Coalition calls for $5 billion surplus to go for roads
http://midequalitygroup.co.uk/events/list/?tribe-bar-date=2024-03-26 Coalition calls for $5 billion surplus to go for roads
Posted on December 15, 2014 | By Tim O’Brien, Albany Times-Union
is it legal to buy prednisone online A coalition of business, union and elected leaders is calling for some $5 billion in surplus state funds to be used to fix the state’s road and bridges.
Rebuild New York Now launched a new advertising campaign calling on state leaders to channel the money from a surplus and legal settlement to highway improvements. The group held a press conference Monday at Albany City Hall.
“We are poised to be able to continue to attract new businesses to Albany, to attract new residents to our city, but we need to invest in our infrastructure,” said Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan.
Half of the state’s paved roads are in fair or worse condition, the coalition said, and those conditions cost New York drivers more than $1,500 annually.
Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy pointed to the combination of people who gathered to support the spending showed the work would help create jobs.
“It’s going to be done in a manner that will improve the competitiveness of New York state,” he said.
The local leaders are eyeing the more than $5 billion New York has received in legal settlements with two foreign banks.
“We have a surplus. Unique. We have a continual demand; Roads and bridges are crumbling,” said State Senator Neil Breslin, D-Bethlehem. “Let’s take the need and the surplus and put it together.”
Other state leaders who supported the investment were Assembly members Pat Fahy, D-Albany; John McDonald, D-Cohoes; and Phil Steck, D-Colonie.
The Capital Region business community also supported the use of the surplus funds for road work.
“Our goal really is how can we have a growing, prosperous, vibrant industry?” said Mark Eagan, president and CEO of the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce. “It’s not just about fixing potholes.”
Rick Kukuk, Clifton Park highway superintendent and a member of the executive committee for the New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways, said local governments are responsible for more than 97,000 miles of roadways and 8,600 bridges.
In fall 2013, the association projected that $34.8 billion would be needed over the next 15 years for road and bridge work. With current expenditures estimated by the state comptroller at $1 billion per year, he said, that would leave a funding gap of $19.79 billion or about $1.3 billion a year.
Among the Capital Region projects the group said it would like to see funded are either the long-planned Exit 3 of the Northway or a revamped Exit 4, either designed to make driving to Albany International Airport easier, and a revamped Thruway Exit 23 in Albany.
Ken Polasky, vice president of government affairs for the Business Council of New York State, said the organization has applauded state government for exercising fiscal restraint but using the surplus for road and bridge work makes sense.
“Modern public infrastructure is essential for economic growth,” he said.
The group said every $1 billion spent on such work creates more than 28,000 jobs.
Sam Fresina, business manager for the New York Eastern District Council of the Laborers International Union of North America, said the rebuilding work would create jobs for current construction workers and enable the next generation of crews to be taught how to do repair and rebuilding work.
“We have to put people to work,” he said. “We have apprenticeship program. We want to train those people.”
