BINGHAMTON, NY -- New York State Senator James Seward wanted more upstate issues featured in this week’s State of the State and budget address.
"The Governor gave us, what I would call, a very rousing, progressive speech that promoted a very progressive agenda," Seward said. "But I see it as a problem in terms of the fact that I heard precious little that will benefit the upstate region of our state."
Cuomo explained his plan to fix transit issues in New York City, strengthen gun laws and codify abortion rights. He also touched on things like broadband expansion and revitalizing downtowns upstate, but Seward wanted more details specific to the region.
“We lag behind, certainly the downstate region of our state economically, we lost population and too many of our neighbors in the upstate region are struggling economically and in other ways,” the Republican added.
Seward, a Republican, represents New York’s 51st district. That includes Otsego, Cortland and part of Tompkins, Chenango and Delaware Counties.
Seward wants Cuomo to hold an upstate summit to work on lowering taxes and helping local governments deal with unfunded mandates, like Medicaid. The Senator was re-elected to his 17th term in November.