TROY -- Members of the Capital Region Economic Development Council said "public participation" so many times at their meeting they started blowing out the sound system with the alliterative phrase.
"At every stage, the public will be a vital part of building our plan," said RPI President Shirley Ann Jackson, the council's co-chair. "The more that citizens across the region participate with their ideas and efforts, then the greater chance we then have to provide opportunities and to increase the prosperity of the region."
The team, formed last month by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is one of 10 similar groups working in different regions around the state. All will compete for a slice of $200 million in economic development funding and as much as $1 billion of state funding from other sources.
Jackson and her co-chair, SEFCU President Michael Castellana, announced they would develop a draft strategic plan by the end of October -- earlier than the Nov. 14 deadline set by state officials. Cuomo has said money will be awarded in December.
Thursday's meeting in an RPI gymnasium was large: Thirty-seven council members, government officials and business leaders sat at a semicircle of tables, attended upon by staffers from Empire State Development and their own organizations.
About two dozen people sat in the audience. Six were allowed to speak, briefly, at the end of the meeting. The council's leaders spent the rest of the hour-long session explaining their public process, including the creation of a website -- http://www.capitalregionopenforbusiness.com -- which had already received 900 unique visitors. Council members encouraged people to fill out online surveys.
Jackson recognized the council was moving on a "fast track," but stressed public input could still be gathered. Lt. Gov. Bob Duffy said the council would review existing plans in its eight-county service area -- Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren and Washington -- and hold three public forums.
"All we're abbreviating is the time frame," Castellana said. " ... But I would argue the process we're using is more involved and engaging more people -- and a broader spectrum of people -- than has been done to date."
Duffy said Thursday's feedback was largely "symbolic." One man said health care should be treated as a regional asset; another suggested the state need to find more kitchen space for farmers who want to preserve their crops to sell later in the year.
Gene Solan of Albany, referring to his experience working on the Albany 2030 comprehensive plan, stressed to the council the importance of proactive outreach. Not everybody can make it to a meeting.
"I think they're making an attempt to get it right, but they've got to do more," Solan said.
The council's only official act of the day was to adopt a vision statement, culled from comments during a private session of its members earlier this month at UAlbany.
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