Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces $230 Million to Lift Nine Upstate Airports to New Heights

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that $230 million in awards to nine upstate airports for revitalization projects that reimagine and further modernize airports across upstate New York. This funding comes from the Upstate Airport Economic Development and Revitalization Competition, a competitive solicitation which aims to promote, revitalize and accelerate investments in upstate commercial passenger service airports, helping to create airports for the 21st century. The Governor made the announcement earlier today at Greater Binghamton Airport.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the event is available here.

PHOTOS of the event will available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Great to be back. I will also say, the last time I was officially here was for an ice storm in April, so this is much better. I'm really delighted to be back for a non-weather event which doesn't always happen. But we will always show up when this community is in need of us.

So first of all, I want to acknowledge the presence of our great County Executive. We've been through so much together, dealing with the pandemic, dealing with the strife that this community has been through for the last few years, and we're working closely together. So to Jason Garnar, let's give him another round of applause for his great work. Strong ally you all have in our state capital, Donna Lupardo. And I want to thank her for being a champion for the people of this community - the small towns, the downtowns, the farmers, and the opportunity to bring in new industries. So we work very closely together, Donna Lupardo, great friend.

Senator Fred Akshar, our State Senator, enjoying the break outside Albany, but we're always ready to go back and have a very spirited conversation about the needs of our regions. But as fellow Upstaters, I know there's a lot more that joins us than divides us. And that's how I continue to govern with people like yourself. And I'm proud of your service as well, so Senator Akshar.

Harvey Stenger, President of Binghamton University - I want to thank him for just helping put this region on the map. And I'll mention some of the great announcements, but we are so proud of what is going on here with the research and the innovation that's going on in this community. It's astounding. And I'm so in awe of many of the accomplishments that you've achieved and also just making us really proud of all of you.

Kevin Drumm, the President of Broome, SUNY Broome - we hear you're leaving next year. Don't I have to sign off on that? I'm not sure I okayed that. Also, just a great place for people to get that start, to get that love of education, but also the workforce training that goes on to get people into the jobs for the next generation, so thank you all for being such great partners here.

And here we are back in the Southern Tier. Good to be here again. I always love coming here. There are so many things that make this so special. And I brag about the breathtaking scenery, the fact that we're not far from an extraordinary museum down the road, NASCAR, we have the glass museum, we have all the stories of Mark Twain, for those of you who are Mark Twain fans, and go to wineries. I come here, I travel the whole state, but I have spent an enormous amount of time here. It's a real gem, and I don't want it to be a hidden gem any longer. So that's why I talk about it so often, encourage people to come here. But this actually happens to be in an airport. I was at a little bit bigger one a couple days ago, making a major announcement of a brand new terminal, would be the largest terminal in America, at JFK. So those of you who will be also be taking a plane from here down to JFK at some point, you'll see the new Terminal One is going to be there as well. I don't want to just have all this excitement and pride around the downstate airports, we're doing a lot there, because I want to make sure we never overlook how important the upstate airports are as the doormat, the "Welcome Home," and also the first impression that many of the visitors have.

When I'm downstate, I see all the "I Love New York" posters that promote upstate, but also we need to have the airports first-class up here as well. So, let's talk about that. I was reflecting on a description of this airport, and I thought this was very diplomatic, whoever wrote this. I'm going to repeat this cause I was very impressed with this. "The existing airport is an aging mid-century facility with the prestigious history but faded in piecemeal identity." Who wrote that? That is brilliant. That is brilliant. "The stark exterior canopy in building entries no longer reflects the excitement and luxury of air travel and don't relate to the airport's captivating hilltop location." Is there a poet out there who wrote this? "A captivating hilltop location. Historical expansions have boxed in the terminal's interior space, resulting in the dark, constricted-feeling passenger experience," which I just felt when I walked in over there.

But the project that we're going to be talking about is a proposed terminal renovation to develop a fresh and high-quality passenger experience for both the general and commercially aviation, unified under a strong site-inspired identity. So that's what we're striving for. And I know how important it is to this community because as an upstater, I know what this area felt like, and for 40 years, we were in decline. Our great legacy industries left. Our young people were our greatest export.

