Gov. Kathy Hochul's state of the state focused on the future of New York laying out plans for fighting crime, combating mental health, strengthening the economy and addressing the housing crisis.
Democratic State Senator John Mannion said he believes the address will resonate with central New Yorkers.
"They want safe communities," Mannion said. "They want affordability. They want quality health care and that includes mental health care and they want opportunities. And the governor hit all of those things. "
Mannion said he was happy to hear Hochul address mental health needs — especially those linked to social media — saying its a challenge in central New York.
"Acknowledgment that even though we have said we're going to fund the system of mental health, we're not quite there and we can be more intentional making sure that it's in schools and dedicating additional facilities for that," Mannion said.
Mannion commended Hochul for acknowledging the retail crime sector and for having the transparency to note the state is losing population.
Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay said crime, affordability and out-migration were some of the key issues he and the Republican conference in New York are focused on.
“She talked about crime going down but things like shoplifting and other crimes have skyrocketed," Barclay said. "So, she’ll have a willing partner with us in the Assembly conference in the Assembly to try and tackle some of these problems but I guess the devil’s in the details and we want to see exactly what she’s proposing.”
Barclay said he was disappointed to not hear Hochul elaborate on the state's migrant crisis.
"They’re talking that the migrant crisis is going to be somewhere upwards of $12 billion when we’re going into a budget year where our budget is going to be constrained, I’d be curious as to how she wants to deal with that," Barclay said.
The governor said she'll be addressing fiscal issues like caring for migrants and a structural deficit in her budget address next week.
Hochul's state of the state also laid out plans to create four workforce development centers with a flagship facility in Syracuse to prepare workers for the growing semiconductor industry.
