Governor Cuomo's State of the State Address
On January 5th, Sustainable Long Island attended Governor Andrew Cuomo's State of the State Address, invited as guests of Senator Carl Marcellino. Governor Cuomo's speech certainly gave hope to New Yorkers that change is coming, but Long Islanders will continue to question whether or not there will be more attention paid to addressing some of Long Island's pressing issues that often feel ignored.
Long Island is the third most segregated suburban region in the country. That complicates issues such as how to rehabilitate 6,800 brownfields and provide access to fresh, affordable food in some neighborhoods. It is promising to hear Governor Cuomo's bottom-up approach in combating some of New York State's problems, one of which was a Green Market program.
With Sustainable Long Island's community-based youth-run farmers' market of 2010 as a model of success, we urge the Governor to have each green market based in communities that need access to fresh, wholesome food the most.
This all goes hand-in-hand with how New York will prioritize helping out communities that are typically characterized as low-income on Long Island and region wide.
From the Associated Press:
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged New Yorkers battered by two years of recession to seize the opportunity in Albany's fiscal and ethical crises to build a better state government and prosperous economy. "We must turn this crisis into an opportunity to fundamentally remake our state into the progressive capital of the nation," Cuomo said in the prepared remarks for his first State of State address. "We must transform the state of New York from a government of dysfunction, gridlock and corruption to a government of performance, integrity and pride," Cuomo said. Cuomo then presented his concepts for addressing $11 billion in deficits the state is facing and reforming a failed ethical culture that claimed a governor, a comptroller, two majority leaders and several legislators in the past four years. Cuomo also proposed using tax breaks and energy subsidies to keep and attract private-sector jobs that have been leaving the state for decades since his father, Mario Cuomo, was governor. "Business built New York, and we are declaring that New York is once again open for business," Andrew Cuomo said. Cuomo said his budget proposal due Feb. 1 will address the state's current and future deficits without raising taxes or borrowing. Instead he would seek a one-year freeze on state workers' pay through union contracts that expire at the end of March. He also says he will cap state spending at the inflation rate and reduce the number of agencies, authorities and commissions by 20 percent. Cuomo also says he will cut the cost of the state's Medicaid health care program for the poor, considered one of the most generous programs in the nation and now serving a quarter of New Yorkers. He wants public financing of campaigns and will push to legalize gay marriage and protect abortion rights. "There are no easy solutions," said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who attended the address and supports Cuomo's efforts to fix New York's finances. "We have tremendous challenges ahead for us, so we should not miss the opportunity," said Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos of Nassau County. But the most anticipated remarks may be those of powerful Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Silver gave his vital support to Cuomo's effort to cut spending, establish a 2 percent cap on the growth of property taxes, enact nonpartisan redistricting of election districts for the next 10 years so majority parties don't protect their power, and other key proposals. He also said he will support Cuomo's plan to cut state spending. All of that, however, remains subject to difficult negotiation. But Silver's support for the concepts is essential for any chance of finally pushing through the long proposed ideas. "At this crucial juncture in our history, let us - the leaders of our New York - adjust the sails together and set our great state on a course toward hope, prosperity, and the promise of better days," Silver said. But in many ways, Cuomo is making the same pitch governors have made since Democratic Gov. Hugh L. Carey declared the end to the "days of wine and roses" in 1975 and then helped save New York City from bankruptcy. Even former Gov. Mario Cuomo spoke in his 1983 inauguration speech of taking a "responsible approach to our fiscal difficulties" after years of turmoil that prompted questions about government's role. "Unlike Carey, who had a solvent state trying to salvage New York City ... Cuomo inherits a state that is in desperate fiscal straits and no one has ever bailed out a state," said Bruce Gyory, a political consultant who teaches about national and state voting trends at the state University at Albany. "New York state desperately needs a successful stretch of governing," Gyory said. | 
