A Common Sense Vision for Geneseo's Economic Future

A Common Sense Vision for

Geneseo’s Economic Future

Upstate New York is hurting. There is no secret about that. Geneseo is bucking the trend and it’s not by accident. In all the passionate debate about the Lowes Project, a fundamental truth is lost. We are privileged to be having this debate at all. There are other communities who would give their eye teeth to have the opportunities that we have. Let’s be sure that we take those opportunities seriously.

While all attention is focused on the Lowes, we have been adding small businesses in Geneseo and a furious pace. The empty former WalMart has been redeveloped. The defunct car dealership at the bottom of Court Street has been transformed.

Success has come to us because there has been wise, meticulous planning, and great teamwork in executing the plan. That planning and teamwork goes back many years to long before I became the supervisor. The smart growth principle to locate economic development in a central area at Volunteer Road with adequate water and sewer infrastructure was crucial to pointing us in the right direction. Four years ago, the Town Board denied a rezoning proposal to build a car dealership at Exit 8 off Route 390. It was not smart growth. We said no.

When I ran for supervisor in 1999, I said that Geneseo should have a foreign policy. I listen to the media reporting our loss of jobs through outsourcing to foreign countries. I am not a whiner by nature. I said at the time that we needed to be bold and reach our into the international business world and invite them to come here.

I was proud to be a member of the team that brought Barilla Pasta to Livingston County. Fifty seven agencies worked seamlessly together to make that happen. My many years of experience living and working in Italy were valuable in helping the team know how to respond to the cultural values of a company like Barilla.

But Barilla is just the beginning. Once you land the largest pasta making company in Italy then the sky is the limit. In the Finger Lakes Region, we have wine. Now we have pasta. What about the cheese, the prosciuto, the biscotti. Let’s go get the rest of the meal and celebrate the great benefits that Italian Americans have planted here in our valley. We should be the central distribution point of a cuisine and lifestyle that is more popular every day throughout the world.

Why not partner with the college to expand our cultural and educational ties with Italy, opening up opportunities to enrich us on every level. Why not build upon the great work started by the Chamber of Commerce in the promotion of tourism to make Geneseo a port of call for foreign tourists? Our trial programs have been very successful. The team in the field is winning. Let’s keep our team in the field.