Biden adviser touts infrastructure on upstate homecoming

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Tuesday was a homecoming for one of the President of the United States’ top advisers.

Western New York native Tom Perez, White House director of intergovernmental affairs, spent the first half of the day in Syracuse before returning home to Buffalo to tour projects funded in part by the bipartisan federal infrastructure law.

“The thing about Syracuse, Buffalo and Rochester, they are tough cities that have had challenges and what these cities and so many others have in common is that this is a moment of incredible opportunity,” he said. Perez said.

Capital tonight Ryan Whalen followed throughout the day and spoke one-on-one with Perez in both cities. In total, communities use hundreds of millions of federal dollars for these projects; chief among them being the destruction of the I-81 viaduct in Syracuse and the partial covering of the Kensington Expressway.

“New York did well because New York competed well. The Syracuse project is a compelling project. I mean, the president referenced that. When he introduced this notion of reconnecting communities, “As you know, Syracuse was one of the great examples that he used,” Perez said.

Local leaders said the I-81 overpass and the Kensington Expressway in Buffalo were dividing communities, contributing to racial inequality and poverty. Perez said the trip was not only about seeing the infrastructure, but also about talking to the divided people in these communities.

“It’s both about seeing how the money is being spent but also listening to the community to see what the next steps are and of course the community doing their job has definitely brought my attention to the fact that there are things that need to be completed There are grant proposals that are pending at various agencies and they will receive full and fair review,” he said.

Perez has vetted several other infrastructure projects in Buffalo, including the expansion of an initiative to bring cars back to Main Street and streetscape improvements on Jefferson Avenue on the city’s poor east side, where he also visited the site of the racially motivated mass shooting at a Tops supermarket. . The second anniversary of the tragedy will be next week. He said equity is a major part of President Joe Biden’s agenda.

“It’s not just about racial communities, racial populations. It’s about rural America,” Perez said. “There are pockets of rural America that have been historically disenfranchised and so we’re seeing unprecedented investments.”

In this election year, the administration is touting its accomplishments, including the infrastructure bill and the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act. Perez was in Syracuse less than two weeks after Biden’s own visit.

He said the trip to a traditionally safe Democratic state was not politically motivated, however.

“It’s not about red and blue,” he said. “It’s about red, white and blue and Governor Hochul, Senator Schumer and Senator Gillibrand have been incredible partners in this remarkable moment we are experiencing.”

Perez said New York has strong representation in the federal government. In addition to earning his law degree from Syracuse University, the president said he has had a long relationship with the governor and her family and speaks to her every week and New Yorkers run the Democratic conference in the US Senate and Congress.