Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Highlights Southern Tier Regional Investments in FY 2024 Executive Budget

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced details of key proposals from her Fiscal Year 2024 Executive Budget to grow jobs and boost the economy in the Southern Tier of New York. In line with the 2023 State of the State, the budget includes a major investment to increase housing supply and expand economic opportunity and innovation in the region.

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 are available on the Governor's Flickr page.

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

Thank you very much. It's wonderful to be back here once again. Interesting venue. There's a great story behind this. We'll get into that in a couple moments. But in a few minutes, you'll be hearing from someone who's been a longtime friend of mine, a champion of this region who's been a fighter for our farmers and making sure that our small towns have all the resources they need. And that is my great friend, our Assemblymember, Donna Lupardo. Let's give her another round of applause.

And newer on the scene is our new Senator, Lea Webb. I want to thank her - where are you, Lea? I can't see. The lights are very bright here. County Executive Jason Garnar, who's all ready for whatever storms come our way. He told me he's got it under control. He does pandemics, he does storms, he does floods. And what a great leader he is - a great, great friend of ours as well. Our Mayor, you're going to hear from our Mayor in a few moments. Mayor Meaney, we talked about our collective grandparents coming from Ireland. He's from Limerick, so he probably knows a lot of funny stories. And I'm from County Kerry. But great to see you Mayor, once again. Thank you for your leadership here in this area. Martha Sauerbrey, great friend of ours from Tioga County, the Chair of the Legislature. We sat down and worked on many issues together. Thank you. And also, we have the leader of Binghamton University, the one and only Harvey Stenger is here in the audience. Harvey. Kevin Drumm is here, the SUNY Broome President and Co-Chair of the Regional Economic Development Council. And Judy McKinney Cherry is here as well. Again, I can't see anybody. Are there really people out there? I'm sure you all look great. I just don't know what you're doing.

So, we're at the Firehouse Stage today. This 1899 building has an incredible history. I love the older buildings that populate this beautiful part of our state. And it used to be the municipal fire building. It used to be the mayor's office, used to be a courtroom and also held horses and wagons. So, if something smells a little off, that's from a long time ago. But it's really special to be back here. You know, this area has a rich history in manufacturing. Hard work, a strong work ethic has defined this area for generations and once housed Endicott-Johnson, which is a huge point of pride. And, you know, you think about how this community grew and you know, at one time, the company had 20,000 employees, 20,000 employees worked here.

So, this area was hot, and Endicott-Johnson led the way on manufacturing and brought others here, supply chain. You know, as someone like George Johnson,who was the founder, he understood how important it was to take care of his employees. You know, he gave them health care at a time when that was a pretty radical idea, and he built housing, and parks, and libraries, and had a pension fund, you know, fair labor practices and also fire prevention policies to keep his workers safe. So that's just an example of how our civic and our business leaders working with communities have really helped this region lead the way in setting standards and raising standards to protect a community and its workers. So, that's part of a legacy that I think those of you don't know that should embrace that. That's part of the story of this region.

But as you know, we have breathtaking scenery here. It's always delightful to come back. You come down, you go to the Spiedie Fest, the Luma Projection Arts Festival, Rod Sterling, from everything - we've got a great story here. And of course, the food and wine. And I was here just not that long ago to announce that statewide, but part of this region benefited from it, we were announcing major, major investments - $230 million in our Upstate airports because that is often the gateway when you're trying to attract a business to come here. There needs to be a connection to an airport. So, we have a fabulous airport here, and we're going to continue making those investments as well.

But we talk about, kind of the glory days, and people would say, "Are we in the glory days, or is that in the past?" Well, I see the glory days occurring right now. I really do. I feel so confident in this region. We've turned the corner on the pandemic. When I became Governor, literally 18 months ago, unemployment statewide was over 7 percent, which coming from Buffalo, actually sounded good. But that's because I grew up in a time when 20,000 jobs were lost overnight when Bethlehem Steel left my home area. And my grandpa had worked there, and my dad had worked there. And I know what it's like when sort of the bread-and-butter leaves town and unemployment used to be in the double digits. It was extraordinary. But 7 percent was high, and now statewide, it's 3.8 percent. So,we are trending in the right direction. And we've created over 586,000 jobs in that year and a half. So that's amazing. 13,000, almost 14,000 right here in the Southern Tier. So that is a trend that we should talk about, because I grew up at a time when you would've said, "We lost 13,000. We lost half a million workers and jobs." And so, the story told there is very, very positive.

