Tagged: matt ryan

Binghamton looks to many visitors like any other post-industrial city in the Northeast: The historic buildings are in disrepair, and the rundown strip malls hide years of slow progress towards a revitalized Binghamton.

For years, the strategy for rebirth has been to perk up a storefront here, tear down a building there.

That's in evidence at the "Southside Commons," a concrete open space across the river and Route 434 from Binghamton's city center.  The space offers a raised area where bands can play in the summer, and a few tables and chairs scattered around the single lot wedged between two buildings.

It doesn't look like much, but a significant amount of work went into making it happen.

Hearing "property tax cap" in Governor Cuomo's State of the State did not come as a surprise. The 2 percent cap was a key plank of Cuomo's campaign platform.

During his State of the State address Wednesday Cuomo's unveiled a "transformational plan" for New York, including the cap.  State and local officials say they're happy to hear the property tax cap proposal being followed closely by the words "mandate reform." 

What are mandates?  They're the bills that counties and towns have to pay, without any say into how much the bill comes to, or when it comes due.  Medicaid is often cited as the biggest bogeyman.  Innovation Trail station WXXI is doing a whole series about mandates next week.

Binghamton's mayor, Matt Ryan, made a surprise appearance on NPR's Talk of the Nation earlier this week, during a segment about vacant housing and how cities are adapting to a bad economy.

Ryan started off by detailing his city's efforts so far to deal with excess housing stock in the face of declining population: