OGDENSBURG – The Republican candidate for New York State Assembly, 116th District Scott Gray is calling on state leaders to address “nuisance properties” on the grounds of the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center in Ogdensburg.

In the Assembly Bill A5337, the State discusses how “nuisance properties now litter Upstate New York presenting particularly tough challenges. The State further explains that these properties have a “negative impact” on communities as the properties “languish in legal limbo” and further “blighting the communities and depressing property values.”

The State believes this bill will alleviate these conditions and “remediate nuisance conditions” and provide opportunity for redevelopment of properties. The intent of the bill is also to allow “remediation of nuisance conditions” that will hopefully no longer “depress the value of surrounding properties.

“I am calling on the State to take the lead and demonstrate by example. In Ogdensburg, the site of the NYS Psychiatric Center where several huge structures are “abandoned” and the abandoned property is acting as a hindrance for any kind of “redevelopment” to take place at this prime location. The state is the owner of these “Nuisance Properties” and has stood by while they have deteriorated and decayed over the last 20 years,” Gray stated. “These Nuisance Properties in Ogdensburg need to be torn down and the land needs to be repurposed. This will allow for further development along the shores of the St. Lawrence River in Ogdensburg and restore valuable property.”

“New York State needs to show they can lead by example. You cannot help but notice the irony between the legislation and this site. The State needs to walk the walk and not just talk the talk,” he added.

“I would hope that the State will follow through on this bill and continue to follow through with action like cleaning this site up in the future so that they may lead by example and let the land be repurposed,” said Gray.