BUFFALO, NY-- There's bi-partisan outrage from our local lawmakers directed at the Governor for his latest veto.
Governor Cuomo rejected a bill that would have kept open the Western New York Children's Psychiatric Center in West Seneca.
The state's plan is to consolidate it into the adult facility in the City of Buffalo, right by Buffalo State.
The state argues the West Seneca site is in need of costly repairs and that the state already spent more than $5 million dollars on the Buffalo center, so it can serve both adults and children in separate quarters.
New York State Assemblyman Mickey Kearns, a proponent for keeping the children's psych center in West Seneca, issued this statement:
"I am utterly disappointed by Governor Cuomo's decision to veto legislation that would have kept the WNY Children's Psychiatric Center open in West Seneca. Ignoring the voices of all of his colleagues in the legislature, who voted unanimously in favor of this bill, ignoring the more than 16,000 residents who signed a petition asking the Governor to keep the Children's Psychiatric Center in West Seneca, ignoring the numerous medical and mental health experts who showed evidence as to why this facility needed to remain open where it is, and most importantly ignoring the pleas from the patients and their families to keep the center open, is a completely unacceptable use of governance and poor excuse for leadership. Governor Cuomo owes an explanation to all of these parties.
'Bigger and better' is not a justifiable reason to close a facility that has saved the lives of vulnerable children across New York State. We don't need hindsight to see that moving this facility, to the same campus as adult psychiatric patients, downtown in a busy urban environment, will be a colossal mistake and detrimental to the health and wellbeing of children seeking these valuable services."
