanted to secede from New York State to form a
51st state, not from the US.

--
Steve Smith                                           sgs at aginc.net
Agincourt Computing                            http://www.aginc.net
"Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense."