Senator Proposes Taxpayer Spending for Mahopac

Guests at the breakfast include Brewster School trustee Roger Gross, Mahopac School Trustee Earl Bellows, Mahopac Superintendent of Schools Tom Manko and Alana Sweeny of Mahopac, former Director of the NYS Children’s Bureau under the George Pataki administration. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer believes that jobs will get America out of its economic doldrums, and during a visit to Mahopac, New York’s senior senator promised $950,000 to the Town of Carmel for the construction of an economic center and municipal parking lot in downtown Mahopac.

The Greater Mahopac-Carmel Chamber of Commerce organized Schumer’s visit. During a breakfast address attended by a disappointing crowd of fewer than 100 business leaders and elected officials, the senator talked about a myriad of issues related to America’s economic recovery.

Schumer described parking as “critical for economic stability and growth.”

After meeting for 15 minutes behind closed doors with the senator, Supervisor Kenneth Schmitt said Schumer was “extremely hopeful that the money would be headed towards Putnam County.”

The entire project will cost $1,250,000. Senator Vincent Leibell has already garnered $100,000 for sidewalks and lighting from the state DOT, while the New York City DEP has come up $200,000 in Good Neighbor Funds for walls and crosswalks.

Schmitt said plans call for the razing of the current building housing the Mahopac Chamber of Commerce office complex on Route 6N adjacent to the Mahopac National Bank, where parking for 30 spots would be created: “Once the building comes down, we will erect a new center for non-for-profit organizations that will be set back off the road.”

Parking has been described as the number-one need in downtown Mahopac. Schmitt said, “Merchants deserve additional parking because people want to visit our shops and stores, but are discouraged due to the lack of parking.”

When Schumer took the podium he talked about jobs and small business. The senator said unemployment rates were “sky-high, and when people are out of work, America’s small businesses, like many of the mom and pop stores found here in Mahopac, suffer. Jobs must be created and jobs have to be saved. Laying off employees, who are the heart and soul of small business, is a tragic event both for the employee as well as the employer.”

Schumer reported that 75 percent of all jobs nationwide were “small business jobs. Small business must be revitalized in order for America to rid itself of this troublesome recession.”

Schumer told his audience that he recently met with the CEO of the Pepsico Corporation in Somers urging that the multi-million dollar corporation remain in the Hudson Valley. Schumer said the company employs more than 1,000 people, “many of whom live here in Putnam County. If they were to leave, this area would be adversely impacted.”

The senator also talked about “Putnam’s number one industry—tourism. When people visit Cold Spring’s restaurants and waterfront, or go skiing in Patterson or hiking in Kent and Putnam Valley, they bring dollars into the county when visiting restaurants, purchasing fuel for their vehicles, and bringing home souvenirs. Tourism in the Hudson Valley generated $5.7 billion in revenue last year and was responsible for six percent of all the jobs found within the Hudson Valley.”

Schumer told the Courier in a brief interview following his address: “The number one issue in the Hudson Valley is jobs. Jobs must be created and jobs must be saved.”

State Senator Vincent Leibell, a lifelong Republican, called the Democrat Schumer a “real pro. We must be optimistic. With people like the senator leading the charge in Washington, a year from now America will be in a much better state of affairs.”

Outside the Villa Barone, a group of protestors carrying signs demonstrated peacefully. Fred Lambert of Mahopac said he and his friends were “tired that Senator Schumer was not listening to the people. The man is not defending the Constitution. He is re-writing the Constitution. Chuck Schumer represents himself and the progressive movement that is destroying our country.”