Senator Kirsten Gillibrand tours the Mohawk Valley
Story Created:
May 26, 2009 at 3:41 PM EST
Story Updated:
May 27, 2009 at 9:54 AM EST
(WKTV) - New York's junior U.S. Senator got to know the Mohawk Valley and its people Tuesday afternoon.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand spent time in Whitesboro, where she was the guest speaker at the Mohawk Valley Edge's 'Leading Edge' awards; Rome, where she toured Rome Labs with Congressman Michael Arcuri; and Utica, where she visited with taxpayers at the Marr-Logg Restaurant. The Senator knows the Mohawk Valley has taken its hits, but says she plans to build on its strengths.
"I think some of the opportunities are to broaden our ability to manufacture small parts, technology parts, cyber security advancement-- that's the kind of work we're uniquely poised here in the Mohawk Valley to be very successful at because we have the resources in terms of excellent employees, excellent universities, excellent training," said Senator Gillibrand.
A Gillibrand staffer says the Senator gets some of her best legislative ideas at local eateries, where she gets to meet with people who might not normally attend a town meeting or community forum. At the Marr-Logg, dairy farmers got to talk to the Senator about the challenges they face.
"She does have a great grasp of what's going on on the farm and meetings like this here today there's a lot of farmers in this room who are overall talking to her, showing her our milk checks from the past few months," said West Winfield dairy farmer Dale Covert.
Gillibrand says she can advocate for the Mohawk Valley in the U.S. Senate by fighting for money for the area for much needed infrastructure improvements which she says will enable the area to grow jobs and the economy.
"What we want to focus on is how I can bring money from the federal government into the local community and one of the ways we can do that is through water infrastructure so alot of my focus will be how can we get those dollars -- I'm on the environment and public works committee -- so on my committee I can hopefully bring those federal dollars here to the Mohawk Valley to make a difference for our community so they can have basic infrastructure so they can grow."
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