Some nice Saturday afternoon get in your car and take a ride to downtown Albany. Start on North Pearl Street at State and drive north past all the trendy bars and restaurants to the Palace Theater. Take a left onto Clinton Avenue and start counting. Drive up Clinton to Henry Johnson Blvd. and take a left. Go two blocks to Sheridan Avenue, take another left and keep counting. Drive down Sheridan back to Pearl Street and what have you got? A fine example of urban blight Albany style. What was your count? On those two streets alone, there are probably a couple of hundred boarded up or abandoned houses that are so structurally unsound they are unfit for occupancy. In the City of Albany there are close to a thousand of these properties city wide. These buildings, most if not all, are one hundred year old wooden fires waiting to happen. It happens all the time. A vacant building catches fire, and the two on each side, occupied or not, inevitably catch fire as well. Now the city is responsible for the demolition of three buildings, not to say the relocation of families affected by the fire. The mayor wants to borrow two million dollars for neighborhood revitalization, and the Albany Common Council in a recent meeting wants a more comprehensive plan exacting the properties affected. You could spend the $2 million in that process alone. The Historic Albany Foundation, the self serving group, and it’s self serving executive director Susan Holland also chimed in with their concerns about where the money would be spent. Tell you what, Susan, why don’t you walk through those buildings one at a time and tell us which ones can come down. Everyone knows that the city has a lot of historic roots and architecture (That is clearly evident when they halt construction for weeks because they excavated some broken pottery,) but you can’t save every one. The mayor talks about revitalization of these areas. The only areas developers are interested in are the ones closest to downtown, which they will turn into townhouses and apartments unaffordable to Arbor Hill or West Hill residents. It’s time to talk about getting rid of these city wide firetraps; and talk about revitalization later. If a developer wants to build downtown, let him be responsible for the demolition. Another thing: how many of these abandoned buildings are paying their tax bills? I’d venture to say a lot of them are not. So, council members, it’s not time for you to get into a pissing contest with the mayor over the $2 million he wants for revitalization. It’s time to focus on getting rid of these dangerous eyesores.……….R.I.P. Nebraska Brace. Mr. Brace was a true pioneer in the African-American community. He was a presence in Albany in the ’60’s and ’70’s and did make a difference in local politics. The “Sharp Dressed Man” will truly be missed.
And that is “The Daily Take”