CONGRESSMAN PAT RYAN CALLS ON HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS LEADERSHIP TO FUND COMMUNITY PROJECTS SUBMITTED BY FORMER CONGRESSMAN DELGADO
Congressman Pat Ryan Calls on House Appropriations Leadership to Fund Community Projects Submitted by Former Congressman Delgado
Congressman Ryan is fighting for funding for 14 projects across Upstate New York, projects with widespread community support
These local projects would expand access to clean drinking water, improve public safety, create new healthcare options for New Yorkers, and much more
KINGSTON, NY – In a letter sent to the House Appropriations Committee leadership of both parties, Congressman Pat Ryan called for the inclusion of 14 projects with widespread community support in the future government funding bill. These projects were initially vetted and submitted by Lieutenant Governor Delgado when he was serving in the House of Representatives.
"These are important local projects that will help our district by expanding access to clean drinking water, improving public safety and creating new healthcare options, among other significant initiatives,” said Representative Pat Ryan. “But even though they were appropriately vetted and submitted to the Appropriations Committee by former Congressman Delgado, they were not included in the Committee’s yearly bills. This is a grave disservice to our community and is frankly unacceptable. On behalf of the people of New York’s 19th Congressional District, I’m calling on the House Appropriations Committee to right this wrong and add these crucial funding priorities.”
“In Congress, I fought for these community projects which, among other things, would provide critical infrastructure, public housing and disability support,” said New York Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado. “All are worthy of federal support and have strong community backing. Now, with Congressman Ryan’s advocacy, we need to get this funding across the finish line.”
A copy of Ryan’s original letter to Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, the Chairwoman of the House Committee on Appropriations, and Congresswoman Kay Granger, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on appropriations, appears below:
Dear Chairwoman DeLauro and Ranking Member Granger,
Thank you for your continued efforts in securing Community Project Funding within the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 appropriations bills. As you know, the constituents of NY-19 recently elected a new representative in Congress. It has come to my attention that the community projects submitted by the previous Member from NY-19, projects that received widespread community support and were appropriately vetted and submitted to the Appropriations Committee, have not been included in the Committee’s FY23 bills. These are important projects for communities across Upstate New York, and I respectfully request that you include the following funding priorities, which remain identical to those submitted by the former representative.
Account: Rural Housing Service
Program: Rural Community Facilities Program
Request: Community Project Funding
Amount: $150,000
Recipient: Hudson City School District, Central Office, 215 Harry Howard Avenue, Hudson, NY 12534
Description: The project would be a valuable use of taxpayer funds because it would secure two NYS Department of Transportation and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Program Approved shuttle passenger vans to transport district students to a variety of school, college, community, and business programs. One proposed van would be a 14-passenger set up, while the other van would include a wheelchair lift that could accommodate up to 3 students in wheelchairs along with a few other students being able to ride within the van depending upon the actual number of wheelchairs. The district doesn't own any school buses or vehicles to transport students and outsources all of its student transportation.
Account: Rural Housing Service
Program: Rural Community Facilities Program
Request: Community Project Funding
Amount: $150,000
Recipient: Delaware County Industrial Development Agency, 1 Courthouse Square, Suite 4, Delhi, NY 13753
Description: The project would be a valuable use of taxpayer funds to help a rural county in New York. Delaware County Industrial Development Agency is constructing a 2,700 sq ft carbon neutral greenhouse, operable 12 months out of the year. This project will help the supply of local food rise to post-COVID demand, as well as serve as a demonstration project and education site for farmers, individuals and developers interested in carbon neutral advanced agriculture, as the greenhouse will utilize just 10% of the normal energy and land needed to produce the same amount of crops.
Account: Rural Housing Service
Program: Rural Community Facilities Program
Request: Community Project Funding
Amount: $1,000,000
Recipient: Otsego County, 197 Main Street Cooperstown, NY 13326
Description: The project would be a valuable use of taxpayer funds because it would construct a joint Emergency Services Public Safety Training facility (Fire, EMS & Law Enforcement). This facility would replace the current, structurally unsound facilities that are already in place.
Account: Small Business Administration
Program: Small Business Initiatives
Request: Community Project Funding
Amount: $ 408,333
Recipient: Hudson Valley Agri-Business Development Corporation, 507 Warren St, Hudson, NY 12534
Description: The project would be a valuable use of taxpayer funds because it would provide technical assistance (TA) for the Farm & Food Funding Accelerator (FFFA). The FFFA is designed to provide access to capital for promising businesses that have viable plans to grow. Businesses participating in the FFFA will receive customized technical assistance catered to their specific needs, including assistance creating the necessary financial & business materials for securing project funding TA will be combined with access to a diverse network of industry-leading mentors, trade buyers & funding sources. TA for each business will include 1 - Assessment of their sales, marketing, operations, financials & suitability for funding; 2 - Assistance to develop/update a business plan & marketing strategy; and 3 - Counseling to prepare entrepreneurs to develop financial projections, funding pitch & identification of potential funding sources.
