Guest Opinion
Economic development: time for radical change
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Politicians do not drive a healthy economy. Nor do economic development officials. It’s time for new thinking focused on engaging more, diverse elements from the business community.
Rochester Beacon (https://rochesterbeacon.com/category/development/page/2/)
Politicians do not drive a healthy economy. Nor do economic development officials. It’s time for new thinking focused on engaging more, diverse elements from the business community.
Great ideas that can have a disproportionate impact upon Rochester’s economic revitalization don’t necessarily require big budgets. For a modest sum of money, we can highlight the qualities that make Rochester a great place to live, work and play.
Our decision to expand outside San Francisco was primarily a financial one, but we also needed close proximity to world-class universities and the same type of innovative community that we’ve enjoyed as serial entrepreneurs in the Bay Area.
Despite a growing movement to reconnect cities and their waterfronts, Rochester struggles to engage its riverfront. ROC the Riverway hopes to change that.
A world-class open space would help transform downtown Rochester, and Parcel 5 by far is the best location for it. Many people support the idea, but it’s extremely unlikely to happen, in part due to a number of misconceptions.