Attracting the the misfits, a key to revitalization


By Corruptany, Section Diaries
Posted on Sun May 18, 2008 at 08:06:22 AM EST

In my years, I have traveled and lived in multiple cities including NYC, San Francisco and most recently Boston. Still, my heart lies in my hometown of Albany NY. One of the things that strikes me about my hometown is the fact that it has something 90% of other US cities don't have. It actually looks like a city should.

It has dense streets, amazing architecture, proximity to nature and larger economic centers. It also has a city feel with a small town vibe to it. I always invite friends of mine from abroad to visit Albany. I do this because I want to get their reactions. Most people seem to have an unfavorable view of Albany, this is due to ignorance though. Those who come with me are shocked and fall in love with old world charm, the walkable streets, and are amazed by the low cost of living.

In my studies of Urban Planning, one thing I have notice is that every major city has gone through periods of disinvestment and blight. Difference is, they rebound and become better. Why?

The answer is urban pioneers, people who take a chance and move into blighted areas. They take pride in these areas because no one else cares and overtime, they transform it into something else. Thing is, most of these urban pioneers are labeled freaks and misfits due to their lifestyles. They move to blighted areas because no one else wants them around. I am talking about gays, artists, activists, proffessors. People who normally don't conform to the status quo. They are ideal for changed because they live their lives free of the constraints of consensus and still have ideas and visions to create something better.

Albany is a prime place to attract these people, especially now that their way of life is threatened in major cities. Look at NY and Boston, the cost of living is so unreal and real estate developers have stolen what they created pushing them out. Their image and urban visions has been replaced by a cheap "Urban Mall" and attracts whordes of mindless plastic people who ruin what they made.

Why can't Albany entice these people to come and dream it all up again. It has what they want and it could in the end turn into their greatest creation. I for one remember my youth hanging out in places like Lark Street and Center Square. Albany has always had these types of people in small numbers, but imagine what the city would be if more came.

Lets be honest, Albany has a problem with blight and a net loss in population. Its not getting better and I think allot of that has to due with the fact that the people in power don't want new life. They also look down upon free thinkers because these people pose a threat to them. I am not talking about gentrification here, I am talking about attracting people who would care enough to invest their own money into places the politicians have given up on. People who have spent their lives being criticized for being different and who are looking to create a new world.

Think of the benefits, we would see a new generation of people who care about the outcome of the city, people with ideas and creativity that would create new ideas for the future. Imagine new shops, and eating establishments. Imagine art and music that brings people together.

In this day and age with high housing costs in larger cities, Albany is in a prime place. I think its time for the people of Albany to take matters into their own hands in regards to blight and look to the people I describe above to join them in creating a new city. One that is prosperous, unique, different and for the people. One that can be built on the failures of the last twenty years in both ours and the larger ones. It could be a testing ground for the ideal city, one that can rebound yet at the same time be open for people of all walks of life.

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Attracting the the misfits, a key to revitalization | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 hidden)
It's not really about Albany (none / 0) (#1)
by AlfredMoisiu on Sun May 18, 2008 at 02:38:10 PM EST
New York north of Westchester is on the decline, for a variety of reasons that have beaten to death here.

At the end of the day, cities need a reason to exist. When Albany was a booming place, it had the railroads, industry, farming and government. Now it has government.

If you look at places like Vegas, Atlanta, Phoenix and Raleigh that are booming, you'll find that they all have attracted service and technology businesses that are locating (or relocating) there because the costs are lower for a variety of reasons. The places that are doing relatively poorly were/are dependent on industrial activity, which first fled to the South or Mexico to avoid unions and then to Asia.

A positive future for a place like Albany depends on macro-level changes in the state/municipal government.

I agree, but here is my side (none / 0) (#2)
by Corruptany on Sun May 18, 2008 at 05:48:10 PM EST
Look at area cities like Pittsfield, North Adams, Newburgh, and Poughkipsee. They all have turned themselves around due to the creative types moving into town. I forgot the name of the book, but a Policy scholar at GWU wrote a great book about Creative Economic Development where his major thesis was what I describe above. Albany was ranked in the top 10 for the creativity index.

With the cost of living in regional large cities like NY/NJ and Boston/Providence/Worcester, Albany is in the right place. Just today I was reading about how Boston and Mass in general has lost over 350,000 people this year alone. They move due to the cost of living and its not just working class people. Many people have seen the berkshires as a refuge and many NYC people have been buying land in Hudson. Albany is the next largest city in the northeast, I feel it can rebound by focusing on the creative sector.

