“The Governor has a lot of progressive ideas that he proposed in the State of the State and in the budget. One of the better things that he talked about was having broadband internet across New York State by 2020,” Assemblyman Brian Manktelow said “It’s so important in our region because we have many places in our rural areas where service is spotty and inconsistent. If you’re going to have meaningful economic development you have to have reliable internet service.

“I think the governor spoke more for downstate than upstate. He did mention $4.4 billion for upstate roads and bridges, but he didn’t outline if that would mean more money for local highway departments, or for improvements in Upstate cities.

“He said he wants to see educational funding increase, especially for needy schools. I do not think he has a good concept about how small upstate school districts can be as needy as urban schools with drastically different priorities.

“He talked about economic development, but there was not enough mentioned about the upstate economy in relation to downstate.

“He did not say anything about veterans or small business, which are priorities in the 130^th Assembly District. He didn’t explain how the clean energy programs he wants will impact our nuclear plants, or how the clean water efforts will affect Owasco Lake or Lake Ontario. 

“One thing that did concern me about the Governor’s speech is that he talked about spending  a lot of money for what he wants to accomplish, but he never said anything about cutting state spending or where the state could do things more efficiently with less expense.

“Gov. Cuomo has a lot of things he wants to get done in his first 100 days, and he has the power to do them now with the majorities in the Assembly and the Senate,” Manktelow concluded. “We will just have to see how it plays out and keep pushing for a fair agenda to upstate.”