Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Celebrates Year of Progress Addressing Longstanding Water Infrastructure Challenges in Mount Vernon

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced a major milestone in New York State's historic $150 million investment and partnership with City of Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard and Westchester County Executive George Latimer to address longstanding environmental justice concerns as well as water infrastructure and public health challenges that have plagued the city for decades. Construction is beginning on the critically important Third Street Sewer Project which will ensure reliable wastewater service and enhanced quality of life for more than 4,100 residents in Mount Vernon impacted by broken sewer infrastructure lines.

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

Hello, everyone. Great to back here once again. How many times have I been to Westchester this week? President yesterday, today this great celebration. But you really do have an extraordinary team of leaders here in Westchester County, and I want to commend all of you starting with your very own, but a leader for across the state that is, but your Leader of the Senate, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who's been an extraordinary partner, a friend, a partner, and she knows how to deliver for her district and the state. I know Jamaal Bailey represents this area. He texted me and was really sorry he couldn't be here, but he's been so involved in this initiative, and I want to give him a special shout out to Senator Jamaal Bailey. Our hometown Assembymember, Gary Pretlow joined us. You'll be hearing from him in a couple minutes. Gary, thank you for prioritizing this important project in your capacity representing this area. Also, Steven Otis, our Assemblymember from a little bit down the road. Thank you. Thank you for joining us, Steve.

Now, there's someone who's really special here today, not just because she happens to be the Mayor, but it's also her birthday today. Shawyn Patterson-Howard, thank you. And in case you ever wondered how effective she is, she would not ever let me leave her community without making sure I understood how important this project was. She described it, she got me all emotional about it. We talked about the effect on the people that she cares so deeply about. And you are a driving force behind what we announced a year ago and continuing. So, let's give a special round of applause the Mayor, Shawyn Patterson-Howard.

And not only do we have the President of the United States here yesterday, but we also have a representative from the White House. Catherine Coleman Flowers, who's the Vice Chair of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council, who has pointed to what we are doing here, Catherine, as a model for the rest of the nation, and I'm really, really proud of that. We also have someone who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty, working hard, and that is our DEC Commissioner, Basil Seggos. Thank you, Basil for all you do. Vincent Kopicki here, the Commissioner of Westchester Environmental Facilities. Vincent, thank you. I know this has been an - this is a project of a lifetime, so I know you've been working really hard on this. And as well as someone whose passion is one of the reasons we're here. A woman who endured the unthinkable, but she never gave up fighting, not just for herself, but for her community. I want to give us a standing round of applause to Linda McNeil. One of our favorite people here, Linda. Thank you. Thank you, Linda.

I want to thank the Doles Community Center and Director Sean Paul Wade for hosting us here today. I was back here with an event for high school scholarships. It's great to be back here again and this center is so incredible. I love getting out and going to places like this where I can think about what goes on in this building, the theater and the athletic programs, the child care, the art galleries, all the different ways you can touch the lives of our young people. So, on behalf of our entire state, thank you for what you do here at this incredible institution, the Dole Center.

This community is not one of the newest communities. In fact, Mount Vernon goes back to the 1600s, and despite that long history, it's a community that's been overlooked for many, many years. Despite the best efforts of elected leaders who've tried so hard to get attention on this community, but I would say that a lot of it had to do with a history of discriminatory planning, redlining, unjust housing policies. And even when you think back 100 years ago when there was a railroad built here, 1914 - divided the city right in two. Physically and socially among racial lines, and that led to generations of families having limited access to economic and educational opportunities. And that impact is still felt today, more than a century later. But one of the issues that screamed out for justice was the fact that something that in other parts of our state, you don't think about, you take it for granted because it always works, but in here, there was an epic failure and that is the sewer infrastructure.

We had situations where feces were bubbling up to the surface in basements. The smell of raw sewage was in the air. When you hear the stories and many had to live with this themselves, you almost can't believe that is happening in this century, in this state. So, you think about stories like Linda's that were captured for the nation to see. We talked about using a 16-gallon wet vac to suck up wastewater out of her own toilet and tub because the sewer lines were always so clogged, and every day she would empty it down the open manhole in her neighborhood. She said the smell was so bad it made her cough and made her eyes burn. She struggled to sleep at night. Remember your grandkids coming over, having some comments about this? Remember you shared that story last year, Linda?

The rest of the world had a chance to see it when there was a documentary made called Wasteland. And when I watched that, and witnessing that experience that people endured for so long, 20 some years. It's a dark chapter in our State's history, the neglect. This community was ignored for too long, and it's not just New York's most deteriorated and neglected water system, it really rose up to be, that's why Catherine's here today, an environmental justice issue. It's Black and Brown communities who are forced to endure the brunt of the consequences from broken pipes to busted water mains, there was a government neglect. Literally bubbling into the streets and into the people's basements. And I want to say this, the city did the best you could. You did the best you could, fixed what you could, tried to keep it all running. I want to thank Commissioner Damani Bush for all he has done. Let's give him a shout. Thank you.

