6/18/2004
Cortland's Comeback
by Connie Hannon, Oswego County Business
The day Brockway Motor Trucks closed in 1975, Cortland County discovered an
intangible that makes this city and county a model of economic tenacity. The
people of Cortland willed themselves back from the brink. During the ensuing 23
years, the county would lose 5,000 jobs, one-quarter of its workforce, due to
the closing of linchpin employers Brockway, Rubbermaid and Smith Corona. Now,
with more people working than ever before, the future here is packed with
promise.
The erosion of New York's industrial base has been played out in counties,
cities and towns throughout the state since the '70s. While the specifics of
Cortland's recovery may not exactly fit the mold for other comparable areas like
Oswego County, the resolve and rebound success here can be an inspiration
thatand considering the economic plight ofUpstate's volatile business climate
this is not tritewhere there's a will, there's a way.
For example, there were 22,588 Cortland County workers in 1975 when Brockway's
factory whistle ran out of steam. The latest census lists that total at 24,776.
Considering the 5,000 lost jobs and only a population increase of 4,000 since
1970, the employment figure is enviable.
"Cortland County and Oswego County have much in common," says Linda Dickerson
Hartsock, executive director of the Cortland County Business Development
Corporation and the Industrial Development Agency, (BDC/IDA). "Both have
Interstate 81, a strong industrial base historically deep in manufacturing and
communities that have been challenged as that segment of the economy has
dwindled."
Two other similarities between the rural counties with under-the-radar cities
are striking. One is an in-your-face stat, the other a scratch-your-head wince.
In January only two-tenths of a percent (Oswego 10.8, Cortland 10.6) separated
the counties' unemployment figures. Seasonal businesses will substantially lower
both. Then there is this mind-boggling connection regarding two recent major
industrial closings. Both Cortland's Buckbee-Mears division, a maker of aperture
masks for TVs and computer screens that employed 400, and Oswego County's
Nestle's plant were money-makers, but, targeted to close, victims of corporate
agendas that did not have room for dedicated workers or plant profitability.
"Most business owners would be happy with the profits the Nestle operation was
generating," says an in-the-loop
Oswego County business leader who asked for anonymity because of other business
concerns. It is the same sentiment in Cortland regarding Buckbee-Mears
The cornerstone in Cortland's recovery plan was the redirection of the area's
long-standing reliance on large manufacturers to knowledge-based businesses and
entrepreneurial startups. Companies in the 20-30-employee range now stoke the
county's economic engine. These mid-employers also represent the majority of
Cortland County Chamber of Commerce members, which has jumped from 200 to 550 in
10 years.
"There are going to be fewer large industrial relocations available to cities
such as Cortland," Hartsock says. "Consequently, it was essential for this
community, and I believe others like it, to understand the changing climate and
redefine itself." The growing corporate trend to offshore many services
magnifies Hartsock's premise. Cortland's success has become hot property. As
Hartsock has been asked to share her ideas, it also has enabled her to become a
fan of what is being accomplished in other county's, particularly Oswego. "I
have been in contact with Oswego County officials so I'm familiar with the
projects there," she says. "The entrepreneurial attitude the county has fostered
should be a reason for excitement for residents. Whatever help Cortland's
recovery experiences can be, we are certainly willing to share. The economy of
Central New York relies as much on a strong Oswego County as a strong Cortland.
We are all in this together."
The exchange of information between Hartsock and Mike Treadwell, the executive
director of Operation Oswego County, while ongoing, is not the only coordinated
collaboration between the counties.
Tom Gallagher, former chamber president, now Cortland's mayor, spearheaded the
highly successful Cortland Business Showcase in 1994 while at the Chamber.
Oswego County officials, including Betsy Sherman-Saunders, president of the
newly formed Oswego County Chamber of Commerce, met with him while researching
tradeshow formats for the county. Following Cortland's blueprint the first
Oswego show, including a pre-event exhibitor get-together was held in 1998. The
showcase was temporarily discontinued following 9/11, in part because of the
unavailability of Oswego's Armory.
"We want to re-establish the event because it showcases the important array of
small and medium businesses and large industry that drive the economy in Oswego
County," Sherman-Saunders says. "Location became a problem but we are currently
looking at alternatives so we can get the event going again."
