The Hudson Valley's best hope for the future is in the dream of the Hudson Valley Greenway and not in the more illusatory Tech Valley. This is a society where technology is fostered naturally and can not be forced into one region for growth. Getting High Technology to Albany might be impossible, but creating a desirable environment that people will flock to the Hudson Valley is very much possible.

Any society must provide jobs. We all need jobs. The best way to get good jobs for us Hudson Valley people is to encourage the growth of local companies that provide services to local people. The farm that sells directly to people on-farm or at the farmers market is the future. The company that makes asphalt for construction and reconstruction of local roads is the future. The company that provides healthcare is the future. The company that builds computers and creates software that deals with local problems is the future. These kind of companies are local and derive most of the value out of the people that they are also serving.

What is out is the opposite. The multi-national firm that makes diapers and sells them as a commodity is out. They can never compete with China or the developing world that allows abusive labor pratices and toxins to spew out of their plants. The farm that sells raw milk to AgriMark or other large processor is in competition for the confined animal feeding operations out west. Such milk is inferior quality but to the shopper at Walmart it doesn't matter. The big computer chip factory will quickly disappear off to China. A computer made there might be a toxic nighmere in an landfill or incinerator shortly, but it was cheap at the big box.

Mainstreet is very much in, though big box stores will continue to florish. We will continue to buy more cheap junk at the big box, but at the same time will be drawn to more downtown stores in small town New York as we do more to revitalize mainstreet. We all want some nice things, and we all need stuff that emphasizes quality and personalized service over mass production. For all but the most technical person, the place to get a reliable computer that suits one's needs is the small shop that can spend the time to carefully analysize what you need.

The future is as much agricultural as technological. A succesful society will be diverse and relatively clean so we can live our lives as we want. It shouldn't matter if you are a talented computer programmer or a farmer, you should be allowed to use their skill to do something towards creating an even greater society then the one we currently lve in today. Our future is in the Hudson Valley and not in the Tech Valley.