All Over Albany

Well, my commitment and my passion for my hometown has not changed. The things I bring as a leader and knowing every neighborhood's needs in this city makes me want to represent this city. I think that when I started on the council and I saw the opportunities that were being missed. It made me realize that in order to make sure those opportunities for our city to grow -- opportunities for our citizens to feel like they were part of the city's growth-- made me want to be in that leadership position. Because I knew that the mayors job could do that. And at the time I didn't think it was doing that. And that's what made me initially want to be mayor.

Running four years ago and seeing the support that I got and the hope that I saw in people's faces about the possibility of having a city where you have a voice-- having a city where every neighborhood feels like it has the opportunity to grow-- kept me inspired. And I'm in good health and so I said I'm going to do it again.

We have to generate revenue. The first thing we have to do is figure out how large it is. My opponent has said recently that as the chief fiscal officer she didn't know if that was a true number. So I'm going to operate off the number that I've always operated off of when I was in the city council -- its an inherent hole in our budget. In 2009 it was $5 million. And I knew that number would grow based on the deficits that were coming up, so the last number is $8 million.

So we have to close that first. And that gap has to be closed by:

1. Five percent cuts in every department.

2. Our large not-for-profits in this city. I'm going to sit down with them and we're going to have a conversation about them helping close that budget gap. We can no longer have this city continue to have land and have properties not taxed and not generate any type of revenue from it.

If they are truly stakeholders of this city when we are in financial strains, which we are, and we can't tax our property owners anymore, we have to look for those revenues from corporations, not-for-profits like our colleges, our hospitals -- to help generate some of that revenue. It's been done before. It's been done at Yale -- in New Haven -- signed a pilot agreement with that city until they got out of their financial hole. And I think we have enough colleges here and enough hospitals that are doing well, that if we laid out a plan, based off the property they own, based off of the services that they use, why wouldn't they sit down and agree to have a small pilot payment to the city until we can be able to generate revenue with some of the ideas of growing our downtown when we can generate revenue? Why wouldn't they want to do that to help save our city? Because if we can't close our budget gap with new revenue from our large not-for-profits, if we can't close that budget cap with five percent here and five percent there, we are in trouble -- because the property tax owners, they won't be able to take it and people will leave. And so what will we have? We will have colleges, hospitals, but no revenue generated because our property tax owners will leave because they can't afford to live here anymore. So if they say they have a stake in this city and they want to see this city survive, then if we come up with a number -- you know, in negotiation with them -- why wouldn't they want to help out?

What leverage do you have with them?

A lot of leverage. I'm the mayor of Albany. A lot of leverage. I take my message to the citizens. That's the leverage. It's called accountability. You look like that's new.

You know what? That's new because no one stands up and says, "I asked them for this. This is more than fair and they said no. Where are we going to get the money? They generate this amount of revenue, they have this much property in our city and I asked them for a small piece to help so our property tax owners won't feel a crunch, to help so we won't have to provide less services."

Can you force them?

No, you can't force them, but your leverage is you're the mayor. And you take it to the people. I mean, it seems like we forgot that you can tell the citizens that the stakeholders say they have a stake in the city but when you asked them for help they say no. People have forgotten that? I've done that on the council. That's why we have public access television. Because I stood in front of the mayor's office and said, "If you don't do this you're going to have to tell me and the citizens why not." When I passed a law to have our commissioners live in the city of Albany council members said, "Well, what if we can't find people qualified." Well, you vote no and tell the citizens why you voted no.

It's about accountability. I'm the person that is going to hold everyone accountable -- including myself. And that's why I'm cutting the mayor's salary. That's why I'm talking about cutting five percent. Everyone is going to have to be accountable for the growth of this city. If you're a stakeholder and you can help, why would you say no?

That's tracking data. These are not new issues. When I was on the council we continued to push to get updated computer systems to track complaints of every department and have those departments link. Code enforcement to be linked with the police department so the police department, when they saw code violations when they are driving down the street, they could track that and it immediately goes to the code department. So it's just streamlining making sure that data goes to one central place that every department has access to -- and it's called linking up your technology system -- which we seem not to have. So that's how you begin that process.

