Chips Ahoy! ... But will our Republican leaders lay down at Albany's direction?

It was nice to receive a bit of good news this week, that Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is showing interest in the Marcy Chip Fab site. It's about time!

Four years ago we pointed out in frustration that a site in Saratoga County, Luther Forest, which hadn't even received local approvals and had a limited water supply, was receiving attention from several chip manufacturers, while our ready-to-go Marcy site was being ignored. We noted 2 years ago that people in Saratoga were opposed to their site. In spite of Marcy's shovel-readiness, and the lack of opposition here, EDGE seemed to be asleep at the switch, being less than aggressive in pursuing these potential customers. Personal communication with a county official about that time suggested that Albany wanted it that way.

Now, years later, we are competing with this same Saratoga County site. According to the Times-Union, State officials are putting together a $1 billion package of incentives
to lure AMD to the Saratoga County site -- which still is not ready (water and road improvements are still in the planning stages). As we previously pointed out, Luther Forest is dependent on groundwater sources and would have to complete an extensive project to get water from the Hudson before it would be ready (which may never happen). Marcy, however, is ready NOW!

Again, politics rears its ugly head. Roe-Ann Destito, fortunately, is on top of this one, asking that any incentive package offered for Saratoga County also be offered here, BUT WHERE ARE RAY MEIER AND JOE GRIFFO ON THIS??? They should be asking for the same consideration. Are they "playing nice" with the Albany Republican leadership to further their own careers? It would only be fair for Marcy to receive the same incentive package, especially since the Albany area has already received hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to develop nanotech.

The choice between Luther Forest or Marcy should be a no-brainer: Marcy -- because it's ready to go -- Luther Forest might never be ready.

Lets see if our Republican "leaders" speak up for their area and aggressively push Marcy .... or will they place their personal political ambitions first and remain mum?