Schumer, Clinton - Key Senate Panel Approves $250,000 for Renovations to the Luckey Platt Building

SCHUMER, CLINTON: KEY SENATE PANEL APPROVES $250,000 FOR RENOVATIONS TO THE LUCKEY PLATT BUILDING

Funding part of FY 2005 VA-HUD Appropriations Bill

US Senators Charles E. Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton announced today that a Senate panel has given preliminary approval for $250,000 to the City of Poughkeepsie for renovations to the historic Luckey Platt Building.

The news came as the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the Fiscal Year 2005 Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development and Independent Agencies bill late yesterday. With its passage by the Senate Appropriations Committee, the bill will now be sent to the Senate floor. The bill must then go into conference with the House version before its final approval by Congress.

"When I went on an economic development tour of Poughkeepsie with Mayor Nancy Cozean and other local officials on January 15th of this year, the Luckey Platt building was one of the new Mayor's top priorities," said Schumer. "I want to see the federal government support the city's efforts to create a public-private partnership that will restore the former department store to its place as the cornerstone of a lively downtown Poughkeepsie and a revitalized Main Street."

"The Luckey Platt Building is a significant landmark, not only for its place in architectural history, but for its place in the history of Poughkeepsie. We are so fortunate to have this wonderful piece of heritage in downtown Poughkeepsie and I am committed to doing everything I can to preserve it for future generations," Senator Clinton said. "We have to do everything we can to preserve our heritage and to show the world the wonders of this region. I am pleased that these funds will help us do just that."