LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

If We Pursue Economic Development

With Iron Logic, It Will Happen Here

By JIM KEVLIN • allotsego.com

Here’s what’s new about economic development in Otsego County: It’s driven by iron logic, locally grounded, data based.

Take tourism. The privatization of the county Tourism Office into Destination Marketing of Otsego County puts hospitality professionals, led by the ultimate pro, Otesaga GM & VP Jim Miles, in the driver’s seat.

The goal is simple: “heads in beds.” The target audience: within 300 miles. TV, radio and print is being used; what’s new is cutting-edge Internet marketing, identifying likely visitors and delivering the message most likely to bring them here.

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Then there’s the five-point approach to attracting family-supporting jobs.

Dick Sheehy, a consultant with CM2H Hill, one of the world’s foremost corporate placement firms, revealed two pieces of the formula at the second “Seward Summit,” Nov. 15, 2015, at Foothills.

• One, a “single point of contact” – Sandy Mathes, who in Greene County was the most successful economic developer in Upstate’s rural counties, filling two commerce parks, was hired in January 2014 to fill that role as president of the IDA, rechristened “Otsego Now” last week, part of a systematic rebranding.

• Two, “shovel ready sites,” where recruited companies can break ground in 30-60 days. Three parcels have been identified: 25 acres in the Pony Farm Commerce Park, 130 acres on Lake Street, Richfield Springs, on the village-town line, and 70 acres in Oneonta’s D&H railyards.

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As they did last fall in Cooperstown, Mathes and Elan Planning principal Lisa Nagle explained the rest last week to 60 citizens gathered at Richfield Springs Central School.

To get state grants that make commerce parks buildable, a community must have a current Comprehensive Plan – a written concept of what residents want their town to be. The Richfield Comp Plan is 30 years old; Cooperstown’s is 20, (completed before Dreams Park changed everything).
Only with a systematically prepared Comp Plan in hand – only then! – can any major economic-development initiative get funding.

Under development at the same time in Cooperstown is a data-based business strategy – a market survey to ensure demand supports wish lists – built around nine nodes: Upper Main, the lake front, Railroad Avenue, etc.

A market survey is also underway on the D&H yards, aimed at tapping into Governor Cuomo’s new $1.5 billion Upstate Development Fund to rebuild a bridge connecting the site to I-88.

There you have it: a single point of contact (one); current Comp Plans backed up by market surveys (two and three); successful grantsmanship (four) for the money to prepare shovel-ready sites (five). Only then can we anticipate the desired goal: new jobs and new money in the local economy.

The iron logic is very clear, and it’s being implemented here.

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One piece missing from this supplement is the hops-growing and beer-brewing revival: Brewery Ommegang, Hager Hops, Butternut Brewery and the micros – Roots in Oneonta, Council Rock in Hartwick Seminary, and Tim Dobler’s coming soon to Mount Vision.

Related and similarly promising is the farm-to-table movement, seeking to serve the $1 billion in unmet need in New York City or fresh, natural foods.

These have been extensively explored in our weekly editions, with more to come.

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Progress Editions have become passé since the 2008 Great Recession, which continues to linger. But, in Otsego County, there is progress, driven by iron logic, and, in this supplement, we celebrate it – and try to explain it.
Progress, and hope. Hope for a prosperous future – for everyone.

Kevlin is editor & publisher of Hometown Oneonta, The Freeman’s Journal and www.allotsego.com