A new path of economic development
Not the basketball team, but the city. An op-ed in yesterday’s New York Times profiles a change in economic development philosophy in Syracuse, including a project that sells people dilapidated houses for a buck:
It holds classes for new home owners and counsels potential foreclosure victims. It buys vacant homes, partially or fully renovates some of them for resale and dismantles others to supply pieces for renovation efforts elsewhere.
It’s a good but small start: Syracuse has 3,300 vacant parcels, 1,600 of which have structures on them, a daunting number in a Rust Belt city that over the past 50 years has lost 36 percent of its population and much of its core industry.
I’ve always felt if my college years had shaken out differently, I would have been an urban design major. Maybe it’s from growing up in Buffalo, but I’m fascinated by attempts to make downtrodden cities, villages, and communities better places to live.
And the phrase “if you built it, they will come” is one I believe in. Not as in, “build an expensive, risky venture [like a Destiny Mall or a St. Lawrence River aquarium]”. Rather, build a vibrant, comfortable community for the people who already live there, and other people will follow.
Bike paths. Parks. Community fitness centers and gyms. Indoor playgrounds and outdoor ice rinks and cafes and bar and brew pubs and generally places for people to meet and see one another and do things in close proximity. And chances to turn bad housing into good.
It seems to me North Country economic developers historically have spent too much time worrying about people who they want to come here, and not enough about people who already live here.
I thought St. Lawrence County’s Karen St. Hillaire was on to something when she started the “Grow By One” campaign a few years ago – encourage every business to add one job.
Meanwhile, Massena town supervisor Joe Gray’s been spouting off lately about economic development on his blog:
If desperate times call for desperate measures how about we take a few chances. First, we need to reduce the number of balding and grey-haired men sitting at the Econ. Dev. tables. Let’s get some younger men and WOMEN to sit down and map our future. Let’s do away with the IDAs, and the BDCs and the host of other “economic development” (I challenge someone to tell me exactly what the hell that term means) offices from Stockholm to Star Lake, from Piercefield to Pitcairn, and all points in between.
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Good post David.
I hope N. NY doesn’t adopt the New London, CT. model of development.
Perhaps looking at what happened in Sackets Harbor a couple of decades ago can serve as a model for places along the St. Lawrence.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. Better transportation would help. A good regional airport somewhere that midsized jets could land would help. A reconfigured “highway” (not an interstate) between Plattsburgh and Watertown w/ turnouts/ passing lanes, bypasses of villages, etc. – built the way Canadians have done it, for example, in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia -can also help. [I know a lot of people object to bypasses “they’ll kill my small business in Crapville” but that assumes that people traveling through small towns stop for stuff – which they typically don’t. Anyway, objections aside, it seems that “Economic development” in NY is a euphemism for politicians rewarding their friends with $ and special favors at the expense of larger community interests. For decent development to occur it must begin in the villages, towns, and cities – not from Albany, or the county level. Support from the capital and counties will be important but concerned citizens must take the initiative and come to some level of agreement/ consensus otherwise the conditions will not change.
Give out free paint and or free siding to everyone who commits to putting it on their home (which would indeed be quite expensive) But you drive through many of our communities and that is the first thing that jumps out at you, unpainted, half painted, half sided homes we look dingy. People don’t want to live in dingy places.
To me economic development means building up you base industry that’s available. In our case in St Law Co that’s agriculture, mining, the Seaway. IMO the Seaway is massively underutilized. I understand this goes back to the late 60’s or early 70’s when someone “bit the hand that fed them”. Whatever the reason someone with a fresh perspective should be looking at it. By that I mean someone beyond the OBPA type of old boy network. The rail system serving the Port of Ogdensburg is probably the stumbling point. Once again the infrastructure has decayed.
Mining is an iffy proposition based on international demand as I understand it. Whatever can be done to help our local mines (again, rail service) should be a priority.
Agriculture, well seems we always talk a good talk but never get our feet on the ground. Dairy is the big player, but there is room for alternatives. Getting out of their way, as opposed to more subsidies, might help.
I dunno. I don’t know if there’s really that much we can do to build our economy. We’re hampered by some of the highest taxes in the nation and little services in return. People don;t care for that if they can go elsewhere and get a better deal.
I think we need to take a fresh-look at what our competitive advantages are here in the North Country. That is changing rapidly – faster than the traditional economic development models. We have passed the point where government is a reliable agent for economic stimulus – through grants or tax incentives. Previous comment got it right – we have a completely dysfunctional tax system (include fees and other charges).
Viable industries? Regionally, if we can sustain our product, tourism will remain. There is still room for growth, but we are product which is quite mature in its life cycle. It should play a greater role in economic development in the North Country.
Manufacturing – energy, taxes, and location make this too costly here. Not much you can do about distribution costs, but energy and cost-of-doing-business in NY would be good areas to expend effort. It would help both existing businesses and make it less daunting to consider NY as a choice for one’s start-up.
Education? I’d like to see some more private universities or colleges up here. As a parent, I think this is a great and safe place to send my kids.
I don’t know that anyone has a good answer to our future. And I don’t know if Joe Gray was “spouting off”, but there is some truth to his characterization of the established economic development system.
That is why it is very important that we fight to keep industries which are high tech, green and rely on our natural resources like wind power farms OUT of the North Country.
What JPM said about transportation, mostly, but don’t forget restoring decent rail service. Making communities more walkable is another good start toward sustainability and affordability. It’s one way to attract businesses from downstate and keep young people.