Keeping the hometown talent home
BYLINE: Dan Herbeck, The Buffalo News, N.Y.
Mar. 4--Ashley Simmons is a bright, articulate Buffalo State College senior who doesn't want to leave for someplace like North Carolina or Las Vegas after she graduates.
"I do not want to move," Simmons said Saturday. "[But] for my generation, job prospects in Western New York are diminishing daily."
John Hoskins Jr. and John R. Koelmel are successful local businessmen who don't want her to leave.
They all spoke with passion at a Buffalo rally sponsored by the Unshackle Upstate coalition, a group of business leaders who want New York State to change the way it does business.
The rally was held in Buffalo's Curtis Screw Co. plant on Thielman Drive, with about 100 people in attendance. They are on a tour to take their message to Albany.
Some sobering economic statistics were discussed, including the fact that 540,000 young people have left Western New York to seek better opportunities since 1990. High state taxes and laws unfriendly to business created one of the nation's most expensive business climates, speakers complained.
But there were also glimmers of hope among some members of the group, who said they are beginning to feel that change really can happen in Albany.
A tentative agreement to reform the state's workers' compensation program, announced last week, is a sign of good things to come, said John Hoskins Jr., president of Curtis Screw.
He said he was "very encouraged" when the Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer and state legislators announced a proposal that could cut the costs of workers' compensation by 15 percent.
"We've got a governor who's only been in office a couple of months, and already he's making good on a couple of campaign promises," Hoskins said. "That's good news."
Hoskins' company makes parts for automobile transmissions and steering systems. Curtis employs about 400 people at its three plants in Buffalo, North Carolina and Connecticut. About 260 of the employees are in Buffalo.
According to Hoskins, his workers' compensation expenses in Buffalo are more than six times higher than what he pays in North Carolina.
"In New York State, it costs me $1 million for 260 employees," Hoskins said. "In North Carolina, for the same number of workers, it would cost $150,000.
"I grew up here. I want to do business and employ people here. . . I do everything I can to control my own company's costs, but the government-controlled costs make it very difficult to compete."
Andrew J. Rudnick, president of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, urged lawmakers to do everything they can to make sure the workers' comp bill is not watered down before it is voted on in Albany later this year.
Unshackle Upstate comprises 40 business and trade organizations, representing more than 32,000 companies that employ more than 1 million people across upstate, Rudnick said. Over the next three days, he said, the coalition will sponsor rallies in Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton and Albany.
"The message we're pushing is that we want our economy moving, not our people," Rudnick said.
In addition to changes in workers' compensation, the coalition has six other priorities, including reform of the state's $42 billion Medicaid program, overhauling state laws that increase labor and job safety costs, an increase in the availability of low-cost electricity in Western New York and improvement of the state's economic development efforts.
New York State has the highest state and local taxes in the nation, the group notes, adding that the cost of doing business in New York is higher than any other state except Hawaii.
The group outlines each of these issues on its Web site, unshackleupstate.com, and it has begun a new billboard and lobbying campaign, Rudnick said.
Formed early last year, the group wants state officials to enact reforms that specifically target problems outside New York City and Long Island.
Simmons, 21, of West Seneca, is a public communications and political science major at Buffalo State. She said she loves the Buffalo area, wants to raise a family here but feels she'll probably have to move elsewhere to find a good job after graduation.
"We care about our future, and we care about finding jobs," she said.
Those words hit home with Koelmel, chief executive officer at First Niagara Bank. He said he and his wife have a 23-year-old son and a 20-year-old daughter. "The next generation is needed to carry our region forward in the years ahead," Koelmel said. "We can't continue to allow politics and egos to be the reasons why more progress isn't made."
The only lawmakers to speak at the rally were State Sen. Mary Lou Rath, R-Williamsville, and Assemblyman Robin L. Schimminger, D-Kenmore. Both said they would do all they can for the group.
e-mail: dherbeck@buffnews.com.
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