Issue Position: Economic Development

Issue Position

In my first term, I helped launch an economic development initiative to promote small businesses in both the Finger Lakes and North Country regions. The "Finger Lakes Trading Cooperative" and the "North Country Trading Cooperative" programs are public-private partnerships that bring together local businesses, technical and educational assistance, and community leaders to create employment and economic opportunities in the area. The Cooperatives serve businesses in Livingston, Wyoming, St. Lawrence, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis, Essex, and Warren Counties with needed technology, financial support such as micro-credit loans, and strategic business training marketing plans that fully utilize the power of the Internet.

I also supported a pilot project, "Access to Business Capital" (ABC), to provide critical resources to small and micro businesses in Yates County. ABC is designed to give small businesses and entrepreneurs often considered "unbankable" the financing and training they need to develop and succeed.

I've co-authored a law that expands Renewal Zones in several areas of Upstate New York, including Rochester, Jamestown, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Schenectady and Syracuse. This creates new incentives for business and job creation, because businesses in the Renewal Zones are eligible for a new wage credit, greater expensing for the purchase of new equipment, and lowered capital gains rates for investments in buildings and properties.

The way to brighten our economic future is to bring all of our talents together to tackle the problems we face as one New York. I am delighted that so many across this state agree with that message, and I am encouraged that we are finally beginning to see the fruits of our efforts.

One of the ways we are bringing people together is through the private sector venture called New Jobs for New York. This not-for-profit effort, which I have supported from its inception and which I serve proudly as chair of its advisory board, brings New York's investment dollars to inventors and innovators across this state. For example, New Jobs for New York has held conferences at the Rochester Institute of Technology on alternative energy opportunities, at Syracuse University on the homeland security industry, and at the State University of New York at Binghamton on venture capital . These meetings put leading inventors and innovators in the same room with high-dollar investors who can make good ideas a reality - bringing jobs and renewed prosperity to our state. I am delighted by the progress we are making with this initiative and committed to its continued success.

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