New York Newspaper Says Schenectady Is Better Than Boston

Photo via iStock/Denis Tangney, Jr.

News broke earlier this week that despite General Electric’s move to Boston, its chief technology officer, Vic Abate, would stay put in Niskayuna, New York, just outside of Schenectady. While GE still has a sizable presence in Schenectady, and while Niskayuna, located just outside the city, is home to one of the industrial giant’s global research centers, it was still a bit of a surprise, given how complimentary the company brass have been of Boston’s thriving tech sector.

Our ribbing seems to have rubbed Schenectady’s Daily Gazette the wrong way.

“Sure, Boston is big city, with its beautiful brownstones on Beacon Hill, and you can get a lobster on every corner for about 15 cents,” the paper wrote in an editorial Thursday, “but there are plenty of reasons we can think of why we would probably prefer to stay in Schenectady County—Nisky in particular.”

The piece does make a few valid points. Real estate is much more affordable in Schenectady, and “Electric City” is an infinitely cooler nickname than “Beantown”—that is, if anyone here actually called it that. But Union College over Harvard? The Mohawk Hudson Trail over the Freedom Trail? Whatever they call their Italian enclave over the North End? Get real.

Now, if the author would kindly point me in the direction of the 15-cent lobsters, I will gladly bury the hatchet over a dozen or two. My treat.