Certain aspects of Cortland blueprint appealed to Oswego leaders. "The Cortland
community needed a sense of the diverse business base here and the trade show
showcased that," Mayor Gallagher says. That goes for both the residents and the
business people. "Back then, not everyone even knew the names of other business
leaders," he says. His solution to overcome this unfamiliarity is the
invitation-only exhibitor party the evening before the showcase, an event that
raises the esprit-de-corps and everyone's awareness that they are part of a
talented and determined business culture. The first showcase opened with 80
participants, now there is a waiting list for the 135 booths available. Mayor
Gallagher is confident that once the showcase resumes, Oswego County will
achieve similar results.
The trade show is just one of the projects that helped Cortland. While all the
redevelopment efforts are interdependent, probably the most potent economic
injection here is the Cortland Business Network (CBN), the active partnership of
Cortland business leaders formed in 1999 to bounce the area's economic
resiliency into economic reliability.
"The emergence of the CBN, the coordinated development of downtown
that enhanced the business climate and improved the aesthetics of street level
Main Street, the renovation of the central city's second and third floors into
professional offices, the growth of Chamber membership and the forming of
compatible merchants associations in surrounding towns, which has allowed us to
have such things as county-wide sales events, all have combined to keep the area
vibrant" Mayor Gallagher says.
Cotland's Main Street, something right out of Norman Rockwell, has kept pace,
filling street level openings quickly. In fact, Hartsock smiles when she says
she wishes there were more storefronts to offer people that inquiry about
availability.
The CBN board involves 30 chief executives representing an influential
cross-section of business, industry and education. Once a month members of this
action-oriented think tank roll up their sleeves and objectively look at their
community's economic stability and if anything needs to be done to enhance the
positive business synergy.
"In many communities, leaders meet, develop a master plan and bring in outside
consultants to solve economic problems," Hartsock says. "Here the Cortland
Business Network was formed and members put their reputations and their own
resources to work. Cortland-based business invested here and if members were
local management for global companies they helped convince corporate management
to make their next investment in Cortland. So instead of looking to the outside
for someone to make a save, the community came together and did it itself. I
think that is an impressive economic development model."
If grown business leaders facing Cortland's future with hands held and heads
high is a sight of determination, the community's adapted reuse of abandoned
industrial sites is a model for sore eyes.
Since 2000 more than 1.5 million square feet of empty industrial buildingswhat
were grave monuments to the pasthas been redeveloped. BorgWarner Morse TEC
completed a $38.5 million industrial investment reclaiming the former NCC
facility (133,000 square feet). Marrietta Corporation, the largest amenity
company (hotel courtesy toiletries) in the world and a Cortland business
mainstay since 1977, expanded into the former Rubbermaid building (450,000
square feet) and converted it at a cost of $15 million. A local entrepreneur has
redeveloped the former 433,000 square-foot Smith Corona manufacturing plant,
which is now 80 percent occupied by 20 companies. The former ASSA International
facility, 133,000 square feet, has become the Cortland Commerce Center, anchored
by Intertek Testing and WebClothes.
These are the major developments that bubble on top of Cortland's hot community
pride. Hartsock's office, however, lists 57 additional highlights in just the
past three years, totaling business investments in excess of $120 million. They
include the opening of the high-tech Finger Lakes Business and Technology Park,
anchored by six-year-old Cortland startup Photon Vision Systems, recently bought
by Panavision and renamed Panavision Imaging, the redevelopment of Smith
Corona's corporate headquarters building by Cortland Pump, two new hotels, three
new restaurant and an agribusiness initiative that promotes economic development
of the industry while championing farmland protection. In fact, the
comprehensive farm protection program, the first spearheaded by a NYS Industrial
Development Agency, is so novel that the American Farmland Trust, a national
non-profit farmland protection agency, is using the program as a model to
demonstrate how land can be protected and stimulate agribusiness simultaneously.
Cortland's attention to detail while rebuilding its economic base and civic
pride was wide-ranging. No stone was left unturned as the county redefined
itself. More accurately, no tire was left in the air. What?
When Hartsock took Cortland's economic development job, community leaders were
involved in numerous attempts to remove the area's eyesore, a seven-story high,
fourteen-acre wide junkyard hard by Interstate 81 and northern gateway to a
still shaky Cortland psyche.
"Anyone coming to Cortland, whether on business or pleasure, formed a first
impression of the community through stacks and stacks of old tires," Mayor
Gallagher says.
While the removal of the junkyard seemingly pales when compared to the economic
resurgences in Cortland, Hartsock pictures it when asked what is her biggest
disappointment during the past four years.
Again she smiles. "Not having taken a before photo of the place," she says.
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