But it's also about how we keep making transformative investments and how we should work hard to make sure that the Southern Tier is all it can possibly be. And part of that comes down to making our community safer, more affordable, more livable, and places that not just people want to come to, but the young people who grow up here, are educated in our great schools - you have a chance to go to great community college and public institutions, private institutions - that they can also stay here. That that era of our greatest export being our young people is officially over, that people want to come here. And I do believe that the pandemic has had an effect where people are reexamining their lives, and they're being drawn to smaller communities and that sense of, you know, a united story and a story that is built in a great history and a legacy, but also a promising future. So, I think I'm confident that this region is going to be continued beneficiaries as, you know, say we want to work remotely, you can have a job in New York City, but live right here in Johnson City and have incredible, incredible quality of life.

Well, one of the challenges we have is where are all these people going to live? I mean, you create 13,000 jobs, you got to have places for the workers to live. And this is a challenge that we've embraced. It's always easier to just walk away from the big challenges and say, "Let somebody else do that." But that's not why I ran for office. It's not why I'm where I am right now. We have to lean into this and I'm conscious of the fact that, you know, bold leadership is required right now because some communities have embraced adding more housing and others have not, and people want to live here.

I was reading the applications for a lot of information. I saw Montour Falls had put in some comments from the local community talking about, "We're losing our young professionals because they cannot find apartments or condos to live in." And that is a statement of fact. So, I have a plan to build over 800,000 units over the next decade.

It's bold. It also builds on $25 billion last year to increase our affordable housing stock. So again, young people right out of school that don't have a lot of money. Barely have that first job under their belt. They might be making minimum wage. If that they can get on that rung, because sometimes in our society you're judged, your success is judged by, you know, the house you're living in.

My parents used to live in a trailer park that would be viewed as not very successful. But then my dad was able to work at the steel plant by day, got an education at night. They could finally afford that little two-bedroom apartment where a couple more babies were born, including me, and then they got a little Cape Cod house, and then they got a little bigger house. They got a little bigger house.

And I want that available to everybody. So, our communities can continue growing and thrive. We have to be able to have that variety of housing to offer our citizens and those who want to be our new neighbors. So, I have a goal to increase, and it's modest, to grow the housing stock for our communities by 1 percent over the next three years.

Now that's - for some communities, 80 percent of the communities - that's going to be just five houses or less. It is modest, especially the smaller communities. But if people kind of change their mindset around this and say, "Who are we building for?" We're building for your kids. So, someday when you're as old as I am, you can have a grandbaby.

And I've got one that's almost a year old and has changed my life. But how sad is it for those who have a baby that wants to be raised near the grandparents? Parents want that, but they can't afford that little starter house, they can't find an apartment. So that to me is a personal tragedy. So, we also have to be forward thinking and say, "You know what? We're building for our families. We're building for the employers who want to have people living here, a workforce that they can rely on." And I believe we can do that. It's not a one size fits all approach. We're telling communities, asking communities to say, do whatever you want. If you've got an abandoned factory, you've got an old strip plaza, you've got an old mall, you've got warehouses, you've got empty lots.

I mean, view those as places where people can gather and live and have an extraordinary life. And you know, I think about our rents. The rents are going up. Rents are going up. They used to be so inexpensive to be able to live in our communities. Rents are going up and our utilities are going up. And so, we have tostart putting money behind this.

And that's why we're announcing that our budget includes money for the Neighborhood Rural Preservation Program. People don't see something when you don't leave the big cities, you don't see the existence of rural poverty. It is real. It is real. I represented the most rural district, one of the most rural districts in Congress in a decade ago.