Account: Small Business Administration
Program: Small Business Initiatives
Request: Community Project Funding
Amount: $ 350,000
Recipient: NYSARC Inc., Ulster, Greene, Putnam Counties Chapter d/b/a The Arc Mid-Hudson., 471 Albany Avenue Kingston, NY 12401
Description: The project would be a valuable use of taxpayer funds because it would support Farm-to-Table Economic Development Food Pods and work opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). The pods provided an opportunity for startup business to incubate their fledging business with the hopes of outgrowing them and moving to a larger Greene County-based facility. The businesses using the pods receive production space with reduced rent in exchange for hiring one person with I/DD. The effort seamlessly benefits multiple stakeholders including the business, the economic development goals of the Village of Catskill, Greene County and the region as well as individual with I/DD who is employed in an integrated, competitive setting. The Arc Mid-Hudson is requesting funding to replace the drainage in the 3 existing pods, add 1 new pod and improve the loading dock to enhance the productivity of the businesses.
Account: State and Tribal Assistance Grants (STAG)
Program: Clean/Drinking Water Infrastructure
Request: Community Project Funding
Amount: $2,120,000
Recipient: City of Oneonta, 258 Main Street, Oneonta, NY 13820
Description: The City of Oneonta Water System Improvements Project would be a valuable use of taxpayer funds because it would replace water treatment plant process equipment and systems that are currently operating beyond their useful life expectancy. The water system serves 16,000 users in the City and Town of Oneonta. The project will simplify daily operator tasks and improve plant performance, resulting in improved drinking water quality and reduced operating costs for City residents.
Account: State and Tribal Assistance Grants (STAG)
Program: Clean/Drinking Water Infrastructure
Request: Community Project Funding
Amount: $3 million
Recipient: Village of Middleburgh
Description: The Village of Middleburgh’s Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) had been impacted by flood and age-related deterioration. This funding will be a valuable use of taxpayer funds to repair and expand the water and sewer facility.
Account: State and Tribal Assistance Grants (STAG)
Program: Clean/Drinking Water Infrastructure
Request: Community Project Funding
Amount: $2 million
Recipient: Town of Pawling
Description: The Town of Pawling seeks to construct an urgently needed Septic Tank Effluent Pump System (STEP) sanitary sewer system serving proposed Sewer District # 4 along the Route 22 corridor. This would be a valuable use of taxpayer funds because there is currently no municipal / public sanitary sewer service. New service connections will be installed to a newly constructed STEP sanitary sewer 4” forcemain along NYS Route 22, beginning south of the Village of Pawling and extending to the Town of Pawling boundary with Patterson. Improvements will also be made to the Castagna pump station to support the additional flow generated by the new connections to the newly extended forcemain.
Account: State and Tribal Assistance Grants (STAG)
Program: Clean/Drinking Water Infrastructure
Request: Community Project Funding
Amount: $2,000,000
Recipient: Town of Poestenkill, 138 Davis Lane; P.O. Box 210; Poestenkill, NY 12140-0210
Description: The project would be a valuable use of taxpayer funds because would provide a rural community with a safe and reliable source of drinking water. This request for funding is dedicated to Phase I improvements which will address the immediate need for clean water supply to areas of the Town that have elevated levels of PFAS in the well water supply including the Algonquin Middle School and its surrounding areas which are primarily residential. The project involves the construction and installation of water infrastructure from the existing Town Water District #1 to the Algonquin Middle School, down Liberty Lane, and throughout Algonquin Estates. The distribution system improvements in Phase 1 include the construction and installation of approximately 19,900 feet of 8-inch watermain and associated gate valves, hydrants and other related equipment. A Draft Map, Plan and Report is included in the Attachments Section and provides detail of the proposed project.
Account: State and Tribal Assistance Grants (STAG)
Program: Clean/Drinking Water Infrastructure
Request: Community Project Funding
Amount: $1,656,000
Recipient: Town of Rosendale, 1915 Lucas Avenue, Cottekill, NY 12419
Description: The project would be a valuable use of taxpayer funds because it would replace a water storage tank that serves more than 2/3 of the Town water system’s existing demand. Over the past decade, the condition of the tank has deteriorated considerably. Most notably, 2 large leaks have developed at the approximately 30 foot height along the side walls of the tank, preventing the Town from filling the tank to its high water level of 55 feet and therefore limiting its effective capacity. The proposed project will replace this aging tank with a new glass-lined, bolted steel tank adjacent to the existing tank. The proposed glass liner will prevent the corrosion issues which damaged the existing tank from recurring. The proposed bolted steel exterior will ensure the tank is structurally sound. Glass-lined steel tanks have long service lives and low maintenance costs.
