Empire State Development CEO Howard Zemsky defended New York’s economic development operations today against lawmakers who say many have run into substantial problems.
At state budget hearings, Lawmakers said the governor’s budget contains hundreds of millions of dollars in development spending, but little detail on how it will be used, including $300 million for high tech infrastructure that Senator Catherine Young says is little understood.
Zemsky said that money going for partnerships with private industry in Photonics and related fields that he says will provide “great opportunity” to the state, but nothing has been finalized for their use yet. He said it would be used along the Erie Canal Corridor across Upstate New York for everything from Photonics to Artificial Intelligence. Much of that was taken over from SUNY PolyTechnic after the downfall of its former head, who is being tried on bid rigging charges.
Legislators also demanded to know where ESD’s annual report was. It didn’t come out on December 31st as expected. Zemsky promised it by the end of the week.