CNY ecoBlog

An editorial in Artvoice discusses some salient themes for economic development in Buffalo and Upstate New York that will be the focus of an upcoming conference on September 27-28 in downtown Buffalo called “The High Road Runs Through the City.” The essay begins with some surprising news to me at least that Buffalo was [...]

From the Rochester D & CThe Big Boxes are getting a makeover.

Developers and municipalities are working more closely together to create buildings that blend in with the community.
Good enough. But as I’m reading this article, I’m realizing that this supposed national trend is about changing “facades”. Is good design really just about aesthetics?

A [...]

That is the title of an essay by Jon Rynn of the Sanders Research Associates and a thesis I clearly agree with: The Economy is an Ecosystem. (I’ve reprinted the entire article below since the site requires registration – though it is free!) The idea of course is meant more as a metaphor [...]

Commenting on this news post, Endicott’s Pollution Legacy and “The Glen”, Jesse over at the York Staters adds some additional background to the story.
A few years ago (6 I believe) when IBM was pulling out of the region, they were attempting to squeeze as much value out of the land as they [...]

Barbara Ehrenreich’s Bait and Switch may not be on the same level as her previous book, Nickel and Dimed, but it still has some important things to say on the current uncertainty in white collar employment. Some of the ideas discussed in her book seem especially relevant to supposed need to attract a “creative [...]

Baloghblog, NYCO, and Phil have been kicking around the concept of neighborhood. Its interesting because there is of course the generic conversation of what makes a neighborhood or a good neighbor. But there’s another sublime dimension in the fact that this web conversation is happening among local bloggers (neighbors!) which raises the [...]

The Observer-Dispatch has an thought-provoking interview with pollster John Zogby on the Rome-Utica area and the lack of vision in Upstate New York:
“I don’t think local officials are accustomed to thinking in terms of visions. I think they need to spend so much of their time micromanaging. Everything from the day-to-day issues to issues like [...]

My thoughts exactly (from Phil via NYCO):
I would be a Green Party member if the local chapter made even the slightest effort at organizing real people, working on real issues and gaining some real power.( Don’t Believe The Green Party Hype.)

I’ve always tried to throw a vote in the direction of the Greens when it [...]

A recent editorial slamming the Driscoll administration has the ironic title of Broken Record. A Broken record more aptly applies to our local rag; the Post-Standard’s lack of editorial standards and obsequious attitude towards the Destiny USA project and the world of Bob Congel in general disgusts me. Note that this editorial runs [...]

“The Economist” has recently published an article on environmental economics which glosses over some of the efforts to add environmental externalities to the business ledger.

The problems discussed above all involve externalities as well as the need to price ecological services correctly. If Catskill farmers had not changed their methods, for example, New [...]