Zemsky: “… you are the stars of the show”
POUGHKEEPSIE – New York spends $800 million for round seven of
the statewide effort to create jobs through Regional Economic Development
Councils and that is more money than any other state in the country, according
to Howard Zemsky, the president of the state’s Empire State Development
Corporation.
Zemsky spoke to the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce at their breakfast in Poughkeepsie on Wednesday.
His speaking engagement comes at a time when Governor Cuomo has been crossing the state to tout his economic development efforts and the attempts to lure new job-creating businesses to New York.
The leader of the governor’s efforts to decentralize economic development efforts by using regional economic development councils, Zemsky ran off a list of claimed successes, including the investment in the half-billion dollar construction project at Vassar Brothers Medical Center and Hudson Heritage, a planned mixed-use project that includes a hotel, to be located on the grounds of the former Hudson River Psychiatric Center.
Zemsky declined to answer questions about the problems his office is
having with finding tenants for the former Beacon Correctional Facility
since their original plan for a New York City-based non-profit food production
program, the Doe Fund, withdrew their application after local leaders
balked at the idea. The state has now issued a Request for Expressions
of Interest for the property.
The Buffalo businessman did credit the chamber of commerce members with helping to improve the business climate.
“When it comes to the economy, you are the stars of the show,” Zemsky said as he told the audience that the Mid-Hudson region has a four percent unemployment rate, which is the lowest in New York. As a result, he said one of the biggest challenges faced by employers is finding qualified workers compared to a few years ago when the employment rate was hovering around nine percent.
The Empire State Development Corporation also runs the state tourism program and Zemsky said that tourism is the fourth largest employment sector in New York. Locally, Dutchess Tourism has brought over half a billion dollars in revenue from tourists to the county.
