Jul. 3--Direct your browser to www.yahoo.com and type in the phrase "New York business climate." We did the other day, and the first three non-sponsored hits were variations on the theme, "NY business climate rated 2nd worst."

Yahoo! is coming here anyway. If that means not just landing an iconic new-economy company but opening a portal to other such firms and a vibrant new local economic sector, that's a major victory for the region.

The many millions of dollars in public subsidies for Yahoo! are necessary to overcome the enormous disincentives to new or expanded business operations in the state. High taxes in particular have made this state's business climate so gloomy that significant incentives are needed to restore the bit of sunshine that might encourage growth. Add in exorbitant electric costs despite Niagara Falls on our doorstep, snow and perceived difficulties with labor unions, and you can see why business doesn't like New York.

There's not much the governor and lawmakers can do about the snow, but they're the only ones who can fix the policy problems. We have high taxes because the state, held hostage by public unions, keeps spending money it doesn't have and then requiring citizens to pay more to cover the gaps, leaving us with one of the highest combined tax burdens in the nation.

That's why the state has to extend itself, and overcome the hurdles it has erected, just to be competitive in attracting new businesses and jobs. The incentives are expensive in this agreement, but the potential for Yahoo! to be not just a business but a magnet is what makes this deal worth it. Luring the new $150 million data center planned by such a global high-tech player to the Town of Lockport Industrial Park not only will add construction and 125 high-paying permanent jobs in a zero-pollution industry, it also will put the region on the map for the many other high-tech players who will note what the world's second-biggest Internet search company is up to.

It was also a great example of how local, state and even federalofficials-- U. S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer and Rep. Chris Lee were part of the press gang--can succeed when they work together, not stand by and allow rival local industrial development agencies to annihilate each other.

But the hazards those recruiters had to avoid are largely a creation of our own elected officials, mostly in Albany.

Because of actions and inactions by the Legislature over many years, upstate New York in particular has earned a reputation as an unaffordable place to do business. Taxes are too high. Construction costs are too high. The number of local governments that has to be fed is too great.