ALBANY GOING THE
WAY OF BUFFALO
AND SOUTH BRONX

Sunday, Oct 3, the Times Union ran a major
story on the property tax crisis and related
budget problems of the City of Albany.

http://blog.timesunion.com/propertytaxes/

George Marlin, a conservative investment
banker had a related article in the Sunday
NY Post:

http://www.nypost.com/f/print/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/tale_of_two_pities_buffalo_and_the_JenvfKYTOLTovZ4trqFVfM

Albany is going the way of Buffalo and
the South Bronx.

Gubernatorial candidates, as well as
candidates for State Comptroller  and
the State Legislature would do well to
focus on the condition of  Albany  in
the remaining 30 days before the
November 2 election.

The fate of Albany hangs in the balance.

Here are a ideas which all the candidates
should consider embracing:

1. Back off threats and plans to severely
trim the state work force.

The state workforce is to Albany, Troy
Schenectady and other Capital District
units of government, what the iron and
steel industry was to Buffalo.

2. Real Property tax relief will be achieved
through focusing, not on laying off state
workers, who make up a major share of
the property tax payers (state and municipal
government retirees, included); but focusing
on the costs and spending caused by supporting
a growing dependent population which can not
and does not pay for the costs of the services
that population demands and requires.

Those costs include schools, the myriad of social
services, including housing, HEAP, food stamps
day care, medicaid, police, fire, corrections and
more.

Albany's plight is made worse by the facts that
about a third of housing units in the city are
owner occupied by an aging population on
fixed incomes' and that more than 75 percent
of the  growing city school population comes
from households that do not pay to support
city schools.

That school population continues to grow
because schools are now taking on the role
of day care centers with the introduction
of full day Kindergarten and, most recently
full day Pre-K.

Add to this that the Common Council has
proclaimed Albany a sanctuary city for
illegal aliens, whose  growing number
and need for services is an additional burden
on social services, schools and property tax
payers. Repeal Albany's sanctuary city
policy.

The City school district has adopted a policy
prohibiting inquiry as to the citizenship and
immigration status of children and their
parents. Repeal this policy.

The drop out rate in the Albany School
system is about 50 percent, while the cost
per pupil, per year is more than $20,000
among the highest in the state.

The dependent population resides in
dysfunctional households, creates
disruptive school environments which
creates  negative learning environments
for those students who value learning
and who want to learn.

Crime and anti-social behavior by the
dependent population creates a need for
more police and fire services, more court
cases, more jails and correctional services-
all of which are ultimately paid for , in large
part, through ever increasing property
taxes.

3. Amend state law to provide for the
consolidation of city schools with city
government, establish one property tax
roll, with one annual payment date, to
fund both; return to K-8 neighborhood
schools, make the Mayor and Common
Council responsible/accountable for
the operation/performance of city schools.

In addition, revise school curriculums.
Focus on proficiency in English, critical
thinking, historical knowledge, basic
science and arithmetic,  and acquisition
of attitudes and behaviors that will
result in students being able to earn
a living, be productive contributors to
a better society, and informed citizen
voters.

4. Pressure candidates for U S Senate
and the House of Representatives to vote
to extend the so called "Bush tax cuts"
for all taxpayers, when the matter comes
up for a vote after the November 2 election.

5. Pressure state candidates to remove
the tax and regulatory burdens, and other
state mandates that are hampering
economic development in New York
at the state, and local levels.

More economic development means
more jobs, more homeowners and
property tax payers to fund schools
and city/state services.

Informed voters, demanding the above
and related actions,  from candidates for
federal and state offices, have the power
to  force property tax relief, improvement
of city schools, improvement of economic
conditions, creation of jobs and reduction
of urban crime. In short, a better life and
living conditions for all who so desire.

                                     Joe Sullivan

BLIGHTERS CAUSE URBAN BLIGHT
NOT MAYOR JENNINGS- COREY



Blighted buildings and blighted neighborhoods

are the product of anti-social behavior by

blighters. It is a behavioral problem that is

aided and abetted by a social services system

that rewards blighter behavior.



Corey Ellis blames Mayor Jennings for the nearly

1,000 abandoned buildings, and many times

that number of substandard dwellings in the City

of Albany.



Mayor Jennings is not to blame. The blame lies

with the slumlords who profit from blight, the

blighter occupants and the social services/section

8 system that rewards them all.



The cure lies in behavioral/attitudinal adjustment

and real reform of the social services/section 8

programs.



This will require cooperation between the Mayor

The County Executive and County Legislature, the

Governor and State Legislature, the Members

of Congress and the President, to reform the social

services/section 8 housing programs to require

proper behaviors /standards on the parts of

landlords and tenant occupants of dwellings.



We can no longer tolerate or condone an urban

slash and burn occupance system where blighters

blight one neighborhood, then move on to destroy

another neighborhood.



Case example: The Park South Urban Renewal

Project is displacing blighters, criminals, drug

dealers and other anti-social malcontents who

are moving up the New Scotland Avenue corridor

to Forest Ave, Harris, the Weis Rd-Hackett-Picotte

absentee owned housing, the apartment buildings

along lower South Allen St and, now Winnie St.



Closing St Teresa's church/school will only hasten

the demise of that once fine neighborhood.



Time has come to draw the line and refocus

the approach to urban renewal in Albany.

Begin by improving the remaining few Uptown

neighborhoods. Stamp out incipent blight.

After the Uptown neighborhoods are secured

move mid and downtown, involving residents

of those neighborhoods in efforts to reclaim

those blighted neighborhoods.