So, I had a lot of firsthand experience with the challenges in health care and housing and individuals who just need help. So, we're expanding our rural rental assistance programs to help these individuals - help with over 676 units here. But it's not just enough. It's not just enough. We've got to build some housing, we've got to provide rental assistance, but all of our communities have to be safe.

And some communities are doing just fine. In our urban areas, we're seeing increases in gun violence, the flow of illegal guns coming into this state from other states. And right here we are not that far from the Pennsylvania border, and they have different laws than we do, and I want to make sure that we're protecting our citizens from gun violence.

So, we're starting to see some results. The numbers of violent crimes are trending down statewide, but I'm also putting a lot of money behind this as well to support our local law enforcement. They need more resources. They need to know we have their backs. And I'm putting $337 million to be part of a plan to reduce gun violence.

And also, you know, make sure that we have a real system of justice for people. Our court-appointed attorneys need a raise. We're going to be raising their salaries, we're going to be also supporting our district attorneys. So, they can do their work. And finding different ways that we can change the laws. And one of those - the bail laws.

You've heard a lot of talk about this, and I want to change the system so people with low-level non-violent crimes. A judge can look at the offense and say, "You know, we'll take a different standard." But when we're talking about violent crimes and serious offenders and repeat offenders, we have to give the judges more discretion, and that's what I'm working toward in my budget as well.

So yeah, these aren't easy challenges. I didn't come here to do easy. I don't know what easy is, but I need everybody's support as we work toward those objectives as well. So, we have to make sure we have the resources to protect our community. We also want to make sure that we have people who are out there, our first responders have support as well, the first responders.

And so, I'm proud to announce $10 million to help improve the Fire Academy in Montour Falls. Now this is a place that people come, they deserve better, they deserve a state-of-the-art climate-controlled facility. And this will also expand the training season.

What that means is more people coming here, spending more money supporting our local businesses. And so, I think that's an important investment that we're going to making this year as well. And also, you think about overall health. You know, there's physical health, there's mental health, and for a long time, no one talked about mental health.

No one talked about it. The stigma was there. It was just something you sort of swept under the rug if it affected you or your family members. And now we're saying, no more. No more. We have to be able to support our citizens. And give them the whole continuum of care. Make sure we have enough psychiatric beds, make sure they have the therapies that could be helpful to get them on a positive path.

And so, I'm committed to fixing our state's mental health system, and we're going to be putting a billion dollars behind this, a billion dollars. The first time anyone has taken this on.

So, the era of ignoring the needs of people with mental health challenges is officially over. And that's why I'm so excited about what we're going to be doing here. And again, this is an important part of rural and small town health as well, that there be services provided. It's often hard to attract professionals to our smaller communities.

I know that. And that's why we have to lean into programs to get more doctors and nurses and therapists and professionals available all over, but also in our schools. In our schools. Look at what's happened to our kids. You read the articles about teenage suicide among girls, it is just record-shattering. I mean, that's horrible. Horrible.

And kids have been hit so hard - the influences of social media, the isolation from being out of their norm during the couple of years of the pandemic - it really had a long-term psychological effect. And I'd rather deal with these kids today while they're still in school instead of relegating them to a lifetime of needing treatment.

So, part of our money is going to be going toward mental health services, but also, making sure that no one is left behind, that everybody who needs help, everyone who's seeking help, can receive that help. So, we're adding another $16 million for Southern Tier addiction services - recovery, treatment, prevention.

You talk about mental health, but there's also substance abuse challenges. And this hit my own family. We had a nephew that was injured on the job as a high school student working at a deli and he developed that lifelong addiction to painkillers that turns into needs for opioids and fentanyl and eventually his life was cut short. So, I know the pain that a lot of families go through, especially in our smaller rural areas. I know it's real and the services are just not what they should be. And I want to change that dynamic. That's personally important to me, that every family should know, I can take care of my child if I see these signs, or a spouse, or a loved one. So, that's why we're making this major commitment.

