Governor Hochul: “While the federal government may not be there for us, I want you to know that the state government is.
We take this very seriously.
We understand that when a federal government fails, we have to step up, and our local governments deserve no less.”Hochul: “It is almost impossible for local governments to cover these costs, and that's why I decided in our state budget we need to help out and we secured $28.5 million for Suffolk County — $20 million for resiliency projects and $8.5 million for discretionary projects.
So that's what delivering for the local government is all about… I know that you do not want to put these costs onto your local taxpayers, and that's what we're here to do, is help out.”
Governor Kathy Hochul today makes a Resiliency Funding announcement and presents awards to recipients.
As part of the FY27 Budget, the Governor secured a historic$28.5 million investment in climate resiliency and infrastructure projectsacross Suffolk County.
The funding is set to replace Asharoken Avenue Seawall, restore Stony Brook’s Harbor Road, elevate and improve key roadways in Amity Harbor, and rebuild the Blydenburgh Dam and Stump Pond.
VIDEO:The event is available tostream on YouTube hereandTV quality video is available here.
AUDIO:The Governor's remarks areavailable in audio form here.
PHOTOS:The Governor’s Flickr page will postphotos of the event here.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Wow, look, another building — part of the building.
It's great to be here.
Now, we're here to talk about weather and the harsh effects of Mother Nature and what she has done to Long Island over many years.
And I don't want to say Hurricane Sandy and have everyone have a bad case of PTSD, but we also know our extreme vulnerabilities here.
We've seen increasingly severe weather and storm damage — literally, on Saturday we had 10만 people without power.
This is a real challenge for us.
And you want to think back to colder days, we had extreme blizzards here, over three feet of snow dumped in over a matter of 24 hours here on Long Island.
So we're really suffering the brunt of a lot of these storms.
And I'll say on that front, I'm very disappointed that the federal government denied our request for FEMA dollars to help replace the money that was spent by local governments and the county governments.
And so we're appealing that decision — just want to let you know that and hopefully we'll be successful.
While the federal government may not be there for us, I want you to know that the state government is.
We take this very seriously.
We understand that when a federal government fails, we have to step up, and our local governments deserve no less.
So I want to talk about 2024, the horrific rains and the extreme damage that was unleashed on so many different communities.
I toured Stony Brook dorms, absolutely flooded, underwater, devastating for kids coming back to school.
It is almost impossible for local governments to cover these costs, and that's why I decided in our state budget we need to help out and we secured $28.5 million for Suffolk County — $20 million for resiliency projects, and $8.5 million for discretionary projects.
So that's what delivering for the local government is all about.
[..]
County Executive in the room? Come on up here. Come on up. I know you've — we toured the venues together.
[..]
We're all coming up. Everybody's coming up. They'll have their time.
One at a time.
I want to thank you for walking with me through the storms, talking about the needs of the community, and really just having that passion to fight for the people that—
[..]
And you also brought me flowers on my birthday.
It happened on my birthday when I was touring.
But I want to thank you and I also want to thank Assemblymember Kassay for the $6.5 million to fix the roads there.
So I want to talk about that.
That's for the Harbor Road project — $6 million, $6.5 million for Harbor Road.
The Blydenburgh Dam, the same North Shore storm that washed out the dam that keeps the Stump Pond full of water.
It's a beautiful asset for the community — fishing and row boats.
Delivering $8 million to repair the dam and get that back.
Asharoken, it's the only connection, the road – the avenue, the only connection to Eaton's Neck.
We know how devastating that could be when that connectivity is destroyed. And it was severely damaged by Sandy as well.
Replacement costs were over $12 million, which is a lot for a small community.
So replacing that $12 million.
[..]
Amity Harbor, rising sea levels cause flooding for homes and roads, and we know we have to protect our coastal communities.
They're so precious to us.
Secured $2 million for the Town of Babylon to protect Amity Harbor.
I will say this, I'm going to invite everybody up at different points and get a nice looking check, but it's actually fake, so don't go to the bank.
But these local projects are critically important to us, and I will always have the relationship with this County Executive to help deliver the bacon to the communities.
I know that you do not want to put these costs onto your local taxpayers, and that's what we're here to do, is help out.
So congratulations to all the communities.
Hopefully, we can build back with this kind of resiliency.
We will withstand Mother Nature for many many years ahead.
Let's bring up our communities.