NEW WINDSOR – A study of 132 Hudson Valley municipalities found that many are lacking the ability to implement successful, long-term, infrastructure planning. The findings were released Friday at a Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress conference on infrastructure in New Windsor.
The goal of the conference, according to Pattern President Jonathan Drapkin, was to encourage prudent planning when it comes to infrastructure and to get people away from the idea of waiting for crisis to initiate a dialogue on the subject.
“It is elusive for some of the smaller governments to do long term planning: five-year plans for infrastructure improvement,” Drapkin said. “It’s not their fault. It’s not their decision not to do it, it’s they don’t have the capacity to do it. They don’t have the money to do it, and often when they say that they can do it, then they say, ‘Well, then how are we going to get the money to improve what the five-year plan requires us to do’.”
Municipalities will have until July 24 to apply for a piece of the $175 million in state Empire State Development Corporation funding through the latest round of Consolidated Funding Applications. Another $10 million has also been set aside by the state for a downtown revitalization initiative and communities have until next Friday to apply for that.
