BUFFALO MATTERS
In an above-and-beyond response to Cuomo’s decentralized economic development model – introduced in 2011 through a statewide planning competition – Western New York has essentially turned conventional economic development on its head and cultivated a level of unity never seen before for the five-county region. Indeed, it was this very plan and process that inspired the Governor’s billion-dollar bet and is now driving the recent burst of private investment in the region. Howard Zemsky, the Buffalo developer who helped lead that planning effort and now heads economic development for all of New York State, refers to the new plan and process as a “sea change” and the foundation of the region’s economic vitality. “Without that, you just have money, you just have some pioneers. Those are very different things – they don’t make a shared community.” Dean Robert Shibley and the Buffalo School’s UB Regional Institute (UBRI) have been a part of the process from the start, leading public participation, mapping economic data, and developing and now implementing the plan and its subsequent Buffalo Billion investment strategy.
Says Shibley:
“In over 30 years of planning engagements in the region, I don’t think we’ve worked on an effort with more significance in terms of the opportunity presented to the region to change the game. The alignment of vision from the Governor down to the grassroots to empower a new set of voices gave us a new conversation and, ultimately, a plan with consensus and investment from all sectors.”
/ BELOW With support from the UB Regional Institute, the WNY Regional Economic Development Council has engaged thousands in building and now implementing the region’s economic plan.
For a region that had become accustomed to empty promises, Buffalo is seeing results. Projects that were just concepts two years ago are today off the ground. Economic indicators from wages to developable brownfields are ticking upward. State investments have leveraged more than $3 billion in private sector investment and the creation of more than 7,000 new jobs in Western New York since 2011.
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