After the recent revelation from Donna Luh I felt  it was very important to send this letter to the NY State Comptroller and the WNY delegation from the Assembly and Senate.
 
    Everyone should be thinking as they drive over the Grand Island bridges, these tolls are paying for an airport and a section of the Thruway  in Hudson Valley. The richest community this side of New York City, WHY?
 

January 7, 2009

To The Office of the State Comptroller

Attn:  Thomas DiNapoli, Mary Louise Mallick and Jennifer Freeman

Good Afternoon,

Monday, our local radio station WBEN, ran a story that was written by Dave Debo, one of their best reporters. In this report Dave interviewed Donna Luh, a board member for the NY State Thruway Authority.  She stated that our toll dollars are being used to run the Stewart Airport in Newburgh NY. This is in Hudson Valley, the same area where our toll dollars were funding two other sections of roadway, the 87 and the 84.  It just so happens the airport is close to the intersection of these two highways.

Two years ago when the Buffalo tolls were finally removed 10 years after they were required to be removed by State Law, one of these roads, the 84 or the 87, was given back to the DOT as part of the deal. Now we find out from Donna Luh that we are paying for an Airport in Hudson Valley. Is this true? Is this fact? As the petition creator at http://nogitolls.com/ , we need to know the answer to this question.

To be honest, this is infuriating. Would you please check for me and the rest of Western New York? Also I would like the list of everything that our toll dollars are being used for including how much money has been taken over the past few years to be put in the state budget. The Governor himself said that he would be using the surpluses from the authorities to help the budget. This is illegal as these funds are dedicated funds to be used for the thruway.

How much longer will we allow the state to use the Thruway and the Dormitory as borrowing agencies for the state, in violation of the Law?

Western New York is a depressed part of the state, where the economy is worse here than downstate - especially Hudson Valley, probably the richest community this side of NY City. Why are we paying for their roads and their airport with our toll dollars? In the meantime the NYSTA is "borrowing" $50+ Million to do work on the South Grand Island Bridge? This money has already been taken from us and well more in the 74 years we have been paying tolls to get home.

Thank you and it was a pleasure meeting you last year after the audit of the NYSTA.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.


Rus Thompson
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From the article by Dave Debo:
"In addition to running the toll road, the Thruway Authority operates the state barge canal system, runs Stewart Airport in Newburgh NY, and pays for the state police Thruway division.   Luh says the airport funding and a look at things like a $50 million allocation for the state police, will be reviewed as  he Volpe Center, a federal DOT technology think tank, starts to evaluate operations."

My interview on WBEN