You just felt like you're constantly pushing a rock up a hill, and it just kept coming back on you. You just thought, "Is there an end in sight?" But people like you, despite all the challenges of your daily work, you never gave up. You knew that the people in this community needed you there. You and the men and women who work for you. And again, I applaud you once again, it was a difficult time. And all the city workers, all the city workers who pulled out the stops to keep things just below the surface as best you could and holding things together with what seemed like a piece of scotch tape, but over time it got worse and worse and worse.

And that's why when I came to this community, we acknowledged the injustice that had been enduring here for so long, and we announced a major action. I was a fairly new Governor. I had been aware of this situation from my time as Lieutenant Governor, from listening to our elected leaders in Albany, and one of the reasons this was never addressed is the scale, the cost was so prohibitive. And I said, "Well, what's the price tag?" I was told about $150 million. Now, normally there'd be a statewide program. That's right, Basil? Like $150 million for a statewide program. That's pretty good. It was all going to be spent in one community. And I said, "You know what? Too bad. We have to do this. They have waited far too long." So, we said we're going to repair and strengthen Mount Vernon's infrastructure and deliver for the people who've had to endure the most inhumane circumstance. We signed a city, state, county agreement to get it done as soon as possible, because I'm impatient. Linda is impatient. She has waited a long time. I'm right up there with you, sister. I'm like, get this done, right? Get this done. So, I'm proud to announce one year after our wonderful announcement, and it was one of the most joyous times of my life when I looked out in that room, and I saw what that meant to the people of this community. I said it then, I said, "This was the best day, but let's make things really happen now beyond an announcement, beyond a press release, beyond an event. Let's make this happen."

So, I'm really proud to announce and I wanted to be here at the start of this. We are starting construction on the critically important Third Street Sewer Project, which will ensure wastewater service and enhance quality of life for over 4,000 residents who've been waiting forever. Last year I stood here, and I said, "Third Street help is on the way. And here that help is. That help has arrived." So, we've been able to accelerate the planning and design process. Again, move it along and break ground literally just one year after our announcement, which is extraordinary. And we worked on 33 emergency repair projects because there were a lot of things that would have to happen before we could do the major work.

We kicked off a program to help the infrastructure system start working now, working with the Board of Water Supply, helping replace lines that were filled with lead and bringing relief directly to our residents. Also, we started working on our $3 million Mount Vernon Healthy Homes Initiative because we have to install equipment. And I know Linda's one of the beneficiaries of this. We have to prevent the backflow right now in the water infiltration systems that needed to be in there. And so that's why we said this. This project's going to take a long time overall. But what can we do in the short term to give people some relief?

And I want to thank the incredible partnership because this doesn't always happen. The State agencies, the City of Mount Vernon and Westchester County, George Latimer. Thank you for all you have done for us. This is extraordinary. You are truly a great leader and we're going to keep working diligently because this is a problem here. We also need resources across the State, working with the State Legislature, and you have your Leader right here. That's a big deal, $500 million Statewide for clean water funding was just passing our Budget, bringing our total investment to ensure that there is clean water all across the State - it's over $5 billion. That's a lot of money.

So, communities don't have the expertise, they don't have the resources to get this done. So, we assembled community assistance teams because I come out of local government. I can't tell you how many times the State would say, "Okay, go ahead and do this," or "Here's some money," or "You could apply for this." And you're like, where do I start? I don't have people sitting around to fill out the paperwork and do grant writing. I've got to do my job. So, we wanted to make sure that we had these community assistance teams embedded to be able to be a resource and help you to make sure these products can move ahead quickly.

So, today we're on a path. It's been a long journey. We're moving forward. And this is how we start righting the wrongs of the past and turning the trajectory of a community that was mired a lot, but also suffering from an egregious injustice. So, we all should proud that if we come together and confront this type of discrimination and injustice as a society, recognize that we have the power today to do something about it. And when we use that power, let others know this is who we are as New Yorkers. This is a priority for us to say to people like Linda McNeil and the people of Mount Vernon, no more. That chapter has ended. We're closing the book on those practices that are important and starting toward a cleaner, healthier, more vibrant future for all of them.

So, I thank all of you for being here today at this special milestone. And with that, I want to introduce someone again - we've been in the trenches together a lot, but I think that breeds this respect and an understanding of the challenges that we each face. And so, I want to thank Andrea Stewart-Cousins for delivering an extraordinary Budget, one that we can all be proud of. Thank you.