New York's Senator
CHARLES E. SCHUMER

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 15, 2001


SCHUMER BRINGS SITE SELECTORS TO BUFFALO TO MEET WITH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OFFICIALS

Buffalo-Niagara Enterprise and other economic development officials showcase region to the consultants who advise businesses on where to locate Schumer: Site selector meeting could make Western NY a hotbed for new investment

As part of his overall effort to attract new investment to Upstate New York, US Senator Charles E. Schumer today brought the consultants who advise businesses about where to locate to Buffalo on Friday to meet with local officials. Schumer said the meeting was intended to be a "pitch session" for the Buffalo-Niagara Enterprise (BNE) and other economic development groups to sell the region to consultants from Deloitte and Touche, KPMG and other firms.

"One of the first things I learned when I became Senator was the important role that site selectors play in determining where a business will locate," Schumer said. "These consultants can make a region a hotbed for new investment and Friday's meeting is going give Buffalo a chance to sell itself to these consultants."

Although Western New York has rebounded from job losses suffered during the recession of the early 1990s, 125,000 area residents are underemployed which means that they are overqualified for the jobs they currently hold. Schumer said that high underemployment is one of the best selling points a region can have because of the critical role a strong labor force plays in influencing a site selector's recommendation.

"My goal is to translate the first-hand knowledge the site selectors gain from Friday's meeting into new investment and opportunity for the Buffalo-Niagara region," Schumer said. "There is no better way to convey that information than the Buffalo-Niagara Enterprise since the organization focuses on providing the information that site selectors look for when evaluating a region. My position as Senator allows me to help facilitate these types of meetings, and that's what today was all about."

Friday's event was the fourth site selector meeting hosted by Schumer. The first two were primarily consulting sessions for economic development officials to learn how to improve their respective efforts to attract new business to their areas. Schumer's third site selector meeting, held in Syracuse last January, addressed some of the impediments that the site consultants have raised regarding Upstate New York's efforts to attract new businesses.

One of the main problems site selectors regularly mention regarding Upstate New York's efforts to attract new investment is the lack of coordination between communities trying to lure companies to a given region. As a result, the competing efforts between two towns in the same area end up canceling one another out - keeping sorely-needed capital from coming into Upstate New York.

Schumer's Syracuse site selector meeting addressed this issue by showcasing the Central New York Regional Compact, an economic development organization representing Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Oneida, Oswego and Onondaga Counties which uses a unified promotional strategy. The premise behind this six-county collaborative effort is that if a company invests in any one part of Central New York, the entire area benefits.

At today's meeting, site selectors met with the Buffalo Niagara Enterprise (BNE) - Western New York's version of the Central New York Regional Compact - and local executives. Since its inception in 1999, BNE has used an aggressive marketing strategy to attract new investment, in the process becoming a central source of information and assistance for companies thinking of re- locating to the Buffalo area. Many site selectors have praised BNE's "I am Buffalo-Niagara" marketing campaign as a model for how cities should promote themselves.

The Buffalo site selector meeting is Schumer's latest effort to attract new investment to Upstate New York. These efforts - from securing low-cost air service to exploiting the regions' various business attributes - have emphasized a regional approach focused on developing specific industries. In Rochester, for example, Schumer brought some of the top venture capitalists to the city to get a firsthand look at the city's burgeoning information technology and biotech industries.

Earlier this year, Schumer delivered on a pledge to have JetBlue serving three Upstate cities by August 2001 when he announced that the low-cost airline would add Syracuse to its Upstate destinations this spring (the other two are Rochester and Buffalo). Schumer said that JetBlue's arrival will attract businesses who have previously shied away from Upstate because of high airfares.

"We've made some progress, but we still have a lot of work to do before the Upstate economy gets to where it can and should be," Schumer said.

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