The headline of yesterday’s article in Daily Freeman said it all:
No dice for Nevele; Sullivan County site chosen for lone Catskills-Hudson Valley casino
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Ulster County Executive Michael Hein said it was “truly disappointing news” that the Nevele project was not chosen.
Nevele Investors LLC… said it was “very disappointed that the Facility Location Board has decided against awarding a casino license to the Nevele.”
I will be disappointed too if nobody will answer the question I asked on this blog back in June:
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“If a Nevele Casino never happens, or fizzles out in a few years, what’s the plan B for Ulster County’s economic development?”
So, what’s the plan B again?
– Jon Dogar-Marinesco
Rochester Smoke Out 
This result was obvious to any who could see beyond their quick fix, obsessive desire.
Unfortunately, there is no plan B, but rest assured, our trusty legislators will come up with something costly and inane.
I delivered the following remarks last night to the Ulster County Legislature:
“Good Evening, I’m Cory Newton from Wawarsing.
I find it necessary to explain the differences between what real economic development is, and the type of economic development advanced across New York State and in Ulster County.
Economists who specialize in economic development analyze changes in the standard of living, in low to medium income countries. Some of the economic development constraints in the 3rd world countries they analyze include:
low labor productivity, the inefficient use of labor, severe scarcity of general technology and education, a lack of natural resources, inadequate financial institutions, and inadequate capital infrastructure. Compounding these constraints are unstable governments, high rates of malnutrition, high rates of infant mortality, and low literacy rates.
I find it very insulting, that the term economic development has been high jacked by policymakers across New York and in Ulster County to be used as a catch phrase, in a failed attempt to centrally plan and legislate a comparative advantage in tourism, agriculture, recreational trails, casino gaming, light manufacturing, green technology, and 3-D printing.
If the aforementioned industries had actually obtained a comparative advantage in Ulster County, it would be unnecessary to prop up these industries; by implementing discriminatory policies that promote economic inequality and skew the entire market structure of Ulster County through the use of public-private-partnerships, industrial development agencies, technology incubators, and clusters of complementary businesses.
The first key component of economic development advanced across New York and Ulster County is an idealistic wish list of industries that must be propped up through intervention.
The second key component is the actual intervention that reallocates resources in a manner that focuses on the redistribution of the economic pie, instead of the growth of the economic pie.
The economic development regime advanced across New York and Ulster County has nothing to do with economic development and has even less to do with economic growth. Real economic development and economic growth are two entirely separate processes with distinct definitions that cannot be used interchangeably.
Economic growth is focused on increased productivity and increased output.
The four keys to economic growth are increases in capital stock, increases in resource availability, technological innovations, and improvements to the rules of the game.
The path toward economic growth begins by improving the rules of the game in Ulster County to specifically increase capital stock, resource availability, and technological innovations across the board, without picking and choosing which industries will receive preferential treatment.
I hope everybody has happy holidays and a great new year.”