For weak upstate cities, hope; Brookings Institution report says struggling urban areas have assets for an economic turnaround
BYLINE: By JAMES M. ODATO Capitol bureau
ALBANY - Twelve upstate cities, including Albany, Schenectady and Troy, are economically weak compared with their peers nationwide, but they have assets that innovative state economic development planners could bolster to bring about a resurgence, a new report by a Washington, D.C., think tank says.
The Brookings Institution's two-year analysis of urban areas across the country found dozens of downtowns rebounding from past losses. But, the study says, upstate's cities are still struggling.
A total of 65 medium-sized cities, all former industrial powerhouses in the Northeast, are lagging, including seven key upstate metros areas: Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Rochester, Schenectady, Syracuse and Utica, the Brookings team said.
When researchers added smaller cities to their review, five other upstate cities made the list of distressed: Elmira, Jamestown, Niagara Falls, Rome and Troy.
The findings - not surprising to those living and working in the once-robust regions - are meant to back a series of recommendations Brookings researchers suggest after chronicling what is working in other parts of the United States and Europe.
This "new urban agenda" includes several elements now under way or proposed in New York by local governments, the state Legislature and Gov. Eliot Spitzer, such as building on universities, colleges, medical centers, cultural venues and transportation systems, including rail.
The recommendations also include such measures as relocating, burying or dismantling freeways that isolate cities from waterfronts. The roadways follow the rivers of this region as do railroad links. Opening up such water assets would pose an enormous expense, area planners say.
But substantial state investments would bring about a return to prosperity for urban areas, Brookings vice president Bruce Katz said. So will big spending on K-12 education and higher education, cutting urban crime and investing in key industries that give birth to small businesses and advanced manufacturing.
Sound familiar?
"I think Gov. Spitzer has made a very dramatic start with proposals that could ... benefit urban places," said Katz. "What we're offering here is an integrated set of policies and strategies that hopefully can provide some additional juice for reform."
Indeed, some of the proposals began with Gov. George Pataki, who moved thousands of state jobs from suburbs to downtown locations. But Katz said the former governor was too wedded to obsolete policies for growth.
Spitzer's priorities, and those of legislative leaders, seem to conform to the Brookings proposals, and the state is embarking on several of the economic development strategies while the political leaders are pushing to do more.
For instance, Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver have promoted huge investments in public universities in cities while overseeing record budgets for public education.
The Capital Region seems to have benefited disproportionately, particularly with vast investments in the East Campus of the University at Albany in Troy, where Bruno has directed millions of dollars to develop biotechnology research. At the uptown campus of UAlbany, Silver has taken the lead in building nanotechnology development.
Meanwhile, Bruno just advanced a $3.7 billion, three-year "Upstate Now" economic development initiative with tax cuts for businesses as the centerpiece, more investment in high-speed rail, creating high-tech high schools and expanding broadband access.
Silver is pushing the Assembly Democrats' "Restore" program aimed at providing grants to urban areas to eliminate blight and prepare sites for development.
Spitzer is working toward bringing about a brownfields program that actually cleans up polluted urban sites. The program needs to be revamped to accomplish more, Spitzer says.
"I believe we have recognized the assets we have to offer," said Rocco Ferraro, executive director of the Capital District Regional Planning Commission. "The problem is making those sites readily available for economic activities."
He said this region certainly has cultural and college assets to build on. However, he said, the federal government should also play a role in helping cities rebound, but it isn't focused on urban policies or funding for the job training, housing, day care and transportation needs of Northeast cities.
Part of that, he said, could be a reflection of the diminished representation New York has in Congress - caused largely by the state's weak population growth compared with other regions of the country with healthier economies.
The Brookings analysis revealed that New York's seven struggling medium-sized cities have higher rates of residents living in poverty, suggesting that low-wage or unskilled workers who live in or near downtowns are missing out on whatever economic stimulus is occurring.
"All 12 of New York's older industrial cities are located in weak metropolitan areas," the study says. That means that 4.5 million people, nearly a quarter of the state's population, reside in "economically anemic communities, a fact that should surely alarm state leaders concerned about New York's long-term competitiveness."
The study showed upstate cities lagged in payroll growth and new business establishments.
Katz said Spitzer's priorities for change are "promising" and he credited the governor for installing an upstate economic development chairman, Daniel Gundersen.
Katz said the governor has a lot to work with because upstate cities have a wealth of assets to tap, including colleges and universities, museums and historic resources.
Ferraro said one negative mark on Spitzer's economic development agenda may be his push for charter schools, because they drain resources from the other public schools that are trying to work with city youths.
"It may be counterproductive in terms of having cities an attractive place to live," he said. However, he said, if housing is built, cities have more to offer empty-nesters and young people as the demographics of America change.
Gundersen said the Brookings Institute report confirms what Spitzer and upstaters already know - that their cities need help.
"Spitzer's `Renew New York' agenda addresses many of the key aspects identified in the report," Gundersen said. "We are pursuing an integrated, economic development strategy that recognizes specific regional opportunities. In my travels around the state, meeting people and learning about all the great things New York has to offer, I have learned that each of our upstate cities has what it takes to realize an economic and cultural recovery. We are beginning to take the steps that will lead to that recovery."
James M. Odato can be reached at 454-5083 or by e-mail at jodato@timesunion.com