Report finds state of the region mixed
Institute for Local Governance and Regional Growth urges collaboration

By MARA MCGINNIS
Reporter Assistant Editor

A major new report on the condition of the Buffalo-Niagara region shows a mix of strengths and weaknesses in the area and calls for collaborative, cross-sector action to enhance the region's quality of life and competitiveness.

UB's Institute for Local Governance and Regional Growth yesterday released "State of the Region: Performance Indicators for the Buffalo-Niagara Region in the 21st Century" at a press conference and meeting of regional leaders and decision-makers.

According to the report, the state of the region's economy is summarized as "well-diversified, but lagging in job growth and weekly earnings," with "business costs high, living costs average" and "foreign exports and patent production strong and rising."

The state-of-government summary finds "promising trends in financial reporting, non-tax financing, service collaborations and voter enrollment," with service costs in schools and towns "above average" and municipal debt "increasing."

In the area of education, pre-K-program access is "insufficient" and student performance in elementary, middle and high school is "above state averages," according to report findings. The summary cites the region's major education concerns to be meeting Regents standards, minority dropout rates and teacher diversity. It also determines that student retention in higher education "requires attention."

In addition, Internet infrastructure and connections are "advancing," while "performance lags" in personal computer use, Web presence and prevalence of technology-based firms, according to the executive summary.

The report was developed by 11 task forces comprising more than 200 members from across Western New York and Southern Ontario.

"What drives the 'State of the Region' project is the axiom that 'You can't manage what you can't measure,'" said John B. Sheffer, II, institute director, who called the report "an unprecedented tool" for Buffalo-Niagara. "A critical and distinctive aspect of the report is that it not only measures essential aspects of regional performance, but also suggests ways for different sectors of the community to jointly manage those aspects of our performance and promote regional excellence."

President William R. Greiner added: "This kind of university-community connection is a natural for UB. The university offers resources to do the analysis that the 'State of the Region' project entails, we serve as a neutral forum for regionwide collaboration, and we have an ongoing commitment to serving the region."

The 275-page report presents 98 indicators of regional quality of life across 11 key subject areas: economy, education, environment, equity, government, health, human services, planning and land use, public safety, regional assets and technology and information.

Kathryn A. Foster, associate professor of planning and director of research for the institute, and Barry Boyer, professor of law, who together co-directed the "State of the Region" project, indicated that many of the findings counter common negative perceptions of conditions in the Buffalo-Niagara region.

"It's a pretty hard-hitting report," said Foster. "Where there are clear needs for improvement-for example, in the strength of the region's technology-based business sector, distribution of poverty, teen pregnancy rates and job growth-'State of the Region' pulls no punches.

"On the other hand," she continued, "Buffalo-Niagara does well in a number of areas-foreign exports, technology infrastructure, support for arts and culture, and environmental chemical releases."

"It's a realistic picture-not uniformly bad, not uniformly rosy," said Marsha S. Henderson, Western New York district president of Key Bank and chair of the economy task force. "Most of all, it's a reminder that we as a region can control our destiny."

Gail Johnstone, executive director of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo and chair of the planning and land use task force, noted: "'State of the Region' gives our community a baseline we haven't had before. This first report, particularly, is more than just a snapshot of where we are-it identifies a set of measures the region should look at regularly."

A primary conclusion, Boyer pointed out, "is that we as a region need to do a much better job of identifying, collecting and fitting together data at the regional level."

Muriel A. Howard, president of Buffalo State College who chaired the education task force, cited regional literacy as an example. "The task forces in both education and human services were interested in assessing Buffalo-Niagara's levels of literacy, but the data we needed weren't available." She added that good data on bias crimes, which both the equity and public safety task forces were seeking, also was lacking.

Other task force chairs, selected for their expertise and leadership in each area, were:

- Environment/b>-Errol E. Meidinger, UB professor of law and co-director, Environment and Society Institute

- Equity-Lana D. Benatovich, executive director, National Conference for Community and Justice

- Government-Mary Lou Rath, New York State senator

- Health-Donald W. Rowe, public health director, Genesee County Health Department

- Human Services-Robert M. Bennett, president, United Way of Buffalo and Erie County

- Public Safety-Michael A. Battle, judge, Erie County Family Court

- Regional Assets-Richard T. Reinhard, principal, Niagara Consulting Group

- Technology and Information-David M. Straitiff, president and chief executive officer, Syrinex Communications Corp.

For more detailed information, visit the project Web site at http://regional-institute.buffalo.edu/sotr/default.html. Reports may be ordered from the institute by calling 829-3777.