My campaign slogan is "One city, one Albany." It's putting out that message -- letting every community know the strength and growth of your community depends on the strength and growth of every community. You want your property taxes lowered? That depends on the strength and growth of other communities. If one community falls, it hurts your community. And that message continues to resonate with voters as I speak to them.

So if you look at Arbor Hill and West Hill, for example, the mayor has to be an advocate for those communities. We know -- I know, being Vice President of the Capital District Black Chamber of Commerce -- what is hampering those communities. Economic development is hampering them. But why is it hampering them? Is it because people aren't ready or have the resources to build up their own communities? No. It 's because banks have higher interest rates for lending in those neighborhoods because they say they're not safe. Higher insurance costs because they say they're not safe. So if you continue as banks and insurance companies to charge higher rates because you say they're not safe neighborhoods, how can people afford or people invest in those communities? A person who is in business will say it's going to cost me too much to do business in that community.

So there has to be a give and take where you have to lower ... you have to make sure the opportunity to invest in those communities is there where an investor will say, "Yes, I'm going to invest in those communities." Because if you continue to have that high operating cost, it will never grow.

We have people in those communities right now who have the ability to fix up the homes in those communities and renovate them. We've already done it on Lexington Avenue, four of them that were vacant four years ago. The owners live in them and they renovated two and people are living in them. That's part of my sweat equity project . The only difference was we cut out the red tape. There's so much red tape just to get their hands on it to begin to build it. That group who was helping do this -- their one thing is "we can do more, but we don't have the capital. When we go to the banks they want to charge us high interest rates because it's a not-so-good neighborhood." We have to come off that "not so good neighborhood" and figure out, well, bank -- work with them. They have a track record of renovating these homes. They have a track record. They just need a little capital with the proper interest rate on a loan to continue to do that work and as a city we have to champion that.

I believe when the mayor of Albany stands in front of neighborhoods and says, "On this block we are going to support and do everything possible to make sure these homes, we have people ready to do the work, they're going to train people, they're going to provide jobs... " That's a different call -- when they call the bank and say, "Hey you know what? The city is helping us. They put us in touch with some small not-for-profits who are gonna help -- we just need more money. "

I think that's where will the bank say "Ok there's something going on here. The mayor is behind this-- in support of this. Other groups are in support of it." Then you see those interest rates that banks might charge -- a high interest rate -- come down.

It's being a champion for those communities. And this is just the truth. In those communities if you're an African-American entrepreneur and you go in there by yourself for a loan, it's going to be a higher rate because they're looking at the area. So you're going to need that community push and that push from the mayor to say this is a project you need to invest in to be part of the community.

Do you think that the mayor, and/or the city shining a light on that, is enough to get banks to move on it?

No. 'Cause I've been shining a light on it. When I was on the council I put together a plan on vacant abandoned buildings. The mayor did a block-by-block initiative, but that red tape was still there. People who are still trying to renovate those buildings say there is a lot of red tape and going to the bank you can't get a decent interest rate on a loan because of the neighborhood. So it's just not shining a light on it , it's standing up and saying this project we're OK'ing. This project, if you can invest in -- you should. That's what it needs.

I think our police department is doing a good job. They are transitioning and becoming more aware and involved with the community. I'm not a police officer so that's why when I'm mayor I'll sit down with the chief and talk about how we police the city. I mean, I don't know how we police the city because I'm not a police officer. I'm not sitting with the chief saying "How do we police the city? How do we patrol the city? How do we determine how guns come into the city? Are we doing that? Is that our police department or are you hooked up with some other police agencies investigating that and tracking that?" These are the questions that, when you sit down with the professionals who know it, they will give you those answers.

