Tagged: state of the state

In last week’s State of the State address, Governor Andrew Cuomo said it’s about time New York adjusted its state constitution to legalize full-scale gambling.

“It is not a question of whether or not we should have gaming in the state,” Cuomo argued. “We don’t realize it. We don’t regulate it. We don’t capitalize on it. But we have gaming.”

There are already five tribal casinos operating in the state. In 2001, racetracks were authorized to add video gaming machines, creating “racinos.”

So it’s easy to make the argument, says SUNY New Paltz political science professor Gerald Benjamin, that allowing full casinos in some places, but not others, makes no sense.

But that doesn’t mean that amending the state constitution to allow gambling will be easy, says Benjamin.

“There’s always been a lot of controversy about the exact geographic locations in which gambling might be permitted, whether it should be run by the government or run by private enterprise under government regulation,” he says.

Basically, brace yourself for a whole lot of political maneuvering.

Yesterday, the Innovation Trail followed Governor Andrew Cuomo's State of the State Address closely to find out what his 2012 agenda may mean for upstate New York.

So if you didn't have time to watch the nearly two-hour program yesterday, we've condensed it into less than two and a half minutes:

The final rousing lines have been delivered and the Egg is clearing out - so now's when the real work begins for the governor, to implement the programs outlined in his State of the State address today.

You can read the prepared text that the governor's office released beforehand (from which he deviated liberally during the address).  Or you can watch it here - total program runs ran about 1:45. [Below is the governor's hour-long speech.]

Here's what grabbed our attention, and what we'll be following up on in the coming days.

How will upstate New York fare during Governor Andrew Cuomo’s second year in office?

That’s the question on the minds of business leaders as Cuomo is set to deliver his “State of the State” address Wednesday in Albany.

Craig Turner, organizer of Accelerate Upstate, a business advocacy group, has this advice for the governor:

“Just keep on keepin’ on.”

Governor Andrew Cuomo’s speech in Jamestown today looked and sounded like a small town campaign stop.

Delivering a remixed (but mostly familiar) version of his State of the State speech (and another PowerPoint slideshow), Cuomo stopped by western New York to drum up support for his agenda before taking it to the legislature over the next few weeks.

Green jobs will be getting a whole pile of green, if the governor has his way. But some environmental groups are saying it's not enough.

During his State of the State address last week, Governor Andrew Cuomo called for setting aside $100 million to promote smart growth and sustainability projects. The money would be available in the form of competitive grants: local, private sector partnerships would present plans to create green jobs and reduce pollution, and the best plans would be rewarded with a piece of the pot.

It's a nice idea, according to John Sheehan, with the Adirondack Council - but it’s under-funded from the start.