ShovelReady conference focuses on connecting Upstate

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Apr 21, 2006 by Duffett, Claire

SYRACUSE - On March 24, local businesspeople, economicdevelopment specialists, and leaders of educational institutions gathered to discuss approaches to bringing new businesses and retaining current companies in upstate New York.

The event, called "Upstate Conversations," focused on the need of leaders throughout the region to form one cohesive strategy for growth.

"The rest of the country thinks of Upstate as one region - we need to start dunking of ourselves that way too," said Lamar Hill, president of Albany-based New York Nanotech.

National Grid, through its "ShovelReady" outreach program, hosted the daylong conference at The Marx Hotel in downtown Syracuse. About 100 people attended.

In 2005, National Grid's New York Economic Development Plan, which is approved by the New York State Public Service Commission, granted funding for 97 of 145 applicants, totaling $5.4 million, said Marilyn Higgins, vice president of economic development at National Grid.

Representatives from ShovelReady, which publicizes the economicdevelopment plan and markets to businesses on behalf of upstate New York, organized the conference.

To promote investment in Upstate, in early 2005, ShovelReady launched a nationally aired television commercial on CNN. The result - a 36-percent increase in Web traffic on the ShovelReady site, Higgins said.

The first speaker at the conference was Syracuse University (SU) Chancellor Dr. Nancy Cantor, who expanded on the day's theme of emphasizing upstate New York as one economic and cultural entity, rather than a group of separate cities and towns.

Cantor argued that organizations like National Grid and SU are attempting to recreate what community leaders built more than 100 years ago - a corridor. The original corridor, the Erie Canal, was a physical link, while the new connection between upstate cities from Buffalo through Albany will be metaphorical, she said.

Leaders from Syracuse can use the resources and experiences of neighboring cities to form their decisions, she explained.

For example, Matthew Enstice, executive director of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, explained how his city is using its healthcare industry to spur downtown residential and commercial development.

The $54 million in new construction of health-care facilities-, residential, and outdoor projects is intended to use the city's large medical industry to fuel downtown Buffalo's stagnant population and business growth, Enstice explained.

Cantor highlighted the campaigns she is spearheading to connect SU with the City of Syracuse. Projects include the Connective Corridor, another expansion of her Erie Canal metaphor, which will be a threemile pedestrian walkway and public, shuttle-bus circuit connecting SU's campus to the downtown art institutions, she said. National Grid has already committed $1 million to the project. U.S. Congressman James Walsh (R-Syracuse) secured $3.5 million in public funding in the 2005 Transportation Bill.

In addition, Cantor mentioned The South Side Entrepreneurial Connect Project, which pairs South Side businesses with assistance from the intellectual capital at SU.

"It's not a selfless act [that] we're doing," Cantor said, explaining that the South Side project allows SU students and professors to practice their skills in a real-world environment.

On March 24, The Business Journal reported that SU was opening a business incubator called the South Side Innovation Center on South Salina Street to foster new and existing downtown businesses.

Other upstate New York business leaders to speak at the conference included Steven J. DiMeo, president of Mohawk Valley EDGE, who discussed Rome Laboratory's successful closure avoidance in 2005.

The Defense Department's Base Realignment and Closure Commission assessed whether to leave the laboratory where the Air Force does its electronics research in Rome or relocate it. The commission determined the lab and business park was best left as is, because of Upstate's intellectual capital, low cost of operations, and solid infrastructure, DiMeo explained.

Other presenters who discussed how up state leaders can retain and grow the region's economy included Thomas Kucharski, president of Buffalo Niagara Enterprise; Jeff Bray, president of Fulton County Economic Development Council; Kelly Lovell, president of the Center for Economic Growth in Albany; Neville Bugwadia, marketing director for Empire State Development Corp.; Jessica Crawford, chairwoman of the 40-Below Steering Committee; and Linda Hartsock, executive director of the Cortland Business Development Corp.