IA permanent-structure, countywide Farmers’ Market is a project I have envisioned and been working on for years now. I’m proud to say the efforts have begun to bear fruit: our proposal for the Broome County Farmers Market was the main project recommended to be funded for our region by the Governor’s Agricultural Economic Work Group.

As designed by Governor Cuomo the Work Group set aside a sum of economic development money that areas then had to compete for on the basis of the soundness, relevancy, and importance of the proposed plans. The Broome County Farmers Market project was allocated $400,000 through this competitive program, the highest funded project in our area to come out of the Economic Work Group.

Now the Broome County Industrial Development Agency, of which I am a Board member, has agreed to take the lead in bidding the project for construction, and the IDA has agreed in principle to allocate additional funding for the Farmers Market. I have also reached out to the Broome County Farm Bureau and Broome County Cooperative Extension to build additional partnerships in seeing this project through.

A steering committee has been refining the plans and we expect ground-breaking for the Farmers Market, which will be located in Otsiningo Park, to likely begin this fall, with full construction being completed in 2013.

This is a project that I have dedicated a lot of energy to, and it’s extremely gratifying to see it taking shape.

For our district to experience economic revitalization we need creative solutions. With that in mind, I have encouraged the development of a cooperative partnership among the communities of Windsor, Deposit, & Hancock. The purpose of this partnership is to brainstorm and develop projects and businesses that capitalize on the resources of our area—the rivers, the natural beauty of the landscape, the people. In addition to this being a benefit for our current residents, we believe we can attract new people and income to our area for an afternoon, a weekend, a vacation, or a lifetime.

This partnership is off to a good start, having generated a preliminary marketing plan. It makes perfect sense to me to extend the reach of the effort to Kirkwood, should the Kirkwood residents feel that it’s appropriate.

I have been honored to have been serving as the sole representative from Broome County on this statewide panel, providing a much needed voice for the needs of the Southern Tier. Over the last three years, this task force has been instrumental in persuading state officials to reduce unfunded mandates placed on agriculture and convincing the state to recognize the importance of funding specific agricultural initiatives.

Bus transit service to Deposit is under threat of elimination. In fact, the County had already determined to eliminate bus service to Deposit beginning in January 2012 because, while ridership of transit service to Windsor & Harpursville fully justifies those routes, the Deposit run has a record of being under-utilized. I lobbied to get the service extended through 2012 while we did whatever we could to increase ridership on that route. This web page provides one more route for me to get the word out: if Deposit residents wish to keep the transit service they need to utilize the regularly scheduled Tuesday run more often.

The Chestnut Street Bridge is deteriorating. I am hopeful that the necessary funds to repair the bridge can be allocated by the County, Town of Windsor, and the Village of Windsor. At my request, the County Department of Public Works is currently developing a cost analysis for renovation of the structure. Once we have the cost & design plans, then it’s time to get it repaired.