Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush (R,C,I-Black River), a member of the Assembly Small Business Committee, recently attended an economic development hearing in Albany where much of the discussion centered on the available economic development and support programs that are in place throughout New York. Blankenbush commended and lauded the efforts of the directors and staff of Empire State Development, and the Small Business Development Centers, and has voted in support of funding these important initiatives in the state. Furthermore, Blankenbush personally made an effort to promote these small-business assistance programs in the North Country in his recent Small Business and Career Guide mailer that was sent throughout the district.

“Empire State Development and Small Business Development Centers do some great work, but half the battle is getting the word out there that these programs exist for entrepreneurs,” said Blankenbush, a seasoned small businessman himself. “I think they do great work, and I am happy to support them, but what I am most concerned about are the stumbling blocks that remain in the way of economic revitalization like taxes and excessive red tape and regulations. Albany will have to address it thoroughly in the coming legislative session.”

Blankenbush noted that New York is notoriously ranked as having the worst climate in which to conduct business by several business climate indexes. Top offending matters are the high costs of doing business caused by a progressive personal income tax and runaway unfunded mandates that have ramped up local property taxes, and seemingly endless layers of red tape created by the alphabet soup of agencies and regulatory bodies small businesses, manufacturers and working farms have to contend with in order to exist and function.

“New York is no longer in the position to just let these problems slide, we need to be aggressively proactive to get government out of the way of economic and job growth in the North Country and throughout the state,” concluded Blankenbush.

For more information about these programs, please call Assemblyman Blankenbush at (315) 439-3909 or visit www.esd.ny.gov or www.nyssbdc.org.