ELLICOTTVILLE
Massa voices optimism for recovery
ELLICOTTVILLE — Rep. Eric J. J. Massa, D-Corning, spent his 99th day in office at a town meeting Monday in the Ellicottville American Legion, dishing out dollops of reality and reassurance to more than 60 area officials and constituents.
“The overarching reality of my experience [as a freshman congressman] has been one of tremendous optimism,” he said, referring to the stimulus package and hope for the economy.
“We will come out of the recession stronger and sooner than our strongest [international] competitors,” he said. “We are doing more now than any of our international competitors are doing.”
Massa repeated his commitment to agriculture but admitted that the House Agriculture Committee can do little to control the minimum milk price.
He was responding to a question from Cathy Andera of Great Valley, who pointed to shrinking milk checks and uninspected imported foods that, she said, soon will force many local farmers out of business.
He said he is working on accelerating milk price support payments and noted that farmers and car dealers share short-term credit problems caused by a frozen banking system.
Donald Nowak of Ashford asked Massa if he would consider an alternative route for the Route 219 expressway to save money on construction and avoid environmental problems.
Massa said he will not let up the pressure to move the project forward, citing safety issues and the need for access to and from the region, but he agreed to consider an alternative route.
Dennis Eshbaugh of Holiday Valley and the Route 219 Association welcomed Massa’s views and said industries desperately need the expressway.
Stating that he knows nuclear power because of his military career — he is a retired Navy commander and the only congressman who has stood watch over a nuclear reactor — Massa promised to help the public make its views known on a second phase of environmental review for cleaning up the West Valley Demonstration Project.
Many in the crowd applauded when Massa repeated his often-stated vow not to vote for any new gun control legislation.
“We have not yet begun to enforce the federal gun legislation that exists. More laws will not solve the tragedies,” he said, referring to the Binghamton massacre.
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