<p>Would anyone who is familiar with the city of Rochester talk a bit on how important the health of the Kodak Corp. is to the overall health of the city and the university - immediate, short term and long term outlooks?</p>
<p>Twenty or thirty years ago, Kodak’s bankruptcy might have been a major blow to the city. It used to be THE major employer. (U of R is now the #1 employer in the city.) However since then Kodak’s importance to the city has declined. Some employees have moved on to spin-off/startup companies in the area. Others have long since left Rochester and moved on to greener pastures elsewhere. (DH’s grad office mate worked for Kodak in its heyday. He moved on to Silicon Valley about 20 years ago when Kodak shut down its digital camera/optical storage division.)</p>
<p>According to both President Seligman and Rochester’s mayor, the impact should be pretty minimal. (Although to my visitor’s eyes, Kodak seemed to be the last major corporation occupying the tall buildings downtown. I’m sure it’s difficulties won’t improve the outlook for downtown redevelopment…)</p>
<p>The optics dept at UR is largely funded by NSF monies nowadays–not Kodak. And funding for some Kodak’s namesake philanthropies come from independent sources. (Spun off into charitiable foundations years ago.)</p>
<p>The NYT ran an article about Rochester a few weeks ago. Search for it. The article describes how Rochester is a relative success story. </p>
<p>Rochester jobs are increasing, particularly in tech related fields. Kodak only employs about 6k people total now. The effect will be minimal. Rochester is home to a number of tech companies that grew out of Kodak, Xerox, Bausch & Lomb and now UR and RIT. UR and its medical center are, like in many cities, the largest employer. </p>
<p>Kodak’s HQ, which is north of downtown near the falls and the baseball park, has been mostly empty for years. It was always a mix of office, research and warehouse.</p>
<p>Thanks you guys! This forum is so great 
Will search for the article. Think UR is going to be one of the last left on the table for decision time so want to make sure I check up on things a kid likely wouldn’t think of.</p>
<p>The article, which is an op-ed, is called “No Rust in Rochester” and ran on 2/2/12. The author, Duncan Moore, is a professor of optical engineering and the vice provost for entrepreneurship at UR.</p>
<p>Here’s an excerpt:</p>
<p>"Indeed, while over three decades Kodak’s Rochester-area employment dropped to fewer than 7,000 jobs from 61,000, the community itself gained a net 90,000 jobs. That’s because the Rochester economy is more diverse than most realize — in part, surprisingly, because of Kodak. The high-skilled workers it let go over the years created a valuable labor pool for start-up companies, particularly in optics and photonics.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>two decades ago Rochester began a network of private and nonprofit partnerships to diversify its economy. Organizations like High Tech Rochester and Greater Rochester Enterprise work with local government and academia to train entrepreneurs and support new business ventures. Since 1996, 51 start-ups — 38 of which are still active — were created based on University of Rochester technologies alone."</p>
<p>Bottom line is that Rochester is not a failing city like Buffalo or my hometown of Detroit. It isn’t the next Boston, where I live now, but it’s a pretty nice place with very good amenities - music, art, food - and some good companies.</p>