Joined by local officials and representatives of Rural/Metro Medical Services, Chuck discusses the need to boost medicare reimbursements to ambulance providers in Rochester.

Hi! Welcome to Chuck Schumer's Rochester and Finger Lakes office, including Cayuga, Seneca, Yates,

Ontario, Wayne, Monroe, Livingston, Tompkins, and Schuyler counties. If we can help you with anything, feel free to give us a call at 585-263-5866 or contact one of our other offices.

Chuck's Activities in the Finger Lakes
Here are some highlights of what Chuck has done for the Finger Lakes. For a complete index of Finger Lakes related press releases, please scroll down or click here.

• Chuck secured slots for JetBlue at JFK airport in New York City in exchange for getting commitments from the low-cost airline to serve Rochester, Buffalo, and Syracuse within its first 18 months. Chuck fulfilled this pledge in May, when he announced that JetBlue would start serving Syracuse. JetBlue is now the second largest carrier in Rochester.
  
  
• Chuck secured $3.5 million in federal appropriations for fast ferry terminal improvements. This economic development project is designed to create high-speed ferry service between Rochester and Toronto, facilitating the transport of 800-1,000 passengers per trip.
  
  
• Chuck worked to ensure Microsoft's new operating system Windows XP did not unfairly stifle competition from other software manufacturers like Rochester-based Kodak. Chuck called on the Justice Department, to include Windows XP in any settlements with Microsoft, asked state Attorneys General to consider blocking the release of Windows XP until anti-competitive features of the software were removed, and called for Senate hearings into anti-competitive practices related to Windows XP.
  
  
• Chuck worked to secure the Justice Department decision to drop private landowners from Indian land claims lawsuits filed on behalf of Indian tribes in New York State. Chuck asked for a review of the case by Justice Department lawyers, and the decision to drop the private landowners from the suit was made at his constant urging.
  
  

  Chuck joins Habitat for Humanity in completing construction on a home in Rochester on January 8, 2002.

  
  
• Chuck convinced Amtrak to add a stop in Lyons, Wayne County. The new stop will both boost tourism and improve overall access to the Wayne/Finger Lakes area.
  
  
• Working with Rep. Slaughter, Chuck helped secure over the past two years $5.3 million in the federal budget for Rochester Institute of Technology's National Center for Remanufacturing and Resource Recovery, a pollution prevention and energy conservation initiative. The Center will use the funds to develop a plan for modifying ships using much of their original parts, saving the Navy a considerable amount of money.
  
  
• Chuck led the fight to restore $2.67 Million for Ontario County hospitals, including $961,000 for F.F. Thompson in Canandaigua, $966,000 for Geneva General, and $736,000 for Clifton Springs Hospital. Working with the Congressional Delegation, Chuck led the effort to restore $35 million to Rochester area hospitals and $1.6 billion for New York State in unintended cuts caused by the Balanced Budget Agreement of 1997. Chuck is now working to ensure that the financial crisis that recently engulfed Rochester's Genessee Hospital does not threaten the viability of other area hospitals.
  
  
• With Senator Clinton, Chuck inserted a provision into the FY 2001 Senate Energy Appropriations bill that would ban proposals to begin oil and natural gas exploration and drilling in the Finger Lakes National Forest, the only national forest in New York and the smallest in the country. The park is a major Finger Lakes attraction, hosting over 46,000 visitors yearly.
  
  
• Chuck kept a promise he made to Canandaguia last summer by securing $200,000 for the Lagoon Park project. The 34-acre wetland complex will allow visitors to enjoy wildlife areas in an urban setting through a series of pathways and bridges.
  
  
• Chuck persuaded the U.S. Army to agree to make improvements to the closed Seneca Army Depot, as Seneca County makes plans for its reuse. The Army left several buildings in disrepair after last year's base closure. Chuck visited the depot with the Army's base closure chief to ask for additional improvements that would enhance the county's ability to attract private sector tenants and create jobs for Finger Lakes residents.
  
  
• Chuck is working to bring a Center of Excellence to Rochester that will help develop the entire area's burgeoning optics industry. By creating a center that can pool the research efforts of the area's leading optics companies, the Center will help solidify the ties of companies like Kodak and Xerox to the area and provide jobs to students from area schools like RIT, and the University of Rochester. Chuck secured $4 million in optics research funds in the FY 2002 Senate Appropriations Bill — the first federal funding for the proposed center.
  
  
• Chuck hosted a meeting with some of the Wall Street's most preeminent venture capitalists earlier this year in an effort to showcase the area's business opportunities. That meeting is already paying dividends as some of the of the local start-up companies are now having follow-up meetings with some of the venture capitalists who participated.
  
  
• Chuck played an instrumental role in the Senate in obtaining a record $70 million in direct payments to New York's apple and dairy farmers in the FY2001 Agriculture Appropriations Bill. This money is in addition to financial assistance that Chuck obtained from FEMA on behalf of upstate farmers who suffered crop losses as a result of prolonged drought conditions in '99 and extensive flooding conditions in '00.
  
  
• Chuck worked with Rep. Louise Slaughter to cut the wool tariff that suit manufacturers like Hickey-Freeman had to pay. By cutting the tariff, which threatened Hickey-Freeman's viability, the lawmakers successfully helped protect 700 jobs at the suit manufacturing company.
  
  
• Chuck lobbied Corning CEO Ackerman to build the company's new fiber optic manufacturing facility in Monroe County. The plant is located in Henrietta.