Divide NYS Coalition Meeting in Grand Island This Weekend

September 5 — An organization that aims to radically change the way New York state government operates will visit Grand Island this weekend to share its plans and ambitions.

Divide NYS, a coalition seeking to divide the state into three autonomous regions, will hold its statewide meeting Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Grand Island Rod & Gun Club, 1093 Whitehaven Rd. During the public meeting, members of the organization will explain their plans and ambitions.

“We feel like we’re always being outvoted,” said coalition chairman John Bergener. “Statewide laws that might work in the city don’t work upstate and haven’t for years.”

State Assemblyman David Dipietro, a Republican representing District 147, which includes southern Erie County and Wyoming County, will be the keynote speaker. He is the sponsor of the legislation, which is currently working its way through committees in the state legislature that would pass it. Other speakers, such as Sen. George Borrello, a Republican representing the 57th District of the state Senate, which includes Chautauqua, Cattararugus and Allegheny counties, and Rich Davenport of Citizens Against Wind Turbines in Lake Erie, will also be there.

The group now wants to divide the state into three autonomous regions: the New York City region, which includes New York City; the Montauk region, which includes Long Island, Rockland and Westchester counties; and the New Amsterdam region, which includes the rest of upstate New York.

Each region would have its own governor, and the legislature would exercise authority over its own area, reducing the power of the central state government that is still required by the U.S. Constitution. These regional legislatures would also meet together as a state legislature for six weeks each year.

The name New Amsterdam comes from the original Dutch settlement colonizing what is now New York, in Kingston in the 17th century. The name Montauk comes from an American Indian tribe that lived on Long Island.

Bergener argued that because government regulations affect the way businesses are run, it results in the failure of businesses and a decline in the number of well-paying jobs in the upstream region.

“There are so few jobs in the Southern Tier that most of the areas are ghost towns,” Bergener said. “When it was growing, there were big industrial parks, led by IBM and other corporations, and now they’re gone.”

Bills introduced in 2023 by both the state Assembly and Senate would propose a constitutional amendment to implement this plan, each with Republican sponsors. It was placed in committee and referred to the Judiciary for comment in January 2024, and no other action has been taken on it since then.

While Divide NYS would like to see these bills move out of committee, they are also trying to get county support through local government resolutions. So far, only two cities have voted to support them, and no counties have done so.

The idea of ​​dividing New York state is not new, as proposals have come and gone since the Civil War. Bergener said what makes this movement unique is that the autonomy they seek does not require congressional approval, but merely an amendment to the state constitution.

Bergener said the coalition’s strongest support is in Western New York, but it also has members in New York City, Westchester County and Long Island.

“The members of the New York City Council have different positions on some issues, but they would be happy to get rid of us just as we would be happy to get rid of them,” Bergener said.