Covid-19: Rapid Growth in Cases Exposes Vulnerabilities

Although the Northeast, particularly New York State, was the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak in March and April, states like New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts imposed stringent measures that limited personal interactions, such as closing all non-essential worksites, limiting gatherings to groups of 10 or less, and requiring people to wear masks in settings […]

Despite Agitation to Reopen Businesses, Upstate Covid-19 Cases Are Not Declining

Upstate areas are seeing increasing pressure to reopen currently closed businesses as the economic damage from Covid-19 restrictions increases. With millions of New Yorkers unemployed and businesses facing the prospect of permanent closure, there is real need for relief. But reopening should take place in a way that does not lead to significant growth in […]

New Covid-19 Cases Decline Throughout New York

The number of new reported cases of Coronavirus in New York State has begun to decline. The chart below, which shows the three-day moving average of new cases, indicates that after plateauing from April 3rd to April 10th, a decline began, with cases decreasing from a peak of more than 10,000 to less than 5,000 […]

Will New York Reopen for Business by May 1st?

Recent reports show that President Trump would like to reopen the national economy within a few weeks. The Washington Post reported that “President Trump — concerned with the sagging economy — has sought a strategy for resuming business activity by May 1.” More recently, the President said that he expected some states to reopen before […]

Countering the Economic Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic

We have seen alarming estimates of the potential impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on disease and death, as well as on our economy. Some have suggested that more than half of our population could be infected – more than 160 million people and that one or two percent of those could die. The President’s Treasury […]

New York’s Local Revenue Sharing Aid Program is Broken: How to Fix It

Most New Yorkers are aware that the state has a cap on local property taxes that has effectively slowed their growth. But few know that residents of a few large cities benefit from a multi-million-dollar infusion of state dollars that limits property taxes, while residents of smaller cities, towns and villages get far less help. […]

Times Union Op-Ed: State’s Unfair City Aid Formula Needs Revising

I’ve been looking at how well the State’s local revenue sharing works. It doesn’t work well. I wrote an Op-Ed that appears in the Albany Times-Union this weekend: It may be found here: https://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/State-s-unfair-city-aid-formula-needs-revising-13709884.php I’ll have a longer piece that takes a closer look at this on my blog next week.

How the State Senate Gerrymander Ultimately Hurt Upstate Residents

The November election brought a marked change in the composition of the New York State Senate that will have significant implications for upstate New York residents. Tom Precious in the Buffalo News noted, “Majority party rules and minority party lawmakers are left with table scraps when it comes to funding and policy matters. As a […]

Misconceptions About People in Poverty: Are Work Requirements Effective?

This is an expanded version of the essay, “False Stereotypes Harm People in Poverty” that appeared in the Rochester Beacon, containing additional information relating to the five largest upstate metropolitan areas. __________________________________________________ Misconceptions about people in poverty appear to drive proposed changes in social welfare policy, particularly the work requirements either being promoted by the […]

How Amazon Could Help Upstate New York

One of the Thanksgiving meal discussions at my house involved Amazon’s new HQ2 and why Governor Cuomo didn’t get the company to locate its new facility in upstate New York. And, though my argument that upstate metropolitan areas lacked technology focused labor pools of sufficient size to be seriously considered by a technology based firm […]