January 25, 2008

TC3 Commons; sewer agreement approved

This morning's Journal has a picture of the new TC3 Commons on the front of the Local section. (Update: Whoops - that was the athletic facility.)

As Town Supervisor Mary Ann Sumner noted in comments here, the Town and Village of Dryden have agreed on a deal for the Cortland Road Sewer District, ending a very long stand-off.

Briefly in Tompkins notes that most important Dryden event, the Etna Chocolate Festival, which will be in Houtz Hall (the Etna Post Ofiice at 2 Lower Creek Road) on February 9th from 10:00am to noon. I always highly recommend this one.

Stephen Foote of Dryden was named to the SUNY Oswego President's List.

Looking past Dryden, there's an article on continuing conflict over Industrial Development Agency transparency and priorities, and a piece on TCAD director Michael Stamm's views.

I have to say that I think Stamm is way out of line, and if he's so strongly opposed to ensuring that taxpayer subsidies go to projects which pay prevailing wages, he should probably look for work in something other than economic development. It's great to build new infrastructure here, but having taxpayers give the money for the infrastructure to people who ship in cheaper labor from outside is simply ridiculous. TC3 deserved a lot more criticism than the brief protest at the four corners for doing just that, and I'm glad they learned their lesson - they don't seem to be pulling that same stunt again.

I know everyone likes to whine about how much it costs to get things done here, but it doesn't make any sense at all to me for government to subsidize people who specialize in taking money out of our communities. Yes, doing it right will cost a bit more, but there will be a lot of positive side-effects.

It's also a day in which the Journal publishes a print-only "Outlook" section. I cringed to see Young Professionals highlighted yet again, but there's a lot of information in there.

(Yes, I am still technically a "young professional". However, I'm pretty completely mystified by the "we must attract young professionals to our area" mindset. A lot of young professionals in an area are a sign of a community's health, but they're more like a symptom than a cause. Have a healthy economy, and professionals will show up to support it. Have a lot of young professionals around, and you, well, have a lot of young professionals around.)

Posted by simon at January 25, 2008 12:26 PM in , , , ,
Note on photos