May 21, 2008

MAINTENANCE OF COUNTY ROADS AND BRIDGES REMAIN A PRIORITY FOR WROBLEWSKI

As the Erie County Legislature's Chair of the Public Safety Committee, I have taken a very wide view of my responsibilities. Keenly interested in matters concerning the volunteer fire service, law enforcement, criminal justice, emergency services and disaster preparedness, I also believe the reach of the committee should extend beyond the traditional public safety domain to the condition of the county's road and bridge infrastructure. Clearly, public safety concerns have evolved from a historical lack of proper investment in road and bridge maintenance by Erie County under the prior County Executive.

To exacerbate the sad state of the County's capital assets, Bee readers may be aware of the year-long dispute between the Erie County Comptroller and the Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority on which entity should go to the New York City bond market with our capital borrowings. My constituents in the 9th District can be assured that the County Legislature did its part to move this process forward by approving a capital borrowing last year, and will soon approve another for this fiscal year.

The Comptroller and Control Board continue to haggle over the 2007 borrowing, no doubt to be followed by a discussion of the 2008 borrowing. Regardless of that debate, I have sought to maximize the utilization of taxpayer funds already approved in the current Erie County operating budget to make needed repairs and improvements in roads in West Seneca.

A good example is the drainage intake work done by county crews on East and West Road. Another initiative involves the Langer Bridge. A third Erie County maintenance project includes the striping of both county and town roads, in consultation with the Town of West Seneca. And, last but not least, is attending to the perennial proliferation of potholes following a winter filled with freeze and thaw cycles. County crews have concentrated on these important public safety concerns in our town.

I want to commend the Commissioner of the Erie County Department of Public Works, Gerard Sentz, for being responsive to my requests on behalf of the residents of West Seneca. He has recognized the high-volume of traffic on our thoroughfares, and has dispatched county road crews in a timely fashion. The work is far from over, but we are making progress.

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