Republican Leaders Say Reopen State Government To The People

Senate Republican Leader Robert Ortt and Assembly Republican Leader Will Barclay have written to State Office of General Services Commissioner RoAnn Destito, requesting a plan to safely reopen the State Capitol and surrounding areas to the public.

The State Capitol has been closed to visitors since last March and the Empire State Plaza has been covered with fences and other heavy barricades for months.

Ortt says as the infection rate goes down and the vaccination rate goes up, COVID-related restrictions in place at the Capitol and the Plaza have become clearly outdated and unnecessary in many cases.

"It is well past time for leaders in Albany to commit to safely reopening the seat of our state government for the sake of the people we were elected to represent. The pandemic and the scandals that cast a dark cloud over the State Capitol have also exposed many flaws in the functioning of our democratic process this past year. I believe any efforts to reopen the Capitol to visitors -- and make the surrounding area as welcoming to New Yorkers as possible -- would go a long way toward restoring transparency and accountability to a state government desperately in need of both,” said Ortt.