said by PX Eliezer704:said by Hydraglass:The stark difference on the two sides of the Ogdensburg/Johnstown bridge just blows my mind.
Johnstown is part of the flow of traffic in Ontario, being right off the 401 etc. It's in the shipping lanes so to speak.
Ogdensburg is isolated in upstate New York, it is NOT near major roads, there is no big reason to be there except that NYS put jails and a mental hospital there....
US traffic heading north is going to go on Interstate 81 to the Thousand Islands Bridges....
Yeah - I always attribute it to "That corner of upstate NY is about as miserable, cold, and far away from anything meaningful that there is for US residents" while on this side, it's right on our southern border - the middle of traffic and commerce from Toronto to Montreal, etc.. but, in any case, that area even makes the hometown of the US part of my family (Scranton) seem "not like the hole of the earth that Joe Biden makes it out to be".
Mind you, I'm not diminishing poverty in rural Ontario and Canada at large, it's there, all I need to do is drive around on some of the dirt roads up in the area near my cottage (Bancroft area) - and it doesn't take long to find old falling apart farms and farmhouses that barely look like they can hold the roof up, with nothing more for the residents to drive than an old '70s or 80's pickup truck that has the fenders held on with bungee cords and duct tape. The "great unseen" of cottage country.. I've at least tried to bring more of my service and product purchasing out there and take less with me from home - to try to bring a little more $ to the folks out there.