For those who don’t know, the two outgoing commissioners (Kelly (R) and Loomis (R) ) voted to terminate Justin Taylor (D), the popular and effective head of the Economic Development Department in Susquehanna County. Freshman (now returning) Commissioner Warren (D) stating at the time that she was not going to be a part of the “Old Boy Network” voted against the termination. The department was taken over for a short time by Elizabeth Janoski, who was Taylor’s secretary. After her departure, the commissioners decided to employ the Central Bradford Progress Authority.
As the name implies, the Central Bradford Progress Authority is not based in Susquehanna County. It has its offices in Towanda, very near Senator Roger Madigan’s (R) office. Currently, the contract with Susquehanna County ends around December 31, 2007. The outgoing commissioners extended the initial term of the contract to coincide with their term in office. The executive director of this organization is Anthony Ventello who does not reside in Susquehanna County, nor does he have any allegiance to this county other than his paycheck as the results of his tenure show. Recently, there was another photo-op which indicated a nice sized grant for Susquehanna County. Make no mistake, this was to pay a portion of Central Bradford’s expenses, rather than Susquehanna County.
Oh yes, earlier this year, the Economic Development office, which was located at 31 Public Avenue in Montrose was CLOSED. Thus, if you want to discuss economic development with someone, you need to call a toll free number to reach the Central Bradford Progress Authority in Towanda. It would be interesting to note whether it was the commissioners’ decision and/or Mr. Ventello of Central Bradford for this ridiculous event to occur. It certainly does not seem that the present (outgoing) commissioners actually support economic development in this county despite 4 years of glad-handing and photo-ops to the contrary.
In any event, the incoming commissioners Warren (D), Allen (D) and Giangrieco (R) are now faced with the decision to continue with the outsourcing of the economic future of this county or take the initiative bring this department back to Susquehanna County and find a staff who actually cares about more about the future of this county rather than a paycheck.
To be fair, it is noted here that Mr. Taylor, at the time of his departure was Mayor elect of Carbondale. A mostly ceremonial position at the time which paid about $1,800 per year. Mr. Taylor used his expertise and has obtained grant after grant to further the City. If he had not been terminated, would he have done the same thing here? Although we will never know the definitive answer to that question, common sense says that Economic Development would be a whole lot further ahead had he remained, even for another year.
If the readers of this blog have any concern about the economic future of this county, you should be letting the incoming commissioners know that this crucial department should be returned to Susquehanna County, not handed off to an adjoining county who is competing for the same dollars and clients.
Suggestions as to who could best fill that post are completely open for discussion, although one person stated that even the Scranton Chamber of Commerce would do a better job than the Central Bradford Progress Authority.
And one final note on this subject, the entire economic development board should be replaced. They are a puppet board who have no real sense of direction. Not only are they accomplishing nothing, they are standing in the way (possibly deliberately) of meaningful progress. You should attend a meeting to see this for yourself.
It is obvious susqcoblog has no knowledge or experience with economic development and surely has NO knowledge of the operations of the Economic Development Board. It’s sad that some will view your opinions as fact. Susq. County is not an economic development hotbed but opinions such as expressed by the writer will be a continued detriment to progress. That canard about people in economic development positions of power NOT wanting development is a continuation of the small mindedness that has permeated this County for years. It’s like a father saying he hopes his children are less successful than himself. Let’s hope the new Commissioners have more foresight than the writer.
Please don’t be so certain to state that this writer has no knowledge or experience with economic development and/or the actions or lack of same with the Ecomomic Development Board unless you actually know that to be fact.
If Susquehanna County is not an economic development hotbed, part of the reason was stated in the original post which discusses the stupidity of outsourcing the future of this county to an organization which is in a competing county. Do you really think the Central Bradford Progress Authority has the best interests of Susquehanna County in mind? If you believe that, either you are extremely myopic or choose to not want to know what’s going on.
While fully understanding that most economic development takes years, outsourcing to the Central BRADFORD Progress Authority is not the answer. Bradford County is a competitor to Susquehanna County. Competitor for grant money, clients and access to our favorite politicians. Using the logic that outsourcing to a competitor, maybe Nissan should be making General Motors products as they most assuredly can do it better and probably save GM some money in the process. It isn’t going to happen - period.
You certainly have to admit that although there is a lot of talk at these Ecomomic Development meetings, nothing ever comes of it. Two major items need to be addressed.
The first is the infrastructure. What we have of it is poorly placed. Consider the following two examples.
