Welcome to the dialogue

Hi, everyone. I'm Tom Collins from WME Blogs, one of the Web Media Sponsors for the Eyes on the Future event. I'm excited to have been asked to moderate this blog,

because the key goals of this event are described as discussing and learning about "what practices, policies and initiatives are working to promote economic growth" in other regions, so that we can "promote economic development, job growth and entrepreneurship in the nine county Greater Rochester Region."

In a nutshell:

“Eyes on the Future” will serve as an upbeat, positive dialogue that will lead to immediate actions and tangible results.

If we are to achieve those goals — immediate actions and tangible results — the dialoque should start now and it should continue long after June 12. This blog can serve as a public forum for that dialogue and a connector to others.

Let's get started. What do you think we need to do stimulate economic growth in the Greater Rochester region?

Comments

[Yvonne DiVita]

Hi, Yvonne here. The other half of the Yvonne and Tom show brought to you by WME Blogs. We're both delighted to be part of this dynamic opportunity to help enhance the visibility of Rochester and all of its talent. I look forward to 'talking' via the blog, with each of the sponsors... but even more so, with the great Rochester community in all nine counties.

The lines are open - so to speak. Let's talk.

[Gregory Bell]

I wear many hats that are deeply affected by the challenges facing the greater Rochester community--I am an employee of a large employer in Rochester, a principal with my wife in starting a small consulting business, partnering with others (including Tom and Yvonne)in building their business, and publishing a blog about the great live jazz music scene here, www.jazzrochester.com, among other things. The hats I've been wearing have increasingly have given me a different view of the impact that the challenges in this region's economy is having on my life and future.

I moved to Rochester in 2002 and, despite the long winters, have found a unique and exciting place to live and work. However, the challenges facing Rochester are many and will require taking risks while using our limited resources wisely. This community seems to be somewhat risk averse, but is then willing to bet the farm on big, expensive projects like Renaissance Center, the Italian themed mall makeover for Midtown, or the ill-fated fast ferry as answers to our community woes. Small but innovative projects that actually benefit the lives of residents will go a lot further than those in bringing this community together and advancing its economic development. Effectively addressing the issues created by poverty, improving the education of our community's children, and finding ways to include all of the diverse communities in Rochester in the region's economic development is necessary. Finally, truly supporting and celebrating our successes like the Rochester International Jazz Festival could have a major impact on the city's future (everyone coming to this conference needs to go down to Gibbs Street to see what it's like to see 1000s of people having a wonderful time in downtown Rochester).

[Donna DeClemente]

Thanks Tom (and Yvonne) for getting this blog started. I was invited last week to an event that was held at Geva called "Branding Rochester". There is a blog about this event that you can find at www.adhub.com. I created a post on this blog that you can read if you scroll down a little which gives an overview of the event as well as some of my thoughts and ideas around the topic.

There was a great panel disucussion as well as audience participation in the end. If you click on the links in the right hand column there is background on each of the panelists.

Also located on this website is a brief survey that you can take to give your opinion. The latest post on the blog is a copy of an article that ran in the New York Times last week on Rochester that doesn't give a good impression of our city.

Please visit this blog and I'll invite those readers to visit this one. Let's get the dialog going between the two groups. Obviously there are many people that have an interest in the future of Rochester and in making a difference. Let's combine our thoughts and voices and hopefully see some results soon.

[Sal Batista]

Hello Tom and hello everyone participating in this blog. My name is Sal and I'm an Actor/Producer currently working in a movie here in Rochester titled "Sophomore" with Tim Beideck (Writer/Director) and Rich Angell (Producer) two natives of Rochester. My passion and commitment for bringing business to Rochester started when Rich decided to take me under his wing since I came here to work on Sophomore almost a year ago showing me everything that Rochester has to offer and why Rochester as a location. Now together we are becoming a team of young, dynamic, energetic, enthusiastic ambassadors for Rochester. Tim and Rich have created the infrastructure (sound stage with a State incentive in the empire zone of Gates that provides a county tax incentive as well, available data base of local crew, personnel and talent) needed to allow movie production companies from around the World to consider Rochester as a location for their next movie. We are working on informing Rochester about the immediate economic impact that big movie productions have in a city and how instantaneous the streams of revenues affect and stimulate the local economy . In order for us to become greater ambassadors for Rochester, we would need to complete our film (WE CAN ONLY FINISH OUR FILM WITH YOUR HELP) so we can then network with the industry executives (NYC, LA, etc) and create the buzz of how cost effective it is to film in Rochester along with everything that our city has to offer which is what production companies look for to film movies though, we have brought a movie here "Alphabet Killer" and we are bringing two more movies schedule to start production at the end of this year therefore already creating a track record of movies being filmed here. It's challenging sometimes to make our point to people in Rochester because most people here think that movies are only filmed in NYC, LA or maybe Toronto when the reality is that production companies and even the big studios are always looking for the next best run away location to film while saving money.
Every time we attend these events we hear about all the great things Rochester has to offer which inspire us to believe more in our mission but our industry gets so overlooked. We invite anyone to visit our sets, also encourage you to ask any questions you may have about the movie industry and most importantly ask how you can help us so we can continue with our contribution of making Rochester the city that it deserves to be.

Best wishes to all and see you at the next event!
Thank you,

Sal Batista
www.sophomoremovie.com