Governor Rendell: Wall Street West - Enhancing America's Economic Security

[Penndems]

Very exciting news for the Lehigh and Pocono Valleys!

It just makes sense for New York City to have a back-up financial center location in the event of another attack (God forbid), and northeastern Pennsylvania is the absolute perfect location.

Kudos to The Guv, and the Pennsylvania Department of Economic Development. :thumbsup:

The impact of the 2001 terror attacks on New York City went well beyond the horrific and substantial human toll. The 9/11 attacks also shook the financial services industry to its core and prompted high-level discussions about how Wall Street can be better prepared to handle such catastrophic events. Nothing less than our nation's economic security is at stake.

Since that attack, Pennsylvania has increased its investments in first responders and new security measures. We also worked to identify opportunities for our state to create jobs and promote new business growth associated with the security needs and business continuity plans of companies located in Manhattan.

On Thursday, the culmination of three years of creative and diligent planning paid off with the unveiling of Wall Street West. Wall Street West will stretch from the Lehigh Valley through the Pocono region and offer data-intensive companies a secure location to store data and create jobs. Already home to a number of financial firms, the new Wall Street West initiative will continue to advance the area's economic growth.

As part of this initiative, Level 3 Communications has been selected to construct a high speed fiber optic network linking northeastern Pennsylvania with Manhattan. Competing against such giants as Verizon and ATT, Level 3 Communications operates one of the largest communications and Internet backbones in the world and already has begun to secure business partners to use the new network.

Wall Street West is expected to create approximately 1,000 new jobs and provide workforce training for more than 1,500 people over the next three years in northeast PA. In addition, Wall Street West will attract more than $25 million in new private sector and federal investment ensuring that every state dollar spent to launch this strategy is matched by private and federal sources. This investment will fuel business growth statewide and spur additional community and economic development benefits.

Over the last four-plus years, we have made critical and unprecedented investments in the future of Pennsylvania. We've put new resources into educating our workforce for the challenges and demands of a global economy; we've upgraded our infrastructure and expanded our stock of development-ready sites; and we've improved our business climate through more than $2.2 billion in tax cuts and innovative programs that offer easy access to investment capital.

For more information on the Wall Street West program or other economic stimulus programs, visit www.newpa.com or call 1-866-GoNewPA.

Sincerely,


Edward G. Rendell