Governor Spitzer and other dignitaries at Stewart Airport

Watch video of the Governor
Business reaction from
Orange County Chamber of Commerce President
John D'Ambrosio and
Charles North, President of the Poughkeepsie Area
Chamber of Commerce

Stewart Airport – Stewart Airport has the potential to be “an enormous engine” for the Hudson Valley’s economy, Governor Eliot Spitzer said Thursday. He came to the Newburgh area airport to participate in ceremonies marking the purchase of the operating lease by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The governor and Port Authority officials made it clear that they want Stewart to develop into a regional transportation and economic development hub.

The airport, which now has 300,000 passengers annually, can accommodate as many as three million per year with the current infrastructure, said Spitzer. And he said in the long term, he would like to see rail explored as an alternative means of bringing people to the airport.

Spitzer also announced a state grant of $500,000 to start a smart growth initiative.

These dollars that were part of the smart growth funding that was in this year’s budget will be spent to focus on Orange, Rockland, Sullivan counties, to make sure that what we do when Rt. 17 becomes I-86, when the Tappan Zee is rebuilt, when Stewart is expanding, when we are adding the jobs and vitality to the Hudson Valley that we desperately want, that we do it properly,” he said.

Jonathan Drapkin, president of Mid-Hudson Pattern for Progress, liked what he heard.

“The commitment of the governor to the smart growth effort is well thought out,” he said. “Strategic planning is a smart idea.”

Steven Rosenberg of Scenic Hudson said the initiative is “very significant” for proper growth in the region.

Spitzer also talked of the soon-to-be formed Community Advisory Board as further indication that the Port wants local input into the process to grow the facility. Rosenberg said after the ceremony that his organization looks forward to participating in the advisory board process.