A Time to Choose

Dear Dr. Bones,

"Due to abuse" poor Paddy and Eye are "not permitted to post comments" to the ever-victorious Herald of Louisedayhicksville. So we shall dump our latest hand-crafted garbage on the Muses and yourself, sir:

N.Y. makes ad pitch to lure businesses Mass. sees waste of cash By Marie Szaniszlo | Monday, July 23, 2012 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Business & Markets New York has stepped up efforts to attract business to the state with a slick, two-year, $100 million marketing campaign that includes a new website and ads featuring celebrity New Yorkers, even as Bay State officials disputed the effectiveness of such campaigns. With one month down, “The New New York Works for Business” website alone, thenewNY.com, has had “roughly” 23,000 unique visitors and just under 26,000 page views, said Andrew Zambelli, counselor to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The campaign also includes national ads featuring a voice-over by actor Robert DeNiro and the song “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. “We think this campaign is a very important and exciting opportunity to tell New York’s story that it’s open for business,” Zambelli said. “We know it’s going to create jobs and strengthen our economy.” In a statement last week, Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Greg Bialecki dismissed the effectiveness of such campaigns, saying: “We have not seen any evidence that these sorts of ad campaigns actually drive business location decisions. It is not as glamorous, but we are putting our money into investments in education, innovation and infrastructure that create a sound foundation for business growth.” From June 1, 2011, to June 30 of this year, the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development’s website had 214,766 unique visitors and 1,728,693 page views, according to Google analytics. But Michael Greeley, a general partner at the Boston venture-capital firm Flybridge Capital Partners, called New York’s campaign “brilliant” and said Massachusetts “suffers from not looking cool enough.” Although actors such as Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Mark Wahlberg and Bridget Moynahan all grew up in the state, they no longer live here, Greeley noted. “Our celebrities are intellectuals; those are our rock stars, and we should play to our strength, which is that we solve really hard problems and work on ideas that matter,” he said. “We should be branding aggressively, (going) after our students because they’re already here, and we should be trying to keep them here.”

Well, there you are, Dr. Bones, you must make your choice and stand by it: ¿Do you wish to be governed still by John Winthrop and Secretary Bialecki, or would you prefer to swear neoallegiance to Flybynite Capital Partners LLC?

Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side; Some great cause, God’s new Messiah, offering each the [Bloomberg] blight, Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right, And the choice goes by forever ’twixt that darkness and that light.

Happy days.
--JHM