state advocacy

Reconnect Rochester is back in Albany for a new legislative session!

On Jan 28th, we joined the New Yorkers for Safe Streets Coalition, a group of 150 organizations and dignitaries from across the State to advocate for four priority bills.

Reconnect Rochester has taken the lead on Complete Streets Maintenance, a bill that would require NYSDOT to consider complete streets design features on all types of road projects or when they receive both state and federal funding. Complete streets design features on all road projects would allow the necessary design interventions needed to enable safe access for all road users including pedestrians, people using mobility aids, cyclists, and public transit users.

Thank you to the bill sponsors Senator Sean Ryan and Assembly member Jonathan Rivera for meeting with us!

Simply put, state roads are the main streets of many of our towns and villages in Monroe County, and NYSDOT isn’t currently required to consider complete streets on their most common and most frequent types of projects. Even when towns want to improve safety, the state often doesn’t remove barriers to doing so. With NYS not currently meeting its climate law mandates for transportation, this is a cost-effective way to expand safe walking and biking infrastructure through existing maintenance routines. 

With minimal additional investment, design elements can be considered in projects that will take place in a matter of years not decades. This is how most major cities currently expand active transportation infrastructure.

NYSDOT is in the midst of updating a wildly out-of-date walk/bike strategic plan (2005 was the last update!). That plan will set the goals, but our bill is the way they can implement it. We understand it may require some process changes within NYSDOT to plan for AT infrastructure on each project and we would urge NYSDOT to show leadership on making it a best practice in the country rather than shying away from these urgently needed changes. 

On Transit Equity Day, we called on lawmakers to let us Get Around New York!

The uncertainties around transit funding, federal aid in doubt, wasteful highway spending, and our state DOT’s position at #49 for cost effectiveness did not dampen the enthusiasm of our New Yorkers for Transportation Equity coalition as we celebrated Transit Equity Day on Feb. 4th in Albany! On the 112th anniversary of Rosa Parks’ birth, we urged state lawmakers to embrace transformational policy change leading to more concrete bus, rail, trail, sidewalk, safety and connectivity improvements within and among New York’s rural, suburban and urban communities. On Friday, February, 21st we sent a formal letter to Governor Hochul’s office pushing her to fully fund public transit in New York State.

Thanks so much to Senator Brouk and Assembly Member Bronson’s teams for meeting with us on February 4th to discuss transit equity issues.

The new federal administration has already attacked funding for transit riders, seniors, immigrants, refugees, low-income and disabled New Yorkers. New York State must dramatically alter how federal funding is spent so as not to waste taxpayer dollars. Highway expansions are ineffective. Highways do not solve long-term traffic problems, they entrench archaic land-use, and they create worse traffic and transportation outcomes long-term.

We urge the State to fix roads and bridges first, reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) 20% by 2050, and invest taxpayer dollars in mass public transit, walkability, and density. 

Thank you to Senator Jeremy Cooney, Chair of the NYS Senate Transportation Committee who said, “Following the legacy of civil rights heroes like Rosa Parks, Transit Equity Day is a time to reflect on the ways public transportation fueled the progress of yesterday, while also working towards a better tomorrow. In this year’s budget I’ll be advocating for more sustainable and reliable initiatives to get New Yorkers from Point A to Point B, pushing for more funding for public transit systems, and continuing to use transportation as a means to combat poverty.”

There are proven strategies that New York can implement this year. Our state can fulfill the goals of New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and include the Get Around NY Act (S4044/A4230) in the One-House Budget this year.

Public Transportation Investments

As in past years, Reconnect Rochester met with RTS and the New York Public Transit Association’s lobby team and we support their state budget recommendations, highlighting the particular need for upstate state operating assistance to increase 15% per year. Why is this important? State funding is the largest proportion of the RTS operating budget and increases are needed to make routes run more frequently.

Senator Cooney and Assembly Member Bronson have also been highlighting the connection between transit, economic development and job access. Senator Cooney’s January op-ed appeared in statewide publications calling on the state to establish a Workforce Equity Fund of $5 million to connect workers to job opportunities and combat poverty across the state. We’d add that we should incentivize economic development projects in transit-supportive corridors (See the Sprawl Effect for more on land use). 

Supporting Local Coalitions

In addition to Reconnect Rochester’s state priorities, we’re actively participating in supporting other state coalitions:

• Standing with the Climate Solutions Accelerator, we’re calling on NYS to pass the NY HEAT Act to protect New Yorkers from skyrocketing natural gas prices, as part of the overall shift away from fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gases.
• Standing with RMAPI to implement their policy agenda to break the cycle of poverty and enable upward mobility for all families in Monroe County.

At Reconnect, we’re always working to improve mobility access in our community. Sign up for Mobility Action Alerts for tangible advocacy and volunteer opportunities involving transportation, safe streets, and bike infrastructure.