Editor’s Note: Otsego County Chamber President Rob Robinson delivered his annual State of the Chamber Address Saturday, April 16, at the Annual Banquet & Celebration of Business at the SUNY Oneonta Hunt Union.
The Otsego County Chamber continues to stay on mission, remains extremely active, and is working daily to strengthen our economy and to rebuild the chamber’s membership during these stressful economic times.
While we remain committed to a vital organization, like the rest of Upstate we continue to deal with the effects of this economy. Your chamber continues to promote a strong pro-business, forward-looking agenda that focuses on our ability to address the needs of our next generation of businesses. We work to lift the economic base so that more citizens can enjoy the quality of life of which we speak so highly!
Like many of you, we continue to struggle to maintain the resources necessary to address the many challenges and needs of the region’s businesses. Yet, with our decreasing resources, we will continue to push the envelope to assure real prospects for growth for our future generations. The Otsego County Chamber continues work for the job growth to give future generations the opportunity to build their dreams right here in Upstate New York.
Tonight’s celebration is what is right in our communities! As we watch so many of our young professionals leave this state, we take great pride tonight in celebrating these leaders and their commitment to community. Thank you for all you have done!
Where are we as a business community today? The cost of doing business continues to outpace disposable income; government continues to demand far too much revenue from this economy. Although with the passage of the first on-time budget in years – one with a reduction in state spending – maybe we can catch our collective breath and start to rebuild our potential.
“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith,” Franklin D. Roosevelt.
We continue to face some of the most challenging times most of us have witnessed. Harry Truman put it this way, “A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.” To me this has become an opportunity for moving forward.
We live in times of turmoil with many conflicting goals and opportunities. It seems as a nation, and community, we are less engaged in working with our neighbors to reach beneficial solutions and are more interested in winning – regardless of the cost.
We need to work to recalibrate the discussion toward mutually beneficial solutions. We need to ratchet down the rhetoric and return to a calm discussion of those items we can agree on, and a goodwill negotiation of those we disagree on to see if there are ways to move our county and our state forward economically while preserving the environment and individual rights.
If we continue to point
Please See ROBINSON, A6
fingers at those with opposing viewpoints as being the “bad guys” then we deserve the continued drifting we have.
The mission of The Otsego County Chamber is “to continually improve the overall business climate in Otsego County and the region, to strive for an atmosphere that attracts investment.”
To do so, the Chamber has entered into a myriad of controversial issues over the years – MOSA and tipping fess, county manager, industrial development, natural gas/hydrofracking and others. Our process is to review and study the facts and information available, work through our committee and board structure and then reach a position that that reflects, as best possible, our mission and our members.
It is a process that has opened a number of avenues for frank discussion and negotiation. It is also a process that has served the overall chamber membership very well – both with the positions we have taken and those we have decided to leave to our individual members to handle as they see fit.
We will continue to serve our membership with steady, thoughtful actions and positions as we believe that it is our responsibility to continually move our businesses forward so that there will be an economic future, and an environment, for our children and grandchildren.
Together, we can make a difference! It is time for a fundament shift to living within our means with respect, and with concern for our neighbors and communities!
We must allow our businesses and citizens an opportunity to seek the real American Dream. A dream where hard work is respected and rewarded, where giving back to your community with your time is revered – as we celebrate this evening -, and where the pursuit of individual success is again an honorable goal.
We love New York! We cherish the upstate quality of life! However, our small businesses – 95 percent of the employers in the region – are being forced to choose between paying the energy bill, providing health insurance, giving employees a much deserved – and needed – raise or, yes, even pay their chamber investment.
Your family, your neighbors and your hopes for the future require your chamber to speak up with determination. At the chamber, we will continue to reorganize to better deliver results. This chamber will continue to speak for policies that make it possible for you to create economic growth. All businesses – for-profits and not-for-profits – benefit when we are successful. But to be successful as a membership organization, The Otsego County Chamber needs your involvement and your investment!
I stand before you because I love a challenge – and the last three years have been challenging!
“That is what Americans do. We face a challenge – no matter how great – because we know that on the other side there is always hope.” Senator John Kerry.
May 17 will start my 17th year as the president of the chamber. In some ways it feels as I am still getting started; and in some it’s been an eternity. I thank my wife Elizabeth for hanging with me through these years and Dave Muehl, retired from the Gordon B. Roberts Agency, for convincing me that this opportunity and my talents were a great match.
I sincerely thank this community for this opportunity to make a difference! We have won a lot of battles and likewise lost a lot – but never silenced – as we fought for the rights of our business community to create opportunities.
This quote from Jonas Salk sums up the last 16 years: “The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more.”
Thank you.
No comments:
Post a Comment