I wanted to share with you an article published in the TImes Telegram:

All things considered, 2015 was a pretty good year for Utica and the Mohawk Valley region. The challenge now is to capitalize on the good that's been started and maintain the momentum.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="650"] O-D archives: Mark Little, senior vice president and chief technology officer of General Electric, discusses his company's plans to invest $200 million and bring 470 jobs to the Computer Chip Commercialization Center, also known as Quad-C, in Marcy. That same day this past September, Gov. Andrew Cuomo also announced that an Austrian company, AMS, plans to invest $2 billion in the first phase of its involvement in Nano Utica and bring at least 1,000 jobs to the area.[/caption]

By OBSERVER-DISPATCH Posted Jan. 3, 2016 at 3:30 AM

All things considered, 2015 was a pretty good year for Utica and the Mohawk Valley region. The challenge now is to capitalize on the good that’s been started and maintain the momentum.

That won’t be easy. Several of the issues out there have the potential to divide the community, and that could be detrimental to our future as a region. There will be differences of opinion on many issues, and we’ll  need strong leaders — and wise followers — to keep conversations productive as we search for the right answers.

One key issue this year will be the new hospital proposed for the region. The state provided $300 million in last year’s budget to consolidate Utica’s three facilities into one, and that proposal has ignited a firestorm of controversy between those who favor a downtown site and those who prefer it be built on the St. Luke’s campus in New Hartford.

Regardless of what happens, this much is certain: We all want and deserve the best medical care available. That means state-of-the art technology is necessary and our best hope for that will be a one-stop facility. Part of the effort will be having a place that will be attractive to new doctors and other medical professionals needed to replace the many who will be retiring in the next five years. Siting the new hospital cannot develop into an us-against-them tug-of-war. We either all win, or we might all lose.

Other issues on the regional plate for 2016:

Nanotechnology

We’ve talked about it for many years and it is coming to fruition. As the campuses continue to develop and grow in Marcy, our region must be prepared. We’ve had some good advice. In October, Anthony Tozzi, director of planning for Malta, told several hundred people at the Genesis Group’s Sept. 24 meeting at Hart’s Hill Inn in Whitesboro that when Global Foundries came to that area, it “… was the biggest thing since the last ice age.”

Tozzi said that planning is important, but cautioned that we cannot plan for everything. We need to expect the unexpected. For instance, Tozzi said, the average salary at Global Foundries was $90,000, which is twice the median salary of Saratoga County. Tozzi said to expect a surge in local real estate and retailing, in our restaurants, rentals, banks and much more. It will be important to develop good, healthy relationships in every segment of the community.

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