Plus, minus, interesting
The Times Union has a handy plus-or-minus rundown of how the big issues facing New York are likely to fair under the new Cuomo administration. Here’s how some of the issues the Innovation Trail covers most frequently get scored:
- Property tax cap gets a plus, meaning this issue will be on the rise. Cuomo has set that as his very first task as governor, so it’s clear he’s serious about it.
- Privatizing state assets to make some quick cash for the state budget gets a plus.
- The state work force gets a minus. The paper says Cuomo is warning about more cuts on top of Paterson's big end-of-year slashing.
- Economic development gets a plus AND a minus, with TU reporting that Cuomo has high aspirations for creating jobs - but faces a tough environment for doing so.
Big year for Buffalo stocks
The Buffalo News is reporting that western New York stocks had a bull year, gaining 25 percent as an index:
A portfolio that owned a single share of each of the stocks of companies based in the Buffalo Niagara region last year would have gained 25.2 percent in 2010, the strongest annual return for the Buffalo Portfolio since 2003. That's more than double the 11 percent gain by the Dow Jones industrial average, and nearly twice the 13 percent rise by the Standard & Poor's 500 index. Even the Nasdaq Composite index's 17 percent jump couldn't hold a candle to the Buffalo Portfolio. Only the Russell 2000 index of small company stocks, which is the major market index that most closely mimics the Buffalo Portfolio, outperformed the local stocks with its 27.8 percent surge in 2010.
PAETEC profile
The Democrat and Chronicle has a profile of PAETEC Communications and its CEO Arunas Chesonis. PAETEC is the firm that the city of Rochester is staking its downtown redevelopment plans on:
The company has had its share of struggles since fall 2007 [when it announced a new downtown headquarters], including its stock trading at less than one-third of its level then, and the absence of even a single profitable quarter since the end of 2007. Plus, it has $950 million in long-term debt. However, Chesonis said last week in an interview: "It's important for people not familiar with the company to feel good about PAETEC's sustainability."
You can check out the full interview at the paper, including insight into how many jobs will be headed to New York as a result of the new headquarters.
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