Saving a City With Help from the Residents


By DIA, Section News
Posted on Wed May 14, 2008 at 04:15:35 AM EST

I've long advocated for the Albany city adminstration to work with the people of the city to fix many of the problems we have. A huge problem is that during the Jennings' adminstration the number of vacant buildings has more than doubled to an amount close to 1,000. A very big problem. The Jennings' adminstration has done nothing to address it other than tear down some buildings. Much more needs to be done to get those vacant buildings out of the hands of absentee landlords and on the market. I've advocated for raising the taxes on the buildings because the current assessments place no value on the buildings so they owners pay no taxes. And thus have no incentive to sell the buildings. And since there is no code enforcement in Albany, the buildings rot. And ruin neighborhoods. Now recently we were treated to several articles and TU editorials about the great Knox Street Success. The city hired a developer to renovate 18 buildings on Knox street in Albany.
Boston-based WinnDevelopment is rehabilitating 18 buildings on Knox Street, converting 62 cramped apartments to 47 roomier ones in the first phase of the Park South Urban Renewal Plan. Adopted by the city in 2005, the plan aims to restore the neighborhood with retail, commercial and office development.

The $12.5 million project was paid for with funds from the city's Community Development Agency, low-income tax credits from the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, and tax credits from the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
That works out to $700,000 a building. As pointed out at the time, that is an obscene amount of money to renovate those style of buildings. But that is what happens when you use tax payer dollars and huge developers. You use up all your money on 18 buildings and then you are done. No more money. No more neighborhood improvement. Which is why there needs to be much more done in this city to help residents who want to help the city. I would buy vacant buildings and fix them up if they were for sale. I would employ local trades people and laborers to do this. But they are not for sale. And they rot. And they raise no tax revenue for the city. And they blight our neighborhoods. Now, there are people buying and fixing up and selling vacant buildings in Albany. And it works. This needs to be expanded upon. The city needs to work with these people, not against them. They use their own money. Private enterprise. It works. Case in point:
Sid Fleisher grew tired of the cold and quiet hulls that dotted his neighborhood, the dark buildings where no children played, no dogs romped and no televisions blared.

So over the years, he purchased a few of the vacant buildings and gussied them up. He brought them back to life.

He isn't alone. There are others taking on South Troy's abandoned buildings.

There is, for example, Judy Meyer, who in recent years has bought and rehabbed three vacant structures. Or Melissa and Jeremiah Roberts, a young couple now rehabbing the long-empty building that will be their home
A young couple rehabbing a vacant building that they will live in? Sounds great. How on earth did a young couple come up with the $700,000 to rehab a building?
Their first project, aptly, is on Madison Street. The bought the building, vacant for four or five years, for $40,000 and have already spent $80,000 on a renovation that is giving the building top-notch energy efficiency.

This summer, they hope to end construction and sell the building at 109 Madison St. to an owner occupant.

"Part of the reason for doing this is to develop more of a sense of community in the neighborhood," Fleisher said.

Said Furman: "Right now, we'd be happy just making a slim profit on it."

Slim profit is an apt description of Meyer's last project, a former saloon on Fourth Street. She bought it for $30,000, spent $110,000 on a renovation and sold it for $145,000.

Meyer is now wrapping up her most recent renovation. She's planning an open house for the project at 64 Washington St. from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

"It's my semiretirement hobby," Meyer said.

While Meyer sells her buildings, Melissa and Jeremiah Roberts plan to hold on to theirs.

The couple, each in their late 20s, bought the two-story building in April for just $59,000 and are spending $15,000 to fix it up. The last owner had actually begun the renovation, but walked away before it was complete.

But it was complete enough for the Roberts and their boxer, Timo, to move in before they finish the renovation.
Notice something in there? Those numbers are missing a zero when compared to the numbers that Winn Development and the City of Albany spent on rehabbing similar buildings. This is how you fix neighborhoods, not by having developers make huge profits to do one block.

