Sometimes, silence is not golden. Especially in instances where such serious matters as planning for economic growth and stability are at stake.
Here we are in May ”“ into the fifth month of the Cuomo administration ”“ and New York state doesn”™t really have a formal economic development plan in place. Not one that we”™re aware of, anyway.
Here”™s what we do know. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said he plans to create 10 regional economic development councils under the chairmanship of Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy. The state would provide upward of $130 million for competitively determined economic development projects recommended by the councils.
We”™re pleased to hear funds will be earmarked for attraction and retention efforts. But we”™d like to hear the details ”“ the lack of which is bedeviling some members of the business community.
How can we plan without knowing the state”™s plan?
Uncertainty only serves to create more questions, assumptions and, in some cases, fears.
Al Samuels, president and CEO of the Rockland Business Association, is worried about the Hudson Valley. In a recent conversation with the Business Journal, he asked: How are we going to fare?
“I have great confidence in Andrew Cuomo and I think he”™s on the right track with things, but because of the uncertainty, as you put it, relative to the economic development councils we can only assume and that”™s a bad thing to do,” he said.
“Or, we can surmise. And it gives us the opportunity to think about what are the negatives that we might face. And it”™s all because we”™re ignorant of what these things will look like.”
There is never a good time to keep the business community in the dark, but particularly not when we”™re seeing companies like Bayer and Nokia leaving the region.
As reported in the Business Journal last month, Westchester stands to lose hundreds of jobs currently in Tarrytown when Bayer consolidates operations in New Jersey, where the pharmaceutical giant is based.
And, Finnish communications giant Nokia Corp. will close its U.S. office in Harrison as part of a global consolidation and shrink its workforce by 7,000 employees over the next two years. As reporter John Golden noted last week, Nokia”™s employment numbers here and its timetable for leaving the county were not immediately available. It has employed some 300 people at its Westchester offices.
Aren”™t IT and biotech/pharmaceuticals the focus of the region”™s ”“ and especially Westchester”™s ”“ attraction and retention efforts for long-term growth?
The region has a right to know where these councils will be located, who will head them and what the criteria will be in determining who gets what.
We realize the governor and his team have been dealing with weighty matters, not the least of which was closing a $10 billion budget gap.
But five months is a long time. And for Rockland and Westchester ”“ border counties with New Jersey and Connecticut, respectively ”“time is money, after all.
“The timing is hurting us,” Samuels said. “The lack of a firm program right now is hurting us. New Jersey has this push to bring in new companies. I”™m told they have a pool of $200 million to attract new companies. And I know they”™re using it. Bayer committed to New Jersey before they even chose their site. That to me says that Jersey is offering things at such a level it didn”™t even matter. New York just couldn”™t compete. And I understand New York put up a huge sum to keep Bayer and it wasn”™t enough.
“If that”™s what we”™re competing against and we don”™t really have a formal plan in place, what does that portend for the Hudson Valley?”
Connecticut, too, has been aggressive. Think Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which is planning to move its corporate headquarters from White Plains to Stamford early next year. The Nutmeg State”™s incentive package hit obscene heights at $90 million. And, while that was under former Gov. M. Jodi Rell, the new administration is off to a spirited start.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has proposed a “First Five” program offering multimillion-dollar grants and tax credits to the first five businesses that bring at least 200 new full-time jobs to the state.
What”™s New York”™s counterintelligence?
Because of the state”™s economic development condition, we encourage Lt. Gov. Duffy to get these councils set up.
We also would hope that the appointments not be of a political nature but rather of people who understand economic development and preferably those who have skin in the game.
Time is not on the Hudson Valley”™s side.
