One of the many concurrent planning processes happening in Albany has been Mayor Jennings' Recapitalize Albany initiative.
Now it appears that their final report is complete. It is not, however, up on the city's brand spankin' new Web site, so you'll have to wait for my full accounting until I can make my way downtown tomorrow and pick up a copy.
Many of the recommendations referred to in the TU article sound good. I'd be highly skeptical of Albany's own Metroplex though. Yes, the various economic development efforts in the city need to be coordinated. A well-thought-out, coordinated plan that gets people who haven't been working together, and provides streamlined, predictable information to potential and existing businesses and homeowners is a step we need to take.
But does it need to come in the form of an authority? Adding an authority adds another body to coordinate with, and removes the decisions one more step from the voting public. Authorities are notoriously difficult to hold accountable, and economic development authorities have a documented tendency to give away money without much attention to the long-term consequences, from the companies absconding with the money or companies that would have come anyway getting property tax breaks they didn't need (which further hammers the school budget without the school system having had a say).
If we think we need a Metroplex, we'll need to pay very careful attention to how we structure it. More soon.
Comments