By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 July 2023 at 4:39 pm
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Bullard Park was busy today for the annual carnival put on by the Village of Albion Recreation Program. For the second year the Albion Rec Program welcomed children from throughout the area.
There were five bounce houses brought by Best of Tymes Party Rentals.
John Grillo, the recreation director, estimated more than 500 children and their families attended the four-hour event.
Michelle Wiseman of Best of Tymes serves cotton candy. Best of Thymes also had popcorn, nachos and snow cones. They charged $5 per child for the food and for unlimited use of the bounce houses.
The Albion Masonic Lodge and the Royal Body Shop Outreach Ministries also helped the Recreation Department put on the event today at the park.
The splash pad at Bullard remains a big hit about a year after it opened.
These kids throw the football around at Bullard on a day with many different activities.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 July 2023 at 8:20 am
File photo by Tom Rivers: A firefighter in turnout gear and an air pack battles a fire on June 15, 2022 when a truck with more than 400 used tires caught on fire next to the Albion Walmart.
ALBION – The Albion Fire Department has 24 air packs and those units used by interior firefighters all reach their 10-year expiration date on Dec. 31.
The Village Board voted last week to replace the 24 units for $229,000. Each self-contained breathing apparatus includes two bottles per pack and a mask.
The village has applied for a federal Assistance to Firefighters Grant to cover the expense. Albion used funds from the AFG program before to purchase new air packs, said Fire Chief Jeremy Graham.
There is about a 24-week wait with receiving the air packs from when they are ordered. Graham said the new units should arrive just in time before the old ones must be replaced.
The village expects to hear whether it will receive AFG money in about two months. If Albion doesn’t receive the grant, the board said it could use money from the federal American Rescue Plan Act and also dip into the village’s reserve balance and fund balance.
Photo by Tom Rivers: Tim Archer, a retired middle school teacher at Albion, holds a flywheel from the lift bridge. The artifact will be on display in the school district. In back from left are Village Trustees Joyce Riley and Chris Barry, Mayor Angel Javier Jr. and Trustee Zack Burgess.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 July 2023 at 4:01 pm
ALBION – The school district was given a flywheel from the lift bridge that will be on display for students in the future.
Tim Archer, a recently retired middle school teacher, accepted the flywheel on behalf of the district at last week’s Village Board meeting. Archer is continuing in a part-time role at the district next school year. He has worked with village officials on many service-learning projects during his career.
He took a few students down to the construction site last month. The lift bridge from 1914 is undergoing a major rehabilitation with many of the steel pieces being replaced.
The state Department of Transportation and the contractor approved giving the flywheel to the school district. The old lead paint was stripped off and the piece was cleaned.
Archer said the district will discuss how to best display the flywheel.
The Albion and Brockport lift bridges are both being rehabbed as part of a $28.3 million project for the two sites.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 July 2023 at 11:06 am
ALBION – The Albion Police Department will be at the carnival at Bullard Park on Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., checking to make sure car seats are safely installed.
The Police Department has a limited number of car seats available for free. The public is welcome to stop and have a trained car seat technician make sure the seats are safely in place.
The Orleans County Sheriff’s Office is also doing a car seat check on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Orleans County Public Safety Building at 13925 Route 31 in Albion.
Bullard will also host Who Dats for concert in evening
Photo by Tom Rivers: About 350 children enjoyed the bounce houses, games and the splash pad at Bullard Park during the carnival on July 13, 2022. The event will be this Wednesday and is again open to kids from throughout the Orleans County.
By Ginny Kropf and Tom Rivers
ALBION – Bullard Park will host its annual summer carnival this Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Last year the event was opened to children from throughout Orleans County, not just Albion. About 350 kids attended last year.
Christina Nenni from Best of Tymes Party Rentals will be back with bounce houses. A $5 wrist band gets attendants in and includes free lunch for kids, provided by the Royal Body Shop Ministries and Albion’s Masonic Lodge.
Lunch for adults, which includes a hot dog or hamburger, French fries and a drink is $5. Lunch will be available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The event also includes kid’s activities, carnival games and music. Mike Seege will present “Say No to Bullying” Magic Show, which is free to all.