[ Parent ]

booming (none / 0) (#3)
by DIA on Mon May 19, 2008 at 05:06:54 AM EST
Atlanta's real estate market is tanking, they have 145,000 buildable lots ready to go which no one wants to build on and they are running out of water.

Vegas' real estate market is tanked and will crater.  Casinos are going bankrupt and their monorail bonds will default.  And they will run out of water.

Phoenix.  Similar story, different version.

They were booming.  Now they have some serious economic problems.   I wouldn't be too envious of them right now.

Raleigh is doing pretty well.  

At least in Albany we aren't overbuilt and we have nano tech as a good starting point.  And lots of water.  Which we need to make sure doesn't get privatized by some greedy short sighted politician.

Albany has a lot of opportunity.  It would be nice if our taxes were lower, but they ain't.  

Albany's Problems (none / 0) (#4)
by nycowboy on Mon May 19, 2008 at 12:58:27 PM EST
Center Square is charming, except it has no retail or stores. Central Avenue, the once retail center of our great city, has been gutted and only crack heads, welfare centers, and the parole office there anymore.

The traffic pattern of the city is broken by failed urban planning post 1950. Bike Delaware Avenue at 5 PM and you'll discover there is only one road out of the city at 5 PM. All of the side streets have been closed off, so all traffic is forced on one street.

Albany has less of a future then some of our smaller cities that could theoritically be more walkable, and lack problems the size of Albany. Cobleskill, Schoharie, Plattsburgh, Oswego, Amsterdam, and even tiny hamlets like Schenevus or Cherry Valley, have much more of a future then Albany does.

These small cities and towns didn't destroy as much of themselves as Albany did. They lack the poverty, and don't have such a taxing demand on the environment or the world around them.

Schenevus? (none / 0) (#5)
by AlfredMoisiu on Mon May 19, 2008 at 03:16:00 PM EST
I stopped there for gas and snacks last year on the long, long, long drive to Pittsburgh, and found it to be one of the more depressing depressing rural NY towns that I've been to.

The thing Albany has going for it is that it's practically a blank slate. There's so much government-owned property and half-abandoned slum that you could raze entire blocks with minimal fuss.

[ Parent ]

note to self (none / 0) (#6)
by DIA on Mon May 19, 2008 at 04:24:26 PM EST
don't take urban planning advice from cowboys.

Poking holes in the cowpoke's comment (none / 0) (#7)
by Jim Travers on Tue May 20, 2008 at 09:33:46 AM EST
Andy, you must not value your credibility. This concerns me because we work together on some issues. Please check your facts before commenting.

"Central Avenue, the once retail center of our great city..."

Central Avenue was never Albany's retail center.
It was the inevitable expansion of the true retail center of Albany which was downtown along Pearl St.

There were many areas of commerce throughout Albany's neighborhoods though. Lark St. had it's grocery stores as did N. Swan St, the South End, Delaware Ave. ...

"...there is only one road out of the city at 5 PM.

Had you said that their was only one road out of Albany that was convenient for you to travel home on on your bicycle, your statement would have been accurate.

Rt.32; RT.9W; Rt.85; Rt.20; Rt.5, Washington Avenue, all provide escape.

Unless there is a total collapse of our society, Albany will always thrive due to its captive economy which is generated by being the state's capitol. But how long its taxpayers suffer will be determined by how long they decide to keep Jennings crooked crew in power.

Who You Callin" A Misfit? (none / 0) (#8)
by Dan Van Riper on Tue May 20, 2008 at 10:05:13 AM EST

I like the direction of your analysis, Corruptany, and the point of view that you are developing about the value of Albany as a City.

However, I am not gay, a professor or an artist, unless maybe you consider blogging an art form.  As for being an activist, I didn't become one until the demands of running a business in downtown Albany forced me to become one.

In the early 1990s, I started buying run down apartment buildings on upper Morton Avenue around where I live, all for bargain prices.  At that time, Morton had a very bad reputation as one of the worst streets in the City.  No one called me a misfit for buying these properties (at least not to my face) but a lot of people sure called me crazy.  I invite anyone to take a look around my neighborhood today.  

While struggling to improve these properties, I discovered an amazing thing.  Every single problem with the neighborhood and with the buildings could be traced back to one source: the city government.  Whether it be corruption, neglect, or the surprisingly frequent occurrence of political retaliation manifesting as a physical attack on the neighborhood, it was always the same.  The only way to fix each of these problems has been to turn around and fight back against the City officials.

Sad, isn't it?  But if that's the way it has to be, so be it.  So don't call me a misfit.  Please.

Attracting the the misfits, a key to revitalization | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 hidden)
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