Investing in Cities: a Voters Guide to Being Active Investors
Micron, the world’s 5th largest manufactorer of semi-conductor chips, is coming to New York. Specifically, they are coming to the Syracuse region.
But what does a historic investment in Onondaga county have to do with the rebuilding, rezoning, and resurgence of a city and its residents? Everything, and I mean, everything.
For one, we vote.
Follow with me. A friend asked me why I’ve been quieter than usual on the Micron investment in the region. Honestly, its because I am so proud of the risk, the amount of work, and the sheer resilience of the people who believe in this region. Our colleagues at Centerstate CEO say it often: we punch above our weightclass and it shows. I’m also happy because to quote City of Syracuse Budget Director Tim Rudd, “the possibilities between 0 and 1 are endless” (deep, yeah, I know) so the opportunities for sustainable living are multiplying before our very eyes.
The other reason I’ve been quiet is because I’m taking it all in. I’m watching. And quite frankly, you should be, too.
I’ll stop leading you on and tell you that as a voter you are a taxpayer. Taxpayers are investors. You are going to want a return on your taxes and to do that we have to be more active investors. The same taxes that have gone into a portfolio of investments tailor-made to secure larger investments like this for the region take attractive communities and hard work.
Here are 4 things voters should do to take a more active role in their investment as taxpayers.
- Voters must read.
I’m reading all the thought pieces being written by Syracuse.com and Central Current. In the age of Google and IoT, it is bizarre to me how reading is underappreciated and underutilized in decision-making.
Why should you be reading? How will you know who went to work for you if you don’t read their timesheets? As voters, we put the power to negotiate in the hands of our representatives. We want them in the room advocating for our cities. How will we know if they are producing, you say? Read 🙃
Pop Quiz
Q. Name 2 of the several elected officials who lead discussions and negotiations on this $100 Billion (yes, with a ‘b’) area investment?
A. Here are two hints at a few of the many names involved: a State Senator and a County Executive. This work went all the way across the aisle and that’s what we want.
Above is an image from Syracuse of U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D), left, speaking with Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon (R) during the announcement. Oct 04, 2022. Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com
The biggest economic investment to hit New York landed here. You know why? Money is bipartisan. Most voters don’t know who is bringing us money because we have been mistaught to only look in one direction — at our parties. We need to be looking everywhere and at everyone. Bipartisanship is like a diversified portfolio. The good news is that no matter who is elected, they all work for you. Which leads me to number #2.
2. Voters are Investors: Watch the Market!
Listen, when I say voters, I am being inclusive to all taxpayers. According to me father, “We vote with our money everyday.”
Taxpayers are investors whether you are casting a ballot or paying one of the few types of taxes that keep cities afloat: sales tax, property tax, commuter tax, or tax on your hotel and Airbnb. If you spend money, you pay taxes.
Pop Quiz
Q. What does your city or county do with those taxes?
Download your nearest town, city, or county budget. That’s how it all is spent (see, reading can be fun).
But, back to the stock market. Now that you know you are an investor, you must do as investors do: watch the market.
Do you know what kind of people watch and read the stock market? The kind who have money there. If you don’t have a bank app on your phone, I don’t know who you are or how you got here. We all watch our money …until it leaves our hand. And as voters, we can’t stop watching or we’ll lose sight of who and what has our interests. Stock investors put their money in other people’s hands and watch it even more closely!
“I got lawyers watching lawyers so I won’t go broke” — Notorious BIG
If you need a crash course on what that means, check out Decoded. The cliff note is: watch your investments!
