tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9599422.post364965989835843475..comments2023-10-20T06:51:55.948-04:00Comments on SeeingGreene: Marching InDick Mayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03485935634961545610noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9599422.post-16808792940804521992008-03-01T14:17:00.000-05:002008-03-01T14:17:00.000-05:00Tom Swope has been an active community member in H...Tom Swope has been an active community member in Hudson and a voice of reason. I would think that both Columbia and Greene counties would benefit from an increased higher education presence in our region. Clearly the greatest drawback for decent-wage economic development is the catch-22 of young people leaving the area for college, and not returning due to lack of opportunities for young people with degrees. An actual four-year institution of our own would facilitate developing the workforce for the kinds of jobs everyone seems to agree our area would prefer.<BR/><BR/>The prison grounds still retain a much more scholastic feel than a prison, once one ignores the wire fences and focuses on the brick. One can easily visualize a small, intimate campus, balancing traditional Hudson Valley values of arts and envoronmental science with current favorites like business, engineering and new technologies.<BR/><BR/>Rather than protesting the loss of a sector that generally only offers employment in an era when that sector is declining (and, if not for local impacts, we could all celebrate that prisons are less needed), we could instead seize the opportunity to replace it with an institution that would offer a full array of benefits well beyond the payroll.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com