With Labor Day”™s arrival, Westchester County”™s two leading business groups are working to put into action and enlist the broader community in their separate initiatives to spur business development and revitalize the Westchester economy.
The Westchester County Association in May launched its Blueprint for Westchester County, a multi-year, multimillion-dollar campaign whose goals include filling 50 percent of the county”™s approximately 6 million square feet of vacant office space.
The Business Council of Westchester in June presented the detailed report and recommended action steps of its Westchester Coalition for Business Development, which identified 11 short-term goals for economic development in the county.
The two groups”™ economic development task forces often identified and focused on the same issues and goals to build a new 21st-century economic structure in the county. Those shared strategies include fostering mixed-use redevelopment of the county”™s available commercial space, promoting industry clusters and attracting and keeping young professionals here and the companies that employ them.
“Youth flight,” said Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of the Business Council of Westchester, “is a major issue” pointed out repeatedly by coalition subcommittees in their findings.
Gordon said the Business Council has tapped its Rising Stars membership ranks ”“ successful professionals under 40 ”“ to focus on reversing that drain on the county”™s talent pool of young professionals and intellectual capital.
At the Westchester County Association, members of its young professionals group similarly “have an opportunity to have a voice and see some change” as the blueprint is executed, said Marissa Brett, WCA economic development director. “I think that”™s exciting.”
At the Business Council, “The intellectual capital, this is a big issue for us,” said Tim Jones, coalition chairman and managing director and partner at Robert Martin Co. “To some degree, the best industries follow the talent.”
For young professionals, “The quality of life is a big item,” Jones said. “Downtown White Plains is working very well, but we need more of those centers where they can go to meet people.”
Jones said action to curb the county”™s youth flight includes investment in mixed-use commercial development. The Business Council coalition among its short-term goals aims to promote the creative reuse of existing office space on the I-287 corridor for mixed-use tenants.
That mix should include “public housing that addresses affordability for young people,” while also housing older residents looking to sell larger family homes, Jones said.
Young professionals, said Jones, “are also very focused on the environment. Mixed-use development ties in to that.”
Brett said mixed-use redevelopment is a major focus of the WCA campaign. That includes workforce housing, which she said the county”™s promoters need to point to as a strength when recruiting companies.
“The reality is, the (commercial office) market was built out in the ”™70s and ”™80s, and today the demand is not there for the same use,” she said.
Brett said the WCA will undertake an educational campaign to inform town boards, homeowner associations and other parties of the benefits of mixed-use development in environmental impact and in creating jobs and municipal tax revenue.
Brett, former vice president of the Hudson Valley Economic Development Corp., was hired in early July for the WCA”™s newly created position of economic development director. She has made reform of the state”™s environmental review process for development projects a top priority.
The State Environmental Quality Review Act process ”“ SEQRA ”“ needs to be streamlined and reduced in the investments of time and planning and legal costs it requires of developers, Brett said. She said some projects could be fast-tracked in the SEQRA process, especially for redevelopment or repurposing of existing commercial space.
Brett noted that Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as part of his effort to open New York for business, has charged the state Department of Environmental Conservation and Empire State Development Corp. to look at ways to reform the SEQRA process. “So it”™s on the governor”™s radar screen,” she said.
The WCA this fall will launch a speaker series that will bring in experts from around the country to address the Westchester business community on economic development issues. Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, who turned his state”™s $6 billion budget shortfall into a $400 million surplus since taking office, recently accepted the WCA”™s invitation to be the inaugural speaker for the series. No date for his appearance has been scheduled.
With the speaker series, “We”™ll learn from the best and most successful so that we can roll out the best initiatives for Westchester County,” Brett said.
Jones said the Business Council will organize a financial consortium and investment forums for business looking to expand or relocate in Westchester and for new and small businesses seeking access to capital.
The Business Council also is working on a “hot spots” map to guide companies looking to relocate to Westchester to pro-business communities and available business infrastructure.
Both the WCA and Business Council plan to launch aggressive marketing campaigns aimed at existing and prospective business tenants in the county.
Jones said the Business Council coalition will meet in late September after a summer hiatus. “It”™s time to get back to work again,” he said. The Business Council will take “a very broad-based community-oriented approach” to carry out the coalition”™s many recommendations, he said.
In Westchester, “Everybody is working on economic development now ”“ and it”™s great,” said Brett, who soon will present her final plans for implementing the WCA blueprint to a steering committee. “The energy is unbelievable.”
“It”™s about action now,” she said. “Instead of just talking about it, we need to see something.”
“Gordon said the Business Council has tapped its Rising Stars membership ranks – successful professionals under 40 – to focus on reversing that drain on the county’s talent pool of young professionals and intellectual capital.
At the Westchester County Association, members of its young professionals group similarly “have an opportunity to have a voice and see some change†as the blueprint is executed, said Marissa Brett, WCA economic development director. “I think that’s exciting.—
In regard to the above: Ms Brett should remember that she herself was a BCW Rising Star, Class of 2004(inaugural class) – a prestigious award and recognition from The Business Council that has served her well and been a boost to her career. I am hopeful that she will not persist in creating “competitive” young professional programs that serve only as a drain on the time and efforts of Westcheser’s young professionals.