Solar energy, wind turbines, energy-efficient housing: hot topic these days. But they aren”™t the only “green” people are thinking about. The other kind has pictures on it, preferably of Benjamin Franklin ”“ but just about any portrait will do to put food on the table, gas in the car and keep the mortgage company at bay as subprime loans continue to keep the markets both here and abroad unstable.
New Windsor-based Quade Consulting Services and Provident Bank hosted “Hudson Valley Business Edge, 2007,” an all-day seminar at the Ramada Inn in Newburgh Aug. 14 to discuss a variety of topics, including changes coming to the region, pinpointing the strengths and weaknesses of the economy in this part of the state.
Head counters continually decry the loss of our college-educated work force and retirees are taking their pensions and living elsewhere.
“Reflecting the Change” was just a small part of the mix of topics touched on throughout the daylong seminar but its five participants had strong convictions about what the Hudson Valley needs to grow economically and esthetically: John D”™Ambrosio, president of the Orange County Chamber of Commerce; Frank Falatyn, owner of Fala Technologies, Kingston; Carl Johnson of Taylor Biomass, Montgomery; Richard Peters, New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) regional planning and program director, Poughkeepsie; and Arnaldo Sehwerert, executive director of the mid-Hudson Small Business Development Center, Kingston. Town of Warwick Judge Peter Bartlet acted as moderator.
D”™Ambrosio, who heads the largest chamber in the region, cut to the chase: “The biggest change we need is growing strategic alliances between regional organizations and agencies; that”™s the wave of the future. The business community will no longer put up with duplication of services, particularly in the nonprofit area, and they especially don”™t want it in government.”
D”™Ambrosio is a fervent proponent of the Tech Valley initiative, comprised not just of the Orange County”™s chamber but of 23 others in 18 counties stretching from as far north as Plattsburgh to the southern end of the Hudson Valley. “We”™re trying to brand the area as ”˜the place”™ to locate high-tech business and working with our economic development corporations to achieve that,” said D”™Ambrosio.
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Solar-powered growth
Frank Falatyn, who heads the newly formed Solar Energy Consortium in Kingston, has been a staunch supporter and key player in bringing the initiative closer to the mid-Hudson from Albany. His company, the former Ulster Tool, had to reinvent itself when IBM pulled out of Kingston in the 1990s. Big Blue was Falatyn”™s only customer at the time. While he”™s been successful in making the switch, he”™d like to see others reach the same goal and see emerging businesses take off.
Falatyn sees Tech Valley as a big step for the entire region, one that would also bring new life to the former IBM space in Tech City. The Solar Energy Consortium will be headquartered there, but Falatyn, like many others, would like to see the massive property fully utilized.
People in the Hudson Valley definitely want to see the area remain farm-friendly and retain open space, observed Falatyn. “They don”™t want to see a haze of smokestacks clouding their view, so Tech Valley and the concept of ”˜clean”™ technology are very appealing and a way for us to retain our beauty while attracting businesses that offer high-paying jobs.”
One of Richard Peters”™ biggest initiatives as the regional planning and program manager for the DOT is working to bring mass transit to the region, one of the oldest infrastructures in the U.S. “We constructed a transportation management center in Hawthorne in 2004 specifically for the purpose of implementing better travel both south to New York City and intercounty,” he said.
Peters says interactive signs along its major arteries are one of the ways the DOT is working to keep growing numbers of trucks and cars on the road from heading in the wrong direction. “By keeping the public aware with ”˜real-time”™ messages, we can help them avoid areas of heavy congestion; especially if there is an accident on one of the major roadways ”“ they”™ll be able to take alternate routes.”
In addition to upgrading Route 17 into I-86, the DOT is aggressively working with Metro-North and private bus companies to improve public transportation. “We are currently counting how many trucks pass through the Fishkill area on I-84. There are nearly 10,000 18-wheelers using that road every day, so we think it”™s important to encourage mass transit and give people better access to public transportation. We also need to plan for that number to grow, not shrink, as Stewart International Airport gets bigger.”
Eliminating growing mounds of garbage and debris is part of Taylor Biomass”™ efforts, said its representative, Vice President Carl Johnson. “We are running out of room in our landfills and by using new technologies we”™re going to reduce the space used for dumping. And the ultimate goal is to take that waste and turn it into electricity.” Taylor is rolling out his company”™s projects in several global locations, hoping the Montgomery plant, where Taylor Recycling is located, will be the first up and running.
Sehwerert sees Tech Valley as a way to bring good paying jobs into the area. “People who have more disposable income generate other types of jobs in the area. Yes, New York is losing population. While some of the reforms the governor has accomplished thus far have been admirable, they are not enough. We are not providing incentives for businesses to stay or to relocate to New York.”
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Said Sehwerert: “The Hudson Valley is the only area gaining population, most of it coming from the New York City metro area and northern New Jersey. To them, the Hudson Valley is a bargain. The governor and state Legislature need to do more to bring jobs here and to make it affordable to do business in the state. People might think it”™s better that we have jobs that pay $10 an hour than none at all, but we shouldn”™t be satisfied with that.”
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Sehwerert says further reform in workers”™ compensation is needed. “When you are dealing with the state, the bureaucracy has made things much more complicated than it need be. Streamlining the system would definitely help keep and attract business to the Hudson Valley and to all of New York.”
D”™Ambrosio agrees. Keeping business costs down, providing affordable housing for the middle-class work force and encouraging residents to shop locally are the keys to keep the Hudson Valley”™s economy healthy. “We need people in government who are business-friendly ”“ that will keep and bring business to New York ”“ and ultimately that will help us to grow economically, not just in population. No list for this region would be complete without including Stewart Airport in the picture: its future and what”™s coming with it.”
The airport, complete with revamped roadways to it, is scheduled to transfer to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey this fall, a move considered by many to foretell a fourth major metropolitan airport, after LaGuardia, JFK and Newark.
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