A Rebuilding Year: Rebranding downtowns and reforming Port Authority among top infrastructure priorities

Like many rural downtowns, the center of tiny Mount Morris in bucolic Livingston County was not exempt from the economic plight of the state’s tiny villages, towns and cities in recent decades. 

Through the years, the once bustling village that state Sen. Cathy Young remembered spending time in growing up saw its historic downtown buildings become rundown as small businesses departed one by one. 

With the state Legislature’s approval of the New York Main Street Program in the mid-aughts, and a round of funding to spruce up the village in 2008, hard luck has turned into the kind of community revival that Young, the chair of the Senate’s Housing, Construction and Community Development Committee, is looking to bring to more municipalities. As the legislative session chugs toward its end, Young said the Main Street Program is one about which she is enthused. 

That’s not the only infrastructure-related focus lawmakers have. Both housing and transportation infrastructure are key areas that legislators are eying to tackle. Within those areas, reforming the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, spurring innovative infrastructure development and making young drivers safer are all top priorities. 

For Young, though, the most important issue is revitalizing downtowns. 

“We all know that downtowns traditionally have been the hearts and souls of our communities,” she said. “But as they’ve had to compete with some of the larger department stores, malls [and] bigger box stores that get located away from downtown, some of our downtowns have seen hard times.” 

Young calls Mount Morris one of the program’s success stories, with historic buildings restored, nearly all the storefronts filled and significant growth in sales tax revenue. 

Although one town is on the rebound, there is still work yet to be done on the housing front. Young is looking to establish the Homes for Heroes program, which would set aside part of the state’s $613 million settlement with JPMorgan Chase to establish a funding source for home modifications for disabled veterans. Such an initiative would operate similarly to the Access to Home program, which allows eligible disabled homeowners to receive funding for modifications. 

“(Veterans) need our help. And they deserve our thanks for what they’ve done on behalf of us and our freedom and our country,” she said. “I think it’s the least we can do.” 

Downstate, at a time when New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is focused on affordable housing infrastructure, Assemblyman James Brennan is looking at transportation infrastructure. Brennan, chair of the Assembly Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, is pushing for reform at the scandal-scarred Port Authority. 

Brennan is sponsoring a bill that would apply the Public Authorities Reform Act—a 2009 law that enhanced state authority operations and oversight—to the Port Authority, which would force it to be more transparent, provide greater oversight of high-level officials and force officials to take more responsibility for its operations. While Brennan, a Democrat, has a co-sponsor across the aisle in Republican state Sen. Martin Golden, an identical bill needs to be passed in the New Jersey Legislature because the authority is a bi-state agency. It would also need the approval of both Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey. 

Brennan said in early May that lawmakers were close to an agreement on an identical piece of legislation for all four houses. The New York State Assembly passed the bill in 2012 and 2013, but Gov. Chris Christie vetoed similar legislation in 2013. 

Still, Brennan remains optimistic that the Port Authority can be reformed. 

“I think the time is right to do an overhaul of the decision-making processes of the Port Authority to get them transparent and open,” he said. “We’re not telling the Port Authority what to do. But [this is] to make sure that there is more integrity in their decision-making process and more public information in relation to the timing [when] they’re going to make a decision.” 

In terms of actual physical infrastructure and vehicles, state Sen. Joe Robach, chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, is pushing for several key pieces of legislation, including a bill relating to providing innovative infrastructure development. Robach said that bill, introduced by state Sen. Greg Ball, was still being reviewed by the committee as of early May. 

The Legislature is also focusing on young and new drivers with a bill that would prohibit the use of hands-free mobile phones by drivers with learner’s permits or class DJ or MJ licenses. That bill, introduced by state Sen. Carl Marcellino, has passed the Senate before, but it died in the Assembly last year. Nonetheless, it is among the bills Robach expects to see pass. 

The state budget included a provision for stiffer penalties for young and new drivers who get caught texting while driving. 

“It is important that we do all we can to keep young drivers safe on our roads,” Robach said.