New York Governor Kathy Hochul made a surprising admission two weeks ago. Speaking on Politico’s “New York Agenda: Albany Summit” on March 11, the governor said her state now lacks the “wealthy” residents needed to pay for “the generous social programs that we want to have.” Hochul said some “patriotic” rich people have taken action to help close the state’s budget hole, and that it’s certainly OK to write her a check. But if you really want to help, Hochul implored her wealthy supporters, “visit Palm Beach and see who you can take home with you, because our tax base has been eroded.”
Hochul sounded irritated when she said that last sentence, as if it were the fault of her supporters — who write her checks to prop up her struggling state — that their wealthy friends have left for sunnier pastures.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently said, “There were people who could only work in an office in Manhattan, and they were prisoners of our state.” They are no longer prisoners. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket)
Her comments were surprising, because Hochul played a major role in driving out those Palm Beachers in the first place. In 2022, Hochul said, “Just jump on a bus and go to Florida where you belong, okay? Get out of town because you don’t represent our values.”
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She spoke to Republicans and they heard her loud and clear. And she wasn’t the only one to make such comments. In 2014, her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, made a similar comment. “Extreme conservatives,” he said, citing policy positions such as abortion and gun rights, “have no place in New York State because that is not who New Yorkers are.”
And these are the “moderate” Democrats in the state!
Those who could leave did so. The deluge began under Cuomo and continued rapidly under Hochul.
I’M LEAVING NEW YORK CITY FOR FLORIDA. I never thought I would do that
Did they really not think they were shrinking their own tax base? Who did they think would pay for the wonderful, exorbitantly expensive social services? The blue-haired protesters who elected Mayor Mamdani?
New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s rhetoric has played a major role in forcing New Yorkers to flee to Palm Beach, Florida in recent years. (Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo)
Cuomo could be forgiven for not realizing in 2014 that he needed the tax base much more than they needed him. But Hochul’s comments came two years into the pandemic, after people like me were long gone, and it was clear that remote work had already changed the job landscape. Hochul said this in the recent clip: “There were people who could only work in an office in Manhattan, and they were prisoners of our state.” They are no longer prisoners.
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My family left New York City because Hochul targeted the teachers unions and refused to open public schools that were unnecessarily closed while private schools were open. When schools finally opened full time — a year after states like Florida — children were kept masked well into 2022, even outside, sitting on the floor at lunch and masking up between bites, despite being at extremely low risk for COVID. Meanwhile, Hochul, in his 60s and therefore at much higher risk for COVID, could be seen strolling around the state without a mask.
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Other New Yorkers left as the disorder on the city streets grew worse, and we were discouraged from talking about it. The migrant problem had spiraled, and New Yorkers were told they had to keep paying for hotel rooms or debit cards for people who had entered illegally or they would be seen as supporters of Donald Trump. Homelessness had also worsened: Children begging on the streets – a hallmark of Third World countries – appeared in what was once America’s jewel of a city. We left because everything was unraveling, and the New York state government didn’t care.
It wasn’t the taxes – or at least not just the taxes. It’s not exactly the same as the 2010 Onion headline: “8.4 million New Yorkers suddenly realize New York City is a terrible place to live.” New York was always a hard place to live, and it was always expensive. What has changed over the past decade is that it became impossible to trust that the people in charge were working to make things better.
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Did Hochul mean it when she said Republicans should leave New York? Did she mean it when she supported socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani? Who knows? It became impossible to trust that the governor was working for anyone other than the special interest groups that support her.
It wasn’t just extremely wealthy New Yorkers who looked around and realized their taxes weren’t being put to good use. Many non-billionaires and multi-millionaires have also left. The fabric of the city changed. No, Governor Hochul can no longer hold New Yorkers ‘captive’. It’s too late now to bring them ‘home’. They’re home – it’s just not New York anymore.
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