On Saturday morning, 24 September, John Giardino, co-founder of the New York Policy Forum, spoke before a large audience of students, parents, and CNY citizens about the economic prospects of Upstate New York. Giardino chronicled the rise and decline of Upstate cities and sketched a program of revival, including a redirection of economic development programs and reasoned public discourse about the science, engineering, and economics of Upstate New York’s energy resources.

In a recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Giardino chronicled the engine of innovation and growth that once drove Upstate New York. He identified the causes of the current malaise and suggested policies for revival, including encouragement of entrepreneurship and the prudent development of New York’s shale energy.

The independent Alexander Hamilton Institute promotes excellence in scholarship through the study of freedom, democracy, and capitalism as these ideas were developed and institutionalized in the United States and within the larger tradition of Western culture.

The AHI followed Mr. Giardino’s presentation by hosting at its stately headquarters in the Village of Clinton an open house that drew several hundred visitors.