Rebuilding Our Infrastructure

Under the current County Executive, many of Erie County’s roads and bridges are in some of the worst shape ever.  Some county roads in the Southtowns  have deteriorated so much that they are an embarrassment.  This should not be the case, especially considering the current County Executive withheld millions of dollars in federal Stimulus money the County received that could have repaired these roads and created jobs. He has done this in a politically motivated attempt to protect his own job, while the County’s unemployment rate has remained unnecessarily high.

In January of 2007, the Erie County unemployment rate was 5.4%; it has since risen to 8.5% in only four years. The entire country is facing difficult economic times, but there is no excuse for one man to make a unilateral decision to hoard tens of millions of dollars in job creation money while our residents are looking for jobs and our infrastructure is crumbling. On numerous occasions, he has proclaimed he never intended to spend one cent of this federal money.

This money was designed to put people to work and support job seekers as they search for employment, not to pad Erie County’s bank account at the expense of county residents. As is evident with an unemployment rate over 8%, Erie County struggles to create sustainable growth.

As YOUR County Executive I will work to create sustainable business growth for the 21st Century. We must grow our population by creating innovative economic development we can maintain for years to come.