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 White Plains, NY - Assemblyman George Latimer (D-Westchester, 91st A.D.) has announced that he has obtained $1.2 million in the 2008-09 State Budget to fund flood mitigation projects in three Sound Shore communities.
"The Mayors and local elected officials, and the residents of Larchmont, Mamaroneck and Rye have been tenacious in calling for the state to be a partner in flood mitigation efforts. This is an important step toward realizing those efforts", Latimer stated. Each community would have access to up to $400,000 each to fund projects to protect against future flooding.
Assemblyman Latimer indicated that the funds, allocated in the Empire State Development Corporation budget, covers capital projects that would reduce flooding for inland and coastal residents. Westchester County has created a countywide fund of $10 million for the same purposes - creating two levels of assistance for needed projects. "I have personally seen the devastation in Rye's Indian Village, along the Mamaroneck River and Sheldrake River corridors in Mamaroneck, and on Pine Brook in Larchmont. I've talked face to face with residents who are angry and hurt, and want some assurance that government understands and cares", Latimer continued.
FEMA funded flood relief efforts in the days immediately after the flood, and community groups from the Junior League, WINDER, the Hispanic Resource Center and Habitat for Humanity, provided volunteer services to those affected. Future flood protection, however, requires capital projects of a more costly nature, based on scientific study of the drainage and water patterns in force along the Sound Shore.
"It takes intelligent science to identify the improvements we need to reduce flooding", Latimer noted, "but it takes political science to bring together the decision-makers in Albany and elsewhere and get the money in place to do the projects. We're on the right track".
Latimer expressed appreciation to his colleagues from the Assembly and Senate in Westchester, including Senator Suzi Oppenheimer, who represents the three communities as well, and to Assembly leadership, for their support of the necessary funding.
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