April 21, 2003

Dutchess Wins Competition to Host World Class Center

Steinhaus Joins Governor Pataki for Announcement of
Rivers & Estuary Center to be in Dutchess County

Beacon... Dutchess County Executive William R. Steinhaus joined Governor George Pataki today as the Governor announced the proposal submitted for Dennings Point, Beacon by Dutchess County had seen selected in a fierce two-year competition among two dozen Hudson River communities stretching from the lower Hudson to Albany.

The Hudson River Rivers and Estuaries Center will generate $170 million of construction investment, employ up to 500 scientists, researchers, PhD’s and others, with a projected annual budget of $50 million.

The Dennings Point Beacon site was one of two county applications prepared by the Steinhaus administration’s Department of Planning & Development and submitted through the Dutchess County Coordinating Committee for the Rivers and Estuaries Center on the Hudson, chaired by Rob Dyson, President of the Dyson Foundation.

County Executive Steinhaus said: “Dutchess County thrives on successes which are based on strong partnerships and alliances—this will be another example of that. I am excited Dutchess will be the host county for what is sure to be one of the State’s enduring environmental and educational contributions to the people of the Hudson River Valley, New York, and the world. Thanks and congratulations go to Governor Pataki for his extraordinary vision, and to Beacon Mayor Gould and to Rob Dyson and Diana Gurieva of the Dyson Foundation.”

“Our blueprint for Dutchess County to have a successful comprehensive, multidimensional economic development strategy that diversifies our business foundation scored another huge win today,” said the County Executive. “My goal has been for Dutchess to be a world-wide recognized ‘brand name,’ and branding our county with world class assets such as the Rivers and Estuary Center will help achieve that goal.”

Dutchess County’s string of successes since the mid-1990’s have been phenomenal. The Executive noted, “We have recruited almost 100 new businesses—including the $2.5 Billion IBM Chip Fab, the “Gap’s northeastern U.S. Distribution Center and its 1,200 paychecks, and in just this past year Dutchess County’s aggressive economic development strategy produced half of the total new jobs created in the entire Hudson Valley Region.”

Steinhaus said, “We have been recognized as a ‘5 star community for our quality of life,’ and by Forbes Magazine as ‘one of the best places to live and work in the U.S.’ and by the NYS Business Council as ‘a poster child for economic development.’”

In closing, the Executive stated, “ “We are proud of this achievement—proud Dutchess will be recognized as a leader in the field of river ecology and environmental protection and even prouder future generations will benefit from the research at the Center here in Dutchess County.”

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