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Coronavirus News: Governor Cuomo to meet with President Trump about state infrastructure plans

ByEyewitness News WABC logo

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Governor Cuomo talks about putting people back to work by improving infrastructure

Governor Cuomo will meet with President Trump about his plan on Wednesday.

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Governor Andrew Cuomo said almost all public officials have talked about the need for improvements to infrastructure.

"If ever there was a time to take on this major infrastructure need, this is the time," Cuomo said. "You need to restart the economy, you need to create jobs, and you need to renew and repair this country's economy and it's infrastructure."

He cited the dramatic lower volume of people using transit stations and airports during the coronavirus pandemic.

"The time to fix the hole in the roof is when the sun is shining," Cuomo said citing what he called an old "Queens expression."

The governor called his infrastructure improvement idea the way to "supercharge" the state's reopening plan.

Cuomo says that fast-tracking infrastructure projects like those at Penn Station and LaGuardia Airport can help with the economy.

He says he will discuss those plans as well as a proposal for an AirTrain to Laguardia, the Cross-Hudson Tunnels, and the Second Avenue Subway expansion project with President Trump in Washington, DC on Wednesday.

"This is one of the things I want to talk to the president about," Cuomo said. "Let's do something creative, let's do it fast, let's put Americans back to work, and let's make America better, it is common sense, it is common sense."

The governor added that he'd like to focus on renewable energy and adding cross-state transmission lines. He mentioned the low-cost hydropower available in Canada and said he'd like to get the lines built from Canada to New York City during this rebuilding time. He said that it would "invigorate the whole renewable market."