Account: State and Tribal Assistance Grants (STAG)
Program: Clean/Drinking Water Infrastructure
Request: Community Project Funding
Amount: $982,600
Recipient: Village of New Paltz, 25 Plattekill Ave, New Paltz, NY 12561
Description: The project would be a valuable use of taxpayer funds because it would upgrade water and sewer infrastructure. This includes the replacement of the Route 32 Sanitary Pump Station that has outlived its operational life and the installation of a new water main that will connect the existing water mains on Huguenot Street to Old Kingston Road and Route 32. The existing pump station and water main both currently serve the northern portion of the Village, including multiple housing complexes and the Duzine Elementary School. This project will connect two dead end water mains and improve water pressures and water quality for existing and proposed users in this area of the Villages water system.
Account: Health Resources and Services Administration
Program: Health Facilities Construction and Equipment
Request: Community Project Funding
Amount: $ 2,000,000
Recipient: Refuah Health Center, Inc., 728 N. Main Street Spring Valley, NY 10977
Description: The project would be a valuable use of taxpayer funds because it would directly help a rural county in upstate New York, Sullivan County. This funding would be used for the construction of a permanent, state-of-the art outpatient health care facility in South Fallsburg to help address the significant and dire healthcare needs faced by Sullivan County. The proposed project will add 20 new full-time healthcare jobs, including 4 medical providers, in Sullivan Co., a MUA and HPSA.
Account: Health Resources and Services Administration
Program: Health Facilities Construction and Equipment
Request: Community Project Funding
Amount: $ 2,000,000
Recipient: Aurelia Osborn Fox Memorial Hospital. 1 Norton Avenue, Oneonta, NY 13820
Description: The project would be a valuable use of taxpayer funds because it would support the renovation of underutilized space at AO Fox Hospital to establish a new state-of-the-art 30 bed inpatient psychiatric unit at AO Fox (16 adult beds (18-55) and 14 geriatric beds (55+)) by: relocating the outdated 14-bed BMC inpatient psychiatric unit to the more-centrally located AO Fox; and expanding BHN’s inpatient psychiatric services by adding 16-beds more inpatient psychiatric beds to the newly-created inpatient psychiatric unit at AO Fox. This project will vastly improve patient access in Central New York to critically needed mental and behavioral healthcare that is better designed to meet the existing and growing demand for in-patient mental health services.
Account: Department of Transportation
Program: Local Transportation Priorities
Request: Community Project Funding
Amount: $1,800,000
Recipient: Town of Lloyd, 12 Church Street, Highland, New York 12528
Description: The project would be a valuable use of taxpayer funds because it would improve safety and eliminate motorist confusion in a town in Upstate New York. PIN 8757.81 - Tillson Avenue: Route 44/55 (Vineyard Avenue) to Route 9W project realigns the intersection of Tillson Ave., Toc Dr., and Vineyard Ave. Additionally, this project will provide ADA compliant pedestrian elements with improvements to non-motorized modes of transportation, a new three-sided box culvert structure under Tillson Avenue with increased hydraulic capacity, traffic calming measures to reduce vehicle speed through a residential neighborhood, new closed drainage and stormwater treatment infrastructure to clean stormwater before it enters the Twaalfskill, new water, sewer, gas, and aerial utilities to accommodate the road realignment, and new retaining walls to replace those that are currently failing.
Account: Department of Housing and Urban Development
Program: Economic Development Initiative
Request: Community Project Funding
Amount: $2,000,000
Recipient: RUPCO, Inc., 289 Fair St, Kingston NY 12401
Description: The project would be a valuable use of taxpayer funds because it would allow RUPCO to provide desperately needed supportive housing for previously homeless people. The target populations for this project will be homeless individuals or families with unmet housing needs and have serious mental illness (SMI), substance use disorders (SUD), veterans with honorable discharge, victims of domestic violence, HIV, re-entry, young adults (18-24), and the chronically homeless. RUPCO will convert a 145-room hotel to approximately 81 units of permanent supportive housing located at 114 Route 28 in the town of Ulster, NY.
Like you, I recognize that when we invest strongly in our communities, we invest strongly in our economic growth, resiliency, and shared values. It is for this reason that the communities of NY-19 deserve to be represented in this bill and future spending bills.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
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