All my siblings, growing up down the road in Buffalo, they all left in search of better jobs because there were none. And I'm so proud that those days are in the past, and especially in Broome County and Binghamton, we've seen the transformation where people want to be here. They want to be here, part of this energy, the affordable cost of living, but the great jobs that we've been able to attract here. So, we've been here to open new welcome centers and the Clean Energy Competition. I come every year, Harvey. I know that's a time like it's the Oscars. You're announcing the winners who are going to be creating jobs right here and innovating the clean energy future. And I know there's so many other areas where we can do better, but there's great news. Just what happened, I wish I could have been there, but the White House announced it. The $114 million to create batteries in New York. I am so excited about this. I've been here many times. I bring about our Nobel Prize winners and I always say to everybody, I've toured your facilities many times.

They're so brilliant about batteries. Why does it take - why do I have to keep recharging my cell phone so often? If you just work on the basic things - I don't want to have to keep charging my cell phone. I think about, I'm out on a boat, and why can't we have battery-operated boats? And so, there's so many ideas and it's happening right here. And I hope you understand, don't take this for granted. This could be anywhere in the nation and it's happening right here at Binghamton University. So, cutting-edge research development to create the next generation of batteries. So, the point being is that is we do projects like this, we support our businesses, our major businesses like Lockheed Martin and Raymond Corporation and we have Dick's Sporting Goods. We have so many great businesses here.

Having good transportation, a good airport and more flights, which will come when you do these renovations, is also a good economic development strategy. As people are trying to attract higher caliber employees from other parts of the country, we're trying to bring their customers to see their product on site. So, that's why this is a multipurpose expansion here because it's going to address so many needs. When we talk about what we did at the, you know, trying to attract more people into the nursing school. My God, we need more people in nursing. If anybody wants to be a nurse, we have a thousand scholarships. We're paying the full ride for nurses and we've invested in affordable housing here. And something Donna and I have talked about a lot, 34 department units on Union and what we're doing in Endicott with the school there.

So, I just wanted to tell you, we're addressing all these areas. You know, stimulating the economy, affordable housing, clean energy initiatives, but airports are so important to us. And as we mentioned, airports leave a lasting impression. It's the first impression, it's the lasting impression. So why not make it even better?

That's why I'm proud to announce that we are investing $230 million in upstate airports. That's exciting. That's part of our Upstate Revitalization Project. The grants are extraordinary. They're going to be going to Albany, Watertown, Saratoga, Syracuse Sullivan County, Ogdensburg, Rochester, Adirondack, and of course, the Greater Binghamton Airport. And last year, and we put out the bids for this and we wanted to have enhancements, not just security screening, but terminal expansion, rehabilitation disinfecting measures because you never know what's going to happen again. And just creating a whole cleaner, brighter experience for the customers. And so, we're continuing to do that.

And what we're doing is also talking about the people who work here every single day. Those people who showed up during the pandemic and had to come in during extraordinary circumstances, the airline workers, the baggage handlers, the maintenance staff, we always honor them, but they also deserve a work environment that is uplifting as well. So, let's give them some credit as well.

So, here's what we're talking about. Let's talk about what's coming to Binghamton with a $32 million award. So, that is what we're proud to announce here today. Curbside porters, and look at that departure lounge. Who's going to want to depart from that lounge? They're going to want to stay there all day. That's gorgeous. And so, this is what this community deserves, and I really believe that. They deserve something absolutely spectacular new departures lounge. You can wait and relax. You can - since we're known as the city of carousels, let's have a brand new baggage carousel too - it's going to look great as well.

So, I'm very excited about these projects. We're going to have also - that we have a new airline. Is it Avelo? Avelo. Okay. We've got to get it right. Everyone messes up my last name, so Avelo, I want to get it right. They're going to have nonstop flights to Florida. Okay. Now we want you to stay. This is just for a weekend. This is just for a short little visit, but this is going to be great. And I think this is just the beginning. I really believe that. You have an airline like that sees the possibilities that the people here, you know, need a little break once in a while and get down to Florida. But I think that's going to be a catalyst for other airlines and others to say, "Yes, let's get back to where the energy is, where the excitement is and the customers are." So, when I say infrastructure is a - I've said all along, it's a quality of life issue. We connect communities. This is one way - this is a manifestation of just connecting people to jobs and recreation in their families.

And so, we're excited about this. I'm looking forward to - I'm very good at - everyone knows. You've seen me a lot for eight years coming here with a shovel in my hand for groundbreakings and scissors for the ribbon cutting, but we're going to continue investing in the Southern Tier. This is a community that matters.

It has a great history, but also an even brighter future. So, we're going to get these done. And so the Southern Tier, I will say again, is truly soaring and it starts with great projects like this today. So to put an exclamation point on that. Let's hear from our County Executive, Jason Garnar, to get reflections on what this is all about for the community. Thank you.