Home Page > Editorial and Op-Ed
Lessons from the Erie Canal for New York’s Future
Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:45:00
By Hon. Joseph Bruno
There is no small irony that one of the world’s most sophisticated computer chip manufacturing facilities will be built in the State of New York under the umbrella of the Foundry Company, recalling an earlier era of molten steel and iron men. It is an appropriate designation since our past is still teaching the present about how best to reinvent New York’s economic future.
The Foundry Company sits at the center of Governor David Paterson’s recent announcement that a $4.6 billion investment in high technology will be made at the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Saratoga County. Two companies, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and its investment partner, Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), combined forces under the Foundry Company title to create this new computer chip production facility, making it one of the largest private sector industrial investments in the history of New York State.
This decision goes to the heart of how the Empire State must continue to recast itself if it expects to remain a relevant part of the 21st-Century economy, this time as a leader in the digital Information Age. The transformation is occurring at a crucial time because New York’s upstate Industrial Age departed a long time ago and our downstate-based financial industry will take years to recover from the current turmoil.
Yet dedicated history students will recognize that New York’s past is prologue.
The enormous investment in the Foundry Company mirrors a similar investment in our state’s commerce when New York State authorized $7 million for the creation of the Erie Canal in 1825. That figure represents approximately $10 billion in today’s dollars, a daunting cost then as now, as it represented three-fourths of the federal budget of that era—and yet it would be paid off within a decade as canal-related commerce soared. One of the most underrated public-private efforts ever undertaken in the history of New York, it not only opened up the nation’s heartland to trans-Atlantic trade but ensured that New York City would surpass Philadelphia, Boston and every other eastern seaboard city as the most vibrant center of commerce in the United States. The entire state bloomed with its construction, and even the coming of the railroad as a primary transportation artery couldn’t alter New York’s role as, truly, the Empire State.
Today, with its $4.6 billion dollar investment and 1,465 member workforce, the Foundry Company has the means to surpass that historic chapter through its creation of cutting edge technology-based jobs, expected revenues and private investment. Equally important, it will allow New York to reassert its leadership in an area that will define our nation’s role in a digital world for decades to come.
While the Canal was the victim of partisan posturing from the moment it was proposed, the enormous potential of today’s state-of-the-art microchip manufacturing complex has quickly crossed party lines. The cornerstone for this partnership was actually laid several years ago when elected officials on both sides of the political aisle agreed that New York State would seed this project by providing a $650 million capital grant to offset the construction and research and development activities for the project. This effort also made eligible additional benefits through the Empire Zone program, which are currently estimated to total nearly $600 million over a 14-year period.
Three different governors have recognized the strength of this public-private partnership, as did State Senate and Assembly lawmakers. Personally, I was proud to propose it in the Senate and act as its champion because I believed then, as I do now, that New York has the intellectual and physical resources to dominate this field and thereby secure its future. My successor, Dean Skelos, has been no less an advocate.
This historic political consensus speaks to a number of realities.
In the wake of Wall Street’s meltdown there is no more time left for partisan posturing when it comes to staking out a strategy for regional economic growth. If you expend your political capital on blocking a good idea because it wasn’t invented on your side of the aisle, then you run the serious risk of presiding over a ghost town.
Further, it is no longer sufficient to bring government resources to bear on economic development if it doesn’t create genuine synergies throughout our economy. From our educational system providing a new generation of researchers, to subcontractors feeding in fabricated materials to low-cost energy keeping the research and development competitive, government’s role is that of expediter and facilitator, allowing private industry to do what it historically does best in reinventing the future.
Joseph Bruno, the former State Senate majority leader, is the CEO of CMA Consulting Services. 0
There is no small irony that one of the world’s most sophisticated computer chip manufacturing facilities will be built in the State of New York under the umbrella of the Foundry Company, recalling an earlier era of molten steel and iron men. It is an appropriate designation since our past is still teaching the present about how best to reinvent New York’s economic future.
The Foundry Company sits at the center of Governor David Paterson’s recent announcement that a $4.6 billion investment in high technology will be made at the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Saratoga County. Two companies, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and its investment partner, Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC), combined forces under the Foundry Company title to create this new computer chip production facility, making it one of the largest private sector industrial investments in the history of New York State.
This decision goes to the heart of how the Empire State must continue to recast itself if it expects to remain a relevant part of the 21st-Century economy, this time as a leader in the digital Information Age. The transformation is occurring at a crucial time because New York’s upstate Industrial Age departed a long time ago and our downstate-based financial industry will take years to recover from the current turmoil.
Yet dedicated history students will recognize that New York’s past is prologue.
The enormous investment in the Foundry Company mirrors a similar investment in our state’s commerce when New York State authorized $7 million for the creation of the Erie Canal in 1825. That figure represents approximately $10 billion in today’s dollars, a daunting cost then as now, as it represented three-fourths of the federal budget of that era—and yet it would be paid off within a decade as canal-related commerce soared. One of the most underrated public-private efforts ever undertaken in the history of New York, it not only opened up the nation’s heartland to trans-Atlantic trade but ensured that New York City would surpass Philadelphia, Boston and every other eastern seaboard city as the most vibrant center of commerce in the United States. The entire state bloomed with its construction, and even the coming of the railroad as a primary transportation artery couldn’t alter New York’s role as, truly, the Empire State.
Today, with its $4.6 billion dollar investment and 1,465 member workforce, the Foundry Company has the means to surpass that historic chapter through its creation of cutting edge technology-based jobs, expected revenues and private investment. Equally important, it will allow New York to reassert its leadership in an area that will define our nation’s role in a digital world for decades to come.
While the Canal was the victim of partisan posturing from the moment it was proposed, the enormous potential of today’s state-of-the-art microchip manufacturing complex has quickly crossed party lines. The cornerstone for this partnership was actually laid several years ago when elected officials on both sides of the political aisle agreed that New York State would seed this project by providing a $650 million capital grant to offset the construction and research and development activities for the project. This effort also made eligible additional benefits through the Empire Zone program, which are currently estimated to total nearly $600 million over a 14-year period.
Three different governors have recognized the strength of this public-private partnership, as did State Senate and Assembly lawmakers. Personally, I was proud to propose it in the Senate and act as its champion because I believed then, as I do now, that New York has the intellectual and physical resources to dominate this field and thereby secure its future. My successor, Dean Skelos, has been no less an advocate.
This historic political consensus speaks to a number of realities.
In the wake of Wall Street’s meltdown there is no more time left for partisan posturing when it comes to staking out a strategy for regional economic growth. If you expend your political capital on blocking a good idea because it wasn’t invented on your side of the aisle, then you run the serious risk of presiding over a ghost town.
Further, it is no longer sufficient to bring government resources to bear on economic development if it doesn’t create genuine synergies throughout our economy. From our educational system providing a new generation of researchers, to subcontractors feeding in fabricated materials to low-cost energy keeping the research and development competitive, government’s role is that of expediter and facilitator, allowing private industry to do what it historically does best in reinventing the future.
Joseph Bruno, the former State Senate majority leader, is the CEO of CMA Consulting Services. 0
