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