As he prepares to run in a newly-drawn district, New York Congressman Paul Tonko joined local officials Monday to announce a proposal for funding for a new project. The idea is to retrofit low- and moderate-income residential buildings in Schenectady with clean energy upgrades.
The project is one of 15 being proposed in the Capital Region. Tonko’s press conference kicked off a weekslong tour the Democrat will be taking of the proposed sites.
It follows news that the Democrat’s district will be losing his hometown of Amsterdam in 2023. A court-ordered special master released final redistricted House maps late Friday. A bipartisan state redistricting panel deadlocked, turning the process over to Democrats who control the state legislature. But their maps were ruled unconstitutional by a judge, leading to the fourth iteration of district lines that blunted a Democratic edge. Tonko.
“It's disappointing to me. It's a long stretch that I have had with the city of Amsterdam, and Montgomery County, per se. And that's been going for 45 years at the state and federal levels - and beyond that with my county experience. So it's troublesome, but we will always keep cities and city policy in mind. Small cities that are looking to reinvent themselves and are moving into an innovation economy. I'll continue to do broad based policy, but it's disappointing.”
Meantime, Tonko says the “Schenectady Community Virtual Power Plant” project would retrofit buildings to have on-site clean energy generation and would include upgrades to lighting, heating and air conditioning.
“I will defend with the best ability … how meritorious these projects are. It'll be very competitive with the (U.S. House) Appropriations Committee,” he said. “They're broken down into sub-committees. We will probably have multiple paths that we can apply for with this project, because of its dimensions are pretty broad.”
Tonko says he hopes project funding will come together before the August recess and President Joe Biden will sign the bill before the end of the year. During his speech, Tonko touted clean energy innovation and the job creation that results from it.
“This is reducing your footprint here in the region and that carbon footprint is something that is essential. It has to be responded to so that next generations will have a stronger planet,” he said. “With that being said, the contribution made from our buildings across the country provide for about 40 percent of those emissions. So, having the trades people (and) their talent, along with the talent of the technical teams, you know, this is about white collar (and) blue collar jobs across the board.”
The proposal seeks $1 million in federal funds. Democratic Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy says they would target houses that are already in foreclosure. The project would work in partnership with the city’s Home Ownership Made Easy, or HOMES program, which aims to connect low- and middle-class potential buyers with financial resources to purchase and refurbish foreclosed homes. To supplement the project, McCarthy has requested $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan funding from the city council.
“The HOMES program that I started over a decade ago, Home Ownership Made Easy in Schenectady, sounds simple, sounds easy,” the Democrat said. “It's complicated. It's challenging. It's taking distressed property, it's doing foreclosures and it's working with the banks with real estate professionals. It's taking and converting those properties, where a primary goal is to make them owner occupied.”
Reached by WAMC Tuesday, Schenectady City Council President Marion Porterfield says she is unfamiliar with the project and the request for funding. She added she also didn't know the project’s total cost.
According to the mayor’s office, Schenectady currently owns 98 vacant residential buildings, down from almost 300 at the end of 2019.
The retrofitted buildings would also have the ability to store energy and monitor its use to automatically determine when to sell energy back to power companies, which would reduce overall energy costs. EcoLong, a Capital Region-based clean energy company, would provide the technology for the project. CEO Nancy Min explained the benefits to the community.
“The Schenectady Community Virtual Power Plant project is a testament to the power of communities and accelerating a clean, sustainable - and more importantly - an equitable (and) clean energy future,” she said. “This is a pillar step towards increasing the accessibility and availability of durable homes, of lower cost of energy and improved neighborhoods in the city of Schenectady.”
Tonko says the project will help the country reach Biden’s energy goal to achieve 100 percent carbon pollution-free electricity use by 2030.
“This all begins at the local level. It's a global challenge, but it begins at the local level.”
