OK, Medina is outside of our coverage area, but the Daily News has a story this morning that concerns all of us, because any chance to create 200 good paying jobs in Western New York is an issue that impacts the entire region's economy.
Google wanted to build a server facility Medina, but the New York Power Authority would not help Google get low-cost power to the plant, which is a prerequisite for any of Google's hosting facilities.
The Daily's story fully captures the frustration over the situation.
State Sen. George Maziarz blasted NYPA for denying Google and other companies that have wanted to build in Western New York. Maziarz lambasted NYPA officials Thursday in Albany during a public hearing to raise electric rates by 12 percent.
“I personally worked over two years with a small company headquartered in San Francisco called Google that wanted desperately to locate in Western New York and were told there was no power available to them,” Maziarz said during Thursday’s hearing.
He blamed NYPA “for killing the deals and the jobs that go along with them.”
Maziarz went on to call NYPA officials liars and thieves.
If Niagara power can potentially be acquired cheaply, as Tom Rivers points out in the story, to spur business growth, how does it possibly make sense for NYPA to thwart business expansion in a region that desperately needs that job growth?