Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz looked ahead in his State of the County message Thursday, although he can still see COVID-19 in the rear-view mirror as an endemic, not a pandemic.
The county executive chose the Buffalo Bills Field House in Orchard Park as the site for his first live State of the County message since 2019.
He took a victory lap about the new stadium deal ensuring the Bills will be in Buffalo for another 30 years, saying in time people won't remember who built the stadium. He said it's now up to the football team to win a Super Bowl.
With the county awash in cash from state and federal COVID aid, he's also moving forward with new programs. Poloncarz said the county will put a lot of money and effort into kids worn down by the pandemic.
"Make it easier for parents to address youth mental health issues. We will develop an app that allows parents to identify the mental health services available in our community," he said. "Erie County is blessed to have many mental health resources for children. However, parents don't often know where to find the help their children need."
For the kids, the most obvious result of these programs will be an air scrubber, manufactured locally, in every classroom in the county.
Poloncarz said tens of millions of dollars also will be going into road, bridge and sewer projects across the county, in one-shot spending.
