Construction Update: Where the bridge stands
Action on the bridge yesterday was pothole repair.
May 14, 2010
Editor’s Note: We’ve reprinted Supervisor Barbara Gerrard’s update on the status of the bridge. In her report, she includes links through which you can reach the governor and our state senator and assemblyman. Help get the bridge going—take a moment to write Albany.
Reprint of Supervisor’s Report, May 11, 2010
This is just a quick update on the current status of our bridge construction. As all know by now, Conti Construction Company walked off the site on April 1, 2010, the first day of New York State’s new fiscal year, because no 2010-2011 budget was in place and Conti, who claimed they were owed over $900,000 by New York State at that time, was informed by the New York State Department of Transportation that——and I quote, “...timely payment for work completed after April 1, 2010 cannot be guaranteed.”
Subsequent to April first, several emergency funding bills have been passed to keep the essential government functions running. Several of the construction projects being continued included ones funded 100% with federal dollars. Our bridge is only 80% funded with federal dollars [the rest with State monies], and the Governor has refused to include our project in the “emergency funding” projects.
Within the past week, I have been informed that Conti Construction has received the $900,000 plus that they said was owed to them as of March 31. Our Assemblyman, Robert Castelli, has been in frequent contact with representatives of Conti to encourage them to come back on site. Both Assemblyman Castelli and State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer have argued vigorously on our behalf to have the bridge project included in emergency funding; Governor Patterson has been intractable in his position that no New York State funds will be expended until the Senate and the Assembly pass the Governor’s budget as proposed.
Our representatives and I have called the Governor’s office and the Governor’s budget office, all to no avail. The entire Town Board understands the frustration everyone in Town is feeling, and the sometimes intolerably uncomfortable rides that are endured going over the bridge. We appreciate the understanding of the public that this situation is not of our making, but at this point we do recommend that every resident of New Castle take the time to contact the Governor’s office at:
Governor Paterson
State Capital
Albany, NY 12224
Or at this web address: http://www.state.ny.us/governor/ and click on “Contact the Governor” in the upper left hand corner.
And let Governor Patterson know that New Castle has been unfairly singled out for disruption, to the point where it is punitive, with long-lasting negative effects on our economy.
You might also contact:
State Senator Oppenheimer - 39th Senatorial District
222 Grace Church Street
Port Chester, NY 10573
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
and Assemblyman Robert Castelli - 89th Assembly District
4 New King Street, Suite 125
White Plains, NY 10604
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
and thank them both for their continued efforts on our behalf.
I think we should direct our efforts towards Conti right now. They should be responsible - especially since they have been paid - to come in here and get some of their “stuff” out of the way. In particular the steel beam that is preventing traffic from flowing both ways under the bridge. As a local merchant we have had every factor against us now for over 2 years and it is inconceivable that we have to go through more months with restricted traffic flow to our stores just because there is a steel beam sitting on the ground that is not going to be utilized for who knows how long.
I know that the fight with the State is an uphill battle, but I think that there is a case to be made for Conti to come back to straighten things up until the State budget is taken care of. We have enough lawyers in this town that someone should be able to put together some legitimate case against walking away from this job and leaving our town disrupted…..no?
If Conti refuses to finish the job they started, we need to make them move their equipment off our property immediately. I don’t think the residents of New Castle should be providing free storage facilities for them.
I’m not an expert, but why call the Governor’s office? Why don’t we call our legislators instead, they are the ones who haven’t passed the budget? Why is there a link here to write the Governor and not our legislators? Think about the thousands of projects like ours all over the state that could declare an “emergency” and that they need funding? How does the Governor manage all these? The answer is that he doesn’t and can’t. We need a budget! The Governor is saying we need a budget! Put the fault, and the pressure, where it belongs, which is on the New York State Legislature!
I’m not a big fan of Governor Patterson but he is absolutely dead right on this one.
Also, if Conti has been paid in full and we have ironclad guarantees they will be paid in the future we should they should get back on the job as soon as practical (I fear they may have had to move on to other projects waiting for payment on ours). But can any of us expect them to resume work when they weren’t paid up until April 1, or if they aren’t assured of being paid going forward? They are running a business, and incurring real (and significant) expenses. We need to make sure they will be paid for services rendered, until we do that if I were them I wouldn’t resume work, painful as that is for all of us here in New Castle.
I agree that if Conti was not getting paid they had every right to stop working. That was not the issue I brought up. My issue is that since they made the decision to walk off the job then they should CLEAN up the site as well.
My point is that our town government should be protecting our ‘downtown’ and it’s merchants by getting the traffic patterns (ala the two way traffic UNDER the bridge) back to what it was as quickly as possible, and not allowing Conti to prevent the normal traffic flow because they left a giant steel beam in the road.
Who knows how long it will be before the budget is passed and the bridge construction begins, we really don’t have control over that, but our town government should really step up to protect what we do have at the moment and help out the merchants.
Yes, it would be good to get some of the excess equipment out of the way. It would be very interesting to have Conti’s detailed perspective on this as well as their willingness and timing to complete the job.
I was directing my comments at the whole situation, not at the comment about moving equipment. At a macro level I think what our legislature is doing is they are unwilling to make the necessary cuts to the budget, and couldn’t possibly put together a sound budget with all the spending they want, so they are letting the blame fall on the Governor. And way too many New Yorkers have accepted this—that it is the Governor to blame. It is the Legislature. And as a result of their unwillingness to do the responsible thing New Yorkers are losing 10’s of thousands of jobs (some would be lost in a responsible budget too, but it would be less and it would be “planned”) and projects/towns like ours are deeply effected by projects that have been frozen.
