| On January 5, Governor David Paterson's press office announced that he would travel throughout upstate New York after the State of the State Address to hear the concerns of upstate residents and receive their input on the budget and his approach to the economic crisis we are living in.
On January 11, Governor Paterson did hold a townhall meeting in Watertown - the first stop of what was supposed to be his upstate tour. But since then, there have been zero townhall meetings. In fact, the Governor's townhall page has not been updated since that Watertown meeting.
In the January 5 press release I referenced to above, there is this paragraph about the townhall meetings and when they would be announced.
Governor Paterson will travel throughout Upstate New York in the next six weeks, and will hold at least four town hall meetings and other public events. In addition to Sunday's Watertown meeting, Governor Paterson plans to hold State of the State town hall meetings in Western New York, the Finger Lakes region and the Southern Tier. The full Upstate travel schedule will be announced after the Governor's State of the State Address.
The emphasis on that last sentence is mine. I emphasis that last sentence because the State of the State Address was given almost three weeks ago on January 7. Today is January 27 and over the last 20 days, there has been no updates given regarding the upstate townhalls. That schedule that was to be released following the State of the State Address has not been unveiled. And Paterson traveling "throughout Upstate New York in the next six weeks" has not happened.
Tomorrow will mark the third week since Paterson gave his State of the State Address. He said (or the press office did) that instead of having a separate address for upstate, these townhalls would be his way of communicating with residents of upstate to hear their concerns and allow them to voice their opinions. Three weeks in, with the exception of the Watertown meeting, he has failed to do that.
It has been acknowledged by many that this state's power structure resides in New York City. Governor Paterson hails from New York City. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is from New York City. Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith is from New York City.
If we are truly one New York, we need to be shown that this is one New York. I would hope that the schedule for the upstate townhall meetings will be unveiled soon so that we know that this wasn't just an empty promise given to us prior to the State of the State Address. |