Best of Tymes will sell snow cones for $2 and popcorn, soda or water for $1 each. Lyncoln Bear and Buddies will be on site, as well.
The splash pad and playground will be open all day.
The Village of Albion concert series also will shift from the downtown to Bullard Park from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. with The Who Dats performing.
The concert is free to the public and will include food and alcohol vendors.
Photo by Tom Rivers: North Liberty Street in the Village of Albion has been milled and a new layer of asphalt will be added later this month.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 July 2023 at 12:43 pm
ALBION – Five streets in the Village of Albion have been milled and are scheduled to get a new layer of asphalt from July 24-26.
Jay Pahura, the village’s superintendent of the Department of Public Works, said Keeler Construction in Barre will have its paver in the village for those three days, paving Liberty Street (north and south), Crimson Drive, Goodrich Street, North Street and Clarendon Street.
Pahura said Ingersoll and East Bank streets are showing more wear and tear from the added traffic with the Main Street lift bridge closed. Those streets will likely get some patching but Pahura said the traffic demands while the bridge is closed makes it impossible to mill the streets and then repave them.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 14 July 2023 at 7:36 am
Photo by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The new Taco Bell is under construction at 118 West Ave. Contractors have been working on the project for about three months.
The new 2,600-foot restaurant is expected to open in mid-August, said Anne Podolak, a Village of Albion code enforcement officer. She updated the Village Board on the project during the board meeting on Wednesday evening.
Hospitality Syracuse is the developer for the project on vacant land owned by Landsman Development of Rochester.
The new Taco Bell will go next to McDonalds and across from Freeze-Dry Foods. Hospitality Syracuse will make about 40 percent of the 1.33-acre lot green space with grass. The company has removed a water tank in the back corner of the lot and is replacing chain-link fences with ones made of wood.
Photos by Tom Rivers: The Albion Visitor’s Center at 121 North Main St. is currently used as a office building and rented out to Assemblyman Steve Hawley, The Orleans Economic Development Agency and the Genesee-Orleans Ministry of Concern.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 July 2023 at 2:43 pm
ALBION – Village Board members were asked to consider whether the Albion Visitor’s Center would make a better village hall than the current village office at 35-37 East Bank St.
Deputy Mayor Joyce Riley thinks the visitor’s center may be a better building for the village office. The visitor’s center is at 121 North Main St. with more parking and is handicapped accessible with an elevator going to the second and third floors.
She made the suggestion during Wednesday’s Village Board meeting. She didn’t call for any quick action but asked the other board members to go to the Visitor’s Center and try to imagine the possibilities.
“Would it be good for the community (for the village office) to be on Main Street?” she asked. “It’s ADA complaint.”
Tracy VanSkiver, the village clerk-treasurer, said the Visitor’s Center currently makes the village some money, renting out space to Assemblyman Steve Hawley, the Orleans Economic Development Agency, Darlene Benton and the Genesee-Orleans Ministry of Concern. Those rents are about $4,000 a month.
The Village Office is currently located at 35-37 East Bank St., next to the police station on Platt Street.
If the village did move its village office to the Visitor’s Center, the current village office could be used by the Police Department. Police Chief David Mogle said the police department is cramped for space next door at 106 North Platt St.
For example, an interview room is used as an evidence room and for officers to take lunch breaks.
Mogle said the department would still like to keep its space at Platt Street where the interview room has cameras, there is a holding area, processing area and lockers. Having use of the village office would give the department more space for training and make it easier for the public to stop by. Right now there aren’t any public parking spots right next to the police station.
Mogle said the Visitor’s Center “looks like a village hall” as an anchor building in the downtown.
The village has owned the Visitor’s Center since 2002. It took over the 8,061-square-foot building that was in the midst of a big construction project. The former Greater Albion Chamber of Commerce was approved for a $585,000 grant from the federal Housing and Urban Development for the renovation. That grant didn’t cover all the costs and the village stepped in to finish the project.
The building from 1890 was in major disrepair before the Chamber and village took on the project.