This will end the slash and burn pattern of

migratory urban blight and make Albany once

more a place to live and enjoy.

Joe Sullivan

RC DIOCESE CHURCH CLOSINGS
CONTRIBUTE TO URBAN BLIGHT

The Diocese of Albany is closing a number
of churches and schools in Albany, Cohoes
Watervliet, Troy and Schenectady this year.

The unintended result of these closings will
be increased neighborhood deterioration
and blight.

These closings are shortsighted because
population shifts back to these cities will
occur as the economy worsens and oil
becomes too expensive and scarce to
support commuting to the suburbs.

Ironically, the Diocese of Albany is a major
recipient of social services monies from the
state.

It is imperative for the Mayors and City
Councils to enter into discussions with
the Diocese of Albany and New York State
to come up with a plan to keep RC churches
and schools in the above named cities open.

Neighborhoods are made up of people, and
houses anchored by neighborhood churches
schools and shops.

Take away neighborhood schools, churches
and shops:neighborhood detrerioration, blight
poverty and crime result.

Arbor Hill and the South End in Albany are
two examples. Both were once thriving neigh-
borhoods with neighborhood schools, churches
and many small shops which provided services
goods and employment for neighborhood
residents.

Any urban renewal efforts that fail to include
neighborhood schools, churches and shops
are doomed to failure.

St Teresa's Church and School in Albany
must not be allowed to happen. If the Diocese
can't run them, parishioners must seek out
Religious Orders of priests and nuns, who can.

The same goes for similar parish churches and
schools in Troy, Schenectady, Cohoes and Watervliet.

Parishioners must stop behaving like the
proverbial sheep and resist these church and
school closings. Seek alternatives.

It may be time to recall priests from the
foreign missions to serve in our urban
parishes.

Reach out to Orders and seminaries in
the U.S. ,Canda and Europe in search of
priests and nuns to keep
our local urban parish churches and
schools open.

Do this in memory of your ancestors who
founded these churches and schools; and
do this with recognition that neighborhood
churches and schools are essential to
maintaining neighborhood identity and
quality of life.

Joe Sullivan

RC CHURCH RIP

The announced church closings
and mergers of largely urban Catholic
parishes in Albany, Troy, Cohoes and
Watervliet is a wrong move for
the future of the Church as well as for
the future of those cities.

The reasons given for these actions
include demographic changes, high
maintenance costs, a declining number
of priests and low attendance at Mass.

There are other reasons not mentioned.

The result of these closures/mergers will
only produce further decline in
the Church as well as in the neighborhoods
and cities.

Churches and neighborhood schools are
the anchors of neighborhoods.
Remove these anchors and neighborhoods/
neighborhood identities disappear.

In cities, like Albany, where a dysfunctional
school district/school board
treats children, parents and homeowner-
taxpayers as pawns, neighborhoods have
deteriorated.

The church closings/parish mergers will
only accentuate urban decline, accelerating
flight from the cities and accelerating
decline of the property tax base that supports
city governments and city public schools.

The shortage of priests can be addressed
by recalling priests from the foreign
missions. Reach out to particular Orders
to get the priests to man these parishes.

Low Mass attendance has many causes.
Growing secularism of society is a major
factor. However, the clergy must examine
their own behaviors as another major
factor.

The churches, clergy and nuns are very
different than the 1950's when the
Church was at it's peak. When Bishop
Fulton Sheen and others delivered
television homilies which connected
with the people. When Father Peyton
promoted praying the Rosary. When
nuns could be easily recognized, and
lived in communities, in convents.

In a word, the Church has lost
relevance in the lives of the people.

It is an irony that the Church is
contributing to urban decline and
further decline of Church membership
and attendance, when we are on the
verge of people returning to the cities.

The current respite in oil prices and
availability is temporary. High prices
will soon return and oil will become
scarce and not available at any price.

Those living in the surburbs and
countryside will return to the cities.

We should be stabilizing good urban
neighborhoods, revitalizing blighted
ones and rebuilding the aging urban
water and sewer infrastructures to
facilitate this reverse population flow.

These old churches may in need of
some repairs, but they are far more
solidly constructed than many newer
ones.

A case it point: St Teresa's church is
closing while the parish merges with
St. Catherine's. Compare the construction
of the two. Which is more sound and
likely to outlast the other?

Of course, St Catherine's has a parking
lot while St Teresa's does not. Even now
parked cars spill over to the adjoining
side streets. This problem will only
intensify after the merger. The irony
is that, in a few short years, the parking
lot will be empty because of oil shortages
and prices.

The church will be empty because the
parish population will be too far flung
and people will not be able, or willing
to walk any great distance to attend
Mass.

The low participation in school budget
votes illustrates that people in the
city neighborhoods will not venture
to one or two central polling places
in their ward to vote. Of course, the
school district/board know this and
deliberately open only a few polling
places to depress voter turnout
particularly by older homeowners
who vote at their neighborhood
polling places, and who are more
likely to vote against school budgets
because those elderly homeowners
are trying to survive of declining
incomes.

It troubles me to see the flock
cave in while their heritages and
neighborhoods are being trashed.

Closure of St Teresa's church and
school will result in that fine
neighborhood becoming the next
Park South.

Albany is on the verge of becoming
another Trenton, New Jersey.

If the flock won't rise up for this,
what will they do when their very
survival and the survival of America
are on the line?

RC Church RIP is a major step
toward America RIP.

Joe Sullivan