The failed SOLIDA park in Oakland Township. After having a minor success (basically getting out more or less whole) with their initial project in Susquehanna, the second project, known as the SOLIDA park, was probably one of the most ill-conceived economic development projects in the history of Susquehanna County. In the end, the entire parcel has been sold to the Mormons. This park has a fully installed sewer treatment plant, railroad access and has very little land to build on. The State invested almost $150,000 in a railroad crossing. Because no one wanted to step up to the plate, the railroad actually ripped out the crossing. The access road to the property was only taken over in the past 3 or so years making it a public road. By the way, the road was donated by the adjoining land owner. The township refused to take over the road and there the whole project sat. At one time, the interest on the loans to SOLIDA was about $73 per day. This was completely written down by two local banks. Between the State and local participation there was almost $1,000,000 dumped in that hole. Of course the entire project was ridiculous from the start. This property is about 8 miles from I-81 over some of the most poorly engineered major state road (PA 171) in Susquehanna County. And finally on the SOLIDA project, it would be interesting to see an accounting over the years as to how monies received were spent. What did the Economic Development Board do to help the SOLIDA Board with this project? Precious little. Now, the property will NEVER generate taxes. Oh, you say the Mormons will come to the rescue and generate tourist traffic? Maybe, but that will REALLY take years, and the outcome is a whole lot less than certain.
Second example of a complete waste of money. The industrial park in Forest City. Here is a park, built on the side of a hill. Yes it has sewer, water and NATURAL GAS available. One fatal flaw. There isn’t a deecent road to get there. The railroad, who actually runs through the property is now a Rails to Trails. Try to get that relaid for a business to use. Right.
The last I heard, there was a used car dealer who wanted to do some business there due to the KOZ. What a joke. What a waste of taxpayer money. Why would you build and industrial park which has no decent access to it? And, please don’t try to tell anyone that PA 171 running through Vandling, Simpson and Carbondale is good access. If you have ever driven it, it is certainly about as useful as a screen door in a submarine.
The second item is marketing. This county has absolutely NO idea about marketing. Coupled with that, there is no unification throughout the county. There are people in Little Meadows who don’t have any idea that Susquehanna exists or that Forest City is even a part of Susquehanna County.
We have not one media outlet which serves the entire county. Not one newspaper, commercial radio station or television station. What a shame. Literally, the people in Montrose have no idea what goes on in Forest City. Simple example. Does anyone outside of the Forest City area know anything about Old Home Week? Probably not. Or do people in Forest City know about the Blueberry Festival in Montrose? Probably not. Maybe the county should embrace Old Home Week as a county wide project. Is that too radical? The idea here is to get everyone in the county to know the positives about the county so they can talk it up to people outside the county.
So, what does this county have? A failed Chamber of Commerce. The Economic Development Department (when this county still had one) put out a brochure about 101 things to do in Susquehanna County. It was one of the most inclusive (by that I mean covering items in the entire county, not just a few areas). It could easily have been updated yearly and circulated throughout the county. But like so many other ideas, it is in the dustbin.
Finally, the continuation of small mindness in this county at least in some measure is due to the current generation who have had the family business handed to them - when they have no real idea of how to run a business and certainly not to compete. It isn’t a case of the father not wanting his children to do as well, it’s that they don’t know how.
Maybe you are familar with the wheelbarrow to wheelbarrow in 3 generations story. At the risk of boring the readers, I offer the following:
The first generation starts with nothing. He has an idea, works day and night to acquire the money to start his business and grow it over the years. His children, the second generation are in a much easier position and while they what their father had to do to be successful, they really don’t understand it completely. The third generation has absolutely no idea where the money came from, or any idea of how to run the business. They just know there is money and life is good. it’s this third generation who loses the business and spends the last of the money. Thus, they are back to square one.
This county has a lot of promise. But it won’t happen with maintaining the status quo. Enough people have moved here from other areas who “get it”. It’s time to make things happen here, not wait and hope that Bendix will return to South Montrose. Let’s hope the incoming commissioners do the correct thing and help this county move ahead.
Economic development! The League of Women Voter debate with commissioner candidates opened discussion about economic development or lack of. If I correctly remember commissioner Warren included in her response that economic development does not happen overnight and she had a great working relationship as an employee of the chamber of commerce and Justin Taylor of the County’s economic development department. They met with many potential businesses and we lacked the infrastructure needed to build businesses here. You told us what happened to Justin Taylor. Warren expressed outside interest in a recreational business over a year ago, please tell us where that is. Commissioner elect Allen stated he’ll be knocking on Fortune 500 business doors. Please tell me whose paying his airfare, hotel, expenses, etc? And just how much time will he be spending working within this fair county you speak of? And the million dollar question, will he continue his business and drive school bus while Mike Giangrecco continues to practice law? No one asked those questions of the Commissioner candidates. Just because Mr. Allen can fix a car, Mr. Giangrecco can give a legal opinions, right or wrong, and Ms. Warren worked with the chamber of commerce, what do they have to offer economic development?You speak of a failing Chamber of Commerce. There are specific business associations within the county that know their area better than most. Forest City Merchants Association, Montrose Area Chamber of Commerce, Endless Mountain Business Association and Susquehanna Community Association. (please excuse me if I don’t have the names exactly correct) They take care of their own and reap benefits from the original county chamber of commerce such as health insurance. I assume that people such as Marilyn Talboys, John Kameen, Steve Hinds, William Owens, Shirely Masters and others who slip my feeble mind at the moment would be insulted by your comments. The organizational skills and backgrounds of those people who developed the county chamber generated those smaller chambers and associations. Golf tournaments, Christmas tree sales, etc. bring those businesses together and they give back to their communities. No one can be an expert on all subjects of the county, so let’s leave it to the experts and keep Central Bradford Progress Authority working on economic development and you just keep writing!