The first floor of the Albion Visitor’s Center with Assemblyman Steve Hawley’s district office at left. The suite at right is currently vacant. An elevator provides handicapped accessibility to the second and third floors.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 July 2023 at 1:00 pm
‘They have been absolutely incredible.’ – Ben Curfman, pastor of North Point Chapel
Photo by Tom Rivers: Ted Newsome, a member of the Liberty Baptist Church at left on ladder, and Rick Bachorski, right of the North Point Chapel, work on a project in the kitchen at the North Point Chapel.
ALBION – A group of 20 people from a church in Mississippi raised $30,000 and traveled 1,200 miles to help a congregation in Albion this week.
The Liberty Baptist Church from Waynesboro, Mississippi has a team of people cleaning the North Point Chapel, finetuning the sound system and working on overhauling the kitchen so the church can prepare and serve meals in its fellowship hall.
Ted Newsome is a truck driver and farmer from the church in Mississippi. He and many of the other Liberty Baptist members took off work and used their vacation to make the trek to Albion. They rode in a bus, and also brought a truck and U-Haul with tools and supplies.
“We need serving as much as people need to be served,” Newsome said.
Liberty Baptist also has another group of 16 people from its church in New York City this week doing a service project at Hell’s Kitchen.
Phillip Gandy, the church’s pastor, said Liberty Baptist has been doing projects in many states for about 20 years now. Gandy was in Albion in February to check out the church and assess if Liberty Baptist could be helpful to North Point Chapel. Both churches are members of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Gandy believed Liberty Baptist could raise money and get the kitchen functioning again.
Liberty Baptist embraces the projects wanting to be of service to other churches and also welcoming the chance for Liberty Baptist members to work close together.
“This is the best team-building I know of for a church,” Gandy said about the mission trips.
Provided photo: This group from Liberty Baptist Church in Mississippi arrived in Albion on Tuesday evening and will be leaving Monday morning. They are shown outside the North Point Chapel at the former United Methodist Church at the corner of East State and Platt streets.
The Liberty group ranges in age from 13 to 78.
Newsome, one of the volunteers, said the Albion community has already shown the group kindness. Their first day on the job a neighbor brought over lasagna dinner. “It was delicious,” he said.
Ben Curfman has served as North Point Chapel pastor just over a year. He and his wife Rebekah and their six children relocated to Albion from the mountains of western North Carolina.
Curfman made other Southern Baptist churches aware the Albion site would welcome assistance with projects in a historic building, and also outreach to the community.
Besides working on the building, the group from Mississippi will team with North Point in offering a bounce house and serving cotton candy and popcorn on Saturday. Curfman expects more traffic that day due to the community yard sales in Albion.
Liberty Baptist also will be part of the praise band during the service on Sunday morning at 10:30.
Liberty Baptist brought materials to upgrade the kitchen, and even brought new appliances. Curfman said the church from Mississippi has been a blessing.
“They have been absolutely incredible,” he said.
North Point rented out a house in Waterport through Airbnb for some of the Liberty Baptist members, while others are staying with a North Point family.
Curfman said another church from North Carolina helped North Point in the spring by moving pews, reorganizing the sanctuary, and building a baptistry for people to be baptized.
North Point members also went on their own mission trip, traveling to Silver Creek in Chautauqua County for a day to help a church there get ready for a Vacation Bible School.
Curfman said he let the network of Southern Baptists churches know that North Point welcomes assistance with projects at the building and with community outreach. He said the response from out-of-state churches has left a strong impression on the North Point congregation.
‘It should be inspiring to people who can see there are people from all over the country who care about Albion,” Curfman said. “I just put the word out and explained our situation, that we want to be here a long time and be of service to the community. We’re blessed with this location in the heart of Albion.”
Photo by Tom Rivers: Nerds Gone Wild, a Buffalo-based band that performs popular songs from the ’80s, closed out a day of music at Bullard Park for the annual Rock the Park summer music festival on Aug. 6, 2022. The band was a big hit with the Albion crowd and will be back on Aug. 5.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 July 2023 at 9:13 am
ALBION – The upcoming Rock the Park in Albion is expanding to two days of music and will include a 200-foot-long slip and slide down the sledding hill at Bullard Park.
Organizers have been urged to expand the event to two days. Rock the Park – Albion Summer Music Festival will start on Friday, Aug. 4 and will feature an open mic the first evening beginning at 6 p.m. on the main stage. Food trucks and a beer tent will open at 4 p.m. on Aug. 4.
