Albany is a city that is over three
hundred years old. Because of its age, the City has
many unique problems that much younger municipalities
do not have to face. These include an aging infrastructure
(water and sewer); a housing stock that, while it
is well-built, is in need of rehabilitation; streets
that are too narrow for today's automobile culture;
trees that are reaching or past the end of their natural
life cycle; streets and sidewalks that are in need
of repair or replacement; and an ever-changing population
whose needs are different today, than the generation
that preceded them.
On the plus side, Albany is a city that
is over three hundred years old. A city that is one
of the last remaining vestiges of our Dutch heritage.
Buried beneath its streets and office buildings is
the history of our country - from pre-Colonial times,
to the Dutch settlers, to the Albany Plan of Union,
to the Underground Railroad and the Civil War, to
the "Great Wars" of the Twentieth Century
- Albany has seen it all! It is a history, that if
handled correctly, could turn the Capital City of
the State of New York into one of the best historic-oriented
tourist destinations in North America.
With this as the background, where Albany
goes in the future depends on the application of Common
Sense planning. Albany has two ways to go - either
as a first class tourist stop with historical displays,
upgraded infrastructure including streets and sidewalks,
a pedestrian-friendly downtown, and an increase of
owner-occupied housing or, a city on the decline with
its present trend of blighted neighborhoods full of
vacant buildings, pot-holed and litter-strewn streets,
violence, and an attitude that it's better to keep
buried our ancient treasures than to preserve them
for present and future generations.
Common Sense tells us that for Albany
to become a city for the future:
1. The City's administration must stop
its dependency on borrowing moneys to pay for every
day operating expense items, such as the recently
negotiated firefighters contract that is dependent
upon the city borrowing close to $7 million in 2004.
Instead of increasing the debt load at an alarming
rate, the City leaders must act to decrease the overall
debt. I have proposed that future capital expenditures
be at a level which is 5% less than what is being
paid off in that year's budget.
2. A long range Master Plan for land
use, zoning needs, and neighborhood revitalization
must be developed and adhered to. Citizen input is
a MUST for this process to proceed and succeed. The
current haphazard way that decisions are made, without
forethought and open public discussion, has to end.
The administration needs to look at every proposal
in light of how that particular proposal will fit
in the BIG PICTURE of revitalization. The only way
to do this is to have a Master Plan in place.
3. The City's past must become its
future. Municipalities such as St. Augustine, Florida
and Alexandria, Virginia have built their present
and future success on their past historical richness.
Albany can do the same thing. For this reason, one
of my first legislative initiatives, when I became
a Common Council Member in 2002, was to introduce
Local Laws creating the Office of City Archaeologist
and an Archaeological Commission. I am happy to report
that the Mayor, in 2003, introduced similar legislation
and, after working together to develop the best proposal,
the Common Council is poised to adopt the proposals
in early 2004.
4. Take back our streets. The perception
of Albany as an unsafe city must be changed if we
are to attract new residents to the city and to make
Albany a destination place. To that end, cooperation
between all levels of law enforcement - city, county,
state, and federal - must be encouraged. I have proposed
that a Task Force be created that will promote such
cooperation. Community leaders and residents must
also be included on this Task Force if we are going
to succeed in making Albany a safe and desirable place
in which to live and/or visit.
5. Albany Neighborhoods. Albany is
a "City of neighborhoods." The health of
each and every neighborhood directly affects the health
of the whole City. When one neighborhood starts to
decline, the adjacent neighborhoods will soon follow.
This vicious cycle must be stopped. To that end, I
would like to see an Albany Housing Construction Authority
created by New York State to provide and/or find funding
for rebuilding our neighborhoods. A convention center
is nice, and if a private company wants to build one
in Albany, I have no objections to it, but I have
yet to meet anyone who told me that they chose to
live where they do because of their proximity to a
convention center. The way to revitalizing our city
rests with revitalizing our neighborhoods and making
them attractive to prospective homebuyers.
Albany, the Capital City of the State
of New York, is walking a tightrope between becoming
a City of the Future, or a City which has already
seen its future come and go. By using a Common Sense
approach for revitalizing the City, Albany will become
a City of the Future. It will take hard work, sacrifice,
and a vision to see the whole process through to the
end, but it can happen. All we have to do is use Common
Sense when making our investment choices and self-restraint
when it comes to borrowing for today and paying for
it later. Let us build on our past to make Albany
a city for the new century.