Also, you think about our veterans. There's so many veterans that come out of our smaller communities. I was on the Armed Services Committee in Congress, I had a chance to go to Afghanistan and convene a round table with our veterans and I asked them what their greatest fears were. It was not the Taliban that was just off in the hills. It was coming back home and wondering what would happen to them. Would they have a job? Would they have a house? Were they going to be okay? Because a lot of them had tours of duty two, three, four times - it has an effect on you. We owe a debt of gratitude, but also, we owe them help and we can't ignore that phenomenon either with our veterans.

So, we are continuing to invest for this region alone, $885,000 for our veteran peer-to-peer services and also helping them with PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and other services. So, if you know anyone that is in need of help, tell them it's okay to come out. We embrace them. They were willing to serve us, put their lives on the line for us, and we have to make sure that their remaining lives are healthy as well.

So, I also want to talk about something else - education. I love being in groups of little kids. It always makes me feel real. They kind of keep you honest about things. I was giving a speech once, and I thought these little kids in the front row were just enthralled. They kept watching me and watching. I said, "Well, they're really paying attention. They're paying attention." I said, "Are there any questions out there?" And one little kid raised his hand, he goes, "Why do you have two different shoes on?" I'm like, "Oh, I didn't know I had a navy one and a blue one. It was dark in the car." So, I love the honesty of children. I've never told that story before, but it's real, it's a real one. But let's focus on the kids. And that's why we have unlocked an enormous amount of money, so the schools have what they need, parents know that they're going to get the highest quality, best education money can buy is what it is.

And there's nobody else who can touch our commitment to education because if you make these investments now, you get these kids on a path that leads them away from all the temptations of the street or trouble in the neighborhood or decisions related to substance abuse or going into different activities that you do not want your kids into.

If we can make those, help them make those, decisions now and give them a good education, what a great jumping point for the rest of life. So, we're allocating $34.5 billion, the largest increase ever, and that includes $1.4 billion for the Southern Tier, and that is an increase in Foundation Aid as well, almost $95 million in Foundation Aid. That's almost a 12 percent increase over last year, which is also historic. So, we are putting our money where our belief is, in supporting our teachers and our schools and the parents.

And we're also giving so much money to schools that if schools are providing all the services they need to, which is great, I have a suggestion: you can cut your local, your taxes. That's up to your school district, but I would think there's opportunity because our property tax - I spent 14 years as a local government official, so I've done a lot of municipal budgets, and two thirds of our local property tax was the school tax.

And so that's real. They have their needs, but we're working really hard to get more money out to our schools. Get it out to the schools, spend what you need. But also, let's remember our taxpayers out there, the businesses and the community members who are really dealing with a lot of affordability issues this year. The price of everything's going up, and how nice it could be if they could definitely not see an increase or even stay flat, but even a decrease. So, I'm going to put that out there to all the school boards who might be paying attention. But you have more money than you ever dreamed of, so let's make sure we do smart things with it.

But speaking of education, let's talk about colleges. This is the ladder. This is the ladder of opportunity. I said it changed my father's life when he was able to get a college degree at night. Otherwise, who knows? I would've, my family would've, been in very different circumstance, and I'm aware of that. And because of that story, I want that opportunity for everyone. It's so important to me. And so, we're going to keep investing in our higher education.

There's some announcements of what we're going to be providing for our local colleges - money for Binghamton, Cornell, Broome Community College, Tompkins, Corning Community College, because there is such a variety of options for people, whether you go get a certificate program at a community college and go right into a job that's waiting for you, you go to community college for a few years and build on that to go to a four-year institution or higher education, beyond that, graduate programs, we have it all here. This region really punches above its weight in terms of your population and size to have world class institutions just within this region. It attracts bright, bright professors and students. And so, let's just seize that as part of our narrative, our story, of what makes this area so attractive. That's how I attract businesses too, that's how I talk to them. I say, "You're never going to find a more educated workforce than we have here in New York. We have smart people, strong work ethic, based in the legacy of manufacturing and people rolling up their sleeves and working hard."

