ViewPoint
:
Governor should widen his focus to Hudson cities
Ned
Sullivan, president of Scenic Hudson, says Spitzer’s
most valuable contribution to Westchester and the Hudson
Valley would be to expand his economic redevelopment
agenda, now focused on upstate New York, so that cities
just a little south can also reap the rewards.
“His
agenda seems focused on upstate, and many of the Hudson
Valley’s cities, from Yonkers to Newburgh and Beacon,
Kingston, Poughkeepsie, really face many of the same
challenges as upstate cities,” Sullivan said. “I’m very
hopeful his urban agenda will include the Hudson Valley
as well, and that his commitment to lowering property
taxes and addressing brownfield issues and investing
in infrastructure will happen here.”
The
better the state’s cities are faring economically, Sullivan
acknowledges, the better Scenic Hudson can succeed at
steering development away from the Hudson River shore
and undeveloped properties, from Westchester north to
Dutchess and Ulster counties. That’s a key concern to
a group charged with promoting environmental conservation.
Spitzer’s
urban agenda -- expressed in his Jan. 3 State of the
State address -- calls for a new upstate economic development
czar based in Buffalo, more state aid to distressed
upstate cities, as-yet-unannounced changes to the state
brownfield law to encourage redevelopment of industrial
sites, a new inventory of land available for building
new housing, funding more employer-assisted housing
programs and rewarding cities that change their zoning
to allow more downtown housing. The plan is aimed at
reviving the upstate cities of Albany, Buffalo, Rochester
and Syracuse -- home to a combined 3.5 million state
residents -- by growing their downtown residential populations
2 percent.
Spitzer’s
agenda has received kudos from The Brookings Institution
in Washington, D.C.: “A ‘2 percent solution’ can help
jump-start the economic recovery of these proud metropolitan
areas and help restore and re-brand now-struggling cities
as innovative hubs of creativity and innovation,” wrote
Bruce Katz, Brookings’ vice president and director for
metropolitan Policy, in the Syracuse Post-Standard last
November.
The
downtown residential component sounds similar to the
approach used by White Plains and New Rochelle in recent
years to revive their downtowns following years of underinvestment.
Hudson River communities should take care, though, to
allow a broader mix of housing, including affordable
units, than Westchester’s cities have done so far.
“Development
is happening in Westchester, but getting those development
dollars farther north has been very difficult,” said
Sullivan, a founding member of the Hudson Valley Economic
Development Corp. “It’s been challenging, and I think
we need the governor’s partnership.”
Sullivan’s
also right in contending that Spitzer needs to see two
region-building projects to completion -- the reconstruction
of the Tappan Zee Bridge linking Westchester and Rockland
counties, and further expansion of Stewart International
Airport, soon to see a direct link off Interstate 84
now under construction.
“If
he’s serious about expanding Stewart Airport, it is
critical that we have a collaborative effort between
the environmental community, the commercial interests
that would like to see that happen and the governor,
to stem the sprawl that has already occurred there,
and to get the development benefits of any expansion
to occur in the city of Newburgh,” Sullivan said.
One
avenue for urban revival on the Hudson, Sullivan says,
would be fostering a cluster of environmentally friendly
“green” technology businesses, capitalizing on the region’s
tech work force -- dating back from the days IBM was
the region’s dominant employer -- and its quality of
life.
“There’s
a real opportunity here. From a business perspective,
this is a burgeoning commercial and manufacturing sector,
and I think there are some real assets in the Hudson
Valley that should make this a real focal point for
investment by the state,” Sullivan said.
The
sooner Spitzer and state officials expand their economic
redevelopment horizons to include our region and get
busy with some new policies, the better for Westchester
and the rest of the Hudson Valley and the better for
the state.
Reader
Comments
|
Please
send us your comments!
|
|
Add
Your Comments