If you doubt me. Take a walk through Mansion Hill, or Ten Broeck, or Center Square, or Madison Avenue on the Park. All of these areas have seen significant private investment. They have high owner occupancy rates. They have been revitalized. Not because of the city but despite the city. And yet Jerry Jennings' views these people as the problem, not the solution. Because people who fix up their own homes and live in the city are hard working and competent. And pay a lot of taxes. And they expect a hard working competent mayor in return for their taxes. And they aren't getting that.

We need a Mayor with the vision to see things like this. You can't hire a company to "develop" neighborhoods. They can fix up some buildings real nice for a lot of money. And then leave. And not give a damn about the fact that right around the corner from the Knox Block, there are vacant buildings and trouble. They won't be attending any local meetings about how to fix those buildings. They won't be picking up garbage or planting flowers. They won't be there when their tenants start to tear shit up.

If you don't work with the people who live in the city, you will never fix a thing.

The best example of this is the Albany Convention Center. This is what our leaders tell us will be the best for the future of downtown Albany. They propose no money or programs to increase homeownership and vacant building restoration in downtown. No programs to try to get vacant buildings into the hands of people who will fix them up and live in them(or sell them to people who will live there). Nada. They propose some program called "block by block" that is run by the police chief. Either they don't have a clue or they really just do not care. Either way, they need to go.

< Guns of Albany | Debate Reminder >

Menu

+ create account
+ faq
+ search

Login

Make a new account

Username:
Password:

Related Links

+ street in Albany.
+ Case in point:
+ Also by DIA
Display: Sort:
Saving a City With Help from the Residents | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)
Actually, He Does Know (none / 0) (#1)
by Dan Van Riper on Wed May 14, 2008 at 05:54:10 AM EST

As you know, DIA, I go to all these meetings and listen to these City officials try to fend off us taxpayers.  I can report that the top officials do indeed know that private individuals renovate and rehab buildings for a fraction of what it costs the government to do the exact same thing.  There are a myriad of cumulative reasons for this, but they mostly come down to the cost of regulations and labor.

I have even heard The Mayor Himself listlessly admit that this is so.  But His Majesty does not and has never liked the idea of people actually moving into Albany and living here.  He has always seen himself as presiding over a dying City.  But before it died, He and His cronies were to profit from the City's death, and finally He planned to bulldoze everything downtown and leave a wasteland.

But The Mayor is also a practical politician and He sees the trends.  So He has allowed Himself to be dragged along with the new realities, a reversal of the suburbanizing trend of the last fifty years.  Without going into elaborate detail, Jerry has to collect his graft from somewhere, and that somewhere is in rehabbing downtown whether he likes it or not.

The expensive government housing initiatives have never been seen as anything except a stimulus.  The idea is to encourage small investors to come into areas that they would have considered unthinkable before, such as Park South, Arbor Hill, and of course the big but mostly unsung projects here in the South End.  And from what I see around me, it is working as intended.

The Mayor, of course, is not creating these initiatives.  But to His credit He is allowing them to happen.  The architect of these projects is Steve Longo of Albany Housing Authority, whose faith in the community and ability to find and put together funding is extraordinary. And his ability to avoid political minefields is also noteworthy. We are very lucky to have him working for us.

As for the Hearst Rag, don't be fooled by what they left out of the above article.  The editors want to give the impression that these housing initiatives are pointless wasteful boondoggles and that Albany is going nowhere.  Why?  They see the writing on the wall, and it ain't graffiti.  Their precious suburbs are on the decline, and they are railing against the inevitable.

As someone who owns (none / 0) (#2)
by devtob 53 on Thu May 15, 2008 at 04:26:52 PM EST
a two-family in a city (not Albany), the idea that $700K per apartment is what it costs to rehab even the worst buildings around here is beyond ridiculous.

Thanks for highlighting another way that Boss Jennings is screwing the taxpayers.
The Democrats are the party of the people.

Oops, math mistake (none / 0) (#3)
by devtob 53 on Thu May 15, 2008 at 04:32:00 PM EST
It's only a somewhat less ridiculous $265K per apartment.

And $700K per building.
The Democrats are the party of the people.

Saving a City With Help from the Residents | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)
Display: Sort:
create account | faq | search