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Old 12-05-2009, 10:06   #4
Red Flag 1
Area Commander
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: UK
Posts: 2,952
The area has been in economical decline for decades. I return about every six months to visit with friends and family. Once the home of EJ shoes, (made combat boots during WW II) Spaulding bread, two large IBM plants, Singer Link, Universal Instruments and supporting businesses, including five large hospitals. Three major highways intersect in Binghamton. All these have closed, hospitals now really cut back with a decrease of 60% bed space. The main industry now is Binghamton University.

With the economy being so bad, crime is through the roof. Growing up, there were only a handfull of murders, not so today. The bulk of the BU students come from outside the area, many from NYC. With the troubles, BU could well see a decline in student registrations. This will make the awful situation Binghamton is in, all the worse. The downtown center of Binghamton is nearly a ghost town now.

The sad part is that area decline was self made. No incentives for industry, high taxes with little service. Binghamton once was the AAA farm team for the Yankees. We saw the likes of Whitey Ford, Elston Howard, and Johnny Blanchard play ball in our city. The ball park was always packed; today's Mets farm team sees more pavement than cars in it's parking lot.

RF 1
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