February 24, 2009 

 

Dear New Yorker,

Thank you for signing up to receive updates from the New York State Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Cabinet. This is the first of what I expect will be many updates regarding our recovery and reinvestment efforts in the weeks and months to come.

I'd like to share with you two developments taking place this week. On Monday, Governor Paterson announced nearly a dozen transportation projects that have been identified as eligible for federal funding. These projects, totaling $41 million of investments and creating more than 1,100 jobs, represent just the beginning of the work the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will allow our state to pursue. Tomorrow the Governor and I will be giving a public briefing to State leaders regarding the distribution of economic recovery funding. The meeting will be webcast and is scheduled to start at 11:00 a.m.

The transportation projects announced on Monday focus on bridge repair and road repaving in several Upstate counties and are expected to produce more than 1,100 jobs in upstate New  York. Bidding is scheduled to begin as early as next week and companies interested in bidding can visit the New York Department of Transportation and the New York State Contract Reporter for more information.

As required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the selection and procurement process for these and all other transportation projects will be distributed thorough the same process that all federal transportation funds follow. The funds will be allocated to projects that are selected by the 13 regional Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO’s) across the State, which are comprised of local elected officials, local transit agency staff and members of the Department of Transportation. MPO’s vote unanimously on projects for their Transportation Improvements Programs (TIP), and economic recovery funds will be directed to projects on those lists. Read more from Monday's announcement…  

The projects announced on Monday represent only a fraction of the shovel-ready projects already identified throughout the state and additional projects will be selected through the traditional federal, state and local processes. The Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Cabinet's role is to ensure that the funds are not delayed because of permitting and other issues, to oversee reporting and transparency, to advise municipalities on qualifying for federal funds and to ensure statewide distribution of the funds.

I'd like to thank all New Yorkers involved with this process for their efforts on behalf of our economic recovery.

Best,

Timothy J. Gilchrist
Chair, NYS Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Cabinet