Small Thinking

Small ball may work well for the White Sox (and I hope it continues to do so) but small thinking will not help our community.

The paucity of leadership in our community is appalling. We have become accustomed to talking about our pathetic political leaders, but fewer people talk about the lack of business leadership.

Below is an example of what I am talking about. There has been talk about requiring a passport for entry into the US (like other grown up countries). The discussion thus far has mostly centered around the viability of this option in terms of Homeland Security. (And rightly so).

Then we hear from Andrew Rudnick, who sent this missive about his meeting with representatives from Homeland Security. You can read his unedited text below, but basically the gist is that a) We are dependent on those who come to the Galleria and Outlet mall and leave their boxes and bags in the parking lot in order to sustain our anemic economy b)We wouldn't need passports if every state in the Union put citizenship status on drivers licenses c)Let me just quote completely, because this is perhaps my fsavorite: "Communities along the Mexican border are trying to stop people from entering the United States. Those of us who live and operate businesses along the Canadian border are trying to stimulate cross border traffic."

Not that we are stereotyping or anything!

Bottom line - if a terrorist strikes, at least we will have dollar stores in town to buy our duct tape!

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Yesterday I spoke to representatives of the Department of Homeland Security at a meeting convened by Congresswoman Louise Slaughter about the “Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative” (WHTI). The WHTI is better known as the proposal to require people – including citizens of the U.S. and Canada – entering the U.S. from Canada to show a passport or “other secure documentation” approved by the Director of Homeland Security. This would begin January 1, 2008.



This proposal would have a devastating impact on the local economy and is the top federal issue the Partnership is pursuing on your behalf.



Please find excerpts of my statement to the Dept. of Homeland Security below.



Tomorrow, Patrick Whelan, your fellow Partnership member and a volunteer leader of our NOW Initiative focused on cross-border issues, will speak to the Dept. of Homeland Security in Washington, DC about our concerns.



Our region’s federal representatives have been our partners in repeatedly asserting the need to meld border security and border efficiency into a single coherent set of policies. But the federal bureaucracy, specifically the Departments of State and Homeland Security, have ignored these calls, most egregiously by coming back to this passport requirement.



The bottom line: The Feds need to do work with existing forms of ID that have a broad application (drivers licenses) rather than require a new ID card that is only good for border/land crossings.



We’ll continue to advocate on this issue on your behalf, and I’ll continue to update you on our progress. As always, please feel free to contact me with your comments.



Sincerely,



Andrew J. Rudnick

President & CEO



Excerpts from a statement by Andrew J. Rudnick, President & CEO of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, to representatives of the Department of Homeland Security

Re: the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative

Monday, October 24, 2005

(Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute)



“This proposal, as it has been couched, will devastate communities that have been in economic distress for 30 years. The implications for the economies of the United States and Canada of the proposed rule by the Department of Homeland Security and Department of State are potentially catastrophic. In Buffalo Niagara and the Niagara Region of Canada, tourism and casual travel between countries for entertainment and shopping is a vital part of our binational regional economy.”





“The situation on the Canadian border is markedly different from that on the Mexican

border. Communities along the Mexican border are trying to stop people from entering the United States. Those of us who live and operate businesses along the Canadian border are trying to stimulate cross border traffic. Canadians crossing into the US come to spend money and they come frequently. A recent study by the Niagara Parks Commission indicates that individual Canadians cross into the US many more times per year than we do into Canada, and overwhelmingly the reason is to shop.”



“The implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative is a complex issue involving major economic implications not just for border regions, but also for the economy of states far from here. The Departments of Homeland Security and State have no expertise in the travel and tourism industry – but that type of expertise needs to be brought to bear, and, in a much more collaborative way than can be accomplished by a 60 day comment period. For that reason, we believe a special advisory task force needs to be named to study these complexities and recommend solutions to the executive branch and Congress. This task force would have a short period of time to produce recommendations (to stay within the time frame for implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative) and should consist of experts from the travel and tourism industry, cross border trade and security systems, and should include representatives from border bridge and tunnel operators and border communities.”



“The Departments of Homeland Security and State have completely ignored the other piece of federal legislation that establishes uniformity in two very common and widely held forms of identification: the driver’s license and birth certificate. The Real ID law provides an opportunity to meet the requirements of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative without inventing a new ID card. It would be very simple to have states provide for the option of including an indication of citizenship on the driver’s license at the time of renewal and application.”





Andrew J. Rudnick
President & CEO

P: (716) 852-7100
F: (716) 852-1756
arudnick@thepartnership.org

Jody Vohwinkel, EA & Director of Administration
jvohwinkel@thepartnership.org

Thanks to our Leadership Circle:
Gibraltar, Moog, NYPA, and Univera