A new survey of business executives in our area shows a mixed picture about their expectations for the local economy this year.

The survey was commissioned by First Niagara Bank, and carried out by Siena College, and its shows that some local business executives are less optimistic about the outlook for this year than they have been in prior years.

Approximately 36 percent of them expect business conditions to improve this year.. down slightly from last year. About 33 percent of them expect business conditions to worsen, and 30 percent say things will remain about the same.

The Rochester market executive for First Niagara, Suzanne Nasipak- Chapman, says among the things weighing on the mind of a lot of local CEO's are the parts of the economy they really can't do anything about..

"They feel that number one, it's the adverse economic conditions, followed by government regulation, taxation and health care costs, so there are some things outside of their control that they feel are going to affect their profit picture."

Nasipak-Chapman says a number of Rochester business executives still expect to generate more revenue this year than last year, and she notes that executives here are more optimistic than those in many other parts of the state.