By Mark Scott and Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – Governor David Paterson said "it's a winter of reckoning" in New York. The embattled Governor gave his second - and perhaps last - State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature Wednesday. In one of the shortest addresses in recent memory - less than a half-hour - Paterson focused on reduced spending and ethics reform.
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He renewed his call for a spending cap and defended his recent actions of delaying state aid payments to local school districts and municipalities.
The Governor also proposed a new independent agency to enforce ethics laws. And he called for term limits for elected officials as well as requiring them to disclose their outside business ties.
Buffalo's dubious reputation for decayed housing got the governor's attention. Paterson is calling for a state program to revitalize vacant housing. And he wants to launch the program in Buffalo.
Having 23,000 vacant homes is nothing for a city to brag about. But Buffalo's claim to fame as one of the worst cities in the country for vacant housing put it at the top of Paterson's list. The Governor said more attention has to be given to upstate cities hit hard by the economy long before last year's recession. He wants to start with a makeover of blighted neighborhoods.
Paterson said municipalities would identify houses that could be rehabilitated with the state's help. The houses would then sold to first time home buyers through a lottery process. Bryan Cacciotti is executive director for HomeFront in Buffalo. The agency is doing the kind of work Paterson is proposing. Cacciotti said they would welcome any extra resources. But he wants to see the specifics before getting too excited.
In his address, the governor did not specify a proposed dollar amount or the number of houses targeted for restoration. Paterson also wants to go to work on the state's blighted, abandoned factories. He said they could be restored and re-marketed to new businesses worldwide.