Support Efforts to Improve Economic Growth in Upstate Urban Areas
Summary
The Roman Catholic Bishops are concerned about the uneven economic picture in various parts of New York State. The problem is especially evident in upstate urban areas: Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Utica. Our upstate cities and counties have experienced a significant loss of jobs and people, especially youth. Crime continues to be a significant problem and housing stock has deteriorated and often been abandoned. Urban schools are losing students and are having difficulty meeting performance standards while the percentage of people living in poverty in upstate cities and first-ring suburbs continues to increase. While the responses needed to address these issues are varied and often complex, we believe that rebuilding the fabric of upstate communities will not start to occur and be sustained until the state’s leaders work together to develop policies to stimulate the creation of jobs and a stronger economy for all New Yorkers.
Conference Position
The Catholic Conference urges cooperation among the political, business and labor leaders in New York to foster an environment that encourages economic growth in all regions of the state. The Conference encourages the provision of incentives to support economic growth in areas of the state that are lagging behind and struggling.
Rationale
In their 1986 Pastoral Letter Economic Justice for All, the Bishops of the United States wrote that “Government on the local, state, and national levels must play a significant role, especially through tax structures that encourage investment in hard hit areas and through funding aimed at conservation and basic infrastructure needs. Initiatives like these can contribute to a multilevel response to the needs of the communities.” Poverty exists at disturbing levels in aging cities, and in rural areas, therefore revitalization of the upstate economy is critical.
In Catholic social teaching, work is both a right and a duty. Work is the means by which we express our human dignity and provide for our families. Work allows us to use the earth’s resources responsibly to benefit society, as we continue God’s creation.
Upstate cities are losing population to the suburbs, undermining the quality of life everywhere as urban areas become increasingly troubled, suburbs grow in a disorganized fashion, and rural communities disappear. For example, poorly planned suburban development in the Buffalo-Niagara region is a major factor in the concentration of poverty in the urban core and first-ring suburbs. Jobs are inaccessible to people without cars, new development infrastructure is subsidized by all taxpayers, regional planning is fragmented and often non- existent, and segregation by socio-economic class and race is perpetuated. Efforts to revamp local , state and federal community planning and zoning practices and efforts to revitalize development are worthy of support; “smart growth” legislation that would promote regional cooperation and set boundaries for managing growth and development that would re-direct and concentrate it in urban areas, taking advantage of existing and underutilized infrastructure. We also support efforts to develop regional compacts for planning and development of regional transportation systems. Efforts of groups like the Thruway Alliance, a coalition of faith-based community organizations in Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Rochester Syracuse and Albany are to be applauded and encouraged.
Economic development program abuse has become rampant in New York. State, local governments and public authorities spend three to four billion dollars annually in the name of economic development with often poor results, especially in upstate, in the vital area of job creation. We support efforts that would provide economic development subsidies only to businesses that meet standards set for job creation, retention, workforce improvement skills, and compensation levels which would be continuously reviewed to ensure compliance. We also encourage local hiring agreements that include commitments, as a percentage of total workforce, to train and hire local residents, with an emphasis on low income, minorities, and women on private developments receiving public subsidies.
We support efforts to create viable plans for development of affordable housing for low and moderate income individuals that would stabilize neighborhoods in our urban areas. We support legislation that promotes mixed income communities that would help to mitigate the concentration of persons at or below the poverty level living in core areas of our cities; increase homeownership in our urban neighborhoods; and the renovation and rehabilitation of existing homes as well as new construction, which will make housing more affordable and help address the thousands of vacant housing units that currently exist in the upstate cities.
The Bishops believe the natural and human resources of our State will encourage many companies to locate here and increase employment in all areas of the state, if we can show we are capable of the cooperative leadership necessary to create a better environment for responsible economic expansion to serve all of God’s children.
You can download this document, Support Efforts to Improve Economic Growth in Upstate Urban Areas, in PDF form.
