Respondents
Rachel May, New NY State Senate, 48th District
Sharon Owens, Deputy Mayor, City of Syracuse
Al Stirpe, NYS Assemblyman, 127th District
Presenters
Frederick S. Harris
Executive Vice President
Multifamily Development
Vornardo Realty Trust
Andrew Herod
Distinguished Professor of Geography
University of Georgia
Tod Rutherford
Professor of Geography and the Environment, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
Syracuse University
A next generation of the nineteenth-century company has arrived in the form of mega-companies in need of labor, land and natural resources who have the power to alter the economies, urban landscapes and infrastructures of the cities and regions where they locate. Recently, Ford in Tennessee, Facebook in California and Tesla in Texas have established themselves in mid-size cities – or built their own. In our region, first Amazon – now Micron – are corporations whose impact will far exceed that of their nineteenth- century precursors such as Corning and Cohoes, NY, near Albany.
State and local government welcome large companies, and even compete for the investment and promised jobs, economic windfall, and population growth they can bring. Our municipalities offer tax forgiveness, zoning exemption, property, additional infrastructure, and cultural amenities in hope of long-term benefit. Yet to reap those gains requires comprehensive long-term planning that is difficult for governments to frame and implement in the context of free-market capitalism. We trust that the private sector will meet housing demand without due consideration of potential unintended consequences, but unregulated development, unsustainable sprawl, environmental impact, stress on existing physical and social infrastructures, and the consequent demise of regional character are at stake.
How will municipalities plan for growth and shape their goals in the context of this plan? How should local and state governments support and coordinate their visions? As Micron plans its new investment in Onondaga County, what are its responsibilities to surrounding towns and their inevitable growth? What do we need to ask of arriving corporations and of governments to assure that the promise of the Good Company is fulfilled?
Support: “Good Company: Micron and the Shape of Growth” is supported by a Syracuse University ‘CUSE grant; the Campbell Public Affairs Institute, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University; the School of Architecture, Syracuse University; the office of NYS Assemblyman Al Stirpe; the Cicero Firehouse; and the School of Architecture, Pratt Institute.
