With ‘upstate Hunger Games’ deadline approaching, mayors mum on plans
With only one week left to submit bids for the Upstate Revitalization Initiative competition, most upstate New York mayors are hesitant to speak publicly about their plans for their cities for fear of jeopardizing their chances.
The competition was quickly dubbed the “upstate Hunger Games,” named after a series of books in which children must participate in an annual televised death match.
“This is what happens when you have a ‘Hunger Games’ kind of process where the merits of your position are complicated by your relationship with the decision-maker,” former Assemblyman Richard Brodsky said. “When you’re getting this kind of mass silence, you’re getting a message that there’s an audience of one for these kinds of things – and it ain’t the public.”
During his State of the State address in January, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the initiative, which would award $500 million each to three of seven eligible regions.
The $1.5 billion needed for the competition was approved by the state Legislature and is a portion of the about $5 billion the state received from bank settlements in the wake of the financial crisis.
The Capital Region, Central New York, Finger Lakes, Mid-Hudson, Mohawk Valley, North County and Southern Tier regions must all submit their plans to the regional Economic Development Councils by Oct. 5.
Long Island and New York City were excluded from the competition. In 2012, Cuomo announced a $1 billion investment called the “Buffalo Billion,” so Western New York was also excluded.
City & State reached out to the mayors of Binghamton, Syracuse, Utica, Yonkers and Plattsburgh. They either did not immediately respond to interview requests or declined to speak.
Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren, however, is excited about her city’s prospects and what the funding could do for her city.
“We don’t have the ability to dictate the way it should be done – we just want to be able to access those dollars and we know those dollars will be beneficial to our citizens,” Warren said. “I think that it’s the governor’s prerogative to roll out the process the way in which he feels is best and our region is ready to compete. We’re in the final stages of completing our document.”
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan said whichever regions ultimately win the three awards, upstate New York is better off because of the competition. Sheehan declined to discuss any of the specific details about her city’s plan, but said Capital Region stakeholders have created a website about their bid, the Capital 2020 plan.
“I think it’s a process that every region needed to go through,” she said. “I think we’re going to end up with regions that have a roadmap for economic development that’s not just small projects looking at one year, but (plans like) the Capital 2020 plan, which is a 5- to 10-year plan for growth in the Capital Region and makes a compelling case for investment, notwithstanding whether or not there’s a half a billion dollars at the end of that road.”
The competition aspect of the initiative has garnered criticism in the past, and Brodsky argued the process pits upstate cities against one another when it should be about community development. Still, Sheehan and Warren are focused on the benefits the money could bring, not the hurdles it may take to receive it.
“We have to take all (the stakeholders’) perspectives together and look at what the governor’s goal is,” Sheehan said. “The (reason) the Legislature approved this funding was really around, ‘How do we change the trajectory and really grow jobs in the regions that are eligible for this competition?’ … So is that a diplomatic way of saying, ‘I wish there was $500 million for each of the regions?’ Of course I do! I’d be crazy not to say that, but these are the rules.”