This morning we aired a great piece by Jon Alexander, WNBZ’s assistant news director, looking at the spotty track record of pre-approved industrial parks in the Adirondacks.<\/p>\n
These are islands of commercial opportunity, where 90% of the Park’s regulations and bureaucratic hurdles are stripped away.<\/p>\n
Despite being shovel-ready, despite being located in some of the most beautiful places in North American, and despite the availability of a well-trained, educated workforce — most stand empty.<\/p>\n
Which brings me back to my argument about the Adirondack Park 3.0.\u00a0 People have been asking for more specific ideas about how this kind of initiative might work and this seems like a great place to start.<\/p>\n
Why not convene a task force under the aegis of the APA with the express goal of marketing and filling up these industrial parks?<\/p>\n
The task force would include business leaders, chambers of commerce, regional development agencies, and other relevant state officials.<\/p>\n
But the APA itself would take the lead in working to rebrand the Park as a business-ready place for investors and start-ups to come.<\/p>\n
That means working with Albany and Washington to develop incentives.\u00a0 That means doing outreach to manufacturing and venture capital groups.<\/p>\n
Most importantly, it means identifying and removing unnecessary hurdles that may still remain.\u00a0 Is there different or better infrastructure needed?<\/p>\n
Let’s see if that infrastructure is environmentally friendly and, if so, let’s get it built.<\/p>\n
Remember, these are sites where the APA team has already kicked the tires, done exhaustive environmental reviews, and determined that these are appropriate, good places for light industry.<\/p>\n
So that part — the most important part — of the APA’s mission is accomplished.<\/p>\n
Now it’s time to serve the human communities by helping to recruit dependable, year-round employment.<\/p>\n
Would this be a hard lift?\u00a0 Sure.\u00a0 I imagine this task force would be in existence for a long time, perhaps as a permanent standing committee.<\/p>\n
But setting clear benchmarks — how about aiming to recruit one new business per year? — would allow the APA to put a metric on success and failure.<\/p>\n
Over time the effort would also begin the process of changing the Park’s (often mistaken) image as a tangle of red-tape and delays.<\/p>\n
It would also change the APA’s image and help to clarify its mission as a defender of all the Park’s assets, human and wild.<\/p>\n
Check out Jon Alexander’s story and comment below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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