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State, Regional, County & City Economies
Utica is an Upstate City, ranking the 10th largest in this List Of New York Cities. New York City is largest with a population of 8,550,405 and the smallest city is Sherrill with 3,147 residents.
Population growth, or decline, is often a clue to a region or city's health, or is it? This article offers insights to consider, Population Growth Means a City Is Thriving, or Does It?. We are thinking about downtown development, but also our larger region and it's economy as well.
Seems to some that $300M has dropped from the sky for a new Utica hospital, lucky Utica! Now they say bulldozing downtown for their New Hospital Concept, would be transformational for the entire region, and downtown! We are VERY skeptical of both suggestions. This page looks at financial issues as we seek to find the answer about budgets.
New York State
December 17, 2018 - For a look at New York & New York City budgets, read Agenda 2019: City & State Budgets on Mostly Solid Ground, with Major Questions Looming.
November 9, 2018 -Article on New York as it looks at budgeting for 2019: Agenda 2019: Major Policy Tests Ahead for State and City.
Cornell Professor Mildred Warner has written a great deal about State Government, Economic Development, and Planning.
Mohawk Valley Region
Oneida County has a planning department, among others. Different departments complete various reports, one is a Needs Assessments, and the County Executive gives, for example a State Of The County address each year. There's the MVEDGE as well. Additionally we have the MVREDC that looks at a large multi-county economy, here's their most recent update, MVREDC: Mohawk Valley 2017 Progress Report, contrast this with 2010: An Economic Snapshot of the Mohawk Valley. On top of this there is the state-wide Empire State Development, with offices in Downtown Utica, and in between there are many other agencies and groups.
Oneida County
We're looking at the Oneida County budget, currently overseen by Anthony Picente, Jr. Each year, the County Executive offers a State Of The County Address. How would the county budget be impacted by the proposed County-City MVHS MOA?
City of Utica
The city offers a great number of links to Organizations Who Partner With City On Economic Development.
Utica has a high poverty rate, population has dropped... Fun can often be heard being made about the potholes, but we've not yet made this list, Americas 11 Poorest Cities, but this is a scary headline: Utica faces one of the worst economic situations in the U.S., study shows.
Utica has lost a great deal of its population, a very significant effort to rebuild has included refugees. Insights to this process and results can be found in a report titled, Utica Refugees & Revitalization. Just a they have repopulated neighborhoods with positive results, Downtown Utica needs more residents, not drive in/drive out workers with very limited time to explore and sustain downtown businesses.
A 2015 questionaire reported what people wanted, see Utica Needs Assessnent Summary, it was a result meetings, see this City of Utica CNA Overview. Whilew the downtown hospital conversation often mentions a Job creation aspect, the C.O.N. forcasts fewer jobs.
In this presentation we see a consultant for Victor, NY laying out a planning process, while we don't see Utica acting on it's Master Plan.
This study, Assessing City Economic Performance: The City Economic Capacity Index, SIPA Capstone Workshop (2013), looked at various cities and issues defined within four local policies; 1) Human Capital, 2) Physical Infrastructure, 3) Livability, and 4) Business Environment.
Mohawk Valley Health System
Consider the hospitals' and MVHS's Finances, can they truly afford this new hospital?
Downtown Utica
Here is a blog about Downtowns, and a thought provoking story titled, The Battle for Downtown, From Canada to the Carolinas, where we read, "It is strange, but true. What one reader says about Raleigh, North Carolina, applies many other places as well."
This report focuses on larger cities, their directional changes from being central "business" districts, and a turn towards downtown neighborhoods consisting of retail, entertainment as well as living; Rethinking The Politics Of Downtown Development.
A story by Arian Horbovetz really sums up Downtown Utica's situation today, read The Big Urban Mistake: Building For Tourism vs. Livability. Where we read...
"...what so many cities are currently experiencing is the dilemma of whether to invest in large urban draws that will bring outside money in, or invest in a growing and changing downtown residential population that yearns for investments in keeping them there."
The "yes people" have been told stories by politicians (guided by a theme of "anchor institutions"), and citing reports such as, Hospitals & Economic Development. This by way of the "yes page" on Facebook, NewMVHospital. We ask, "What is an 'anchor institution' really?" Is it a new term for telling a story to serve someone's objective? If hospitals are self-contained, what is the differences of 1.75 miles?
Build new hospital at St. Luke's! As we state, All The Advantages Of The 64-Acre St. Luke's Campus and Why We Oppose The Downtown Utica Hospital Concept
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