An open letter to Buffalo Niagara Partnership member investors - YOU are the Buffalo Niagara Partnership

Coming on the heels of our Annual Report to members, our staff is very proud of this editorial in the Buffalo News… and you should be too!

Why? Because you are the Buffalo Niagara Partnership.

       

While Partnership staff get the "glam" of wearing the Partnership name tag everywhere we go, it is Partnership investors that give us our marching orders and provide the credibility and expertise we need to get the job done.
          

As we look at the past year, take these numbers into account:

34 – the number of Partnership members, led by Ben Obletz, James Morrell, Christina Orsi, and Bob Shibley, who completed the Buffalo BuildingReuse Project, which analyzed downtown's office capacity and made recommendations, which have changed the downtown development conversations and received $11.25 million in funding from Mayor Brown.

11- the number of years Partnership volunteers, staff, and paid advisors, were led by Dennis Elsenbeck of National Grid, to pass legislation thatnow ties hydropower proceeds to economic development projects in our region.

7 – the number of Partnership directors, past and present, who put countless hours into the Regional Economic Development Council process, winning $100.3MMfor our region and setting the table for the Governor’s “$1 billion for Buffalo” promise.

11 – the number of Partnership members on our Manufacturers Council leadership team, which crafted a plan to create a skilled worker pipeline and lobbied successfully to fund the Dream It, Do It program through the Regional Council.  Dream It, Do It will connect highschoolers with attainable career paths in advanced manufacturing – both creating and filling jobs in our region. 

17 – the number of Partnership members on our Can-Am Council, which is leading the regional discussion on how we can best mitigate the sting of the Canadian Consulate closing, and move forward in a way that leverages our bi-national location for economic growth. 

20 – the number of employer investors who made financial commitments to the Partnership’s Regional Stewardship initiatives, which increase the clout of Buffalo Niagara employers at all levels of government, as we advocate for job growth and increased regional development. 

102 – the number of Partnership member companies that took time in the past 12 months to meet with our staff at their facilities to address their workforce, growth plans, and physical space needs.  These meetings provided our staff opportunities to generate immediate results for Partnership investors, and cater our actions to better meet member needs.  

35 – the number of young professionals serving in various leadership roles within our Buffalo Niagara 360 program, which hosted more attendees at events in the past year than any year prior. 

5,000 – the number of e-mails sent by Partnership investors to elected officials in New York State, with the goal of eliminating budget language that would have severely threatened the future stability of Roswell Park Cancer Institute.  Responding to the loud and unified voice of the Buffalo Niagara employer community, Governor Cuomo removed the language from the budget. 

2,500 – the number of employers financially invested in the Partnership, enabling us to provide expertise and advocacy on their behalf each and every day – and you’re one of them.  Please don’t forget that Partnership membership extends to all of your employees, and we hope they will all become active in our efforts to maximize private investment and jobs here. 

In a year where longstanding Partnership priorities – whether they be UB2020, funding streams for business expansion, or even relaxed regulations on ship ballast water discharge – took major steps forward, you deserve significant credit.  Partnership members came together, stuck together, and worked together, leveraging collective capabilities to maximize regional economic development opportunities. 

That’s expertise@work – and it made for a particularly good year.  

expertise@work made for a very good year...

200 Partnership investors, staff, and strategic partners gathered on June 26 to review our 2011-2012 year at the UB Center for the Arts.  When these folks work together toward private job and investment growth in our region, we all win.  We call that expertise@work.

The past year will go down as one of our best years on record and hopefully be one that sets the stage for even more success in the future.

The Buffalo News agrees the past year has been one of great accomplishment; check out David Robinson's story as well as the editorial board's take. 

You can also read Andrew Rudnick's annual report speech and find the official annual report document on our website. 

Our Annual Report is made possible by our generous supporters Univera Healthcare, CenterOne, Renold, Integrys Energy, and Try-It Distributing.

With much accomplished, much more remains to be done.  We'll keep you posted.

Federal Transportation Bill Passes!

Not all the news out of Washington DC last week came from the Supreme Court:  History was also made Friday when Congress passed the Transportation Bill presenting the first long-term funding authorization since 2005.  Our staff was in DC on Thursday to stay close to the deal and thank legislators for their action on our coalition’s #1 priority.  Nine members of our Great Lakes Metro Chambers Coalition spent the day meeting with offices of Great Lakes transportation bill conferees and their staffs, many of whom had been intimately involved in crafting the final bill. 

The bill passed the House by a vote of 373-52 and was then passed minutes later by the Senate with a vote of 79-14.  Republicans from both chambers cast “nay” votes.  See how your members voted: House | Senate.

Our coalition worked hard advocating for passage of a long-term comprehensive transportation bill along with specific coalition priorities.  Members were engaged in getting support for amendments, increasing the number of sponsors or signers for key provisions and letters of support and educating members on our priorities.  We were part of a larger effort and our efforts paid off!

This reauthorization, while not a 5 or 6 year deal (as we'd hoped), does run for 27 months which is much better than another short-term extension because it will provide states with more certainty in planning road and transit construction projects.

In addition, we made significant progress on two of our coalition’s priorities:

The Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) fix language, while lacking an enforcement mechanism, is included in the final bill and is the strongest ever endorsement from Congress for spending all of the HMTF revenues on their intended purpose.  Our coalition will be closely monitoring the funding levels this year so that the actual appropriations, which come later, comport with the new language. 

The Projects of National and Regional Significance (PNRS) program was included in the final bill.  (The House bill would have eliminated the program.)  We look forward to fully analyzing the language in the final bill to see how we can position the Great Lakes Region to benefit from the PNRS program.

Reports also indicate that the new bill will reduce the average time it takes to complete a highway project by streamlining administrative processes and consolidating a variety of programs, consistent with our coalition's goals for more efficiency and flexibility.  We applaud these efforts and look forward to learning more from the language in the final bill.

Much of the deal was determined in the final hours of negotiations:  Republicans dropped their demands to piggyback onto the bill approval for the Keystone oil pipeline and relaxation of proposed restrictions on coal ash produced by power plants.  In return, Democrats gave up on $1.4 billion for conservation and agreed to allow states more leeway in the way they use money that once was mandated for landscaping, bike improvements and pedestrian walkways.

This critical issue is a journey, not a destination, and our Great Lakes Metro Chambers Coalition will now look to implementation and to the longer term policy and funding issues surrounding surface transportation.