How Would You Accelerate Upstate?

(1)Instead of just capping taxes, reduce them to compatitive levels. I'm no anti tax radical but NYS is obviously way too expensive.

(2) Hire the best and the brightest even if they come from out of state and might actually bring an outsiders perspective in. What a concept! NYS and localities tends to have a residency requirement prior to application. Thats absurd. If you want a residency requirement then require persons to live in state or locality after they are hired, not prior to.

(3) Reduce the welfare benefits in NYS to run middle of the pack nationally. NYS should not be pround of being the land of the best taxpayer supported welfare benefits. Yes, people have hardships and things happen in life and some people need the help at times but lets not maintain a system where geenrations rely on and take advantage of such benefits for decades and generations (unless there is a true medical need) at others expense. If folks can get by with less in all 49 other states then why are the citizens paying as much as they are in NYS?

So, I'm confused ( I don't want to be a whiner here but I'm going to be)- the idea is to be more inclusive and generate new ideas? But there's a $125 charge for non-members to register for the BNP event ($75 for members). Seems to me you'll have more of the same "select" subset of the community attend than you might the people who are really in the community, and are already typically left out of these brainstorming type discussions. I'm not cheap, but I'm not paying a business orginzation to come to an event to share MY ideas to help a struggling region. How about the event trims the happy hours, catered free meals and encourage attendees to patronize the nearby businesses, and make the event free or lower cost? I love the idea of the 2 day event, but if we're going to see new and creative ideas in these forums, we have to break out of the notion that your ideas are only relevant if you're willing to pay to share them, because most of the time businesses PAY OTHER PEOPLE for creative ideas (they're called consusltants). The benefit of having more of the community involved here (aside from being engaged in the discussion) is that community residents have a stake in the outcome - unlike consultants.

(4) Invest heavily in infrastructure (many roads and bridges are in terrible condition) and force people and commerce to travel into and out of WNY via carefully planned high speed rail and supporting expanded and enhanced Route 219. With what money? Well some of the savings from scaling back the welfare system to middle of the pack is a good start.

So many of the issues with Upstate NY are caused by policies created in Albany. I didn't see many NY politicians on the agenda for this event, so I wonder how much will really be accomplished in the very near term. Our state politicians are incredibly out of touch with their constituents and the real condition of New York.

I agree with all of Flyguy's comments, the state needs an overhaul. For instance, did you know that the elderly (over 68) account for 7.5% of all medicaid recipients in NY, but they receive 25% of the medicaid budget. The elderly receive an average of 27,000 per year in medicaid benefits, this is 142% greater than the next state on the list ($11,300). If we were to adopt the national average for medicaid spending for our elderly in NY, we would save over $4.2 BILLION per year, just for providing the same level of service that the rest of the states provide to their residents.

There is also the issue of freedom in NY. A recent study completed by a University of Buffalo professor, Jason Sorens, shows that NY is dead last when it comes to personal and economic freedom. (http://www.statepolicyindex.com/the-research/) - (a potential article for BRO maybe)?

It is no secret that NY is not especially friendly to taxpayers or businesses. At some point we have to realize that our out of balance policies and lack of attention to upstate is ultimately hurting the state as a whole.

Hopefully someone in Albany will listen when this conference is done.

NY has a major spending problem, not a revenue problem. We have the second highest tax burden in the US and we are quickly pushing to be number 1.

Accelerate upstate? We can start with cutting off the 9 million living in NYC who think of upstate as their own personal backyard (refer to the nuclear waste dump placed in cattaraugus county by Cuomo Sr., the fact that 85% of inmates in upstate prisons come from downstate, or how most of NYC's water comes from upstate lakes).While downstate does give upstate 1.15 for every dollar put in during good fiscal quarters, that amount is reversed when NYS sees economic turmoil. NYC is undoubtedly a huge strain to take care of since it rests on a marsh, thus why its infrastructure is currently crumbling. When this fact inevitably does catch up with the city and hit it hard, upstate will be made to pay. Not to mention why someone in the upper east side should be telling someone in Angola how to live, and vice-versa is beyond me. Just think that the last time a governor was elected from upstate was in 1921.

