Credit Where Credit Isn't Due

The LoveFest Continues

It started on Friday. A three day Democrat & Chronicle Re-Elect Maggie campaign has culminated in yet another entry on the D&C's Editorial page proclaiming the success and vision of Brooks and Dennis "Rochestarians Just Don't Understand" Mullen of the Greater Rochester Enterprise.

If the D&C wants to pat Maggie and Dennis on the back for doing . . . well, whatever it is they have done up to this point, then go right ahead but do not credit them for achievements in which they had no part.

The editorial states, "Mullen and Brooks . . . provided strong arguments that they are prepared to build on some notable accomplishments in 2006. Attracting a $90 million pasta plant to nearby Livingston County was among them." Of those so-called notable accomplishments this is the only one given in the article.

When Barilla Pasta announced it would build a new facility in Avon, NY there was a long list of politicos jumping on the "yep, I did that!" express. The Lakeville-Avon Railroad announced they were an integral part of the negotiations, even Assemblyman Joe Errigo who hasn't represented Avon since the last redistricting issued a release saying what a fine job he did in convincing Barilla to operate in the town.

There is just one small problem with the aforementioned crowning achievement, for those not familiar with the Genesee Valley geography, Avon is located in Livingston County and neither Brooks nor Mullen had any part in securing the Barilla project.

The first mention of the GRE having major involvement in securing the Barilla deal came in a D&C article on January 21st of this year. Until this article the GRE had simply been mentioned as one of many partners in passing quotes, the release from Barilla does not even note the GRE or any Monroe County official:

Barilla and Jacobson worked closely with local and state elected officials to secure government grants and loans needed to build the facility. Officials included Avon Mayor Tom Vonglis, New York State Senator Dale Volker, and New York State Assemblyman Daniel Burling, as well as Patrick Rountree of the Livingston County Development Group and Jim Jacob from Empire State Development.

What this quote equates to is Barilla saying, "We were going to choose South Carolina but the state finally smartened up and gave us a damn Empire Zone in Livingston County," an Empire Zone that Patrick Rountree has been lobbying state officials for since the program's inception.

Let's make believe with the D&C for a moment, though, and pretend the GRE was responsible for landing Barilla. Avon and Livingston County are not outside the bounds of the GRE, as indicated in the map from their website, it is disheartening that the only real achievement by the organization was outside Monroe County and the economically depressed City despite being headed by the Monroe County Executive, two Rochester natives and businessmen and the support of Monroe County tax dollars. Why is Ms. Brooks even spending time focusing on an area other than Monroe County?

All right, let's come back to reality now. The GRE and this claim by Mr. Mullen is a mirror of the Monroe County economic landscape. Gradually Monroe and Rochester have grown in the eyes of our leaders and business people to include Livingston, Wayne, Ontario, even Seneca county as illustrated by the GRE's own map and the businesses have left the City for the suburbs. Our politicians came up with incentives to reinvigorate the City and Monroe County, programs like the Empire Zone, but the lobbyists and businesses said "we want those incentives where we're moving our businesses" - so the politicians and their re-election campaigns gave in and the incentives spread out to the suburbs as well.

The D&C itself highlighted this trend with a feature article on Henrietta this week. However, it took the D&C's Henrietta blog and Supervisor Jim Breese to show the D&C that the success in Henrietta and Livingston County is not because of Mullen, the GRE, Maggie or anyone else who is interested in being re-elected or having their picture taken:

Several of the points mentioned in the article by Town Supervisor Jim Breese are "low taxes, good public schools and a local university" and that "people want to live near work".

These are exactly the reasons my wife I and pondered when we looked at moving here. In our case, I've mentioned previously that I'm 4 minutes from work even with a couple of stoplights. 4 minutes?!?! You can't beat that with a stick.

Wow, no publicly funded thinktanks, no outsourced studies, no conferences or public hearings or press conferences, just sound political and economical fundamentals involving tax structure, education and employment. You see Karen, it's not the pessimism, stupid; it's the stupid, stupid. (note: The Democrat & Chronicle is listed as a GRE Investment Partner on the rochesterbiz.com website)