About Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce
The Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce is the largest business organization in Central New York. Although the Chamber began back in 1889 as a way to offer business assistance and development programs to local businesses, this is not the same Chamber that began so many years ago. Today, the Chamber is an icon in the Syracuse business community, leading the way in everything from government relations and lobbying to creating economic growth in our region. We are a driving force for economic vitality and high quality of life in the Central New York community. We are a broad-based association representing more than 2200 businesses of all sizes and from virtually every industry and profession in our area. Our members are business owners who realize that, through the Chamber, they can accomplish collectively what they cannot accomplish individually, while enhancing their credibility as a viable member of the business community. Our Mission: To create an economic climate that enhances growth, prosperity and the quality of life for all who live and work in Greater Syracuse.
Building a Powerful Business Community
The Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce is a driving force for economic vitality and high quality of life in Central New York, leading the way in everything from government relations and lobbying to creating economic growth. We are a broad-based association representing businesses of all sizes, and from virtually every industry and profession in our area. Our members are business owners who realize that, through the Chamber, they can accomplish collectively what they cannot accomplish individually, while enhancing their credibility as a viable member of the business community. "Our Chamber is proud to be chosen as the coordinating agency for this innovative application of technical expertise to business challenges," says Chamber president, Darlene Kerr. "This is a great addition to existing economic development initiatives in New York, where we've finally begun to experience new growth and entrepreneurial expansion." SATOP is managed in New York by the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, in cooperation with other Chambers and Economic Development Corporations across the state.
Business of the Year Awards: The Business Journal
Thirteen years ago, Norman Poltenson had a vision of creating a business designed to put accurate and valuable information in the hands of business people throughout Central New York. Its first medium for moving that information was a monthly newspaper going to key executives and business owners in the Central New York area. It began as one employee in a 200 square feet office. Today, The Business Journal is a weekly publication that goes to business owners and executives in the 16-county corridor that runs north and south through New York from the Canadian border to the Pennsylvania state line. But that is just one of the avenues by which The Business Journal company puts information in the hands of those who need it. The Business Journal also organizes and conducts seminars, trade shows, and other events for the business community, and produces two publications focusing on healthcare, one aimed at the healthcare providers themselves and the other aimed at business owners, human-resources directors, and benefits managers.
Most recently, The Business Journal has embarked on a new direction for growth--forming strategic partnerships. Because of its limited resources, The Business Journal has joined media giants such as Time Warner and Cox in presenting area events. Such partnerships, Poltenson reasons, enable The Business Journal to reach a broad business audience and to reinforce its message while preserving capital. As The Business Journal finds new pipelines for delivering information to key audiences, revenues have climbed markedly in recent years, with annual revenues jumping 44.5 percent over the last three years. Editor and Publisher Norman Poltenson projects that revenues will grow about 36 percent for 1999.
To maintain the quality of the product and to continue the company's development of new products and partnerships, Poltenson has added staff, growing from nine employees in 1996 to 15 in 1998. Plans for this year call for adding new staff in the advertising and marketing department, the editorial department, and graphics and production department. Poltenson has shaped the company to work in teams, looking for new opportunities, creating new products and services, and refining its functioning in pursuit of a goal of 20-percent revenue growth each year for the next eight years.While Poltenson has focused on refining and communicating the company's vision internally, he has empowered The Business Journal staff to make decisions, take risks, and pursue the corporate goals. He has also supplied the tools staff members need to do their jobs. The company budgets three percent of annual revenues for technology investments. And Poltenson encourages staff to pursue whatever training they believe will help them do their jobs better.
But one of the key tools that employees need in order to make intelligent decisions and to take intelligent risks is a knowledge of the company's finances. Poltenson makes sure that that particular tool is in everyone's toolbox. He meets least twice a year with members of each department to bring them up to date on all of the company's finances with the exception of individual salary levels. While both salary and benefit levels are very competitive, Poltenson has added two new benefits to reward the staff in recent years. The Business Journal instituted a profit-sharing plan designed to focus employee attention on the need for continuing profits and to share the company's success with those who make it possible. Soon after the creation of the profit-sharing plan, the company introduced a 401 (k) plan to enable staff members to save more effectively for retirement. Those innovations, coupled with a Friday afternoon tradition of casual conversation, brainstorming, and analysis over a beer, and the availability of a fitness center adjacent to the office, combine to keep The Business Journal's staff fresh, energized, and creative as they strive to maintain and build on the momentum established over the last 13 years.
Syracuse business group's letter obscures an issue of accountability
When the Syracuse Common Council recently gave the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce a “wedding present” of five free years of electrical service at its Syracuse Technology Garden at taxpayer expense, the leaders of the Chamber and its marriage partner, the Metropolitan Development Association, remained silent.No defense was offered by the Chamber or MDA. No surprise there: It’s hard to defend the indefensible.
To be sure, the administration of former Mayor Matt Driscoll bears most of the blame for this mess; for years it failed to address a mix-up over an electric meter at the Tech Garden as the bill mounted. The council bears the blame for settling the bill by saddling taxpayers. A council debate and resulting coverage in The Post-Standard provoked fierce criticism of the deal.
Now comes a statement intended “to clarify the issue.” Rob Simpson is president and CEO of CenterState Corporation for Economic Opportunity, the new entity born of the marriage of the Chamber and MDA. His 2½-page “Message From The President” was sent to CenterState’s 2,000-plus members, representing tens of thousands of employees in Central New York.
The message says, “It is our goal to be open, honest and responsive to our members.” Instead, the letter tries to spin the tale. It touts the future benefits of the Chamber-MDA merger, and the good work done by the Tech Garden, apparently to justify the deal. Nowhere does it deal directly with the transfer of a Chamber debt to taxpayers. Its aim seems not so much to clarify as to mollify members seeking answers.
The moment of greatest clarity in this whole debate came when Councilor-at-large Lance Denno decried the deal: “Totally forgiving a $200,000 debt — when we’re in the middle of the most serious budget crisis the city has faced probably since the Great Depression — I think is just foolhardy and irresponsible.” He was being generous. The actual debt was probably closer to $360,000, as the city would have known if it had bothered to meter the electric usage properly.
Simpson writes artfully that, “In resolution of the issue, the Chamber agreed to provide the City of Syracuse with a mortgage in the amount of $216,000 using more than $3.5 million in Tech Garden leasehold improvements as collateral.”
This is an affront to his members, who deserve straight talk, and to taxpayers, who will see not a dime from this “mortgage.” Where are the monthly payments on this “mortgage”? What are the repayment terms? City officials admit, and the CenterState letter implies, that no money will ever transfer back to the city unless the Tech Garden is sold. The city is not holding its breath. This was a gift, and the councilors knew it when they voted for it. That’s why one of them cheerfully called it a “wedding present” for the Chamber and MDA.
Simpson writes that his message was intended to clarify “certain mischaracterizations and resulting confusion ...” He cites no evidence. His own letter could have been Exhibit A.