Why is it every time a politician tells you that it’s a good deal for everyone, everyone tends to be wary? Last night the Albany County Legislature overwhelmingly voted in favor to buy the Family Court Building on Clinton Avenue. The county knew back in January that they either had to buy the building or sign a new lease agreement with Columbia Development (the owner of the building) for at least $2 mil annually. Now it’s June, they just approved it, so it’s at least two months before they close on the building. That’s six months, or a $1 million loss to taxpayers. Wasn’t that issue kind of important? I can fully understand county exec. McCoy wanting to distance himself from the entire mess created by his predecessor Mike Breslin, but now the county is in hock for around $37 million over the course of the deal for a building that cost less than $15 million to build. The only winner in this was Columbia Development, who along with it’s building partner BBL seem to get their way in any dealing in the city of Albany.……….There was a march in the city of Albany over the weekend called “The Tale of Two Cities March.” The march obviously organized by the Occupy Albany group of professional protestors included people from three predominantly low income areas of the city. I read the story in the paper, and I’m still trying to figure out exactly what the march was all about. First I thought it was concerning the abandoned building issue, which I guess was part of it, then there was talk of jobs, mailboxes, schools, and according to Shana from occupy “marginalized people.” It would have been nice to have some local ward leaders there for a little credibility. Message to occupy: You are professional protestors, you are against anything that most people are for. Rule No. 1: Never organize a march if nobody is going to care.
And that is “The Daily Take”