The New York Capital Region is one of seven upstate regions (minus Buffalo) competing for $1.5 billion in state economic development money.
The competition is called the Upstate Revitalization Initiative. Gov. Andrew Cuomo modeled the competition on the Buffalo Billion project. The Capital Region and others are competing for three prizes of $500 million, which will be paid at $100 million for five years.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan and Laura Schweitzer, the vice president for health sciences and biomedical initiatives at UAlbany, met with community members on Monday to give an update on the pitch and outline focus areas in the plan. Sheehan and Schweitzer are on a committee representing the region, defined as the eight counties surrounding Albany, in the competition.
“There’s an employer that’s looking for a downtown revitalization project in the warehouse district in Albany that would generate significant job growth and a lot of those middle skill jobs that are low barrier for entry, but high opportunity for growth,” Sheehan said.
The group has outlined five focus areas for the region’s plan. Those include: Tech Valley 2.0; transportation and logistics; higher education; urban revitalization; and entrepreneurship.
See full article & photo credit.
See additional article on Upstate Revitalization Initiative.