Saturday, Aug. 5, features a lineup of nine bands. Food and craft vendors, kids games, and basketball tournament all begin at 11 a.m. A corn hole tournament starts at 1 p.m.
The Albion Fire Department will team with the Greater Albion Community Recreation and Events Corporation, Inc. for the slip and slide. There will be three slides going down the sledding hill and the fire department will keep them slippery with water. There won’t be a charge to go down the slide but donations will be accepted to the Bounce for Bullard effort to put in new basketball courts at the park.
The Greater Albion Community Recreation and Events Corporation, Inc., a non-profit formed to help raise money for the park, on Wednesday evening presented a $2,000 check to the village towards a new pavilion that is under construction. The check was presented to the Village Board by GACRE board members Ron Albertson, Dan Conrad and Susan Oschmann. It came from the proceeds from last year’s festival.
Albertson said more volunteers and sponsors are welcome to help with the event next month.
Photo by Ginny Kropf: Members of the Albion Elks Lodge met with volunteers from the Veterans’ Van Service Monday morning to present them a check for $1,000 toward a new van. Holding the check, second and third from the right, are David Kusmierczak, president of the Joint Veterans’ Council, and Nancy Traxler, Veterans’ Service Officer and treasurer of the van service. Others are volunteer drivers and Elks members.
By Ginny Kropf, correspondent Posted 11 July 2023 at 9:05 pm
ALBION – The Orleans County Veterans’ Van Service got a boost toward a new van with a $1,000 donation Monday from Albion Elks Lodge.
When a grant was made available to the Albion Elks from their Grand Lodge, they interviewed several organizations and decided to give the $1,000 to the Veteran’s Van Service.
Those who attended the check presentation included David Kusmierczak, president of the Joint Veterans’ Council; Nancy Traxler, Veterans’ Service officer; Paul Fulcomer, former Veterans’ Service officer; Phyllis Schrader, coordinator of the van service; Elks members Marv and Joan Christ, Ken Draper, Lynda Standish and April Flesch; and the volunteer van drivers.
The veterans’ van service is operated under the auspices of the Orleans Joint Veterans’ Council. The program is run by all volunteers, including Phyllis Schrader, who schedules drivers and generally oversees the program.
She provided information on the number of volunteer drivers and miles driven taking veterans to medical appointments. Currently the program has 21 drivers and 10 office people.
To date this year, 328 trips have been made, transporting 406 veterans. Volunteer drivers have donated 309 hours and driven 1,912 miles.
Last year, 867 veterans were transported by 20 volunteer drivers who logged 4,446 hours.
Schrader explained the van service has a fleet of five vans, and only buys late model, low mileage vehicles. The one they currently need to replace has 120,000 miles, she said.
Anyone wishing to make a donation can send a check to Veterans’ Van Service, 13996 Route 31 West, Albion.
Photos by Tom Rivers: These cyclists pedal along the Erie Canal Towpath this morning in Albion, headed east towards the Brown Street bridge crossing on the canal.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 10 July 2023 at 10:31 am
ALBION – It’s the 25th annual Cycle the Erie Canal tour with 750 people on bikes passing through Orleans County today.
The annual 8-day event started on Sunday in Buffalo, with the cyclists ending the day in Medina where the camped in tents on the school campus.
They were up early today headed east and were greeted with fruit, water and other snacks by the Albion Merchants Association.
These cyclists ride by The Lockstone and Tinsel, an events and ice cream business along the canal and Main Street in Albion. Justin Suarez, an artist from Rochester, painted the flower mural about a year ago at 160 North Main St.
Albion Merchants Association members Natasha Wasuck and Anita Finley offer fruit snacks and refreshments to the cyclists.
Holley is an official rest stop for the event with more food and beverages available for the cyclists.
Stan Farone of Albion is riding in the event for the sixth year. Farone said he trains for the event in the months leading up to the long ride across the state. He enjoys it so much he has a tattoo on his arm noting the journeys.
Farone, 73, said he loves seeing friends from previous rides and meeting many new people.
There are participants from 40 states in the ride.
These riders are on the towpath heading east out of the Village of Albion with the steeple for the First Presbyterian Church in back.
