Liberal Party of New York State

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 13, 1998

Contact: Martin I. Hassner (212) 213-1400

Liberal Party Designates New Urban Agenda To Accomplish Success For New York State In 21st Century

The Liberal Party will meet with statewide candidates on April 18th and 25th in its search to form the party's ticket in the November elections, Raymond B. Harding, Vice Chair, announced today.

"A new urban agenda centering on statewide economic development is the key to New York's success in the 21st Century," Mr. Harding said. "We can only achieve that success by recognizing the critical roles of cities and their surrounding counties as the engines of the new economy.

"All over our nation new coalitions are forming between cities and inner-ring suburbs to find solutions to the problems they share. But here in New York, both major political parties have failed to look at the state as a unified whole. Instead, the parties cater to an outdated view which panders to the tripartite constituency of inner cities, suburbs and rural areas at one point and at another point the tension between upstate vs. downstate."

Mr. Harding pointed out that the Census Bureau and the federal Office of Management and Budget lists 314 national metropolitan areas, occupying only one-sixth of the nation's land. Those metro areas contain 80 percent of the population and generate 84 percent of the jobs and 83 percent of the gross domestic product. Eight out of ten new jobs created between 1992 and 1997 are located in those areas, and the average wage and benefit packages for the metro area worker is almost 50 percent higher than counterparts in small towns or rural areas. What that means in the real world is that economic development flows from center cities to the surrounding areas.

"The Liberal Party is calling for a new economic coalition that abandons outdated rivalries and ways of thinking," Mr. Harding said. "We need to keep pace with the rest of the nation. That can be achieved by looking at the renaissance Mayor Giuliani has brought to New York City and the surrounding counties. With that view in mind, we need to economically invigorate the center cities. Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Ithaca, Albany, Schenectady, Binghamton and Yonkers and the metroplex areas surrounding those cities." He added:

"Upstate New York once looked like the rest of the nation, including its mix of jobs and income levels. Unlike the steel and automobile empires of the Midwest, the industrial base of upstate New York did not collapse, did not crumble in the early 1980's. The reality is that it eroded through and into the mid 1990's. The pain and dislocation of earlier downturns eventually led to the emergence of new, highly-productive, computer-drivern manufacturing in the Midwest and a high-tech research in places like Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In New York, however, the travail of corporate downsizing in Monroe County with Kodak and Xerox, and Schenectady County with General Electric are symptomatic of a far larger problem of economic decline and decay. Without an urban agenda for economic development, upstate's suburban and rural communities will go into permanent decline."

Mr. Harding further outlined the Liberal Party's social and political agenda for the November elections. The key elements include upholding an independent judicial system, including respect for the jurisdiction and discretion of independently-elected prosecutors and impartial judges pledged to uphold the Constitution, and a strong environmental policy. The Liberal Party's agenda addresses these other matters of importance.

Taxes: To help spur economic growth, we need to create a tax structure which promotes overall economic growth and, at the same time, meets the public's need for adequate services.

State Funding: Aid formulas must be revised to provide an equitable, statewide distribution of aid for education, transportation and the environment.

Education: New York needs to revise its school curriculum to provide students with cognitive teaching and learning. It is the only way to prepare our emerging generation for the demands and opportunities of the new century, including responsibility for charting the future.

Energy Costs: The high costs of electric power are a hindrance to the competition for new business and job growth. The state should provide small business and residential customers with the same important cost discounts given to major manufacturers.

Illegal Drugs: However difficult the problem of eliminating illegal drugs, New York should begin a statewide crackdown. A unified assault coupling government initiatives and law enforcement strategies would make it difficult for the drug trade to flourish anywhere within the boundaries of New York State.

Health Care: New York must awaken to the the fact that health care is undergoing a national revolution and that New York should not only keep pace, but should set a national standard. The Liberal Party wants to see a system that provides every New Yorker with some form of health insurance. The economic solvency of tertiary-care hospitals in our urban areas is key to the health care of all New Yorkers. From Roswell Park in Erie County to the Albany Medical Center to Mt. Sinai in Manhattan, the existence of quality health care facilities in our urban areas is a key source of health care delivery. Moreover, New York's academic health centers are tools of economic development through biotechnology research. To echo Senator Moynihan, we must polish the state's health care jewels, and not let them fall into decline.

"We are inviting candidates to address the issues of our concern and do so in detail," Mr. Harding said. "Our decision on whom to endorse willr est with candidates who provide the clearest vision and the greatest determination. We urge the New York State electorate to join with us in fulfilling our vision of a new statewide urban agenda for the future."

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