Syracuse.com: Critics slam NY’s 12 ‘worst’ economic development deals. Three are in Syracuse area

March 23, 2022 Media

Syracuse, N.Y. – A coalition of Democratic state lawmakers and advocacy groups today lambasted New York state’s economic development efforts and released a list of what they called the 12 worst deals of the past decade.

Three of the named projects are in the Syracuse area: the Central New York film hub in DeWitt (now called the Greater Syracuse Soundstage); the nearby high-tech factory in DeWitt built for Soraa Inc. (now occupied by NexGen Power Systems); and the still-unoccupied White Pine Commerce Park in Clay owned by Onondaga County.

The list also includes a fourth project in Onondaga County – the new Amazon mega-warehouse in Clay – in a statewide roundup of what the report calls unnecessary subsidies provided to the e-commerce giant.

The “Dirtiest Dozen” list was compiled by Pat Garofalo, director of state and local policy at the American Economic Liberties Project. Garofalo said the competition between states benefits manufacturers by driving up the cost of incentives that outweigh the benefits from the jobs the projects bring.

“The problem there is that there’s lots of money all over the country chasing these semiconductor firms. They’re very expensive in terms of these deals are very expensive in terms of jobs created,’’ Garofalo said. “But the other problem is that the states are really being played against each other.”