I don’t believe this is a black and white issue. The Progress Authority has knowledge about certain programs that could be helpful to our county. Unfortunatley they don’t have a lot of knowledge about Susquehanna County. They have no idea who owns what businesses, (although I think they are learning slowly) who are movers and shakers here, and most of all the real NEEDS of this community. Since the flooding of 2006, this area has been left with several prime commercial properties left vacant. When asking the BCPA what they could do to remedy this, they replied it seemed more like real estate issue than anything they would get involved in. WRONG!!!
This is exactly where Justin Taylor would have been an asset to us. He CARED about empty spaces because they do matter to economic development. Justin took the time to meet with and get to know area business people and to talk to members of the community to see what their needs were.
I suggest that if we continue to use BCPA as our main economic development go-to-guys, they agree to set up an office on our county with a full time person working on our needs- at their expense. And it should be some one qualified for the job, not someones friend/pal that needs a job, but has no experience in marketing/development.
This area has needs that economic development can fullfil, if only we can work TOGETHER to make it happen. Exactly how does one get appointed to the Economic Development board? Maybe we need to look at those people as needing some updating as well!
You, my dear concerned taxpayer, are a perfect example of why we are not a hotbed of activity. You have full knowledge of every negative element existing in all corners of the County and are mre than happy to express them. Some of us concentrate on the positives available to us and there are many. You seem to be an intelligent individual. Industrial development in Susquehanna County could use your analytical abilities if you would direct it to the positives we have. However anyone who spends his time tearing down individuals and degrading business people will never be able to direct anything but your jealousy toward everything which might be positive.
Jake, In your first reply, you stated that it was obvious that I had no knowledge of economic development or the workings of the E.D. board. I believe my response to you should have indicated that I may have a little. It is important for all to understand the failings we have experienced so far in order NOT to repeat those mistakes again or in some cases, to continue to make those mistakes.
Also, I don’t believe I have attacked any business person in this county. It is NOT my purpose to do that. If you feel that occurred, I would respectfully disagree with you. I did mentioned a failed Chamber of Commerce. It certainly didn’t fail due to the efforts of those who supported it, rather it failed because of those who didn’t. Instead of stewing about that, let’s move on.
As I stated previously, in this post and one previously “Susquehanna, the forgotten county, viewed as home to woodchucks and less”, written in October, we have a marketing problem in this county. Let’s come up with some ways to join the county together so we think as a county, not a bunch of disconnected communities; rather than say we are not a hotbed of activity. The various communities in our fair county need to pull together for the common good, not to satisfy someone’s pet project.
As you know, there are some who give economic development lip service while actually wanting to maintain the status quo. For the purpose of this discussion, I will assume you are not one of that group.
For the record, as I see it, some of the positives we have presently are: I-81; the proximity to Scranton and Binghamton and the various connections there; the New Milford corridor; cheap labor (by outside standards); and high speed internet in the most developed areas of the county.
I do not see KOZ or KOEZ as positives. Please correct me if the following statement is incorrect. To date, it is my understanding that only one person (I believe an established local business and a member of the Susquehanna County Economic Development Board) has taken advantage of the program, which was a project which was going to occur anyway.
I certainly do NOT see the Central Bradford Progress Authority as being a positive to the Economic Progress in this county. I would be interested to see what meaningful things they have done in the past almost 4 years. This is one of those “ongoing mistakes” which needs to be rectified.
I firmly believe outsourcing Economic Development makes about as much sense as a screen door in a submarine. Besides that agency, why would we want to align ourselves with a county which is West of Susquehanna County, who really has no cultural or economic ties to speak of with this county. It’s pretty much a given that in this county, most people either travel North to Binghamton or South to Scranton - not West on 706, the only substantial (if you will grant license to call it that) road which goes West from the center of the county.
Maybe we should look to the South to align ourselves with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area, or at least the Scranton area. Look at the successes they have had there. Are we even speaking to them? And if not, Why not?
Jake, despite your allegations, I am one who truly wants to see the county’s residents prosper. Let’s hope that can occur before enough people move in from out of the area to make housing, labor and food prices here completely unaffordable to our locals.
Others and I will be really interested to see your response.
Happy New Year.
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As far as economic development in the county goes the question to be asked is,who has been the controlling party for the last 50 years or so?
Is it in their best interest to change anything?If not why has nothing
been done.Local folks are already priced out of the housing market the
most they can hope for is rental or a doublewide on rented land.A business in Montrose recently received a large grant,no doubt with help
from their state representive coincidentally they are large contributors to
said state reps campaign as well as a failed congressional re-relection.I
would venture to say they pay their employees less then a living wage.
of course the members of this party consistenly vote against minimum
wage increase.I feel they dont change the way things are.
Robert