UPDATE from Albany: Wait almost over for big NY development grants
To give you a sense of just how important this decision is to the region, here’s a partial list of North Country leaders on-hand:
Saranac Lake Mayor Clyde Rabideau, Clarkson president Tony Collins, Assemblywomen Janet Duprey and Teresa Sayward. Olympic Regional Development CEO Ted Blazer, Essex County tourism chief Jim McKenna, Plattsbugh Chamber president Gary Douglas, Adirondack Park Agency chairwoman Lani Ulrich…
I’m blogging live from Albany where Governor Andrew Cuomo is about to announce which regions will win the big $40 million packages designed to boost economic development.
Four of ten regions will take home the big prize — taking home $40 million apiece. The other six regions will divvy up a much smaller pool of money.
Gary Douglas, one of the co-chairs of the North Country’s Regional Economic Development Council told me a few moments ago that he’s had no hints, no indications about the likely outcome.
The Cuomo administration is known for playing its cards very close to the vest — yesterday’s tax deal being a case in point — and this decision is no exception.
Assemblywoman Teresa Sayward also noted this morning that her district could see big economic boosts from any of three different regional councils, the North Country, the Capital Region, or the Mohawk Region.
So this could be kind of a mixed decision. More soon…
Why do I get the feeling that this will be another case of most of the state’s money going to Long Island, Westchester and NYC with the rest of the state (except maybe the capital district) getting stiffed as usual?