Canandaigua "the Chosen Spot" -- for technology? See: Canandaigua Lake, 2, 3 as viewed from South Bristol.
Link to: Upstate New York Meetings of Interest
The lake resort town of Canandaigua, New York is expected to emerge as one of New York's Centers of Excellence in fiber optics and MEMs technology. New York State, Ontario County, private companies, institutions of higher learning and others plan to work together to create business synergy. Canandaigua's Infotonics will be a leader in investigating, helping to secure funding and participating in manufacture of innovative products.
Ontario County will be the home for two of New York's Centers of Excellence.
In preparing a report for the Ontario
County Office of Economic Development, Peter Fairweather, of "Fairweather
Consulting, noted that the presence of these new research and development
centers in Ontario County will require new approaches to economic development,
which he has identified." (See http://www.ontariocountydev.org/ontario/publish/Mike_s_Message_10_03.shtml)
"According to Fairweather, the update of the economic development strategy
comes down to one question: "What must Ontario County do to harvest the new
opportunities so that industries stay and grow in Ontario County, rather than
drifting to existing high-tech locations elsewhere." It is a question he
addresses through a five-step process:
(1) a review of conditions that are benchmarked against other technology-led centers,
(2) an assessment of the County and its economic development efforts,
(3) the recommendation of a strategic position for the County to take in competing in this new arena, including the industries it should target for attraction, retention and expansion,
(4) identification of the programmatic elements that should be involved in that response,
(5) options for structuring the County's ED programs."
http://www.ontariocountydev.org/ontario/uploads/ontario_county_map.jpg
Beyond the County, the State of New York must strive to create 100,000 new jobs in Western New York in order to fuel the economic development engine. While many large corporations are considering new directions for the future, small corporations are not in a position to make up for the jobs lost by the regional powerhouses. Government and business support agencies are meeting to address the issue of new jobs creation and incentives for growth.
Metropolitan Rochester, New York has the third highest percentage of broadband users in America. While the Time Warner service is a clear leader, other cable companies, DSL providers, and other ISPs allow for a significant market penetration. Service offerings from Time Warner and Frontier (the area Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier) have been available since the late 1990s.
Odd bits of local history:
Much of Ontario County is West of the Pre-emption Line defined by the 1786 Treaty of Hartford. Further west than the Ft. Stanwix Treaty Line, the Preemption Line represented claims by Massachusetts on lands which are now New York (for negotiation rights with the Iroquois Nation). A land grant office in Canandaigua was established to sell tracts of land in the new State of New York. Unlike Land Patents issued by the United States Government the land of Upstate was sold by States and / or private citizens.
Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham, both of Massachusetts purchased Massachusetts rights to 6 million acres for $1 million. All of this area was part of the original "Ontario" County. Military lands East of Seneca Lake and a strip between the preemption line on the west and Seneca lake on the east was transferred to Ontario County. The Treaty of Buffalo Creek allowed Phelps and Gorham the land east of the Genesee River and a section called the Mill Yard Tract, west of the Genesee River.
Economic troubles caused Phelps and Gorham to allow the lands west of the Genesee River to revert back to Massachusetts. Massachusetts sold the land to Robert Morris in 1791, who sold part of the land to the Holland Land Company after securing rights to the land in the "Treaty of Big Tree." Morris reserved part of the land for himself. (See, Map). Morris later took over other unsold lands of the Phelps and Gorham purchase east of the Genesee (The Pulteney Purchase).
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Susan B. Anthony's famous trial was held at the Ontario County Court House (change of venue from Rochester, NY).
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The Erie Canal:
Jessie Hawley's claim to have thought of the Erie Canal has been disputed, but his advocacy of the ideas for the creation of a canal across New York under his pen name, Hercules, were not. I don't know if Jessie has been forgotten, but his memory and works are on the web.
"Jesse Hawley, imprisoned for debt in Canandaigua, New York, writes thirteen essays, under the name Hercules, proposing a canal across New York State." http://home.eznet.net/~dminor/Canal1800.html
[John Rutherford], 1760-1840, Facts and observations in relation to the origin and completion of the Erie Canal. New York, N.B. Holmes, 1825. A whole book about the Erie Canal appears at http://www.history.rochester.edu/canal/bib/rutherford/fact1825.htm
http://www.history.rochester.edu/canal/bib/hosack/APP0T.html
"These essays were treated with much ridicule, and, by some, were considered as "the effusions of a maniac." The writer was unknown for some time."
The Essays of "Hercules" appear here:
http://www.history.rochester.edu/canal/bib/hosack/APP0T1.html
Draft Discussion Boards:
Chicago: Neighborhood Businesses Lack High-Speed Internet Access 3/15/2004