Cuomo Touts LaGuardia, Tappan Zee Projects Upstate

BOLTON LANDING, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo met with labor unions upstate Tuesday, and touted investments in major construction projects such as the new Tappan Zee Bridge and a plan to rebuild LaGuardia Airport.

Cuomo spoke to meetings of the New York State Pipefitters and Plumbers and the New York State Laborers at Lake George Tuesday.

The governor was named a ``Champion of Organized Labor'' by the laborers' union and received the ``New York Builder'' award from the pipefitters.

Cuomo detailed the $4 billion LaGuardia project at an event Monday that featured Vice President Joe Biden.

"LaGuardia is 'un-New York,'" Cuomo said Monday. "LaGuardia is slow, it's dated, it is a terrible front-door entrance way to New York. It is a lost opportunity. It is almost universally decried as a poor representation of an airport, let alone a New York airport."

He said the current airport is a collection of cramped terminals with high volume and low ceilings. It conveniently located, but run-down and shabby compared to other airports, CBS2's Lou Young reported Monday.

On Tuesday Cuomo said the work -- along with the $3.9 billion Tappan Zee replacement -- are the types of ``big, visionary'' projects that will build a ``new future'' for the state.

(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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