Members of the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council held their first public meeting since it was announced that several people connected with the Buffalo Billion project and other projects are facing fraud and bribery charges.
Regional director for Empire State Development,Vincent Esposito, chaired the meeting, telling its members the events of last week won't jeopardize AIM Photonics in Rochester, and the work of economic development and the work of revitalizing New York is too important to not continue to move forward, despite some setbacks.
"Rochester and the photonics initiative in particular, are not directly caught up in anything that was in the news last week. Indirectly, obviously, there may be some implications, but those will not be major. The project is fully on schedule right now and the state money has gone through all the appropriate boards and the additional levels of scrutiny," he said.
Co-chair of the Council, MCC President Anne Kress, says she hasn't heard anything about photonics being at risk as a result of last week's charges.
"I've had conversations with the chair of the AIM board, Bob Duffy, who is clearly engaged in our community, and have reached out and have heard from our federal representatives that they don't see any implications at all," she said.
During its public meeting, the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council approved its progress report, approved a list of 33 priority projects it will submit to the state for possible funding, and provided an update on its anti-poverty strategy in Rochester.