FROM THE EXPERTS
“The New York City market is very vibrant. Why isn”™t that happening here in Westchester? It”™s pretty simple ”“ the SEQRA process and a lot of our regulation has prevented us from building. If communities don”™t build and improve themselves, they die. I think Westchester is truly in crisis because as New York is expanding, attracting young people and some great companies, Westchester isn”™t.”
“Eliminate the SEQRA process in New York state. It adds two years to every planning project ”¦ Westchester has a lot of places for growth right away. ”¦ The anti-development should be focused on saving the farms and the green space. The suburbs are the perfect place for the next level of growth where we can rethink and rebuild.”
”“ Joseph Cotter, founder and president, National Resources L.L.C., Greenwich, Conn.
“If you”™re wed to a market, the way you have to deal with that change is just roll up your sleeves, work harder and just be better than your competition and hopefully come out the other side of the cycle. ”¦ Real estate is a local business and anywhere you operate you better know your market.”
“The common theme from today is growth. Growth attracts talent. Growth creates competition. Competition raises the bar and makes people have to work harder and that”™s where the entrepreneurialism comes from.”
”“ Â Jon L. Halpern, managing partner and CEO, Halpern Real Estate Ventures, New York City
“How are we going to reinvent ourselves? How are we going to reinvent our neighborhoods? How are we going to reinvent our industries? It all goes back to competitiveness. We”™re no longer competitive. We”™re no longer the attractant of the world ”¦ how are we going to become competitive?”
“I would even go one step further than what Vinny said ”“ there are no opportunities for any other type of funding at this moment. The Wall Street market is in all regard zero-tolerance of risk. New, innovative technology development is all risk.”
”“ Â James W. Taylor Jr., founder, Taylor Biomass Energy L.L.C., Montgomery, N.Y.
“It really comes down to master planning and trying to isolate those areas that are resources you want to save, places where you need to redevelop ”¦ maybe you need to merge some of these municipalities so you get more of a regional focus and a focus on some of the resources that actually support the entire county, not just municipality by municipality.”
“All of us are opportunists. We know the landscape, we know how to get it done. ”¦ Yes, I think the approvals are an issue ”¦ (but) the state is second-guessing us, with some of the tax credits and (other programs), and that needs to stop. Because we”™re the ones that are actually creating the jobs in this market.”
”“ Â Arthur Collins, co-founding principal, Collins Enterprises L.L.C., Stamford, Conn.
“Starwood (Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc.) didn”™t want to leave Westchester. But the bureaucracy in (New York) state didn”™t work fast enough. ”¦ You go up to Hartford it”™s like one-stop shopping. You can”™t imagine how gracious they are, how open they are. (For Starwood) to go 15 miles and have a $90 million incentive package thrown at them ”¦ easy decision.”
“When you look at what it costs to relocate a company here (from Connecticut). The (office) rents are terrific in Westchester but where are people going to live? Taxes are enormous.”
”“ John D. Goodkind, managing principal, Newmark Knight Frank, Greenwich, Conn.
“It”™s time to reinvent everything ”¦ to turn everything upside down. Maybe raising taxes is something you have to do along the way but that”™s just one piece of it. You”™ve got to look at everything ”“ how do you do schools, where do people live ”¦ home rule, regionalism. We”™re just starting to use that term regionalism in these counties.”
“I”™m a capitalist but we (renewable energy businesses) need the support of government to back-stop us, either in terms of guaranteed loans or somehow investing in the technology so we can make the investments here in the U.S. to be able to build these products. I honestly don”™t see a way around that, probably for some period of time, five years at least.”
”“ Â Vincent Cozzolino, founder, The Solar Consortium and CEO, Fala Technologies, Kingston, N.Y.