Bail reform is not the reason for NY’s population decline (Your Letters)
Bail reform is not the reason for NY’s population decline (Your Letters)
Among the letters published in the Feb. 6, 2022, Post-Standard was a letter from Nick Paro publicly castigating the state Legislature and governor over bail reform (“Gov. Hochul, we’ve waited too long for bail reform already”). All are entitled to their opinions, including Paro, but when people express their opinions, they should not state them as facts, as he did. Allow us to quote him:
“There is good reason 300,000 people have left New York state in the past year, and it has everything to do with legislation passed and propped up by politicians who are too caught up in the politics of Albany to realize the damage being done here at home.”
The writer’s estimate of the state’s population loss is not in question (in fact, it’s slightly understated); however, there are many reasons that people move into or out of a particular location. It is highly improbable that all or even most people left the state due to bail reform. If any documentation of the reasons that people left the state exists — and we very much doubt that it does — Paro did not cite it in support of his statement. Beyond that, he apparently didn’t consider the fact that the death rate greatly exceeded the birth rate in the pandemic year of 2021. How many of those 300,000 people actually stayed in New York, but in graves?
The writer was identified as Salina town supervisor. That is an elective office. Most office-seekers like to tout their honesty as a reason to vote for them. We suspect that voters in the town of Salina care about the truth, and don’t care for office-seekers who state their opinions as fact, when the facts don’t even support their opinions.