What are you watching for? Great question. Other investments like:
- Investments from other companies
- People-centered investments to offset PILOTs and spur neighborhoods’ access to less restricted dollars for development of parks, programs, and the arts
- Equitable Investments
- Jobs, contracts, and using services and goods from existing small businesses in the area
If the wealthy rely on passive income, then healthy cities must also experience passive and upfront multipliers from single investments. Said plainly, if your favorite donut shop isn’t getting more orders during construction; if your favorite dry cleaner isn’t hiring more people to keep up with the requests from the new professionals moving into the area; if your favorite hotel, which discounts your family reunion, isn’t booked and busy, after new companies come to town, we all have done something terribly wrong. We need to be asking the people in bullet #1 hard questions when they ask us (to pay their salaries again for 2, 4, or 6 years) to re-elect them. And a good public servant wants you to ask them what they’ve done. The list should be so long we wouldn’t be able to fit it into a two-minute video clip.
We also need to ask ourselves, did we do our best to lift up our small businesses so they benefit from growth. Your investments + a companies investment is a powerful marriage in an economy, which leads me to number #3.
3. Talk to your neighbors
When I moved to my current neighborhood, I started off by renting my house. I thought, I’d keep to myself and fix up the lawn and back porch. My neighbor came over and introduced himself, offering to hedge my bushes while I fumbled around with edgings. We’ve been neighbors ever since.
When there was a police incident in front of our home, we talked to the neighboring businesses about how to improve security. When he needed to put up a fence in our inches-apart buffer zone, we talked about the noise. When his kids’ basketball flies over the fence into my yard or my cat meows at them through the window, we laugh, join in, and talk.
So of course, when the YMCA moved in next door, we talked about walkability. When our driveways get plowed in by the city, we talk about how to shelve snow. And when we’re discussing the neighborhood, we’re talking about our shared investment.
Your fate and your neighbors fates are inextricably woven together.
When cities develop, the market will adjust. It’s economic science.
The only way to know your neighborhood is taking advantage of those changes is to talk to each other. Know what each others needs are and show up, together. You need human data on the resident-level effects of big community investments and splashes. That’s why NYS DOT has held dozens of meetings about tearing down the viaduct. It’s street-level change that affects neighboring homes, businesses, and municipalities.
Wealth is built, not dug.
If the city is being built, you should not feel like you are digging the hole. You and your neighbors must be lifted up by these investments, too. The best person to know what you need is you. Our participation is necessary to our own growth.
In 1996, the world went to Atlanta for 17 days that changed the trajectory of that city forever. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, today, 18 Fortune 500 companies call Georgia home, with only three U.S. cities having more than metro Atlanta. After the 1996 Olympics, companies began to look in the same direction for fertile ground for doing business in opportune markets but economic scholars and residents continue to debate the equity in those economic decisions. Which leads me to my shortest point, number #4.
4. Center & celebrate centering our values.
Imagine we’re at an AA meeting, sitting in a circle, staring at each other with our suits on after a long day shift. I stand up in the circle and say "Hi, I’m Ruthnie. And I’m a government worker with friends in the organizing and social welfare sectors.” You’d all look at me, expect nothing new, and welcome me in because my success now requires shared accountability.
I needed to remind myself that after the celebrations there will be close watching, and vigilant accountability for the investments being made in our community. From the Community Grid to Syracuse Surge partnerships, many of the people doing the watching are people that I will eat lunch with, who go to my church, shop at my grocery store, and socialize with me day to day.
The celebrations happening right now are extraordinarily deserved and I will not interrupt them. We have to celebrate our wins and these past 5 years, this region and city sustained and grew its investments.
What makes our region different than other cities is that we, through a get-to-it strategy for economic growth, planted a very tall stake in the ground to course correct racism, disinvestment in minority communities, and disenfranchisement. And let’s be clear, Syracuse is now a majority-minority city. With the diversity we have here, we cannot afford to get this wrong. Those holding us accountable will celebrate our investments in not just our city but its people. We have to evolve the quality of life for our investors — these are Black and Brown investors. Let that marinate. When the world asks companies why they choose to be here, it’s because we care about the same things, and because we are a community that is attractive in our diverse portfolio of investors and partnerships. We share the same values and center those values in our execution. When we see returns from centering equity, diversity, opportunity, and growth, we must celebrate it so that others can see what we’ve done and can learn from it and innovate it.
