Today was an important day for New York State as a whole. Governor Andrew Cuomo awarded over 780 Million dollars to all 10 Economic Regional Development Councils, helping kick-start over 700 regional projects.
The Regional Economic Development Competitive Grant Contest was started over 3 months ago. Each of New York’s 10 regions were tasked with developing strategic economic development plans that would help their regions grow and expand, while creating an economic climate that would entice businesses to come to their areas.
The committees that created the competitive contest highlighted the following aspects that had to be apart of any regions successful plan.
1. vision: The plan must be realistic
2. Process: The plan must have an integrated approach to working with what already exists
3. Strategies: The plan must have a clear strategic plan that will incorporate all projects
4. Implementation: The plan must be able to actually take place (no pie in the sky)
5. Leveraging: The plan must be mulch-faceted and work with both public and private organizations
6. Performance Measure: The plan must be able to be evaluated.
With all of this in mind the 10 regions developed their individual plans and then presented them to the committee. The winners and amounts are as follows…
1. Central New York Region – 103.7 Million (Best Plan Award Winner)
– Focus on redeveloping urban cores and specifically funding manufacturing of Wind Power.
2. North Country Region - 103.2 Million (Best Plan Award Winner)
– Focus on developing their tourism, agricultural, and defense industries.
3. Long Island Region – 101.6 Million (Best Plan Award Winner)
– 13 separate projects that include re-developing transit hubs in minority areas. Also, working with Higher Education institutions to expand the number of local youth in STEM programs.
4. Western New York Region – 100.3 Million (Best Plan Award Winner)
– Western New York was amazing non-specific in their video. So, i would love to tell you, but i don’t know.
5. Finger Lakes Region – 68.8 Million
– Focused on re-developing Eastman Park into the manufacturing and research center for new Fuel Cell Tech.
6. Mid-Hudson Region – 67.0 Million
– Building a Bio-Tech incubator at NY Medical College in order to help expand the bio-tech industry in the area. Also, rebuilding local infrastructure including the Tappen-Zee Bridge.
7. New York City Region – 66.2 Million
– Redeveloping the Huntspoint Market and redeveloping the Bronx as a whole.
8. Capitol Region – 62.7 Million
– Maximizing the High-Tech development that is already taking place and redeveloping downtown and tourist locations.
9. Mohawk Valley Region – 60.2 Million
– 13 separate projects aimed at “charting a new course” for the Mohawk Valley.
10. Southern Tier Region – 49.4 Million
– Focus on re-developing local downtowns after flood damage. Also, would like to expand renewable energy manufacturing in the region (this is ironic since that region is the biggest supporter of Hydro-Fracking).
Moving forward, the another competitive grant will be generated by the state for the regional economic councils to compete for in the next budget. This is a big day for New York because for the first time in decades New York is making a real attempt to maximize its regional potential and bring businesses back to New York.
