Politics

Regional Councils

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced early in his term that he'd be creating a set of "regional economic councils" to build plans for funding economic development across New York, from the ground up.In the summer of 2011 he finally announced some of the details of the program, to be led by Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy. The ten councils each have dozens of members, and are charged with gathering input from the public and business leaders, and creating a plan by November 14. Those plans will be pitted against each other for a pot of $1 billion in grants, incentives, and tax relief from various state agencies. The winners will get more funding, the losers will get less.But other details - like whether funding will be available past the initial term, and who will serve on the board that decides who wins and who loses - have not been released.The Innovation Trail is looking for your feedback about what your regional economic priorities are, and what you want your community to look like once the councils have completed their task.

CNY's Regional Council looks to improve engagement in year two

WXXI News | By Ryan Delaney, WRVO

Published March 23, 2012 at 5:27 PM EDT

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Central New York Regional Economic Development Council member Andrew Fish listens to local business owners during a hearing to kick-off the council's second year.

Ryan Delaney / WRVO

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Members of the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council got feedback from local business owners and officials on the council's first year.

Ryan Delaney / WRVO

There was a collective chuckle at the suggestion that the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council buy ad time during a Syracuse University basketball game to increase its visibility.

The council could never afford that, one member said.

But how to get the word out better about the council was a big focus of the council's first public forum since being the state's biggest winner last year.

"The bulk of the excitement is about the process and the plan that we ended up with," says Andrew Fish, a council member and executive director of Cayuga County's Chamber of Commerce.

"The winning was just icing on the cake - and being first in the state really brought it home to all of us that 'yes, this is the direction that we need to go'."

The council nabbed $103.7 million for 74 projects in the region in December.

About two-dozen area business owners, including some winners in last year's competition, and officials gathered at Cazenovia College Thursday evening for the council's first get-together since the awards.

It was a feedback session, punctuated by occasional updates on the score of the Syracuse Orange's NCAA Sweet 16 game.

Round two

When they weren't rooting for the home team, business leaders offered suggestions about how to get the word out about the council, including using Facebook and Twitter more aggressively. They also asked that the council get announcements about meetings out sooner.

Fish says the council is revving up again - but slowly to start, since dates and dollar amounts for a second round are still be nailed down.

"We're not even sure what the competitive nature of the process will be this time around," says Fish. "But we know they want good projects so that's what we're looking for."

A second round of award money, likely about $200 million, will be given out in October.

The big names of the regional council, like Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor and CenterState CEO President Rob Simpson, were not at the get-together last night. But the full council is scheduled to meet April 24th.