We need to think like a region

Winemaker par excellence and entrepreneur Duncan Ross offered this comment in response to the my profile of redevelopment in the Suspension Bridge District as well as the efforts of Business Development Director Morgan Genovese.

“It would be fun to do a road trip with people in economic development in WNY to areas of the USA actually growing. Phoenix AZ, Austin TX, maybe even Niagara Falls Ontario. See what growth looks like then analyze the factors that enable that growth.

"NF NY is not interested in data, as we learned with the NFGTI - everyone prefers anecdotal data rather than real data on tourism. The end result of not paying attention to the underlying causes of decline and developing strategies to recover is what we are seeing today. With a little bit of radiation and chemicals sprinkled about to make it more interesting.

“Economic development isn’t not rocket science, but in WNY it is going to require taking the blinders off and admitting we have a lot of work to do. A lot of that work will be undoing ‘the unchangable’: keeping our electricity and parks revenue, setting up tax structures appropriate for WNY and encouraging development of small business rather than the ‘silver bullet’ approach of giving all our money to a big business that with ‘save; WNY (solar city, teletech, wny Bioinformatics, etc)

Or we could keep doing the same thing and watch further decline.”

I agree with Duncan, Niagara Falls, Ontario is a good place to study because it shows what happens when the provincial government works in concert with the city rather than in a fiefdom. There needs to be one team, and no silos.

Mayor Jim Diodati met with me in April. He can explain every element of new development, including his role and that of the province. Imagine that level of common energy between the state and our mayor.

When I left Diodati's office, he handed me two envelopes with passes for the major tourist attractions in Niagara Falls and invited me to write more as well as come back for another visit because he plays a roll in promoting his world class attraction.

Imagine if Mayor Restaino could promote Niagara Falls by acknowledging the value of the tourism industry (he does not, that's why Niagara Global Tourism Institute closed. He disrespected Pat Whelan one time too many.) Imagine if he could hand an out-of-town visitor, or media member visiting for the first time passes to the Maid of the Mist, Cave of the Winds, lunch at DiCamillo's and parking together with a promise "hey, if you want to go on the Jetboat, let my office know."

Now take a trip to Albany. Imagine if we sent a Senator and Assemblyman who had a seat at the table and said "Hey, from now on, a 6% tariff applies on all dollars spent in the State Park and it will go directly to the Niagara Falls city general fund. In addition, as host communities, Niagara Falls and Lewiston industries and residents will receive a 25% discount on the cost of electricity."

Now imagine have a leader in Washington who could get a simple regulation passed that said rail commuters only need to pass customs once when crossing to Toronto. The train station was built with that in mind and His Worship Diodati is already working with GO and the Province to improve travel times and have hourly trains.

I agree with Duncan about silver bullets not working for our little sisters in Buffalo or the Niagara region as a whole.

That's why on the Main Street project, every developer gets to complete one project before they are eligible for another and there is a clawback for nonperfomance with a $250,000 fine. If USA Niagara had such a clause Montante would have stepped off the pot rather than still waiting to . . . oh you get it.

We are the Niagara Region. Hear us roar.