http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/winner-nys/ Columns from NYS Senator George Winner en-us Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:15:21 GMT CakePHP http://blogs.fingerlakes1.com/winner-nys/economic-building-blocks/ President-elect Barak Obama recently unveiled glimpses of a national economic recovery plan that he hopes will be among the very first actions of his administration early next year. In a weekend radio address, the president-elect said that his job-creation strategy will offer a sweeping effort and include initiatives to make public buildings more energy efficient, provide new investments in the national infrastructure, undertake what he called America’s largest-ever effort “to modernize and upgrade school buildings,” and engage a renewal of the country’s “information superhighway” through broadband development. “We need action -- and action now,” President-elect Obama said. Who can argue with an economic call to arms, particularly at a time when jobless claims nationwide have reached their highest level in nearly three decades? We can debate and dissect the specifics of any national strategy for economic renewal -- and we will -- but the larger point is this: we do need action, and we need it now. That call for action needs to be heard right here in New York State too. On December 16th in Albany, New York Governor David Paterson will unveil his proposed 2009-2010 state budget. We know that New York has been impacted, unlike any other state in the nation, by Wall Street’s financial meltdown. We know that we’re facing a nearly $2 billion budget deficit in the short term and estimates are that next year’s budget deficit will rise to more than $12 billion. Hints of the Paterson deficit-reduction plan have emerged over the past week. We’ve heard that the governor will call for higher state user fees, for example, such as higher costs for state park admissions. We’ve seen signals that the governor will propose significant cuts in education and health care. So we can expect a plan from Governor Paterson centered on spending reductions and on ways to increase revenue, and that’s no surprise because the fiscal challenge is undeniably a huge one. But I’ve said before, and I’ll stress it again here: what is New York State going to do to jump-start the economy? Especially upstate where daily, it seems, there’s more news of job losses in a region and an economy already dangerously close to collapse. In the past week we’ve seen the reports of upstate plant closings in Buffalo and Syracuse, resulting in the loss of hundreds of jobs. So while the Legislature will be closely examining Governor Paterson’s proposed budget to determine the impact of proposed spending cuts and higher taxes and fees, I’m also going to be listening very closely for the governor’s plans to join President-elect Obama’s call for action to jump-start the state economy. For example, what opportunities might there be for New York to take steps of its own to join the coming call for broadband development across America? I think there are opportunities that can make a great difference, particularly upstate. The Legislative Commission on Rural Resources (LCRR), which I chair, recently issued a new report summarizing local, state, and federal efforts to expand the availability of high-speed Internet to the residents of rural regions. This new report, “Examples of Current Approaches to Rural Broadband Deployment,” is available online through my Senate Web site, www.senatorwinner.com, or by contacting any of my offices in Bath (776-3201), Elmira (732-2765), or Albany (518-455-2091). Broadband development across upstate New York should remain a high priority. It’s one foundation for bringing the excitement and prosperity of a high-tech future to rural New York. Broadband has become fundamental to our economic and educational success as a region. But getting it done is going to require creativity, innovation, and, maybe most importantly, commitment from every level of government. Let’s begin now. The LCRR has estimated that at least 750,000 rural New Yorkers do not have high-speed Internet access through either cable modem, DSL, fiber, or wireless service. So we’re soon going to hear from Governor Paterson about spending cuts, spending cuts, and more spending cuts. He’ll make his case for higher fees and taxes. We’re going to hear about the necessity to consolidate, downsize, and, generally, right the ship of government. But what are we going to hear about jump-starting the upstate economy? Fri, Dec 12th 2008, 10:49 GMT