The March 28, 2026 commentary, from Assemblyman Molitor, citing statistics explaining his reasoning on people moving, from the State of New York is flawed. He is not telling the whole story. In selecting only statistics which support his view, he misleads his constituents.

It appears the “statistics” quoted by Molitor, came directly from City Journal, which is a policy magazine and website published by The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a conservative think tank based in New York City. MediasBiasFactCheck.com gives City Journal a Right Bias rating, Right being Conservative bias and Left being Liberal bias. “These media sources are moderately to strongly biased toward conservative causes through story selection and/or political affiliation. They may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports, and omit information that may damage conservative causes. Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy.” Note, the part in the quote that states ‘omit information’. Vital statistics regarding births over deaths in the State of New York in 2024, and the number of people moving into the State of New York, to highlight just a few, were selectively absent from his commentary.

Kathy Hochul assumed office on August 24, 2021, during the Covid Pandemic. Most states lost population during the pandemic. More than 1,150,000 people have died from Covid, with the peak occurring in 2021. Whenever the claim is made that more population has declined in the State of New York than anywhere else in the country, you should understand where people live. It is disingenuous to make a claim of 1,000,000 people moving out of a state over a five year period that has 20,000,000 people living in it, without comparing that to a state with a population of 1,750,000 that has seen out-migration of 205,000 over a five year period. A math degree is not necessary to understand the percentage decline in the more populated state is far less severe than in the less populated state.

Yes, people are moving. There are many reasons for it. The Assemblyman should know who is most responsible for the “ever-growing cost of living”. Implying that it is government policy implemented in New York State is laughable. We should not be deceived into thinking it is because of Kathy Hochul, mandates coming out of Albany, or regulating small business. As far as taxes, the State of New York provides benefits for the taxes paid; many benefits in relation to other states.

Many of those people who retired and moved to Florida have returned. And there are the few who rent a trailer in Florida, change their residency to avoid the New York State income tax, and actually live in New York, spending a few months during the winter in Florida. Take a look at the number of Florida plates driving around all of New York State all year long. Those people want the benefits New York State provides, without paying their fair share, of the taxes. A quote from Newsweek, from a year ago, addresses the issue correctly. “Recent census data shows that America’s population is growing, and New York was the state with the largest numeric gains from 2023 to 2024 after a long-standing trend of residents leaving the Empire State.” (Newsweek March 17, 2025)

Stacey Curry is a Jamestown resident.