Parks & Trails New York organizes the event. The organization encouraged cyclists to pay special attention for these sites in Orleans County today:
Medina Aqueduct – “Shortly after rejoining the trail in Medina, you’ll ride across the aqueduct over Medina Falls. Use caution and consider walking your bike, as the trail runs right along the edge of the canal in this stretch. The Medina Aqueduct is the only aqueduct still in use by today’s Erie Canal.”
Culvert Road – “About two miles east of Medina, the Erie Canal runs over Culvert Road — the only place where a road passes under the canal. Listed in Ripley’s Believe It or Not, it’s a strange feeling to stand under the Erie Canal and have canal water drip down your neck.”
Village of Albion – “At one time, the village of Albion was the unlikely location of a unique venture, a Santa Claus School! Keep an eye out for the jolly old fellow himself as you roll through.”
Tinsel – “A certified Bike Friendly New York business, stop in Tinsel for smoothies, shakes, and sundaes at this shop along the trail, located right next to Albion’s Main Street lift bridge.”
Village of Holley – “Less than a mile away from the trail, a 35-foot cascade waterfall flows in Holley’s Canal Park. The waterfall flows over red Medina Sandstone — used on the exterior of a lot of historic buildings in Western NY canal towns — and is surrounded on each side by lush wooded landscape.”
Bob and Kathy Schumacher of Medina dressed as Santa and Mrs. Claus and greeted the cyclists this morning in Albion. They told the group about Albion’s role as the home of a school for Santa. A new bronze statue of Santa was unveiled last week on Main Street in honor of Charles W. Howard, the founder of the Santa School.
The cyclists in previous years could easily check out the downtown by crossing the Main Street lift bridge, but that was more challenging today with the bridge out while getting an extensive overhaul. The Ingersoll Street bridge, however, is close by and cyclists could still explore Albion.
This map shows today’s route, the longest of the eight days at 62.2 miles. The cyclists start in Medina and go to Fairport.
A cyclist approaches The Lockstone building in Albion with has been transformed in recent years into an events center hosting many weddings.
These riders head east on the towpath rounding a bend between the Brown Street and Butts Road canal bridges.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 7 July 2023 at 8:18 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The band Swooners from Rochester performed jazz and dance music on Thursday evening on Main Street in Albion, the first concert in a music series by the Albion Merchants Association.
The Merchants will have more concerts on Thursday evenings after the Village of Albion concert series ends on Aug. 30. The village series will be at Main Street next Wednesday, July 12, with the Dave Knaudt Band and then shifts to the amphitheater at Bullard Park for the rest of the summer until Aug. 30.
The Swooners get ready for their concert on Thursday evening in Albion. This photo shows the Gold Medal Flour mural on the Pratt building on Beaver Alley.
The concert was also the start of the Market in the Square on Thursday evenings. Splashes & Splinters, homemade décor and upcycled furniture by Evelyn Warren, was one of the vendors.
The band and some of the crowd are shown in the background.
The Market in the Square will be back next Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. The vendors yesterday included the Lone Star BBQ, Pretty Sweet Bakery, Paeth Farms, Splashes & Splinters, Carol Ostrander and Red Check.
Helena Nitzsche hugs the bronze statue of Santa at Waterman Park, which is next to the area where the band plays on Main Street.
Helena, 6, is from Tacoma, Washington. She is in Albion visiting her grandparents, Gary and Claudia Deiboldt of Albion.
Photos by Tom Rivers: Tommy Fox will compete next week in the national clay target championship in Ohio.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 6 July 2023 at 1:22 pm
ALBION – A member of the clay target shooting team at Albion is among the top performers in the state. Tommy Fox, 18, will compete next week in the national championships in Marengo, Ohio.
Fox just graduated from Albion. He finished his senior season ranked first in his conference and 15th overall in the state. He averaged hitting 23.6 clay targets out of 25 shots over the course of the season for school teams. (Jeffrey Paes of Coxsackie-Athens High School and Andrew Stratton of Hoosick Falls tied for first with a season average of 24.4 out of 25 targets.)
