Very often in government, “solving” a problem involves setting up an ineffectual council, committee, or commission and then forgetting about it. Earlier this year, when Governor Cuomo set up the very bureaucratic-sounding ‘Regional Economic Development Councils” to solicit regional development project proposals, this possibility seemed very real. But our friends over at Empire State Future have noticed something: these regional councils are turning out some great, forward-thinking proposals.
In particular, ESF praised Western New York’s Small Business Green Retrofit Initiative and New York City’s proposed redevelopment of the Hunts Point Produce Market. They were also excited about the councils’ focus on job creation, downtown revitalization, and mass transit.
It’s not all good news, though. ESF noted that some proposals would funnel state money towards car-focused projects that ignore the spirit of the Smart Growth Public Infrastructure Policy Act, which requires that public infrastructure projects comply with smart growth principles (or, at minimum, explain why it wasn’t possible to do so).
On the whole, though, ESF was impressed by the proposals. As MTR has noted, many of the Regional Economic Development Councils have shown a serious interest in smart growth.
So glad that you were impressed by the cherry picked PR strawman proposals that you were meant to be impressed by. Can’t wait till you see what actually gets done, and how much of this money goes to the local businessman or their cronies on these councils, regardless of their environmental, social, or employment benefits. Will you retract your enthusiasm or support? Have you ever admitted to being wrong or cheerleaders for the wrong side?
This article, like so many others, only reveals your eagerness to be easily manipulated tools of the state bureaucracy. Way to continue to support and attempt to play nice with it despite its consistent mollification of your aims with one hand and destruction of its implementation with the other. How’s that smart growth bill implementation coming? Do we have complete streets yet? Have you noticed the loopholes that allow for every exception in the book in these idiotic greenwashing bills you sheepishly throw your weight behind?
Nah, those are just extraneous details. The important part is to highlight the positive aspects so you can pretend to yourselves and those that give you money that you actually make a difference.
And once you delete this post, that’ll be one more strike for freedom and democracy!
See you next time you do this.
[…] Smart Growth Advocates Like What They See So Far From Cuomo’s Economic Dev Councils (MTR) […]
Well, somebody has anger issues… some optimism could help with that.
[…] Smart Growth Advocates Like What They See So Far From Cuomo’s Economic Dev Councils (MTR) […]