After more than 90 days in office, Ulster County executive Pat Ryan last week has finally laid some of his cards on the table in regard to economic development.

In 2011 New Paltz farmer Paul Alward, Bywater Bistro proprietor Sam Ullman and self-described “health nut” Joe Katona had teamed up with financier John Fitzgibbons to found Hudson Valley Harvest. They wanted the Hudson Valley to develop the kind of brand identity and degree of market organization in order to compete successfully with giant non-local producers and distributors. Hudson Valley Harvest has operated year-round since then from its leased headquarters in TechCity in the Town of Ulster.

This will probably be the second to last — at least for a while — of our occasional columns in this space about flight activities at Stewart Airport. The two years of Norwegian Air’s experiment with the Newburgh airport for low-cost international flights is coming to a close a week from this coming Sunday, on September 15. The most dramatic traffic boost in Stewart’s commercial history is about to come to an unwelcome end.

Change is in the air at SUNY New Paltz. It was evident last week as a diverse new class moved in and college president Donald Christian spoke on themes of diversity, inclusion and equity.

The regions of the New York City metro area are all parts of the immense agglomeration that constitutes the most influential of world cities, each with a distinctive character of its own. Each region has different contributions to make and different roles to play. Each faces its own strengths and weaknesses, has its own distinctive style, and searches for its own opportunities both as part of the larger metropolis and within its own boundaries.

As a world city, New York can’t afford to ignore the Big Five tech firms — Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Facebook. With a combined market value of about $4.2 trillion, these five goliaths account for more than twelve percent of the dollars in the United States stock market. What they do and where they do it involves the whole society and is very important in the world economy.

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey seems to be having cold feet in regard to construction of a $40-million, 20,000-square-foot terminal addition to house a permanent federal inspection station for processing international passengers at Stewart International Airport.

Ulster County executive Pat Ryan appears to be giving a nod to the thought that government is capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time. His message represents a change in approach from that of the Hein administration. Ryan’s style has been more reminiscent of business management than public administration. He’s a problem-solver. He sets measurable goals for improvement in problem areas and deploys personnel toward meeting those targets.

It pays to be skeptical of numbers one doesn’t know much about. In economics, early numbers are often based on assumptions subject to substantial later correction.