EDITORIALS
Center development here
Governor should tap Gundersen, locate state agency in Buffalo
Updated: 05/09/08 6:33 AM
Word from Albany that Gov. David A. Paterson is being advised to end the special focus New York put on this economically challenged region ought to trigger heated protests and concerted action by the leaders of this community. And that action should center on persuading the governor to strengthen state emphasis on upstate recovery, not weaken it.
He can do so by putting state economic development leadership completely in the hands of current Empire State Development Corp. Upstate Co-chairman Daniel C. Gundersen and keeping his headquarters here.
Gundersen, who also serves now as commissioner of the state’s Department of Economic Development and previously worked as a deputy secretary of economic development in both Pennsylvania and Maryland, is a logical choice for the statewide role and already is well versed in upstate’s acute development needs.
There were problems with the co-chairmanship approach to ESDC leadership, which split that role between Gundersen here and Patrick Foye in Manhattan. Insiders say the split caused delays and inefficiency. Foye’s recent resignation opens a door to restructuring, and Paterson seems likely to follow a push from his advisers to restore single-person leadership.
He should do so— by returning to former Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer’s initial promise to relocate the state agency from Manhattan, which doesn’t need so much of a redevelopment push, to Buffalo, an upstate city that does.
The current advice is coming to a New York City-based governor from people who think “upstate” New York is the same as Fifth Avenue. Paterson must recognize that there are real upstate economic development needs that deserve far more consideration than any politically based pressure to appoint a Manhattan head of a Manhattan-based agency. Gundersen is the right person, in the right place. That needs affirmation from the governor.
It is hard to imagine the pace of upstate development being much slower than it has been through many years. Spitzer’s original idea and campaign promise of moving the state agency’s headquarters to Buffalo, while keeping some staff in Manhattan, would have focused the state on the needs of New York west of the Hudson River.
The watered-down idea of co-chairmanship at least centered the attention of one high-ranking and influential official on those needs, but returning leadership solely to Manhattan now while dissolving the post of upstate cochair would be a slap in the face to a region that has already suffered quite enough of those.
Keeping the focus on upstate, far less able to attract development on its own than Manhattan, should be a priority for Paterson.
A state economic development chairman or co-chairman does more than cut ribbons and round up tax breaks. It is a position that is supposed to include acquaintance with what people need and want, and what developers have to offer, so that the two can be put together. The idea is not just to dole out money, but to lean on other state officials to improve business conditions locally and statewide through decisions on everything from tax policy to Thruway tolls to labor laws.
Upstate doesn’t just deserve its own economic development friend at court. It desperately needs one. Paterson should not take it away.
