First, I would like to give a shout out to all of our out of town visitors to our fair city. Albany, the capital of the State of New York offers a wide variety of things to do for our visitors. It is a hub for activities that can be enjoyed in any season. We offer the finest hotels, cuisine to satisfy any palatte, and museums for the art lover. Not to mention the Capital Center which offers convention space and room for exhibits. There is also the Times Union Center that offers first line concerts and sporting events. Go to our host website at albany.com when you hit town to figure out what you’re going to do with your time in Albany, enjoy.
One of the places you can’t miss when you are in town is Lark Street. If you are only in town for the weekend a trip to Lark Street is a must. Lark Street is sometimes referred to as “The Village Within The City”. It is an easy walk up the hill from the downtown hotels, where you will get to see some of our city’s spectacular architecture on the way. Now, the eclectic street, the part running between Washington and Madison Avenues, all 1928 feet of it might be in for some major upgrades. Now this could be a good thing, or a bad thing; it totally depends on who you talk to. First, you have the people that enjoy the street, but have to drive to it, second, you have the people who live there, third the business owners who line both sides of the street, and fourth, you have the people who work in those businesses. The main issue here is parking. Unlike downtown Albany, which at one time flourished, but at night rolls up the carpet, Lark Street thrives both day and night. Now, in the beginning, and I was once a tenant of a side street of Lark, I was totally on the fence about any changes to the street, even if it meant bringing more parking. Then I heard it involved taking away parking. Between the state workers, the people who worked there, the business owners, and the residential owners and tenants all vying for parking spots day or night, it’s bad enough now. It wasn’t until I had a conversation with Jevan Dollard, who is one of the two Co-Executive Directors for Lark Street BID. I won’t go into all the details of our talk, because you can see for yourself as I did, by going to their website larkstreetbid.org and clicking on the link for the drawings that were prepared by Bergmann Associates, who were commissioned to do the study by the Lark Street BID Board of Directors. You can see who’s on the Board by accessing the above link. As you will see for yourself, none of the Street’s charm and beauty is affected. And guess what. In the proposal, parking for a modest fee, is include for special events, and at night in a sizeable lot a few hundred feet west of Lark. A lot of things have to happen, and it is going to be a long time before shovels hit the ground, if at all. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and even though I don’t live there any longer, I still go there to eat and attend the special events. If you don’t like it, attend one of the public meetings. I heard there might be one in December. Don’t quote me on that. Follow me on Twitter. http://@jonmazur
Sometimes I just cannot help myself. Colin Kaepernick the disgruntled ex-quarterback of the San Francisco 49’ers worked out for NFL scouts some days ago. Now you remember this idiot. He was the one who refused to stand when our National Anthem was being played before the game, opting instead to kneel, firing up all kinds of people, including Mazur. Now can you imagine if your son or daughter was serving in the Middle East,or worst yet,was killed over there. Now here is this moron taking charge of this tryout, moving the venue and time as not to create a media circus. Guess what jackass, you are the media circus. You haven’t played professional football in three years and you expect these people to bend to your ridiculous whims. If I were a team owner, and one of my team people attended that “tryout”I would fire them on the the spot. Grow up bozo.