Noah St. John of Holley also made the All-State Team with an average of 22.7 targets hit. Two from Genesee County also made All-State: Michael Covert of Le Roy with a 22.9 average and Brayden Smith of Elba at 22.5.
Fox, the son of Tom and Jill Fox, also is a member of the Orleans County Clay Crushers and finished fourth in the state during the scholastic competition on June 10. He hit 96 out of 100 targets.
Tommy Fox finished fourth in the state out of 227 shooters in the state scholastic championship, hitting 96 out of 100 targets.
Mason Tomaszewski of Fredonia and Micah Armstrong took first hitting 98 out of 100. Fox was fourth out of 227 shooters that day. Another Albion clay target shooter, Caden Uderitz, also had a good day at the state tournament, hitting 90 out of 100 targets.
Fox has been on the Albion school team since it started in 2019. He has consistently been among the team’s top guns, but took it to a higher level this season, including 97 out of 100 at one competition.
“He has very good hand-eye coordination, and he is very relaxed on the line,” said Jeff Atwell, one of the coaches for the school team and also the Clay Crushers. “He doesn’t let anything bother him.”
Fox started shooting clay discs at age 12. Even as a beginner he was hitting in the 30s out of 50. By 14, he could consistently break 45 out of 50.
“It’s something to do that is fun,” Fox said. “It’s hard to nail every one of them.”
The clay discs are about 4 inches in diameter. They fly out of a machine at 42 miles per hour. They are sent left and right at varying angles. The shooters fire shotguns from several different spots during the competitions.
Tommy said he tries to stay focused, and reacts. If he misses one, he doesn’t dwell on it, and goes after the next one. He shoots with a Browning BT-99 Plus trap shotgun.
Atwell said Fox is “coachable” and listens to advice – and learns from mistakes to keep getting better.
“He’s a pretty talented kid,” Atwell said. “I think he has the ability to break a lot of targets at some big events.”
The Albion team and Orleans County Clay Crushers compete at the Barre Sportsmen’s Club for the regular season matches. Fox went to Fulton for the state scholastic competition at the Pathfinder Fish & Game Club. Another big match was at Cicero.
Tommy Fox works at TF Enterprise, his father’s metal fabrication business on Route 98. He is a CNC programmer and machinist. He also enjoys fishing, especially for bass.
He thanked his coaches for all of their help and support, a group that includes Jeff Atwell, Chris Rice, Mike Donahue, Ryan Uderitz and Patrick Woodworth.
File photo by Tom Rivers: The Phipps Road culvert over Otter Creek has been closed to traffic since Sept. 9, 2022. State funding will allow the Town of Albion to move forward with a replacement.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 5 July 2023 at 8:33 pm
Governor Kathy Hochul today announced more than $516 million in state “Bridge NY” funding to rehabilitate and replace bridges and culverts around the state, including four projects in Orleans County totaling $4.82 million in state dollars.
The projects in Orleans include:
$1.295 million to Orleans County for the replacement of the Route 279 bridge over Beardsley Creek.
$1.535 million to Orleans County for the replacement of the Groth Road bridge over East Branch Sandy Creek.
$952,000 to Orleans County for the replacement of the Eagle Harbor Road culvert carrying the tributary to Otter Creek.
$1.038 million to the Town of Albion for the replacement of the Phipps Road culvert carrying the tributary to Otter Creek, Orleans County.
The Phipps Road culvert in Albion was closed last Sept. 9 after an inspection showed the steel high-beam supports were rotted. The culvert spans 19 feet over Otter Creek.
Albion applied for Bridge NY funding for the Phipps Road culvert in 2016 and 2018 but was denied. Once the culvert was closed to traffic, Albion officials believed that gave Albion more points in the grant application.
Hochul in announcing the Bridge NY funds today said the projects will help local governments across the state harden their existing infrastructure while boosting the resiliency of bridges and culverts in the state.
“New York State is making historic investments to modernize our infrastructure and we are committed to working with our partners in local government to help ensure that their bridges and culverts are ready to meet the challenges of global climate change,” Hochul said. “The Bridge NY program provides essential funding directly to local governments to enhance the safety, resiliency, sustainability and reliability of local infrastructure, allowing more than 140 bridges to better withstand extreme weather events and keep New Yorkers safe.”
