Over the past weeks and months, we have had many conversations about the tax cap and why we felt it was a necessary tool for New York to start to control costs. We also knew that in order for the cap to be as effective as possible, there needed to be significant and meaningful mandate [...]
Last week, on this blog, I teased you with our post telling you to watch next week because there was going to be a big announcement. I hope that you got to see that announcement on Tuesday because it was a historic day in New York. Unshackle Upstate was joined by 10 other organizations representing [...]
As we close out October, there has been a great deal of talk around the state about the tax cap and many municipalities looking to override it. It is not something that I would recommend as I wouldn’t want to tell people that elect me why I was raising their taxes when a cap is [...]
A business owner in Syracuse alerted us to the fact that the New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) recently made two requirements of the company.
The House Small Business Committee passed a bill in July that would force federal agencies to better comply with a law already on the books requiring them to consider how regulations could impact small businesses. It’s called the 2011 Regulatory Flexibility Improvement Act, and would require a full assessment of the impact that regulations will [...]
Last Friday, E.J McMahon wrote a piece titled “Union’s flood remedy:higher taxes on what’s still standing.” Please read the excerpt below:
The New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) and its lobbying partner, the Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), are holding news conferences around the state to complain about this year’s school aid cuts and about the [...]
UU Partner Perspective is the first post in a new series of blog posts written by the UU regional executive partners. This first piece is written by Andrew Rudnick, Co-Founder of Unshackle Upstate and President and CEO of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership.
After months of postponements and with much fanfare, Governor Cuomo announced the launch [...]
It should come as no surprise to those that follow our work to read this article, by Joe Spector of Gannett. We have said for years now that the pension system in New York needs to get fixed and that there are viable options. It is why we pushed so hard for the cap. The cap [...]
Living in New York, as we all know, has its financial challenges. We’ve been pretty clear that a business tax climate that ranks 50th in the US is not acceptable and neither are property taxes that are 78% above the national average. We’ve taken steps over the past few months to fix both…remember that Property [...]
Earlier today the Empire Center released a report, http://www.empirecenter.org/pb/2011/08/migration1080311.cfm, validating what we already know here in Upstate New York…that our jobs and our people are leaving. Again, this is no surprise to us.
According to the report, the migration of New Yorkers is far from a new trend. About 7.3 million people have left for other [...]
