Governor Spitzer continues his upstate public relations campaign, “Operation Strategic Investment.”

Frankly, Spitzer’s plans are not very strategic nor much of an investment. Over ninety percent of the $850 million in disbursements are redecorated bribes allocated during Pataki’s last term of office.

Payoffs to existing employers and contractors, in the form of state grants, will not revitalize upstate New York’s ailing economy. People have been fleeing the area because they can’t afford the annual property tax bill – 80% of which is dedicated to financing unfunded state mandates. Before entrepreneurs relocate to the area and invest capital, the local tax systems must be fixed.

Here’s a breakdown of the tax burden of upstate townships and cities versus New York’s most affluent and populated municipal sub-division, the town of North Hempstead. (more…)

To get the media’s focus off the scandals plaguing his administration, Governor Spitzer unveiled an $850 million economic development plan he claims will revitalize Western New York’s largest ailing cities, Buffalo and Niagara Falls.

Spitzer’s “strategic investment” scheme, which includes the construction of housing, malls and a 200 thousand square-foot sporting goods store, is not going to turn around Western New York’s economy or stop the population decline.

Over 1 million people have fled upstate New York in this century because runaway taxes have wrecked their local economies, not because they lacked housing or shopping centers. (more…)