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Well looking at those statistics, Rochester seems fairly strong. Rochester's rank in this comparison is certainly buoyed by the Housing prices and REOs sections, which is negligible in my opinion, due to Rochester housing never having been involved in the Real Estate bubble to begin with.
The GMP and Employment sections are a glaring reminder that Rochester still has a long way to go in terms of being where it once was. I don't know if I'd call a place with a 7.5% unemployment rate "Strong" either, but in comparison to the 100-metro and U.S. averages, Rochester seems like Shangri-La.
I'm probably stating the obvious, but this could be interpreted a couple different ways -
1) Rochester has leveled off and may be turning the corner, along the lines of Pittsburg, Jersey City, and a few other formerly faltering cities that have finally stopped the bleeding, or
2) Rochester didn't have as far to fall as many of the cities in the south and west, who appear to have grown faster than their economic infrstructures could handle, skewing the stats in our favor.
3) The fact that Buffalo is also in the top fifth could make the whole study suspect.
I'm probably stating the obvious, but this could be interpreted a couple different ways -
1) Rochester has leveled off and may be turning the corner, along the lines of Pittsburg, Jersey City, and a few other formerly faltering cities that have finally stopped the bleeding, or
2) Rochester didn't have as far to fall as many of the cities in the south and west, who appear to have grown faster than their economic infrstructures could handle, skewing the stats in our favor.
3) The fact that Buffalo is also in the top fifth could make the whole study suspect.
Pittsburgh is a good example, and part of their ace in the hole has been their strong partnerships between the good schools there and strong businesses. Still, though, Allegany Cty. continues to lose population, similar to Buffalo/Niagara and other metros. It's also a heavily unionized area.
Four big things have to happen for Upstate, NY: "right-sizing" (thinking smaller, but smarter), reigning in the public employees' unions, getting the state to slash Medicaid/reform it (the unions up there love Medicaid), and a regional approach to economic growth. All those would combine to help lower taxes, and to create well-paying, permanent jobs for people.
Pittsburgh is a good example, and part of their ace in the hole has been their strong partnerships between the good schools there and strong businesses. Still, though, Allegany Cty. continues to lose population, similar to Buffalo/Niagara and other metros. It's also a heavily unionized area.
Four big things have to happen for Upstate, NY: "right-sizing" (thinking smaller, but smarter), reigning in the public employees' unions, getting the state to slash Medicaid/reform it (the unions up there love Medicaid), and a regional approach to economic growth. All those would combine to help lower taxes, and to create well-paying, permanent jobs for people.
I'd add some consolidation of services to what could help Upstate NY.
Also, what's helped Pittsburgh is that the economy has changed from being very manufacturing centered to other industries like high tech, research, health care and finance, among other things. It is also a highly educated area, which is something many people do not realize about Pittsburgh.
I'm probably stating the obvious, but this could be interpreted a couple different ways -
1) Rochester has leveled off and may be turning the corner, along the lines of Pittsburg, Jersey City, and a few other formerly faltering cities that have finally stopped the bleeding, or
2) Rochester didn't have as far to fall as many of the cities in the south and west, who appear to have grown faster than their economic infrstructures could handle, skewing the stats in our favor.
3) The fact that Buffalo is also in the top fifth could make the whole study suspect.
I think the first two statements have something to do with this.
I'm not as surprised about Buffalo, as it does have some other things in it's economy.
To be fair, the Brookings study does favor metros whose economies have been essentially flat in recent years over metros whose experiences have been more lumpy--regardless of whether the relative flatness of the economy signified a strong or weak economic level. Nonetheless, the fact that Rochester's unemployment level is 2 points below the national level bodes pretty well for the region right now provided it positions itself for a commensurate rate of growth when the recovery comes.
To the excellent list of suggestions for improvement I would add a stronger emphasis on partnership between Rochester's excellent research universities and local technology and healthcare businesses. Although it is certainly not the sole reason, Stanford University has a lot to do with the rise of Silicon Valley, Harvard University and MIT have a lot to do with the creation of a major biotech corridor in Cambridge, Waltham etc and US San Diego has a lot to do with the creation of a biotech hub in San Diego. RIT and U of R are major local assets and have already helped create an environment where education and healthcare are the main economic engines for the metro. It would be nice to see more emphasis on angel investing in local start-ups and small businesses from these institutions. To my mind, there is no better solution to the brain drain phenomenon affecting this part of New York as well as to raising Rochester's profile as a player among major US metros.
To be fair, the Brookings study does favor metros whose economies have been essentially flat in recent years over metros whose experiences have been more lumpy--regardless of whether the relative flatness of the economy signified a strong or weak economic level. Nonetheless, the fact that Rochester's unemployment level is 2 points below the national level bodes pretty well for the region right now provided it positions itself for a commensurate rate of growth when the recovery comes.
To the excellent list of suggestions for improvement I would add a stronger emphasis on partnership between Rochester's excellent research universities and local technology and healthcare businesses. Although it is certainly not the sole reason, Stanford University has a lot to do with the rise of Silicon Valley, Harvard University and MIT have a lot to do with the creation of a major biotech corridor in Cambridge, Waltham etc and US San Diego has a lot to do with the creation of a biotech hub in San Diego. RIT and U of R are major local assets and have already helped create an environment where education and healthcare are the main economic engines for the metro. It would be nice to see more emphasis on angel investing in local start-ups and small businesses from these institutions. To my mind, there is no better solution to the brain drain phenomenon affecting this part of New York as well as to raising Rochester's profile as a player among major US metros.
Great point and the same for the Research Triangle of NC.
I would also like to see a closer relationship with the colleges and the Rochester City SD in terms of mentoring, tutoring, college students being involved in the education of the students(i.e.-if say U of R has a Visual Performing Arts program, help out at SOTA and the students can also get college credits for doing so) and even have programs where some RCSD students can learn at programs at the colleges, among other things. This is turn can form relationships and help in terms of networking, college admissions for RCSD students and possibly improve educational achievement within the RCSD.
That is an excellent idea, but it assumes that the RCSD wasn't run by a bunch of incompetent, overpaid fools who care little about the children and more about holding a position of "power" Unfortunately, we'll never see such a program come to fruition, and if it does I'm sure it'll be surrounded by so much red tape it'd be useless anyways.
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Unfortunately, we'll never see such a program come to fruition, and if it does I'm sure it'll be surrounded by so much red tape it'd be useless anyways.
