| Start with three assumptions:
1. Most jobs are created by small firms and startups.
2. At least some part of the decision to start a firm in an area, relocate to an area, expand in an area, or open a new facility in an area is rational: most profit for fewest dollars spent. The other part is irrational-- based on "we like Silicon Valley because we're already there" or "we like sunny weather" or "the South doesn't have unions".
3. Government has a role to play in helping nurture a climate that encourages businesses to provide new jobs.
So-- where do we go from here?
1. Bring the costs of doing business in WNY down. Do the following things:
a. Lower energy costs by directing all hydroelectric power at businesses in WNY.
b. Lower tax costs by reducing state government expenditures.
c. Lower transportation costs by building a regional airport serving Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse and getting a better economy of scale.
d. Target any tax reductions and incentives at businesses that are creating real jobs-- creating goods and services that are sold outside of the region-- instead of shuffling jobs from one company already based here to another-- such as hotels, nursing homes, restauraunts, car repair shops, local construction firms, and the like.
e. Absolutely stop wasting money on foolishness like the fast ferry. That was an obvious con job from the day it was announced. We're going down the same path, again, with Rennaissance square. We seem to like shooting ourselves in the foot.
2. Better promote our region and increase its intrinsic value
a. Point out that we have the best educated workforce in the company (more productivity, better creativity, better final product) with a low cost of living and relatively low wages. Make sure that our schools stay the best in the country.
b. I hate earmarks or member items or pork or whatever you want to call it. It's wasteful and bad governance and sends all the wrong messages. But as long as our system is set up with it (maybe, even, centered on it), use it wisely to fund research facilities that will spin off companies and new technologies. Decide as a delegation that we'll focus on an area of technology, seed institutes at the local colleges and universities, and make sure that the output has practical value.
c. Better network regionally among our colleges and universities. Make sure that we have a coordinated higher educational plan. Stop treating "upstate" as a bunch of individual fiefs and treat it as a region. That's the kind of thinking that turned a swath of North Carolina into "Research Triangle Park".
d. Implement a real high speed rail-- 200-300 mph-- from New York to Buffalo so that the upstate region can serve as a back-office community for firms in NYC. There is a huge difference between a 1 1/2 to 2 hour train ride and a four hour train ride. We're missing the ball on this one-- we're willing to settle for the 100 mph train that has been proposed.
What specifically do we need to do differently?
1. It's clear we need to reduce the cost of government. We need to streamline at the local level and reduce what we spend at the State level. There are three primary areas the state government spends: prisons, health care, and education.
a. We need to go further than we have in reforming our drug laws to reduce prison costs and we also need to take a good hard look at prison contracts.
b. We need to figure out how to do high quality education at a lower cost. My suspicion is that we need to figure out how to dramatically reduce administrative and overhead costs.
c. We need to look at reimbursements, especially for nursing homes, and bring them in line with other States. This is probably the area with the largest savings potential-- it is also a danger zone for politicians: witness the campaign against the Governor over the past six months.
2. We need to eliminate our IDAs and either do a blanket tax reduction or have non-political agencies really focusing tax relief on businesses with high value jobs. The Monroe County IDA is the poster child for wasteful IDA efforts.
3. We need to stop wasting our earmarks and member items on foolish small projects that win political points for the legislator who has sponsored them. Every single one ought to be sized up in terms of "how does it help improve the local economy".
4. We need to change and invigorate and spend a lot more money on promoting this region to businesses outside the region. I can't believe how much money and effort has been spent on "Rochester made for living" advertisements in this market. Spend it on "Rochester made for business" (or, thinking regionally, "Upstate is made for business") advertisments in San Francicso, Boston, New York, and Chicago-- where the people with investment capital live. We're "made for business" because we have a better educated workforce with cheaper land and lower wages than where they are currently investing. Make sure they know that.
5. Every governmental body that deals with business regulations and affairs-- state, county, city, and town-- should have an ombudsman office for small businesses to help them steer through the beauracracy and reduce the "government overhead": time, frustration, and money that they need to endure in order to be successful.
Some of these are easy, many are tough, a few may be borderline impossible. But right now, we're wasting time, money, and breath on foolishness like Renaissance square, worrying whether we have good enough bars and nightclubs to convince college graduates to stay, and silly projects. We need political leadership that has vision, strategy, and a plan and is focused more on improving the State than on pandering to the entrenched political power players.
I had hoped Elliot Spitzer would be that leadership. That's why I supported him. |