So, I speak to businesses from out of state all the time and we're starting to win that. We are making a difference and it's all about filling the jobs of tomorrow and being nimble because the world is changing so quickly. You know, to think that you now have to have places. You know, learning semiconductor manufacturing. That's a nice problem to have because I know Texas, one, had that problem, but we won Micron here. Micron -- $100 billion investment, $100 billion. And it's extraordinary. I was with President Biden when we made that announcement. The next week, we went over, and he announced $20 billion for IBM. I think IBM thought that was a lot of money and all of a sudden, we've got $100 billion here, so these are numbers that are mind boggling.

But 50,000 jobs coming to Upstate New York and people living all over the place. I need people educated in every corner of this state because I promised the CEO of Micron when he was literally looking at going to Texas instead of New York. I said, "You cannot touch the caliber of our workers." I said, "You'll never get anybody better." And they believe me. And I said, "We need engineers. We need people in manufacturing." I need so many programs being taught in our schools now, K through 12, all the way up to advanced degrees. I need to have the help of our community. So, we're investing money. These are good problems to have now. And I've declared that New York State is now the semiconductor capital of the world. No one's challenged me so far. So, let's just stick with that.

But also, to set us apart. I mean, there's money coming out of the federal government. I thank Senator Schumer for his work to help get the CHIPS bill done out of Washington, which created incentives to bring the jobs back from Southeast Asia, from China, where they never should have been, you know, is invented here, and always manufacture somewhere else. We're changing that trajectory and that's why I'm starting a $45 million commitment to create an office. The Office of Semiconductor Expansion, Management and Integration, which fortunately when you shorten it sounds - says SEMI. So, what a coincidence. So, that's something that when I was in Washington last weekend, I spoke to the Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo, and they're making decisions on where they're going to position the nation's National Semiconductor Training Institute, and I'm making a strong pitch for New York. I think that's going to continue to add to our gravitas. And I said, "I'm putting $45 million behind this." She says, "Okay, that sounds really, really good." So, that's the kind of investments we're making, and coordinating again with our local partners to make sure that the skills that these employers are looking for are being taught.

And new technologies are nothing new to this region when you have Binghamton University in your midst, and I was very proud to announce a $50 million investment to invest in the hub for technology innovation, battery technology innovation. Who would've thought years ago? So, Binghamton - Binghamton is doing an extraordinary. You know, not only having Nobel Prize winners there, who are the godfathers, the grandfathers, whatever we're calling it. The lithium-ion battery, I brag about that all the time. It's a good cocktail conversation. Do you know where the Nobel Prize winners are from? But that's a big deal. You know, this person is not in California, they're not in Silicon Valley, they're not in Texas, they're here. And the whole ecosystem that has developed around that. In one sense, it's mind boggling. And I want to thank again, Harvey Stenger, for his faith in what this institution could do and never gave up and just kept pushing and pushing and pushing. So, that is money well spent in my opinion. $50 million is well spent, again, to position us. You know, this is a birthplace of innovation - IBM, flight simulation, virtual reality - it's all happening right here.

And so, I'm excited about this. I think it's a chance to, you know, be proud. Brings new life into our communities, but also other things are going on at Binghamton University as well. I've been there so many times and I'm really proud of it. Really proud of the work that's being done there. I'm also proud of something that's little - not something you normally associate with Binghamton University, but you will now forevermore. Last year, I signed an executive order to create the 400 years of African American History Commission, and I wanted to highlight the contributions of individuals across the state. Well, you have incredible stories right here with the Underground Railroad and that's why if something that's going to find its home at Binghamton University is the Harriet Tubman Center for Freedom and Equity at Binghamton University. $400 million -- $400,000, oh, sorry. Sorry. It's not $400 million, it's $400,000. This will be used to erect a statue of Harriet Tubman, have a Downtown Freedom Trail. I've walked to downtown many, many times. I have the historic sites identified for tourists and developing a public education program accompanied. So, I think that's going to be incredible.

