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State leaders try to stem ‘brain drain’

By John Mason

GREENPORT — More affordable housing, better night life, more partnerships between businesses and public schools, more broadband and less college were among the solutions to New York’s “brain drain” advanced at a forum Wednesday at Columbia-Greene Community College.

Young people are leaving New York at an alarming rate, according to the three state Assembly Republicans who headed up the event, Marc Molinaro, R,C,I-Red Hook, Pete Lopez, R,C,I-Schoharie, and Jack Quinn, R,C,I-Hamburg. Similar forums were held in a number of locations in Columbia and Dutchess counties both Tuesday and Wednesday, and will continue to be held throughout the state for the next two years.

“The quality of life is competing with the cost of living,” Molinaro said. “We recognize that property taxes are a big issue. Young professionals want a good place to live, learn work and raise their families.”

He said the goal of the RemaiNY forums is to bring together legislators from both sides of the aisle to confront the issues driving people out of the state. “Doing so in Columbia County is of particular concern,” he said.

Lopez called the exodus a “drumbeat,” and said jobs with career potential need to be grown in the state. Unfortunately, he said, “your voices are outshouted by the endless stream of regulation.”

Hudson City School District Superintendent David Paciencia, one of three local guest speakers, said the problem is primarily one of attitude. Having headed up different school districts throughout the state over the past 23 years, he said wherever he went the idea was that the better jobs were elsewhere.

“The first thing is to get young people to believe in themselves, and that it can happen here, in Columbia County,” he said. “Schools and the community cannot be separated — all of us are part of public education.”

In the old days, he said, if people didn’t like something, instead of just bashing it, they got involved, ran for the school board. He said he’d like to see a return to this concept of teamwork. When he sees kids in the hallway, instead of talking to them about rules, he talks to them about their future, he said, asks them if they’re ready for their SATs.

To change kids’ attitude, they need to be able to see opportunities instead of despair, he said. He suggested schools make conference rooms or computer labs available for startup businesses.

“I’m not asking for money,” he said. “I’m saying, ‘Let’s use what we’ve got.’”

The attitude is changing, said Mike Sullivan, a partner in Crawford & Associates Engineering and the chairman-elect of the county Chamber of Commerce.

“Twenty years ago, the attitude was, ‘I’m leaving Columbia County,’” he said. “Today there are more opportunities here than there were then.” He said that of the 28 people on staff at Crawford, the majority are recent college graduates, coming from as far away as Alaska and California.

In searching for prospects, the company stresses the proximity to the Berkshires, Catskills, hiking, skiing and culture.

“They bring their spouses after the interview,” he said, “to see if it’s a place they want to live. Often that’s the deal-breaker: They want an urban area. There’s no reason to live in Columbia County: No night life; recently, Hudson has had a little more, but it can’t compete with New York City.”

Of those 28, he said 16 chose to live in Greene or Albany counties instead of Columbia.

“A big piece of the puzzle is affordable housing,” he said. “There’s a lack of decent apartments and affordable startup homes.”

More young people would stay in this area if they had access to affordable housing, said Tina Sharpe, executive director of Columbia Opportunities and co-chairwoman of the Columbia Housing Task Force.

“We have to think of housing as a continuum issue,” she said, including home ownership and rental opportunities for middle-income as well as lower-income people. “Affordable” means not more than 28 percent of one’s income is spent on mortgage payments, property tax and homeowner’s insurance, Sharpe said.

Subsidized housing, she suggested, is not as narrow a concept as it’s often construed to be. The largest federal subsidy is the one that allows mortgage interest to be deducted on tax returns, Sharpe said. When she asked if anyone objected, there were no takers.

Affordable housing, she said, provides stepping stones for young people and cost-effective solutions for people with special needs.

Malachi Walter said he works with young people who feel stuck in their situations because they can’t get jobs, and asked for any programs that could assist young people.

“Successful industry is built on infrastructure,” said Coapke Town Board member Bob Sacks. “Twenty-first-century business is all about broadband. There will be no business here without broadband. We must have it, or we’ll be second-class citizens.”

Bram Morainis said high school kids need social structures, and should be encouraged to collaborate with local businesses and community organizations. “They’re thinking, ‘Where am I validated?’” he said.

Quinn said the main mistake was in the one-size-fits-all approach.

“College should not always be the first choice,” he said. “Being in the trades is a great job. You can’t outsource the trades. We need plumbers. The pressure to send people to college is totally misplaced.”

The Buffalo-area assemblyman praised the work of Project ION, which stands for Internship Opportunity Network, in Elmira. The program starts a student on an internship at a young age. After graduation, the student, who has long ago learned the requisite skills, is offered a job. Then they take root in the community and get involved in civic organizations.

Ken Dow, the Democratic candidate for State Senate in this area, suggested the problem is a two-track issue: While young people are leaving the area, other people are moving in, who are also workers. “Young people are naturally restless,” he said. “Are we not replacing the young people who move out?”

“The steps you might take to attract people to the area may be different from the thing you need to do to retain people who are already here,” he said later in clarifying his point. “We need to establish a numerical picture of which of those things is more the issue.”

Molinaro said New York leads in outward migration, mostly because of economic opportunities elsewhere, and is not replacing the people it loses. Quinn suggested that education needs to be aligned with the economic opportunities available in the region.

Todd Erling of the Columbia-Hudson Partnership said, although 20-year-olds are leaving, many 30-and-40-year-olds are returning, though it’s hard to quantify.

“The roots that grow from 30 to 45 typically mean you’re here until retirement,” he said.

Former Hudson alderwoman Sarah Sterling said her daughters, in their 40s, are “burned out with the city” and moving up to the country, and she thought that might be a promising pattern.

In an interview Wednesday afternoon with the editorial board of Hudson-Catskill Newspapers, Molinaro said the assemblymen plan to return to Albany with “real policy ideas to adopt at the state level.”

Returning to the theme of education, he said, “We have regions of the state with different economic needs, but we’re teaching every kid to go off to college. We could teach kids to work at Kaz or do windmills. We’ve got to find a way to get kids committed, part of a community.”

He said he met a Hudson High School student who wants to be a chef, but had never heard of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, a world-famous culinary school.

“Get them out here,” he said. “Why aren’t we teaching kids about the history of farming? We have decided we have to create a square peg, square hole educational system.”

Quinn said colleges need to talk to businesses, find out what they need and fill those needs. Sixty-eight percent of Project ION’s interns stay in the industry as they start their careers, he said.

Molinaro and Quinn agreed that “smart government” means fewer levels of bureaucracy than are found in this region, in which projects can be held up for many months waiting for approvals.

“If you can get there with one agency, you don’t need three,” Molinaro said.

To reach reporter John Mason, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2272, or e-mail jmason@registerstar.com.

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