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 Liberal Unfriendly Place: Glens Falls, NY
These are comments on Glens Falls, submitted by other Turn Left visitors. They do not necessarily represent the opinion of the webmaster. You may add a comment on Glens Falls if you want.
 Home of Gerry Solomon. (That alone would be enough to land my town on
this list, but there are more reasons.) If y'all remember the bru-ha-ha
over the assault weapons ban, you'll recall that Solomon let a member of
the Kennedy family have it on the House floor: "My wife lives alone--5
days a week, in a rural area in Upstate New York; she has a right to
defend herself, son, and don't you ever forget it!" While the local
paper, The Post-Star, decried his lack of civility, there were countless
letters to the editor SUPPORTING his tactics. He has used these methods
before--telling a liberal member of Congress to "shut up" on the House
floor (stricken from the record), and saying that a liberal Assemblyman
should be "ridden out of town on a rail" are the two foremost instances
on my mind. (Footnote: Gerry Solomon does not live in a rural area--he
lives on North Road, a suburban area with houses priced over $1.5
million. No crimes have been reported in that part of town in living
memory.)
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I live in South Glens Falls and GF is more conservative than you think. The Post Star gets at least two letters a week saying gays and lesbains are evil and sinful. Enough said.
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Solomon does NOT live in Glens Falls. He lives in the town of Queensbury. I
don't think there is a house on North Road worth $250,000 let alone
$1,500,000.00
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I am from Glens Falls. I Now live in a very large major metropolis for
over 4 years now. However, I haven't been away long enough for that many
changes to have occurred. From your 2 listings one might jump to the
conclusion that Glens Falls is a "hick" town. Though it is small, there
is running water and even though a majority of the population is
republican, that does not go hand in hand with the idea of
underdeveloped inbred peoples living in upstate new york. We are Twenty
minutes from Saratoga and certianly there is no glaring differences in
development between the people living in both places. Solomon does not
speak for Glens falls or other upstate town, and though republicanism is
the norm, it is in so far as middle of the line ideas and beliefs that
are not far to the right, the same way liberalist usually don't support
every cause with the counter strait on the left. We are a Mid group of
people politically as most small town and white middle america is. I
will not include minorities, as they do not really exist in places like
Glens Falls and you cannot really be Rallying for rights that you are
not deprived of, wich is why NYC and other places with minorities are
democratic. It is hipocrytical for me to have ny Bias on either side as
I have nothing lacking to fight for, I am just saying that this is how
things are, and I do not want my hometown to have the stereotypical aura
of underdeveloped upstate Freaks
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Ah - Glens Falls - land of incredible natural beauty and cultural and
recreational opportunities to rival much larger cities. Just a note on
the recent congressional elections - Warren and Washington counties
(which make up the Glens Falls MSA) carried Jean Bordewich (D-Red Hook)
over John Sweeney (R-Schaghticoke). Unfortunately our neighbors
(Saratoga, Rensselaer, Columbia, Dutchess to name the larger counties in
the District) heard the calls of the Republican party bosses and Sweeney
was elected. It is reassuring though that the growing Glens
Falls-Queensbury corner of the world was more influenced by a person who
would have spoken for the people and not for their party. We hope to
see Jean again in 2000.
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The above reader who dosen't think there are any homes worth more than
$250,000 on North Road hasn't been very far up the street. While it
is true that in Glens Falls one does not tend to find the type of
"family values" cultural movement conservative one finds so distressing
often in the former Confederacy, with their obsession with Clinton's sex
life, getting Playboy magazine out of base PX's or bombing abortion
clinics, Glens Falls still has an utterly ingrained resistance to any
kind of change combined with a belief that everything is just grand,
even though the town is steadily losing ground. A suffocating "old
boy" network blocks any change and rewards the worst sort of
incompetance, as evidenced by the nearby bi-county trash plant, as long
as they are loyal to the gang. Compare Glens Falls to nearby
Saratoga, which is booming. Saratoga in truth has thrown it's arms
open to new ideas and people, and you'll see all the difference between
two communities you could possibly want. This kind of stagnation is in
fact a form of cultural underdevelopment.
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As one who was born in Glens Falls, I can tell you for
certain that this is a very liberal unfriendly area.
The type of conservatism here is compounded by several
factors:
1) a high degree of insularity. People here
don't travel much and if they go on vacation is is most
likely to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
2). Timidity.
This is largely a blue collar town and the few large
industries long ago banded together to control
everything. One of their designs has been very
effective, to inspire a deep multigenerational
timidity. They have succeeded to a degree that cannot
be imagined. The average person has absolutely no
confidence in themselves or in the possibility of
government working in their best interest. A group of
Democrats with a liberal bent on many issues seized
every city office except the mayor's four years ago.
After a very considerable effort, they put forth a
proposal to municipalize electric power and
conclusively showed that $12 million a year could be
saved for the city. It was defeated in a referendum by
a heavily financed effort of the power company, Niagara
Mohawk, who cannily played on local insecurity and
fear that their little government could never do
anything like that (Even though plenty of other cities
of similar size had been successful). They were, of
course, aided by the large industries who first used
the proposal to work their own sweet deal for cheaper power.
3). Traditional, very deeply entrenched conservatism
that dates back to the Federal period. In the early
19th century, the small local farmers were Federalists;
this was a party that believed only very large
landowners should have the right to vote ! They have
been voting against their own interests since then.
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