Don't hold your breath waiting for an IDA merger
BRIAN ACKLEY Political Columnist
Good things come to those who wait, Erie County Executive Joel Giambra exclaimed last week.

While some observers might naturally think Giambra was referencing the man or woman who will occupy his chair come next January, especially in the context of who's been keeping the chair warm (and, really, that's about it) for the last seven-plus years, he was in fact talking about the rekindling of the Industrial Development Agency merger flame, which ignites about as often as the NCAA basketball tournament comes to town before inevitably turning to cold, gray ash.

Unlike a 7-footer grabbing an HSBC rebound, such a merger between the Erie County and Amherst IDAs is hardly a slam dunk. In fact, there's still a good 90 days or so for the process to turn into nothing but a misguided air ball for the umpteenth time since Amherst's stand-alone economic development engine was first commissioned 33 years ago.

If Western New York is a neighborhood, then Amherst is the Jones family. And, quite clearly, most of the rest of us haven't kept up. While representing about 15 percent of Erie County's total population, it harbors 75 percent of the region's jobs, according to the AIDA's own figures.

"Developing the competitive edge over other regions during the past 25 years has been a collective commitment to maintaining and enhancing Amherst's quality of life," the agency boldly proclaims.

True enough, as long as that region never traversed too far down Transit or strayed too far on Sheridan.

And that's no criticism. Their job was to develop Amherst, and Amherst only. They've done it well.

In Erie County, IDAs have been busybodies for many years now. In fact, a mid-1990s state audit noted that there were 127 IDAs in New York, six in Erie County.

Ours, however, accounted for a full 25 percent of all the projects in the state. They've also long been lightning rods of controversy, more so in the last few years. That audit, for example, noted the collective IDAs claimed 10,657 jobs were retained locally because of their intervention. However, a third of them, the audit noted, were jobs that simply moved from one spot in the county to another.

While many news reports have simply referenced that the Amherst Town Board has now twice voted to be on record supporting such a merger, it needs to be noted that neither was hardly a mandate. The last vote, in August, was 4-3 and bitterly contested. Just a year ago, former ECIDA chairman Bill O'Loughlin, a current Amherst Board member and candidate to fill Giambra's spot, predicted to Buffalo Business First that such merger talk was little more than playground chatter.

"This is a movement that will crash and burn," O'Loughlin said. "This is going to die a slow death in the abyss and bowels of government."

It's hard to see what has changed so dramatically in the last 12 months. True, current ECIDA chairman Dennis Penman is a Giambra guy - who knew there were any of those left? - and that group's top position is currently unfilled, meaning a guy like Jim Allen, the AIDA executive director, could easily lead a merged entity. Not so long ago, he simultaneously served as executive director of both.

In the end, however, it's hard to believe the paralysis of parochialism won't pop up yet again.

There are too many players, with too much to play for, who won't want to turn the powerful incentives of economic development over to those who, even for a second, might not have their specific provincial interests at heart.

Once again, artificial boundaries will prove to be more important than real out-of-the box benefit. Few of the key players seem to be sprinting to the center of the court for the opening tip. Allen, for instance, told The Amherst Bee last week that it was "worthwhile to discuss it," not exactly the equivalent that it finally might just be time to win one for the Gipper.

Consolidating the six IDAs would be hitting a winning three-point basket at the buzzer. Instead, it feels as though we're again headed for nothing more than another personal foul. Once more, the merger ball is in play. And still we wait.

(Opinions expressed here are those of the author.)