There was an outcry when this decision making for the UK was given to NYC a few years ago and that's why it was taken back as soon as that government got voted out of power.
I've never heard about an outcry before, or of visa processing being moved from the UK to New York, at least not in the last 15 years... how many years ago are we talking?
I joined the forum 10 years ago (early 2007) and back then, all visas were processed in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York (the consulate you mailed the application to depended on the state you lived in). Even back in 2002, UK visas were processed in New York/LA/Chicago (that's from the earliest visas post I can find in this section of the forum).
Then around 2010 (I think?), they stopped processing them in LA and Chicago and moved them all to New York.
In about 2012/13, they decided to streamline the settlement visas and started processing them all in Sheffield, UK, with all other visa types still processed in NYC.