The Wall Street Journal - 22.08.2019

A10B| Thursday, August 22, 2019 ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.**

GEDDES, N.Y.—Gov. Andrew

Cuomo had just cut the ribbon

Wednesday to open the Great

New York State Fair, and now

he was ready for a ritual en-

joyed by most politicians who

attend the annual festival of

rides, fried food and agricul-

ture: Eating sausage.

The three-term governor’s

choice of Gianelli, a decades-

old local company, for the

ninth consecutive year has

irked some competitors.

The Syracuse-area fair has

about 130 food vendors that

sell sausage, said its director,

Troy Waffner, and some boast

Central New York roots that

go back decades. The oldest

sausage stand is Basilio’s,

which opened in 1956.

“I wish Governor Cuomo

would try a Basilio sausage

sandwich,” said Debra Golden,

owner of Basilio Buda Sausage,

which supplies that stand and

several others. “It would be

nice if he tried somebody else.”

Paul Basilio, 90 years old,

founded the stand and still vis-

its. It is now run by Gary Di-

George, who is in his 46th year

working the grill at the fair.

On a good day, Mr. Di-

George says he moves 300 to

400 pounds of Basilio sausage,

which has a medium-hot fla-

vor, slightly spiced with a hint

of fennel, on a chewy roll.

Mr. Cuomo’s apparent favor-

ite, Gianelli Sausage, is made

byG&LDavisMeat Co., which

was founded in 1946 by broth-

ers Gary and Lou Davis in Syra-

cuse and is run by their de-

scendants. The sausage is

plumper and juicier and served

on a softer roll.

Tom Young, who was direc-

tor of the state fair for 10 years

before serving as mayor of Syr-

acuse from 1986 to 1993, gave a

simple reason politicians pick

Gianelli: Like many things in

New York, it’s about real estate.

Gianelli’s stands are at the

end of the Midway and adja-

cent to a major courtyard. A

politician can easily enter the

fair, get photographed eating

the sausage and get out with-

out getting too deep into the

grounds, Mr. Young explained.

Peter Cappuccilli Jr., who

GREATER NEW YORK WATCH

HUDSON RIVER

Suit Against EPA

Seeks More Cleanup

New York officials who are

pushing for additional cleanup of

the Hudson River followed

through Wednesday on their

promise of a lawsuit against the

Environmental Protection

Agency.

The federal lawsuit seeks to

overturn the EPA’s decision in

April not to compel General Elec-

tric Co. to restart dredging for

polychlorinated biphenyls from

the upper river. Agency officials

had said more time and testing

are needed to fully assess the

$1.7 billion Superfund cleanup.

Boston-based GE discharged

tons of PCBs from factories

north of Albany decades ago

and completed removal of 2.

million cubic yards of contami-

nated river sediment in 2015.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and At-

torney General Letitia James,

both Democrats, said they

brought the lawsuit because

PCB contamination in the river

and its fish remain unacceptably

high. They argue that the “certif-

icate of completion” issued by

the EPA in April was unlawful

because the agency failed to en-

sure the cleanup would assure

the protection of human health

and the environment.

The EPA said Wednesday it

doesn’t comment on pending liti-

gation.

GE spokesman Mark Behan

wrote in an email that GE met

all its obligations and that 99%

of locations sampled in the up-

per river met the project’s

cleanup standard.

—Associated Press

NEW JERSEY

Renovation Planned

For Newark Station

Newark’s Penn Station is get-

ting more than $18 million in

renovations, transportation offi-

cials said. The money is coming

from the federal government and

will be used to repair Platform D,

which serves Tracks 3 and 4.

The work will include replac-

ing deck joints, applying a corro-

sion-resistant membrane, replac-

ing or repairing the overhead

canopy and lighting fixtures, offi-

cials said.

NJ Transit, which owns the sta-

tion, says renovations willimprove

customer safety and the quality of

the commute for rail passengers.

The U.S. Transportation Depart-

ment is funding the project.

—Associated Press

CONNECTICUT

Seniors Arrested

On Sex Charges

Six people ranging in age

from 62 to 85 face sex charges

after being arrested in a conser-

vation area in Connecticut.

The six—five men and an 85-

year-old woman—were involved

in lewd and sexual activity in the

Grace Richardson Conservation

Area in Fairfield earlier this

month, police said. The location

was being publicized on the inter-

net as a place for people to meet

and have sex. Police said they set

up surveillance in the area and

observed several violations.

Those arrested face charges

ranging from breach of peace to

public indecency.

—Associated Press

ALL THE BUZZ: A New York Police Department beekeeper removed

a swarm of bees Wednesday at 46th Street and Second Avenue.

SHANNON STAPLETON/REUTERS

ran the fair from 1995 to 2005,

started the Gianelli tradition

when he nudged then-Gov.

George Pataki, a Republican, to

eat there. In 2000, Hillary Clin-

ton teased her rival for the U.S.

Senate seat, then-Rep. Rick La-

zio, for declining to eat a sau-

sage during his fair visit. Mrs.

Clinton and her husband, by

contrast, wolfed down sausages

before a clutch of cameras.

Mr. Cuomo’s fair visits have

followed different paths, but

they always have involved Gi-

anelli’s. He was caught in a

thundershower during his 2014

visit and took his sausage to

go. In 2018, he arrived at the

stand early enough that a com-

missioner joked he should or-

der his sandwich with coffee.

On Wednesday, he walked

to a waiting car with a Gianelli

sandwich in hand and ex-

plained his preference.

“Gianelli is the tradition,”

he said. “And they make a

great sausage.”

The Great New York State

Fair runs through Sept. 2.

BYJIMMYVIELKIND

State Fair Kicks Off With Sausage

Gov. Andrew Cuomo held a Gianelli sausage while greeting a woman during opening day of the Great New York State Fair near

Syracuse on Wednesday. The three-term governor ate a sausage from the decades-old local company for the ninth consecutive year.

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