FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 11, 2017

Speaker Heastie Announces Statewide Regional Tour


Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie today announced plans for a statewide regional tour of New York this summer to visit with colleagues and learn about the challenges unique to each area of the state. The tour will kick off this week in Central New York.

"Two years ago, when I first became Speaker, I made it a priority to visit regions outside of New York City so I could better understand the needs of the diverse communities in New York," said Heastie. "It helped me gain a better perspective of how the actions we take in Albany affect different communities and we were able to take that knowledge and put it to practical use. We have so much in common and getting to know the state and its various needs helps us to shape our legislative agenda in Albany."

After visiting Syracuse and Central New York this week, Heastie will travel to Rochester, the North Country, and Western New York in the coming weeks. Later in the summer and fall, he will be visiting the Plattsburgh region, the Capital District and the Mohawk Valley, the Hudson Valley, the Southern Tier, and Long Island.

"Since becoming Speaker, we have been able to make significant gains for our upstate communities," said Heastie. "More needs to be done. We are working together to address the heroin and opioid epidemic. We have made major investments in water quality improvement and upstate transportation systems and are building on efforts to combat poverty in communities everywhere. My goal is to listen to the concerns in each of the regions I will be visiting and work with our members to address their needs."