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The Remarks Of Speaker Sheldon Silver
(As Prepared For Delivery)

Grand Opening Of The New Corporate Headquarters
For Blue Cross/Blue Shield Of Western New York

257 Genesee Street, Buffalo, NY
Tuesday, September 25, 2007 [10 A.M.]


Thank you, President O'Neil White, for your generous introduction. My congratulations to you on the new corporate headquarters of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Western New York.

I'm glad to see Dennis Gorski here in the audience; my old friend, former assemblyman, and former Erie County Executive. We go back quite a while. Welcome, Dennis.

Assembly Member Sam Hoyt. Senator Mary Lou Rath. Senator Antoine Thompson. Mayor Byron Brown. Duke Realty President Denny Oklak. Northeastern Chair Tom Mear. Members of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield family.

It is always a pleasure to be here in Western New York, particularly when we are celebrating the grand opening of a corporate headquarters here in Downtown Buffalo.

I want you to know that I arrived for this event yesterday, because I had been given a request. I worked on the weather and, as you can see, I took care of that.

As much as I appreciate President O'Neil White's gracious words, the credit for the Assembly's role in this project belongs to the members of our Western New York Delegation:

  • Assembly Member Sam Hoyt, whose district is home to the headquarters of Blue Cross and Blue Shield;

  • Together with Assembly Members Robin Schimminger, Francine Delmonte, Crystal Peoples, Mark Schroeder, and Dennis Gabryszak.

They work hard for Western New York and I hope that you appreciate their contributions and their commitment as much as I do.

Not only am I proud of this delegation and of the investment we are making in this project, I am proud that Blue Cross and Blue Shield was attracted to this site, in part, because it is located within an Empire Zone; an Assembly-initiated program that I unveiled and named here at the University of Buffalo in 1999.

We're going to reform that program and make it fairer and more effective for those communities who need an economic boost.

I should point out that in 2005, when the ground was broken for this project, the Western New York Delegation included a young man from the Town of Cheektowaga, by the name of Paul Tokasz.

Some of you might remember him as the former Majority Leader of the Assembly. In that capacity, Paul was instrumental in securing state assistance for this project.

Of course, here in Buffalo, he is more commonly known as "the husband of Sylvia Tokasz."

Sylvia was instrumental in coordinating the Blue Cross move to Downtown.

Paul and Sylvia are longtime friends. Both are devoted community servants who have contributed much to improving the quality of life here in Western New York.

It's great to see them here today.

Getting back to the matter at hand, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Western New York certainly could have relocated its headquarters anywhere in this region.

For this company to select a long-vacant building on a brownfield site and commit to rehabilitating this property;

For this company to build a headquarters that not only maintains its original and historic façade but is "LEED" certified;

And to do it all in a spirit of partnership with the state, the county, the city, as well as the labor unions here in Western New York, speaks volumes about the character of this corporation and about the leadership of its distinguished President and Chief Executive Officer, Alphonso O'Neil White.

Coming from an Assembly District that includes Ground Zero, I can tell you first hand that every city, every region of this state needs this kind of partnership, this kind of commitment, and this kind of community spirit to get through hard times, to thrive and to prosper.

Wouldn't it be great to have more events just like this one here in Buffalo, in Niagara Falls, in Jamestown, in Rochester and Syracuse, and throughout Upstate New York?

This leader and that leader traveling around the state pitching competing economic development plans doesn't really cut it.

We need to be sitting down together with the business community, with local governments and working together with a sense of urgency to implement the best ideas for creating jobs and revitalizing our cities region by region.

Hopefully, we can rekindle the spirit of partnership in Albany.

Hopefully, what Blue Cross and Blue Shield has done here in Buffalo will draw the attention of other corporate executives and encourage them to give this great region a second look.

Speaking for the Assembly Majority, we will continue to act within our plans to build strong regional economies, to nurture university/industry partnerships, to clean up and market our brownfield sites, and provide targeted tax credits, grants and loans to spur business growth.

I will continue coming to Western New York, because there is tremendous potential here, a wonderful quality of life, and a spirit of hard work and community service that cannot be beaten.

Thank you, President O'Neil White for inviting me to this grand opening. May Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Western New York grow and prosper here in Downtown Buffalo.

Thank you.



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