Again, part of the story of the area. Tell the story, bring tourists to this area as well as a matter of local civic pride. So, this is the brainchild of Dr. Anne Bailey, who's the Director of Binghamton University's Harriet Tubman Center and a member of our African American History Commission. So, I'm really proud that we're going to be able to make this happen, and I'll be back to see that statue. So, let's get that done.

One thing we always have to deal with in this Southern Tier also, because we have so many roads, are the fact that our roads deteriorate, our bridges deteriorate. They get a little rundown. Now, if you're not in local governments, you don't get real excited about money for roads and bridges. But again, I can't ever take off my local government hat, and I find this very exciting because infrastructure is about connecting people. You have to have good roads and bridges for communities to be connected. You also do it for the businesses that want to be able to manufacture here and transport their goods as well as bringing goods in. So, it's really important. So, I won't list them all because they go on and on and on, but we're announcing $151 million collectively for a variety of DOT projects. Not the least, which is $45 million to take care of pavement renewal on Route 17. Route 17 is a critical lifeline for this region. So, we're going to get that done as well. And replacing bridges and the Binghamton flood control project. There you go, Jason Garnar and everybody else. Let's take care of that. Let's make sure you're ready for the floods.

But also, I really hate potholes. I don't know if you know this, but I was Lieutenant Governor for eight years. All I did was drive around the state and go to all ofour pits where I know exactly where I am. I've been here before. A lot of potholes out there, lot of potholes. So, I decided as Governor, I'm coming at them. I'm coming at them. So, we are going to be announcing another $27 million for local paving and potholes.

But just so you know, not that anybody's really keeping score, but in the Southern Tier, we've paved over 597 miles already. And I filled, in the Southern Tier alone, 300,000 potholes. So, there you go. There you go. I won the war. I won the war. Another reason that I take the roads to come here are your magnificent parks. The Southern Tier has the most beautiful parks. I brag about them all the time. You know, we've had a record number of people visiting our parks. It actually started during the pandemic when people were looking for that outdoor space to be safe and congregate with their families. So, we had almost 80 million visits to our parks last year alone. Attendance rose by more than a million from the year before, but I believe - and one of my favorite parks, which is not right here, but down the road a little bit is Taughannock Falls State Park. We're investing 600,000 there. I've been on - that's gorgeous. Oh, Ithaca is gorgeous, they say. I actually have the t-shirt for that too.

I've been on these trails. I've hiked the Black Diamond Trail. It is so beautiful. It's all just part of that Southern Tier charm. And we have many, many, many parks here as well. But one of my other reasons for coming here often is the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, which I'm going to continue because we have transformed over 60, maybe 70 communities now, whereas I think about when I was a local government, if someone had said to me, "If your community can work together and come up with a shared for how you would possibly spend $10 million..." If someone said that to me when I was local, I would've fallen off the chair because you don't get that. You have ideas here or there, what we want to do, make connections to waterfronts. You want to fix up streetscapes, you want to fix up facades, you want to build more apartments above retail space. But it always happens over a long time because you don't have that concentration of money all at once. That's why this program is transformative.

You get $10 million all at once. You can make a difference, and not just the physical appearance of your community, but really it changes the psychology of a community. You know, places that once had worn-down curbs and kind of rundown storefronts. You know, I know a little bit about this. I keep talking about my experience growing up in, you know, the industrial Buffalo area.

Right during the peak of the recession decades ago, my mother decided she's going to start a flower shop. Now, every space in my downtown had going out of business signs. It's like, "Mom, it's not really, really a good time." She goes, "No, I want to, I didn't like the flowers at the florist stitch for my son's wedding, and I'm going to have in my own flower shop." I was like, "Okay." I was one week out of law school, so she thought her daughter, the lawyer, knew how to do everything, including start a business. Like I didn't want to tell her I didn't know. I didn't learn a whole lot. I had to call another real lawyer to tell me how to do it. But we did it, and mom started a flower shop, but across the street is this little rundown business and going out of business sale or they would have the Genesee beer signs, you know, handwritten and the scribbling.

