binghamton

A small city in upstate New York located near the New York - Pennsylvania border, approximately 60 miles south of Syracuse. Binghamton is situated in a bowl shaped valley at the confluence of the Chenango and Susquehanna Rivers and is home to Binghamton University of the State University of New York system. After a mild turn-of-the-century presence as a manufacturing center of shoes and cigar materials, Binghamton suffered a precipitous decline in fortunes beginning with the loss of its core manufacturing base in the years following the war and consummating in the closing of its high-tech industries in the late 1980's and early 1990's. From a post-war population high of about 80,000, Binghamton has now shed nearly half of its population. Binghamton was the home of Rod Serling, host of the 1960's now cult-status television series "The Twilight Zone". The city and region suffered a devastating flood in the summer of 2006. After years of misfortune, mismanagement and neglect, Binghamton has apparently instituted an audacious program modeling such cities as Camden NJ, Youngstown OH and Gary IN as examples of what it strives to become. This policy is achieving its goals with great success.