New York’s Capital Region is the seat of state government. Because the state is the largest local employer and the number one consumer of goods and services, the Capital Region enjoys a very stable economy and consistently low unemployment rate. Lawmakers and their activities are a local news focus, which encourages citizens of the area to be informed and involved.
Tourism
Saratoga Race Track offers the some of the best thoroughbred racing in the world, with opportunities for star-gazing as world leaders and entertainment giants meet to watch the horses run in this Great American Place. The tourist population continues to grow after the racing season in this top-rated convention city. Cooperstown is the home of the National Baseball Museum and Hall of fame, as well as the ancestral home James Fenimore Cooper, which now serves as a fine arts museum featuring a native American collection. The New York State Museum is located in Albany, with many surrounding historic sites. The Battle of Saratoga is considered to be the turning point of the revolution, and television and radio were born in Schenectady.
Life Style and Leisure Activity
Residents of New York’s Capital Region take advantage of a wide variety of leisure time opportunities. Surrounded by four mountain ranges, the Adirondacks, Catskills, Berkshires and Green Mountains, outdoor enthusiasts ski, camp, hike, fish and boat all within a few minutes drive of the cities. Sporting events play to every interest, with the River Rats hockey team, the Albany Diamond Dogs minor league baseball team, the New York Giants summer training camp, and four colleges with division one teams competing in hockey, basketball, football, baseball and track. The summer season offers world class polo, balanced by the best skiing in the Northeast in the winter months. The Freihofer’s Run for Women, a 20 year tradition held in Albany, is one of the country’s top races for female runners. The event has grown to involve the entire community, including walking events and the Kids’ Run. Capital Region residents are known for their community involvement. There are four active chapters of Habitat for Humanity in the Capital Region, and people here are among the most generous in the nation in contributing money to charitable health organizations.
Educational Institutions
The 21 colleges and universities of New York’s Capital Region have a combined enrollment of over 65,000 and employ 14,000 faculty and staff. In addition, there are 15 licensed post-secondary vocational schools. Post-graduate programs are offered at 8 institutions, and students in the city of Albany pursue such varied degrees as pharmacy, public health, silicone chip and materials research, law, and medicine. Higher education institutions in the Capital Region have achieved top 100, top 50 and top 20 national rankings for educational value, research grant investments, academic quality and alumni achievement. They provide a massive graduate recruitment pool, attract corporate investment, operate technology and industrial parks, partner with local businesses and enrich the community with cultural, entertainment and athletic events and attractions.
Transportation
The newly completed Albany International Airport is but one means of accessing New York’s Capital Region. This impressive new facility is a visitor-friendly travel complex with very easy access to all major inter- and intra-state highways. Interstate-90, known as the Thruway, and I-87, a.k.a. the Northway, converge in Albany to open a corridor of travel connecting New York City, Montreal, Buffalo and Boston. Am-Trak offers business travelers multiple daily runs, simplifying the interactive relationship between New York City and the Capital Region.
Technology
This community is professionally and scientifically oriented, drawing an above-average proportion of highly educated residents. This is the home of the main Research and Development Center of General Electric Company, one of the world’s largest and most diversified laboratories, and of the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory operated by Martin Marietta Corporation. The Capital Region is home to over 125 software development companies. The Capital Region is an emerging force in the technology market. Home to both UAlbany’s Center for Environmental Sciences and Technology Management and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Center for Advanced Interconnect Science and Technology, it was a natural choice for the new Focus Center Research Program. One of two multi-million dollar projects established by the U.S. semiconductor industry and the federal government, the Focus Center will target challenging technological problems the industry faces in the future, including the speed with which information travels along computer chips. Associated manufacturing plants will provide 1,000 new jobs to the local economy, with $25 million in hiring and training support offered by the state.
Health Industry
Northeastern New York and neighboring New England’s 36 counties rely on the facilities and professionals of New York’s Capital Region for sophisticated, state-of-the-art health care services. The area’s 15 hospitals number among them the Albany Medical Center, ranked among the nation’s top 100 hospitals and top 20 medical academic facilities. The New York State Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center Laboratories and University at Albany School of Public Health also achieve national recognition. Together with over a dozen specialized diagnostic and treatment centers, regional rehabilitation facilities, dozens of residential care facilities and regional health care insurance providers, they account for a disproportionately large medical specialty employment base.
Arts
New York’s Capital Region is alive with the performing and visual arts. While supporting two local symphonies, this area is also the summer home to both the New York City Ballet and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The Pepsi Arena draws sell-out crowds from throughout the northeastern states for headliners including Garth Brooks, Billy Joel and U2, and The Grateful Dead’s CD “Dozin’ at the Knick” was recorded there.The Saratoga Performing Arts Center hosts the H.O.R.D.E. Festival, blues and jazz festivals featuring top recording artists and special events featuring artists ranging from Aretha Franklin to Dave Matthews and the Allman Brothers Band. Dorian Records frequently records classical music albums at the Troy Music Hall, considered to be one of the most acoustically perfect theaters in the world. Community festivals based on the arts abound. Riverfest includes a sidewalk chalk competition among the visual arts exhibits, and entertainment at all three local blues festivals can rival that of any other major city. The club scene in the Capital Region thrives year round, with an ever growing selection of jazz and blues, new age and fusion. Town bands still perform in the public parks here, and families take advantage of the rich offerings of local theater. Pulitzer Prize winning novelist William Kennedy debuted his play here at Albany’s progressional theater company Capital Rep in Albany. Films including The Horse Whisperer, the Age of Innocence, Ironweed and Sea Biscuit were filmed in the cities and hamlets of the capital Region.