efforts in upstate New York, made an interesting observation Wednesday,
the day after Advanced Micro Devices Inc. said it planned to move
forward with a $4.6 billion computer chip factory in Saratoga County.
The former chief executive at Birds Eye Foods called plans for the
factory to be built at the Luther Forest Technology Campus in Malta "a
big competitive idea" that has the ability to create explosive growth
for the region and the state.
AMD, after losing more than $5
billion over the past two years, announced last week it is spinning off
manufacturing operations into a foundry company that will make chips
for microprocessor companies — AMD as well as other firms. The new
venture is being funded by the government of Abu Dhabi, a Persian Gulf
emirate that is flush with oil wealth and looking to diversify into
technology investments.
Mullen said the Capital Region should
look with envy upon Austin, Texas, which has become a major
computer-chip manufacturing and design center, albeit with traffic
congestion and hyper population growth that he called "high class"
problems. After all, AMD was part of the growth story in Austin.
"Wouldn't
that be a good thing in New York?" Mullen said. "That's what we're
looking for. Hopefully we can create high-class problems of having our
growth out-grow our infrastructure."
Should we panic? It probably depends on whether or not the region follows through on all of the advance study it has done.
The
blueprint is a 150-page report, "Estimating the Fiscal Impact of
Alternative Futures for the Capital Region," that was published in
October 2007 and funded by the Center for Economic Growth, a regional
group promoting development and business investment.
The report
found that even under the most aggressive development scenario, the
Capital Region's population would grow 1 percent a year.
Compare
that to Austin, where the population doubled in 25 years, creating
commuter problems and sprawl that the city is working to correct.
The
CEG study contains many recommendations, including urging town
governments to identify locations to target future growth and making
sure land-use regulations accommodate compact, mixed-used,
pedestrian-oriented designs. Other recommendations are that school
districts put new facilities in locations that require the least amount
of busing and that the Capital District Transportation Committee — the
official planner for local transportation projects receiving federal
funding — pursue "big ticket" initiatives such as road and highway
widening and bus service expansion.
After the AMD announcement
was made last week, the Times Union asked one of the report's authors,
University at Albany professor Gene Bunnell, if he thought the growth
estimates were still valid, now that Malta is closer to getting a chip
fab.
Continues : http://www.timesunion.com/
