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Sen. Schumer: Capital Region projects to receive $22 million

Standing at the Blake Annex, Albany’s rapidly growing nonprofit hub, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer announced that following his tirelessly advocacy, he has secured over $22 million for the Capital Region through the bipartisan omnibus spending package for Fiscal Year 2022 to support cutting-edge research and dozens of community-led projects.
Dave Lucas
/
WAMC
Standing at the Blake Annex, Albany’s rapidly growing nonprofit hub, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer announced that following his tirelessly advocacy, he has secured over $22 million for the Capital Region through the bipartisan omnibus spending package for Fiscal Year 2022 to support cutting-edge research and dozens of community-led projects.

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer was in Albany Monday touting over $22 million dollars for local projects in the just-passed federal budget.

Speaking at the Blake Annex in downtown Albany, Schumer says the money appropriated through the bipartisan omnibus spending package will benefit three major community priorities: making Blake home to a regional non-profit hub, installing new high-tech research facilities at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University at Albany, and creation of the Port of Albany Workforce Training Center.

Seventeen non-profit organizations share space and overhead costs at Blake, which is getting just over a million dollars. “So the place hasn't been open for a year yet. And yet, it's a huge success," said Schumer. "And thanks to the funding I secured, they're going to be able to do even more. And some of the money will be used to construct classrooms that each of these organizations can use for training and mentoring and making critical upgrades to drive this nonprofit. And it means less expenses for the individual groups, which means more money can go to the people they're helping, which is ultimately the goal.”

The Democrat says he also secured $900,000 for UAlbany's Extreme Weather Risk Prediction Pilot Program. “It's a game changer for weather prediction," Schumer said. "This is going to have ramifications throughout the country. And it'll give us better work weather forecasting, so we know when to grab an umbrella. But more importantly, the impact of high impact storms. Until now, the layers in the weather, in the cloud cover were measured twice daily at three locations in New York State with weather balloons. This project will make measurements every five minutes from 17 New York State locations. It's revolutionary.”

Another $984,000 will go to RPI for its Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility. Schumer said “It's going to bring state of the art kinds of biotech equipment to the Capital Region that will enable the researchers at RPI, to conduct cutting edge research, drug discovery, and biotech companies in the capital region to conduct research at the facility.”

And $1.5 million dollars will create the Port of Albany South End Workforce Training Center. “Which will give people the technical schools for trades career like welding and connect South End residents to good paying jobs in the industry,” said Schumer.

Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan says the jobs generated will shape the future for South End residents and their families.

“We cannot have another broken promise to a community where there have been a litany of broken promises," Sheehan said. "Senator Schumer understands that, and this commitment, and this investment in the South End is a tangible representation of that.”

In addition to the three major projects, Schumer says there is funding for 16 regional community-led initiatives.

  • $500,000 to support the stabilization and restoration of Fort Ticonderoga’s iconic and historic walls.
  • $750,000 for construction of Capital Roots’ Urban Grow Center Expansion.
  • $439,000 for the City of Glens Falls to undertake a number of structural renovations and energy upgrades to its historic City Hall building.
  • $3,000,000 for the City of Cohoes towards the procurement and installation of floating solar panels on the secured 10-acre Cohoes water reservoir.
  • $829,594 to provide broadband for unserved homes and businesses in the Towns of Ghent, Canaan, New Lebanon, and Austerlitz.
  • $205,000 for Warren County Employment & Training Administration to aid in the recruitment, training, and opening of child care provider businesses in Warren & Saratoga counties.
  • $950,000 to develop the former General Electric De-Watering Facility in Fort Edward into the Canalside Energy Park.
  • $750,000 to expand Schenectady Family Health Services, Inc’s Hometown Health Center to increase access to high quality and affordable dental care for underserved children and adults.
  • $1,687,500 for the Town of Westerlo to extend its existing fiber routes to make fiber-delivered internet fast, reliable, and available to all residents of and businesses in town.
  • $1,000,000 for the University at Albany to purchase a Next Generation RNA Technology Package, which will advance critical research into genetic disease variations like the SARS-CoV-2 variants.
  • $3,000,000 for the City of Amsterdam to design and engineer a pedestrian connector and multimodal transport station, increasing mobility and ease of access for residents.
  • $500,000 for Hunter Foundation Inc. in Tannersville towards the development of an incubator kitchen, the Food & Agriculture Culinary Hub.
  • $500,000 for the Albany County Sheriff Office to expand its Sheriff Homeless Improvement Program (SHIP) from the current size of 50 beds to a 100 bed facility.
  • $2,000,000 for the City of Amsterdam to rehabilitate 149 East Main Street for use as a community center to be operated by the Boys and Girls Club of the Capital Area in partnership with Centro Civico.
  • $800,000 for the City of Mechanicville to repair and replace several miles of old and undersized water mains.
  • $960,000 for a capital improvement project at the Town of Rotterdam's wastewater treatment plant.
Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.