Governor Hochul Announces Plan to Grow Jobs and Boost Economy in Central New York

• by Urban CNY News
• February 7, 2023

Syracuse Mayor, Ben Walsh addressing the audience at “Invest in Central New York” Event. Governor Hochul: “It is not an overstatement to say that New York is the capital of the semiconductor industry, and the Syracuse community is the epicenter of that world and that is really significant. So, never for resting on our laurels, we’ll go bigger, we’ll go bolder and we’ll get better.” On Monday February 6th, Governor Kathy Hochul announced details of key proposals from her Fiscal Year 2024 Executive Budget to grow jobs and boost the economy in Central New York. In line with the 2023 State of the State, the budget includes a major investment to increase housing supply and expand economic opportunity and innovation in the region. The investment includes $36 million for Onondaga Community College, $11 million for local workforce and economic development initiatives, $10 million for the New 15th Ward public housing project and $26 million for the state fair and local parks. Governor Hochul also announced $45 million for GO SEMI: Governor’s Office of Semiconductor Expansion, Management and Integration, which will provide administrative and operational support to Micron during its historic $100 billion investment for a new megafab in Central New York and lead a broader effort to develop New York’s semiconductor industry.  AUDIO of the event is available here.  A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:  Good morning. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It was like a homecoming coming back here once again. And it really felt good. It really felt great actually, to be able to come back to a community that I know so well and love so much. And especially the people, the people in this region of Central New York are really quite extraordinary. The leaders, the elected people are always important, but also just the community engagement and the business engagement, I think is second to none. And I really wanted you to know, I don’t take that for granted. And so, I thank you for welcoming me back. I want to acknowledge some of the leaders you’re going to be hearing from in our program. Dr. Warren Hilton, the President of Onondaga Community College has joined us. Ben Walsh, our Mayor who I’ve spent a lot of time working with, and he never stops giving me more things to do and more ideas. Manish Bhatia, the Executive Vice President of Global Operations at Micron. Micron – it’s a word that’s synonymous with hope and opportunity and I’ll always be so grateful to everyone who is part of the team to let Micron see what we’ve always known. That this is an incredible place to live, to work, to do business. So, we’re so excited about what the future unfolds for all of us in this area. So, I want to thank – also, I know we have Helen Hudson has joined us. Helen, our City Council President, Common Council President. Chris Ryan, the Minority Leader in Onondaga County. Thank you, Chris for being here. Rob Simpson, Rob. thank you for all you’ve done. We’ve never stopped working together. We were at a football game trying to recruit more businesses and you know, we’re never off. We’re never off even in the most casual encounters like, “You sure you’re not a supply chain to Micron, you want to come to Central New York?” So, we have our pitch. We have our pitch. But also, to all the Onondaga County Legislators who’ve join us and elected leaders at the City of Syracuse, Common Council members, and also our friends in labor who will be building, building our future. So, I thank you all for being here today. And you know, no secret, I went to school here and I come back to this building in particular. I was talking to Ed Riley about this. The day I graduated from Syracuse University, my parents brought me to the most beautiful place in Syracuse, the Syracuse Hotel. Hotel Syracuse. And they took me to lunch. Now, you have to understand when you come from a very big Irish Catholic family with a lot of, lot of resources, when your parents take you to a place that has a white tablecloth, it’s really, really, feels important. So, I knew it was a great day of celebration and I remember. Silly memory, but there was a little glass votive on the table and I was commenting how pretty it was. My mother asked the waiter if we could buy that as a gift for me. So, I still have the glass votive from here from many, many years ago. So, this is a special place. And, also just to add – to see the rebirth of this, from the beginning, you know, the peeling back of the murals and realizing there was a story that had been covered up and now we had a chance to reveal it to the rest of the world. I love this place. I see Meg here talking about what we’ve done at Salt City Marketplace, all the entrepreneurs who just, their lives have been transformed, you know, being able to be successful in the businesses they’ve always dreamed of. And so that’s what I see happening here. And so much is going on with our Regional Economic Development Councils. And, you know, my public life really started here, and I was here many, many times. I’m glad to be back. And what I see here, just we think about the economic numbers. I mean, you can talk about anecdotes and stories and how good it feels, but also there’s some numbers that just even, you know, statewide, we look at, you know, some of our economic numbers and unemployment, where we are in Syracuse, I swear it was double digits when I was here. I mean, I was just, you know, heading upwards and upwards. It seemed like, you know, Buffalo is 12, 14, 15 percent. Now unemployment is