And it was just, there was no continuity of facades. I mean, it was an old, old community, but you never knew it because they'd plastered over - I mean, who were those planners and architects and everybody in the seventies? I just want to meet one someday and say, "What were you thinking?" Because it looks like brutalist Russian architecture. I mean, they plastered over old brick buildings from the 1800s, so they did that to my town. So, anyhow, I diverge once again. Sorry about that, but I know how it can change a community when you fix it up and people are proud, proud to push the stroller, proud to go out on a date, go get an ice cream cone, proud to walk down, seniors who talk about the days in the past.

So, that's what I want to do for a community. So, I want to bring that sense of life and pride back. And $100 million is what I'm going to continue allocating to 10 communities every year, but also, we realize that there's a lot of small communities. Some communities are just like the size of an intersection. They still deserve to get help, and we decided we could scale in response to the request. We could also have a program called New York Forward that I launched last year where a community could win $4.5 million as well to, again, change their own trajectory of their future.

So, I'm proud to announce that the Village of Johnson City has just won $10 million. Mayor, there you go. There you go. This community laid out a very clear vision of what you want to see for the future, how to spur job growth and tourism and improve the quality of life, economic boost to local businesses and really just, you know, continue the economy, your position in such a great place to take advantage of the new investments that are coming to this area. And, you know, continuing to transition from, you know, a low-tech manufacturing community to high-tech manufacturing. There's so many possibilities here. And you have the space, and you have the desire and the citizenry. You have really informed and engaged citizens, citizens who live in this community who really care a lot.

So, I want to, I'll be back again to announce exactly what we're doing with the $10 million. I'll look at your ideas, and I'm sure they'll be, most will be funded. You might have probably asked for $20 million worth of ideas, but we're going to help you out with the $10 million, so congratulations, Mayor Meaney. Thank you.

So, let's talk about a couple of communities in the area that have won our New York Forward grant, the $4.5 million grant, and our next winner is the Village of Waverly. So, when people think about small town Americana, places like Waverly come to mind, and it's embraced that small town way of life. But they have their boutique shops and restaurants and small businesses hosting community events year-round, you know, tinsel and lights and all these fun activities.

So, I want to congratulate our Mayor here, Pat Ayres. Where's our Mayor? Tell me how to say that. Okay, because people mangle my name all the time. I just say it sounds like local, right? I come out of local government. Mayor Ayres, congratulations. And, you have a wonderful community, and I know you have a lot of citizens who worked hard on this, and I want to congratulate them as well. So, let's give another round of applause to the Village of Waverly.

All right, one more to go. The Village of Montour Falls will also receive a $4.5 million grant. This is a place that has natural beauty. I mean, how many places have a waterfall right there? Extraordinary. The culture, the recreational assets. I remember visiting by there. I stopped by, what was the cabinetmaker's name? Chicone Cabinetmakers, right? Right around the corner from the falls. It was amazing. You know, family business there, working really hard and, you know, it just reminds me of why these communities are so special. And you have the waterfalls right there. And this can be a corridor to, you know, the restaurants and breweries and boutiques. And so, a lot going on here. And I want to congratulate Mayor James Ryan. Mayor, in the house here? You don't show up, you here Mayor? Okay.

So, congratulations to our three recipients. You are all part of the New York story. You're all part of helping the residents that you're proud to represent. Our elected officials, it's your honor to represent, I feel it, to be a privilege and help them all achieve the New York dream. It's important to me.

It's not just a slogan. It's how we live life every single day. Are we bettering the lives of our residents? Do people who put their faith in us? Are we going to leave this place better than we found it? Because that's how we're judged at the end of, hopefully, a long life. And I take that very seriously.

But thank you for the privilege of representing all of you. These communities mean the world to me, and I'm going to make sure, as the Governor, that no one ever thinks that New York State is simply one big city with skyscrapers. There's a lot more to us, and I am going to make sure they know that. So, thank you everybody.

Congratulations. And with that, let me bring up our Assemblymember, Donna Lupardo.