Broadband access, coronavirus vaccine access, and the local economy topped a panel discussion among local politicians today, Friday Jan. 29. The Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce hosted the meeting online.
Generally, the six politicians agreed that controlling the coronavirus pandemic will take priority this year with the goal, they said, of opening the economy and getting people back to work. The group covered both parties, from the New York State Legislature along with Republican Elise Stefanik from the U.S. House of Representatives.
“This covid response right now is the highest priority,” said Republican Matt Simpson, who is in his first term in the Assembly. “Together I think we can do this and make a positive change.”
Senator Daphne Jordan, a Republican, highlighted her focus on the restaurant and hospitality industry, pointing out that 8,000 such businesses have closed statewide, with a loss of 365,000 jobs. Legislation that is working its way through the legislature would allow people to work part-time and still collect unemployment and would keep lower fees on unemployment insurance. She wants the state to help with loans and by delaying fees to businesses that have come due or are overdue.
Carrie Woerner, a Democrat, agreed with Jordan and stressed the need to delay collection of the tax that the state normally uses to pay unemployment claims. That trust fund, she said, is empty and needs to be filled, but not on the back of employers.
“This cannot be another tax on businesses that manage to make it through the winter and survive,” she said.
Senator Dan Stec said the state is waiting to hear about a financial bailout from the federal governement before solidifying its own budget. He said with a new administration, the chances have increased that the state will likely receive something closer to the $15 billion that Gov. Andrew Cuomo had built in to one budget projection.
Even if the state does get the full $15 billion, Stec said he does not want to see the status quo prevail in Albany. Echoing that thought, Republican Assemblyman Jake Ashby said that sometimes the policy goals of a raised tax can be laudable, but when the money arrives in the state’s general fund it floats into the “ether,” and disappears, he said. “All we know is that [it's] spent inefficiently.”
Stec, a Republican, said, “I’d prefer it goes directly to municipalities and schools.” He added later that “we need to finish the job on broadband.”
Ashby, whose district includes portions of Washington County said he did not like the way the state says broadband covers 98% of the state. He called that “bad semantics” and “playing games.”
Broadband in rural areas is an issue, and he lamented, “It’s an issue that we need to get behind.”
Part of the issue is to move away from satellite and wireless technology in rural areas and into fiber-to-the-home, Woerner said, but that requires changes that will streamline the system, making it easier on companies to lay the fiber-optic cable.
On the coronavirus vaccine, they also agreed on one basic fact: the rollout has been very bad.
“It’s been very difficult for our seniors,” U.S. Rep Elise Stefanik said, adding that the five-page online form to sign-up for a vaccine was particularly cumbersome for many.
Others said the governor's office handled too much of the rollout and did not rely on the counties, which had plans. Woerner said that the state used to get 250,000 doses per week, which she estimated was 40% of the need, and now the state gets even less.
Jordan's district runs from Glens Falls to south of Albany. Simpson's district covers from Glens Falls up to the to the Saranac Lake area. Stec's district covers from Saratoga Springs through most of the Adirondacks. Woerner's district covers Glens Falls south to Saratoga.