This is just awful.
Last month, we won a national competition to host the
headquarters of a photonics institute. Sounded like a big deal. Got everybody
excited – especially, for some of us, because it would likely be located
downtown.
The specific site of choice appeared to be the Sibley
Building. University of Rochester President Joel Seligman, who was involved in
the push for the institute, said it should go there. Senator Chuck Schumer said
so, too.
And then came the cloud. Last
Thursday morning, several high-powered local business leaders stepped in,
saying: downtown, yes. But the Sibley Building? No.
That word came in a statement from the Rochester Business
Alliance on behalf of a group named the Rochester Business Leaders Photonics
Working Group. The “clear choice” for the headquarters and incubator
facilities, they said, is Legacy Tower, which formerly housed Bausch + Lomb’s
headquarters.
The statement identifies the Working Group as “leaders interested
in the future impact of the photonics institute on Rochester and the Finger
Lakes region.”
Its members, the statement says, include Wegmans CEO Danny
Wegman, Eastman Kodak CEO Jeff Clarke, Paychex CEO Marty Mucci, Home Properties
CEO Ed Pettinella, Pike Companies chair Thomas Judson, Jr., and Rochester
Business Alliance CEO Bob Duffy.
Shortly after that, there was another statement, this one
from Seligman, Representative Louise Slaughter, Assembly Majority Leader Joe
Morelle, County Executive Maggie Brooks, RIT President William Destler – and
Danny Wegman (who seemed to be backing off from the Working Group’s statement).
“We continue to believe that the choice of the Sibley
Building is the wisest choice,” they said. And they cautioned that decisions
about siting – for the headquarters and for the manufacturing facilities that
result – need to be made carefully, in an orderly way, and collaboratively.
Late Monday afternoon, though, it seemed to be all over. The Albany-based
SUNY Polytechnic Institute – “the grant awardee and contracting entity with the
Department of Defense,” a press release noted – and the Business Leaders
Photonics Working Group announced that the headquarters would be in Legacy
Tower.
And then, a few hours later, came a statement from Wegman, Seligman,
and Morelle: “Despite press reports to the contrary, no decision has been
finalized on a new downtown headquarters” for the photonics institute. “We
welcome SUNY Polytechnic’s interest in locating a headquarters downtown and we
thank them for their recommendation, which we will take under advisement. The
Rochester leadership, in conjunction with Governor Cuomo, will make the final
decision on where to locate the appropriate photonics facilities in our
community.”
Tuesday morning on WXXI, Morelle followed up with a stronger
smackdown, saying that at “a handful” of local business leaders are being
manipulated by SUNY Poly. And he accused SUNY Poly of wanting “to reach in and
tell people of Rochester” what to do, of “trying to impose their will without
our participation.”
“I would respectfully hope they would back away,” he said,
and let Rochester make the decisions.
There’s so much we don’t know right now. For starters, who really is in charge of the photonics institute that Rochester
won? Who gets to decide who’s in charge?
And: Why did the presidents of Paychex, Kodak, Wegmans, Home
Properties, and Pike side with SUNY Poly in this fight? Why did Bob Duffy do
that? Did he drink some kind of Kool-Aid while he was working in Albany as
lieutenant governor and decide that SUNY Poly is a better friend than Rochester
and our universities?
Why did the business leaders leaders do what they did without
talking to Seligman, Morelle, and other local leaders?
Questions
aside, one thing seems clear: This is a fight between SUNY Poly in Albany and
local leaders. That looks particularly ugly because it seems to be SUNY Poly trying
to muscle out someone who has become a particularly strong community leader in
Rochester and in the nine-county region: UR president Joel Seligman.
This can do great damage.
The photonics award was the result of years of tremendous
effort and collaboration – 55 companies, 20 universities and laboratories, 33
other educational institutions, 16 non-profits, and representatives from 20
states – this in a region not known for always working together. Into that
achievement, an Albany university and a handful of local business executives
have tossed a hand-grenade. Sorry. There’s just no other way to read this.
What happens next is critical.Somebody higher up – the governor?the
Department of Defense? – needs to make clear immediately who’s
in charge.And frankly, that “who” must be local
leaders, not SUNY Poly.
Maybe, of course, this isn’t a SUNY Poly power grab. That institution
has been doing a lot for the Rochester area. They’re already involved in the
tech centers in Canandaigua and the Canal Ponds Business Park in Greece. Maybe
the SUNY Poly folks believe they’re better leaders and we’ll just screw up. If
so, I think they’re wrong.
This region is now working together on a wide variety of
initiatives. We’ve been collaborating – across municipal boundaries, across
county lines, despite competing interests and despite governmental structures
and history that make collaborating nearly impossible. Not only do we not need to
have key decisions impacting this region made by outside interests but it is
counter-productive. And it is highly destructive.
Appearances to the contrary, this fight is not about real
estate. It is about power, leadership, and process. The location of the
photonics headquarters is the first of many decisions, and it will pale in
importance to some of the others.
Where will the $610 million photonics institute money go?
Which existing and new businesses and labs will do the research and the work
and create the jobs? How will the institute work with the entities in other
states that are partners in this effort? Will those decisions be made
collaboratively, or by one person or institution?
I’m sure this mess can be cleaned up. And I’m sure everybody
involved can recreate the sense of forward movement – and excitement – that we
had a few weeks ago. But the Albany power grab has to stop.
This article appears in Aug 19-25, 2015.
There is no evidence that SUNY Poly is muscling in on the decision making process. What is apparent is that there is a joint venture where roles and responsibilities were not clearly defined in advance, and now two of the major partners are trying to take control. I cannot believe that anyone wants local politicians to be in charge of the institute. If the partners are fighting over who gets to decide which block of downtown will hold the Administrative center, just wait until actual policy decisions are needed.
I’ll say it again. Connect Kendrick Rd. to John St. Build it where the new road crosses Critenden and be smack dab in the middle of 3 major universities that are all involved. hundreds of acres surrounding it ripe for high tech manufacturing. Close to the airport.
Boring administrative offices belong at Canal Ponds Park. I’d like to see something bigger and more transformational go into the Sibley Building.
“Rochester’s leaders should be DEBATING differing approaches to solving poverty and fixing the city’s failed schools, not which office space to rent. ” D&C editorial.
I totally disagree. There are lots of decisions that should be debated, about matters small and large. Yes, building space should be debated.
You know the three secrets to business success, location, location, location. Of course it matters. Everything matters. And the process of debating matters, too.
Photonics, poverty, our schools need open debate and not closed-door decision-making…
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Debate? Yup, I would agree. But when it comes to politics and business, there is no debate, just mud slinging with no apparent progress because it’s this ‘my way or the highway” attitude that enters and dominates the debate. Debates take place in high school and college and its organized by rules and a civil tone . Then when the “adults” enter the “debating” picture, debating is replaced by demands, accusations, smears and hot air.
And if you think that your opinion has ANY say, gets ANY response, is even considered,….think again. Us pons in the community have a say but no ear. (some exceptions) I’m sick of trying to contribute, give back, suggest, etc. They do not want to hear from you, for your opinion only gets in the way of their agenda. Show me where someone’s suggestion was implemented, forget about it. Fed up,…you bet I am.
Rochester “creates” its own misery and until it reaches out, really and honestly reaches out and listens to constituents who fill their bank accounts with our hard earned dollars, we have what we have folks.