Flippin' Amsterdam NY

I post on marketing and branding the city as I work in the  business marketing space. Usually I have an intuitive sense if something will click or not but sometimes I can’t explain why a pitch or campaign works.

Today was one of those days: as I drove up Market Street, I saw a guy in a phosphorent greenish-blue Lady Liberty costume promoting Liberty Tax Service. Now I just can’t figure out why promoting your income tax business with Lady Liberty actors (and actresses) in frigid weather works. But apparently it does as I’ve seen this for several years now.

Apparently I’m not the marketing guru I think I am.

It’s hard to do classic covers justice but this is an exception (Alice in Chains & Gretchen Wilson perform Barracuda by Heart ).  Enjoy

From Times Union (here):

The depth of the recession-fueled inactivity is evidenced by new building permit data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau, which shows that Capital Region cities and towns issued only 32 building permits in December, all for single-family homes.

That compares to approvals for 62 single-family homes and 22 apartments in the last month in 2007.

And the drop isn’t limited to residential construction: Figures released by McGraw-Hill Construction, an industry monitor, show a 97 percent plunge in the dollar value of contracts for future nonresidential construction in the area, from $164.9 million in December 2007 to $5.4 million in the same month this year.

I could spend a whole day blogging on economics and economic policy but that’s not good for my own personal economics.

GDP came in today at minus 3.8% which is quite bad although not nearly as bad as the 5.4% decline projected. So the good news is that the economy is cliff diving but the cliff is slightly less tall and less sheer.

I’m hearing bailouts may approach $4 trillion . Staggering

The level of nonsense in economic policy is staggering: if you hear arguments that this current crisis can be fixed by tax cuts only or that it will right itself with no dire effects whatsoever, you should head for the nearest exit. Quickly.  I’m awestruck by the level of misinformation on the evolving economic crisis: caveat emptor.

Locally, my thoughts on the GASD aid from Schumer: I see more construction (uh oh) and I’m not sure how programming will be effected. I agree with Ann Peconie in a gifted/talented program although I’m not sure if such funding is enabled by the aid or if the board supports such programs.

And finally in tribute to Stephen Colbert’s segment last night on the Audacity of Nope: if you portray any hope or optimism in revitalizing the city or advocating change, you will be vilified. Just Say Nope to Hope.

From Sen Schumer’s report (here):

I should not be surprised that snow removal in Amsterdam is a politically charged and controversial issue. I think running with long, sharp scissors has less of a chance of poking your eye than is likely from the myriads of fingers pointing blame. I see every stakeholder in this losing again and again the more this continues. I find it surreal to listen to how faults for the problem lies wholly in the random nature of the storms and winter weather.  As if winter were not long enough already, we get another drama.

Consumer Confidence falls to record low. (here)

The Conference Board’s index of consumer confidence fell to 37.7, from a revised 38.6 in December, the New York-based private research group said today. Records began in 1967. Measures related to Americans’ views on incomes deteriorated.

I try to focus on local issues but Consumer Confidence is an important number to watch and ultimately what happens to the national numbers matters as to what happens with local numbers especially this one.

I try to find some bright economic numbers– really– but I’m not seeing any.

The Recorder describes views on the best presentation format for the mayor’s State of the City (here).

I don’t view the options — live presentation to the council, pre-recorded address, a text copy of the address, Web-based presentation– as mutually exclusive choices. In fact, we should have it available in all these formats.

As Mayor Thane’s blog is on Worpdress, she can post the text and the video on her blog along with the other formats.

As far as Alderwoman Brumley’s statement: “I’ve never had anyone come up to me and ask ‘Hey, did you see the mayor’s speech last night?’”, I think that misses the point. The active participants in the community dialog will be very interested in the speech if it is made accessible. I think more people would be engaged and active in the community dialog if they were brought into the process and had more transparency into the workings of our public institutions.

Just no hiding from the grim economic news. I expect a very difficult retail environment for ‘09 even locally as we’re clearly not immune from national trends even given the proximity to government and educational sectors.  Speaking of Amsterdam specifically I see a bit of good fortune in BeechNut arriving as they are not retail driven; for once, the timing of BeechNut could not be better for our local economy. I can see Route 30 development stalling for a bit as national retailers pull back dramatically on expansion assuming they’re not heading to Chapter 11.

The one to watch will be AMD– I see it as a coin toss now.

From the NY State Department of Labor:

“The severity of the current recession in New York State is underscored by the labor market statistics released today. In just the last three months, the state has lost more than 100,000 private sector jobs, including 49,300 in December 2008. This is the steepest one-month drop since October 2001 in the aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks. The number of unemployed in the state is at its highest level since October 1993; while New York State reached its highest unemployment rate since June 1994. Since the beginning of the national recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed New Yorkers has increased by more than 50 percent,” said Peter A. Neenan, Ph.D., director of the Division of Research and Statistics.

Note: When comparing different months, seasonally adjusted data provide the most valid comparison, for example, November 2008 versus December 2008. Non-seasonally adjusted data are valuable in year-to-year comparisons of the same month, for example, December 2007 versus December 2008.

Industries with Job Gains:
Educational & Health Services           +9,300
Other Services           +1,800
Government           +800

Industries with Job Losses:
Trade, Transportation & Utilities           -34,600
Professional & Business Services           -32,100
Manufacturing           -20,300
Financial Activities           -19,800
Construction           -16,300
Information           -5,600
Leisure & Hospitality           -4,400
Natural Resources & Mining           -200

h/t to Ann Peconie:

Heard the lobster man story was on Jay Leno Tuesday night during his skit, not kidding. Can we find the tape of it?

Joke is at 9:30 mark (Jay Leno clip of Amsterdam NY Lobster Man)

Amazing what catches the public attention.