Today in your Trail Mix:
Redeveloping Buffalo and Syracuse's waterfronts.
Pa. fails to count all of its drilling operations.
Erie County's executive stands up against incentives that don't create jobs.
Plus, performance-based pay for SUNY.
Redevelopment
The former site of Buffalo's Auditorium Theater will be overhauled into a set of canals starting on February 1 (Chris Caya, WNED).
That project is at a "tipping point" according to the development corporation charged with the work (Mark Sommer, Buffalo News).
Christine Carrie Fien at City Newspaper has an interview with the Rochester Regional Community Design Center's Joni Monroe, about what makes for good downtown design.
Developers have presented their ideas for remaking Syracuse's Inner Harbor (Tim Knauss, Post-Standard).
Energy
Pennsylvania's environmental regulator has failed to count some of the wells operating in the Marcellus Shale, raising questions about its ability to track drilling (AP).
The EPA remains undecided about delivering drinking water to the residents of the fabled town of Dimock, Pa. (Scott Detrow, State Impact PA).
Incentives
Erie County's new executive made his debut at the county's industrial development agency meeting by voting against providing taxpayer-funded incentives for a housing development, saying that the project wouldn't retain jobs (David Robinson, Buffalo News).
The state's largest economic development project, the GlobalFoundries chip fabrication plant, is finally actually making computer chips (Larry Rulison, Times Union).
Politics
Governor Cuomo made a tour of radio shows yesterday, to argue that his State of the State proposals are "big solutions to big problems" (Jon Campbell, Vote Up!).
Senator Charles Schumer is visiting a steel plant outside of Rochester this morning to call for the Defense Department to use only domestic steel on its contracts (Democrat and Chronicle).
Today is Occupy Syracuse's 100-day anniversary (Ellen Abbott, WRVO).
Business
The latest story in our Company Town series: a pasta company that uses Old World techniques to satisfy locavores (Zack Seward, WXXI/Innovation Trail).
A new call center for a suburban Rochester Xerox plant could create up to 400 jobs (Jeffrey Blackwell, Democrat and Chronicle).
Corning is launching a second generation of its tough-as-nails smartphone and television surface, Gorilla Glass, at the Consumer Electronics Show this week (Elmira Star-Gazette).
A chemical left behind at an IBM facility in Endicott causes birth defects according to a new study (Steve Reilly, Gannett).
Government
New York is picking up about $90 million in federal transportation money for damage caused by Irene and Lee (Tim O'Brien, Times Union).
The FAA has granted Onondaga County a license to use its police helicopter as an air taxi. The county sought the license to help fund the chopper, which was cut in the legislature's budget. Other ideas: seeking sponsors for the bird (Charley Hannagan, Post-Standard).
About 70 percent of towns, cities, villages, etc. were able to comply with the state's new two percent property tax cap, according to the comptroller (Colby Hamilton, The Empire).
Higher ed
SUNY chancellor Nancy Zimpher announced yesterday in her "State of SUNY" address that the system would be going to a performance-based funding algorithm by the 2013-2014 school year (Marie Cusick, WMHT/Innovation Trail).
Zimpher also announced that SUNY is planning to launch an effort to encourage its researchers to commercialize more of their research (Daniel Robison, WNED/Innovation Trail).
Cornell's New York City tech campus project will create as much power as it uses, if its designer has his way (Fred A. Bernstein, Architectural Record).
Best wishes
Fond farewell to Infrastructurist, our favorite blog dedicated to innovations in infrastructure. The principals there have moved on to gigs at The Daily, and The Atlantic Cities blog. They'll be missed (Matthew Van Dusen).
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