AUBURN - New York Secretary of State Randy Daniels gave high marks to the progress made on the city's Owasco Riverfront Park project during a visit Tuesday, and said the state would approve the city's current $250,000 state grant application.
"Based on what I saw today, we will approve the second phase of the project," Daniels said after a brief stop at Auburn Memorial City Hall to review the status of plans.
In 2002, Daniels was in Auburn and helped launch the project with a $90,000 Environmental Protection Fund - Local Waterfront Revitalization Program grant.
City Manager John Salomone said the design is completed for a competition-level kayak park and the city is looking for funding for implementation. The kayak course is part of a larger project that will occupy 15 acres along a half-mile stretch of the Owasco riverfront. Elements of the project include enhancements to Market Street Park, creating additional waterfront parkland and trails and removal of some traffic lanes from Loop Road.
Daniels heads the Department of State, which interacts extensively with the state's business community and licenses more than 650,000 real estate agents, cosmetologists, private investigators and notaries. The office covers 17 divisions under two umbrellas: local government and business and licensing services.
Appointed in 2001 by Gov. George Pataki, Daniels said Tuesday that he is eyeing a run for the state's top office if the incumbent governor chooses not to seek a fourth term when his present mandate ends in 2006.
In an address to local business leaders earlier Tuesday, Daniels said the state's greatest challenge is becoming economically competitive and creating an environment where businesses can grow.
"I believe the greatest days are ahead of us," Daniels told members of the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce Tuesday during a luncheon at Highland Country Club.
But to get to them, Daniels said, a lot has to change - including the size of government and how it regulates business. He also said more has to be done to encourage innovation because the only way New York is going to get on a stronger economic footing is to "grow its way there."
Daniels made the appearance a day after he returned from China, where he lectured at the University of Beijing. He said he is working to partner New York's economy with China's so the $1 billion annual trade enterprise that affects the state would also do things like promote New York's apples, cheese and wine in that country.
"We need to expand those trade links," Daniels said.
He said the economic boom in China, where there "are cranes building more buildings than I've ever seen," has come at a terrible price to the environment.
"You can see the air," he said.
New York, he said, under Pataki, has taken the opposite position and has worked in earnest to clean up water sources and industrial areas. He said the state had the type of expertise in environmental issues that could be exported to emerging industrial nations such as China and India, where he has also looked to develop economic connections with New York.
Daniels spoke about the need for true reform in state government and touched on a constitutional convention. When asked if he favored one, he said there's merit to hold one.
"That's if you do it right," he said. "A constitutional convention dominated by the people who are the subject of the constitutional convention would be counter-productive. We have to put limits on ourselves and if we can't do it by reforming the budget and debt load statutes, then we have to go forward another way."
He said the average citizen in New York wants reform. He said there is an intensified anger building toward that end, so one of the goals of government should be to build a non-partisan consensus.
Staff writer Louise Hoffman Broach can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or louise.hoffman@lee.net
In 2002, Daniels was in Auburn and helped launch the project with a $90,000 Environmental Protection Fund - Local Waterfront Revitalization Program grant.
City Manager John Salomone said the design is completed for a competition-level kayak park and the city is looking for funding for implementation. The kayak course is part of a larger project that will occupy 15 acres along a half-mile stretch of the Owasco riverfront. Elements of the project include enhancements to Market Street Park, creating additional waterfront parkland and trails and removal of some traffic lanes from Loop Road.
Daniels heads the Department of State, which interacts extensively with the state's business community and licenses more than 650,000 real estate agents, cosmetologists, private investigators and notaries. The office covers 17 divisions under two umbrellas: local government and business and licensing services.
Appointed in 2001 by Gov. George Pataki, Daniels said Tuesday that he is eyeing a run for the state's top office if the incumbent governor chooses not to seek a fourth term when his present mandate ends in 2006.
In an address to local business leaders earlier Tuesday, Daniels said the state's greatest challenge is becoming economically competitive and creating an environment where businesses can grow.
"I believe the greatest days are ahead of us," Daniels told members of the Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce Tuesday during a luncheon at Highland Country Club.
But to get to them, Daniels said, a lot has to change - including the size of government and how it regulates business. He also said more has to be done to encourage innovation because the only way New York is going to get on a stronger economic footing is to "grow its way there."
Daniels made the appearance a day after he returned from China, where he lectured at the University of Beijing. He said he is working to partner New York's economy with China's so the $1 billion annual trade enterprise that affects the state would also do things like promote New York's apples, cheese and wine in that country.
"We need to expand those trade links," Daniels said.
He said the economic boom in China, where there "are cranes building more buildings than I've ever seen," has come at a terrible price to the environment.
"You can see the air," he said.
New York, he said, under Pataki, has taken the opposite position and has worked in earnest to clean up water sources and industrial areas. He said the state had the type of expertise in environmental issues that could be exported to emerging industrial nations such as China and India, where he has also looked to develop economic connections with New York.
Daniels spoke about the need for true reform in state government and touched on a constitutional convention. When asked if he favored one, he said there's merit to hold one.
"That's if you do it right," he said. "A constitutional convention dominated by the people who are the subject of the constitutional convention would be counter-productive. We have to put limits on ourselves and if we can't do it by reforming the budget and debt load statutes, then we have to go forward another way."
He said the average citizen in New York wants reform. He said there is an intensified anger building toward that end, so one of the goals of government should be to build a non-partisan consensus.
Staff writer Louise Hoffman Broach can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or louise.hoffman@lee.net
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