How Will Prison Closure Hurt Your Business?

How will the proposed closure of the Ogdensburg Correctional Facility hurt your business?

The community task force looking to save Ogdensburg Correctional Facility from Gov. David A. Paterson's prison closure hit list and the St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) wants to hear from you.

The task force and IDA are looking to collect information from local businesses, not-for profit agencies, and other organizations about how closing the Ogdensburg Correctional Facility will hurt the economy of St. Lawrence County.

If you want to make sure the state knows the impact before they make a decision about the fate of the OCF, then make your voices heard, according to Ogdensburg Correctional Facility Task Force member and IDA Deputy Chief Executive Officer Patrick J. Kelly.

"When you talk with people you keep hearing that this is about more than 287 jobs, it's about a negative wave that will hit stores, restaurants, retailers, service businesses, schools, hospitals and every area of our economy," says Mr. Kelly, "We want to document what we're hearing, we want to gather testimonials that will reinforce and add to the websites and petitions. When a business or charitable organization shares how they might be hurt by this, it highlights what might be unforeseen impacts that haven't been considered in the state's analysis."

Mr. Kelly said that OCF employees are spread throughout the county, centering on Ogdensburg and the surrounding townships. However, almost every town and village in the county has OCF employees living there.

"When you look at the dispersion of the employees of this facility throughout the region, it really brings home the fact that this isn't an Ogdensburg or even a St. Lawrence County issue, it's a North Country issue and we hope to hear from businesses and organizations from throughout the region," adds Kelly.

To help facilitate the gathering of this information, the IDA has provided a tear-out sheet in today's Advance News on Page 2-A, which will also run in The Journal and the Courier-Observer.

Impacted businesses and organizations are asked to complete a simple statement and either drop it off or send it to The Journal offices in Ogdensburg, according to Mr. Kelly.

"It's been mentioned that one of the reasons for the proposed closure is the inconvenience that people face by being incarcerated way up here. Perhaps we can offset that to some degree by demonstrating the inconvenience that our businesses, schools, hospitals and other organizations are going to be facing if they close this prison," said Charles W. Kelly, chair of the Ogdensburg Correctional Facility Task Force.

Should anyone need a copy or have any questions, please contact any member of the task force, The Journal at 393-1000, or the St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency at 379-9806.