I understand this article does not call for a response like this but having read very recent articles about California and Arizona looking to split, I don't see why it shouldnt be off the table if we're looking for upstate to actually have some authority over itself. State secession is not un-patriotic, in fact it's arguably more democratic, and it's a shame that the last time it happened was 1863 and since then has been called ridiculous. I'm obviously not the first one to speak up about this since NYC officials think the same but in their own interest as well.

Rant done.

Points from flyguy and MikeDuff sound similar to positive reforms going on in some other northern states such as Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, etc.

However, that kind of direction change won't happen here because compared to so many other states, our majority of residents is deeper blue, wider left - whichever description one prefers. (Is 'progressiver' an adjective?)

The Cuomo-Skelos-Silver combination is as pro-reform as we're going to get any time soon - and yet as we're seeing, the fiscal policy reforms from them are very weak even if slight improvements over the previous few years. It also won't be surprising to see even these weak reforms slowly/quietly undone in the next few budgets.

Meeting participant John Faso could've been our Scott Walker, MItch Daniels, or Chris Christie - but of course he lost by about the same margin as the much worse candidate Carl Paladino did 4 years later. No sense complaining about it. It is what it is.

No matter its merits, P2's suggestion for splitting the state is totally unrealistic. (It won't happen either in CA or AZ).

On a less negative note, I don't see any reason to think Upstate or WNY will get much worse economically - they'll just carry on as usual and trail long term job growth of a lot of other U.S. places. Not the end of the world at all.

More rigorous education standards and life-long learning should be the top priorities. We need to do whatever it takes to eliminate the unequal tiered school system we have now. We'll need to attract bright and creative people from around the world while at the same time building a system and a culture here that produces more intelligent and disciplined WNYers.

How Would You Accelerate Upstate?

Make it part of Canada?

1) Elect the County Legislature and Common Council on an at-large basis.

2) Eliminate the Water Authority and NFTA by making them into departments of county government.

3) Go to a City Manager form of government in Buffalo.

Oh yeah. And I would downsize the board of the BNP. 73 members? Are you people serious?

NYC is the only city in New York State with a metropolitan form of government yet cities across upstate New York still treat the idea of metropolitan government as taboo. When will upstate face the concept of consolidation?

(Sorry for interrupting the 1980s Reaganesque conversation here of how the poor are ruining New York State.)

IMO, this event is more about invigorating the public get involved. A bike lane won't be placed on a road unless you're kicking the door down in the planner's office and who ever else's to get the job done. An ECC building won't be built Downtown sometimes unless you fight for it every day. The idea is to get the public's gears turning, so that we can make an upstate we care about. Being armchair politicians/engineers/architects/businessmen won't get us anywhere. You have to physically make a difference.

Also, I think the costs of electricity are outrageous for a region originally made the idea of cheap electricity possible 100 years ago. If we aren't the electric city in an age of scarcity for electric power, we've failed. It's sitting at our doorstep in different forms, and we ignore it. We need to control our own power whether it be Upstate, WNY, or the Buffalo Niagara Region.

Cheap electricity brings industry, jobs, innovation, and more.

How do you accelerate Upstate??? Secede from downstate
WNY = 51st state

Focus on vibrancy..people, business, the young, the new, the outgoing want to be where its at. Buffalo is probably 15% there.

You can't just call it quits at Elmwood and Hertel. Clean the place up, focus on saftey, take these homes and make them "livable" and turn them over to the twentysomethings. I can think of at least a dozen close friends who would sign up tmorrow. Can anyone tell me why Grant, Bailey, Forest, and BlackRock Amherst St are still in the condition they're in? Get creative!

Make it vibrant.

No body wants to be around homeless, garbage, and projects...a large part of the city is just that...an abyss of destitution..hopelessness...wasteland. This is what the outside world thinks of us..they see this first and the rest 2nd. (A lot of locals too)

Focus on what our strengths are and capitalize on them. Business incubation anyone? I can think of few places where people are as loyal as we are. Give them a reason to come back..with their business. (Lower business costs in a high tax climate is not that out of the norm)

For god sakes..why doesn't Buffalo, Binghamton, Rochester, Syracuse etc. have their own voting block in Albany?? I'd imagine a vast majority of the political/structural issues are the SAME. Who has got to make the call?