MARCH LEGISLATURE REPORT
Education:
Onondaga County Public Library: At the April meeting, the Legislature approved two grants for OCPL, an American Libraries Association grant for two lecture series on Jewish literature, and a Library Services and Technology grant promoting summer reading in all local libraries. Both of these grants were discussed and passed by the Education and Libraries Committee in March.
Onondaga Community College: The Education and Libraries Committee reviewed OCC’s capital plan. Among other things the college reported on completing the purchase of 14.36 acres of land adjacent to the college’s Onondaga Hill campus, which will be used for further expansion. Other capital improvements underway at OCC include renovations at the Gordon Student Center and renovations to Mawhinney Hall, a classroom building. For the future, the college projects work on the health and physical education facilities and athletic fields.
Economic Development:
DestiNY: The Planning and Economic Development Committee received an update on the DestiNY project from project partners Bruce Kenan and David Aitken.
As noted in our March committee minutes, the DestiNY officials reported: the following
- Bonds have been sold; these are the first “green bonds” sold, allowing part of the transaction to be tax exempt;
- Energizing the building with a variety of very difficult requirements in terms of use of renewable energy and sustainable design, materials and techniques that are more friendly to the environment
- Financing of $540,000,000 was finalized;
- A construction manager has been hired;
- Actual work is to begin within the next several weeks (May note: Visitors to the area will see work has now begun.);
- 80 per cent of the contracts have been signed;
- Most importantly, construction should be completed by the end of 2008.
The DestiNY officials said this 850,000 sq. ft. of area to be leased is just the beginning of a much larger project. The project team is actively working on design and financing discussions for subsequent phases.
In response to a question, the officials said that, at the peak of construction, the project would provide about 1,000 jobs and slightly less than that when built and operating.
It’s no secret that, like many, I have sometimes expressed skepticism about this project. Now that it is approved and under construction, I join its most enthusiastic supporters in wishing DestiNY every success.
JOBS, JOBS, JOBS
Jim DiBlasi is chairman of the board of directors of CNYWorks, a local non-profit corporation that attempts to match up job seekers with employers. CNYWorks recently conducted a Journey 2 Jobs summit, attended by more than 400 interested individuals. A primary speaker at the event was futurist Ed Barlow spoke about the relationship between local wealth creation and our ability to transform our systems. Globalization and the accelerating rate of change have generated new challenges that must be met.
Additional information on CNYWorks and the Journey 2 Jobs summit can be found at the agency’s website:
http://www.cnyworks.com/