Myself and my three brothers all left after going to SUNY colleges in the 1980’s.
Almost everyone I grew up with in my neighborhood left. Of the several dozen kids, we all left to find opportunities elsewhere. I grew up in Orchard Park, NY one of the nicest suburbs of Buffalo. Almost all the middle class and upper middle class kids I grew up with left after high school or college.
There were no jobs there unless you worked for the government, the Ford stamping plant or a bank. I only know of two friends from my neighborhood that stayed. One owns a landscaping business. The other one got one of those coveted union jobs. Everybody else bailed.
Here’s how bad it is: Pols are talking Upstatehood in addition to taxpayers. And nobody’s laughing.