SKANEATELES, N.Y. – “You’ve been waiting 20 years? Well, there’s a new sheriff in town,” said Governor David Paterson.
The relief was apparent in Skaneateles, where for two decades, residents and officials have asked the state to do something about truck traffic clogging village and town streets, especially large garbage haulers who've opted to divert off the interstates and follow shortcuts on their runs to area landfills.
The governor said he would take steps to affect the entire Finger Lakes region.
“I am directing the New York State Department of Transportation to promulgate new regulations that will make sure that, from now on, these large trucks and big rigs operate on our interstate highways and not the back roads that run through this community,” said Paterson.
Joining a parade of mainly republican lawmakers praising the governor's action, was Senator Charles Schumer, who had come to the village nearly two years ago to join in the campaign for a change. He remembered that initial news conference.
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“Every second minute, a huge hauling truck filled with noxious, smelly garbage drove by. And you could see how it ruined the town,” Schumer said. “Now, today, we don't have any of those garbage trucks. They heard that we're coming. But I told the governor this is a dry run for what's going to happen every day in June, when there won't be any more of these trucks here and they will be here at their peril.”
This new effort in Skaneateles and elsewhere across the Finger Lakes is a test. If it works here, it will be expanded, statewide.
People in places like Skaneateles expect the impact to be immediate.
“You have noise. You have air pollution. You have the traffic issues with them. You have the smell. It's definitely going to improve our quality of life in Skaneateles,” said Mayor Robert Green.
The plan is due June 1st. The governor says he will have the new rules put in effect as quickly as possible after that.
An estimated 1.9 million trucks haul cargo through Central New York each year.