CREATING JOBS/ GROWING ECONOMY/ INNOVATION

I’ve worked for Park Outdoor Advertising for 20 years and have been in hundreds of businesses across the district. I know their pain and their success. I’ve been in these stores when they have a backorder of tractors, waiting for them to arrive in the United States or to be trucked across the country by a big rig sitting idle because a driver can’t be found. I’ve talked to restaurant owners who can’t keep prices in check because a bag of wings has doubled in price in just a year and who can’t find workers after they were forced to close or cut hours. I know what it’s like to visit a business that was open one week, to only be shuttered the next or to meet with small business owners who tell me they’re done and they’ll be closing, cancelling contracts, and moving on.

I’m on the Industrial Development Agency in Tompkins. I’ve held developers accountable who have not fulfilled their agreements, but also voted to extend those agreements when we as a group believed there were extenuating circumstances. The IDA does not create jobs. We are in the business of making that easier in a state that consistently puts up barriers. We see this at the national level, as we make it harder for companies to manufacture in the US. Seneca Falls, Syracuse, Ithaca, Oneida, Cortland, all historically manufacturing towns with companies like Siemens, Morse Chain, Carrier, Goulds Pumps, Borg Warner, Cargill Salt, Oneida Limited, Tessy Plastics, Bombardier. Some of these are gone now. Some remain. We must look to why some companies stay, build on those positives, expand them so that our companies that are currently paying the freight will thrive while also incentivizing companies to not only come here, but to start here, many times with technology from our universities and colleges.