Fighting for rural New York
Guest Columnist
By George Winner

What's the most influential trend occurring in New York government today? The decline of upstate, or burgeoning downstate needs? Red state or blue state?

I think the answer's pretty clear within the Legislature itself: we're an institution at risk of being dominated by big city, urban interests.

This is not a newfound concern. It's long been a struggle to raise the state Legislature's awareness of traditionally upstate, small city, rural issues. But I'm sensing the challenges for rural legislators becoming more acute. We see it in the ongoing battles over state aid to education and the allocation of other, limited resources.

Downstate, city-based legislators may not know it, but New York is largely defined by rural regions and the future of these rural communities is fundamental to statewide well-being.

But rural New York's population of 3.5 million is relatively small and dispersed compared to the 15.5 million people who live in urban areas. This disparity is sharply reflected in the state Legislature, where only

approximately 31 out of 212 legislators represent rural regions.

It was approximately 25 years ago when the Legislature established the Legislative Commission on the Development of Rural Resources, commonly known as the LCRR. The LCRR is a joint, bipartisan legislative agency comprised of 10 members of the Senate and the Assembly. It has helped shaped state laws and policies on a range of issues that particularly impact rural communities: farm and farmland preservation, economic development, water quality, education, transportation, and health care, to name a few.

Since June 2005, when I was appointed the Commission's chairman, I've valued this opportunity to help address rural needs here in the Southern Tier-Finger Lakes region and all across New York. I'm grateful to be joined in this important work by colleagues from both political parties. We've sought to renew the commission's work in raising awareness of rural issues within the Legislature.

In many ways, we're a last bastion of concern. So the commission has remained focused on two overriding goals:

1.) Raise awareness. As I've mentioned before in this column, the Rural Resources Commission has developed a valuable working partnership with Cornell University, a national leader on rural affairs, to advance what's known as the "Rural Visioning Project." We're working together to identify the challenges and opportunities facing rural New York in the decade ahead. Together we've held a series of Rural Listening Sessions with rural leaders and citizens throughout upstate New York. The Rural Visioning Project proposes an ambitious and exhaustive task, but one that we believe is absolutely essential to the future of rural communities and the quality of the Empire State's culture and economy; and

2.) Promote action. Commission members have continued to advance a "Rural New York Agenda" that addresses a range of concerns many rural communities struggle to address, such as the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters and other emergency services personnel; how to ensure that rural New York communities find a niche in New York State's emerging high technology industry; a lack of services for an ever-growing population of senior citizens; and planning and land use decisions which threaten some of the traditional foundations of rural New York, especially agriculture. These are ongoing, evolving ideas and concerns. So the Commission's work will remain devoted to building an ever-growing Rural New York Agenda.

During the 2008 legislative session, for example, the Legislature approved legislation to:

• Create the nation's first legislatively established "Center for Rural Schools" in order to make New York a national leader in its commitment to rural education. If we're serious about strengthening upstate New York, we need to aggressively recognize that a rural school district can be a driving force for revitalization;

• Allow two or more adjacent towns to elect a single justice to preside over their town courts. This legislation, which has been signed into law by Governor David Paterson, seeks to provide another option for localities looking for ways to cut costs and ease the local tax burden;

• Allow local volunteer fire and ambulance companies to participate in health insurance plans offered to municipal employees. The legislation, known as the "Volunteer Firefighter and Ambulance Worker Health Plan," is being viewed as a potentially effective way to bolster the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters and other emergency services personnel.

In the end, the only meaningful Rural New York Agenda will be one that's addressed on a bipartisan, cooperative basis. I remain encouraged by the interest that's expressed by many colleagues -- on both sides of the aisle and in both houses of the Legislature. I hope we can successfully continue to build this spirit of cooperation and continue to enact meaningful new programs and services.

A link to the LCRR, which provides access to many of the commission's reports and other publications, is available through my Web site at www.senatorwinner.com.

The writer represents the 53rd District in the New York Senate.