Amsterdam, New York

AMSTERDAM, NEW YORK exemplifies the direction the city is going in. The state recognizes the improvements we’ve made and are making to our waterways and waterfront. Our Tourism, Marketing & Recreation Department has been encouraging people to go to events that have been extremely well attended, encompassing not only the city but the surrounding communities. And we have some opportunity zones to take advantage of, as well as recently-nominated north and east BOAs (Brownfield Opportunity Areas).” It’s not an unusual story for many areas in upstate New York - a waterfront-based, industrial community majoring in manufacturing, started losing population after losing much of its manufacturing. “I think what sets us apart though is our location, central between the Adirondacks and New York City, and along the beautiful Mohawk River and Erie Canal,” suggests Bearcroft. “We have a lot of opportunities here that we’re on the tipping point of utilizing through all these initiatives we’ve been lucky enough to receive, one of them being the Downtown Revitalization Initiative. We won round three of the $10 million state grant and we spent the last six months working with the state and our consultant, perfecting our plan of what projects we would move forward on. What we came up with were about 20 projects at $15.2 million in state funding, roughly $30 to $40 million in total project costs. Right now it’s being reviewed by the state. We’re hoping they will tell us soon what projects are