No of course it’s not an easy fix, I can see blockades coming from all sorts of directions namely the strength of the public service unions, teachers unions and stubborn corrupt politicians not wanting anything to change that would benefit anyone else but them.

The people and the local economies are at the bottom of the list in Albany, we should be at the top of the list.

Wilmers assumes Empire State post, says economy is “not an easy fix” : The Buffalo News
First step is to reorganize development agency

Robert G. Wilmers, chairman of Buffalo-based M&T Bank, adds a new line to his resume today — economic-development czar for the state.

Wilmers, who was Gov. David A. Paterson’s surprise selection to oversee the powerful but fractured Empire State Development Corp., admits he has his work cut out for him.

“This is a big job, and I hope I’ll be able to do it in a way that’s good for New York,” Wilmers said. “I want to see a state more thriving and prosperous than it is now. That’s not an easy fix.”

Wilmers, 74, has built M&T Bank, with $66 billion in assets, into one the country’s 20 largest financial institutions. Now he faces the task of overhauling the development agency so it can facilitate the state’s economic resurgence.

He is expected to streamline and refocus it, starting at the top.

Several business and development sources said he plans to create a new chief executive officer position to oversee the corporation’s day-to-day operations. That person will report directly to Wilmers.

Two lieutenants, responsible for separate upstate and downstate divisions, will answer to the new chief executive.

While he declined to discuss his restructuring plan, Wilmers confirmed he has been winnowing a list of candidates for the top posts. A handful has been interviewed.

“I can’t put a plan together until I get the right people, and if it takes some time to find those people, so be it,” Wilmers said.

He said that personnel search does not have geographic boundaries and includes every avenue he can think of.

“They don’t have to be from New York. I don’t care where they come from as long as I know they can do the job,” he added.