Too many people continue to say in both neighborhoods, "I don't ever see a cop. I see a police officer when something happens." Both neighborhoods. Now I know they're working. But people have this feeling that they don't see officers enough. I know the officers are doing their best with community policing. I see them. But it is a big city. And I think being open and honest about how we police our city is very important. That's another transparent part of our government that we need to do. We know the officers are out there but people don't see them, they don't feel them. But if people understand how we police the city they have a different sense of "Oh, OK, that's probably why I didn't see a police officer -- because of how they police." So if people understand that, they don't have to know specifically where a police officer patrol is, but if they know -- this is how we police a city-- I think that's what people want to know. How we do it.

We have museums in our city. We have theater in our city. What we haven't created is a mechanism where there is thousands and thousands of people who are regularly in our city to take part in our museums, our history of art museum, and our Capital Rep. We need to create that. And an aquarium is one mechanism that can begin that process. Because we know one thing -- people come from all over to go to an aquarium. So when you have that first draw, that can draw a thousand people a day, then they say, "Oh, what other art things are here?" Then you can promote Capital Rep as a place you might want to go to after you visit an aquarium. Or our art museums. So it cultivates and it highlights the things you already have here but you have the people captured, so once you have them here then the other things they will seek to do.

In Tennessee -- Chattanooga -- which is a smaller area than Albany and their outside area is smaller than the Capital District. Since 1992 I believe -- they made over $5.1 billion in business because of that aquarium. And that aquarium brings other businesses because there's going to be people coming. And then it trickles out into our riverfront. Then we begin to look at our riverfront becoming a more viable everyday activity. Because right now our riverfront is used during the summertime, but if you can make it viable every single day where you have hundreds and hundreds of people down there, there's a need to improve it. And that is what we have to create, the need to improve things based off of the people.

People ask me about high speed rail. Great idea -- but what is the need to travel to Albany quicker, other than politicians coming from downstate? You've got to create a bigger need, and once you create the bigger need and bigger flow of people, then that's when something like high speed rail would be warranted in the Capital Region.

Where does the funding for a big project like that come from?

People who want to invest in it. Because that's what we're looking for . We're looking for private businesses to invest. Some aquariums are for-profit, some aren't . So we're looking for an investor to say, "I believe in this and I'm gonna put my money behind it."

So for you to support it, it would have to be largely ,if not totally, privately funded?

Yes. I have to start there because I don't want business to come here thinking we're going to give away the farm. That's where we have to start. And then based off of how good it does for the city, then you move a little bit. We've had too many projects done that's paid by taxpayers and we get no benefit from it. Convention center -- what benefit are the taxpayers going to get from the convention center? No one has told me, yet. Other people can come use it, but what are the taxpayers getting from it?

What do the taxpayers get form an aquarium? Jobs. Education. Now their kids who live in this city can go to this aquarium and use it as much as they want. And revenue and growth in that downtown area. So that far outweighs a convention center. Is the majority of people in this city gonna use a convention center? Is the majority of kids in this city gonna go to a convention center? No. But I guarantee you, you build an aquarium, the majority of kids who live here and outside areas are going to go to an aquarium.

And that's what it's about. Are we using our tax dollars properly? Does it benefit the taxpayers? But we have to start with we want it to be privately owned before have our taxpayers foot the bill for it.

Vision for downtown: A place where people can live, a place where people would want to visit, eat and enjoy . Thats my vision for downtown. A family friendly downtown. Walkable, bikeable, livable. That's what I'm looking for in downtown. And we can create it. It's been done already -- we just have to just do it.

We have an old city. Accountability, once again, accountability. The mayor of Albany cannot deal with the infrastructure -- it's a huge problem. We can't afford to do it, we do a little here and there. So, accountability. Who you gonna hold accountable? We have state elected officials, we have congressional elected officials. I know our congressman represents Albany, Schenectady, Troy and I believe Amsterdam -- so four aging cities -- four. Accountability. So, congressman, we have four aging cities -- four of them. Where is our large package put together to help deal with our infrastructure problems in these four aging cities. Where is it?

It's not just about Albany. We talk about regionalization right? This is a regional problem -- not just an Albany problem but a Troy problem, a Schenectady problem. We want to put together a regional plan to deal with our infrastructure issues.

Accountability. We tend to want to put that on one person. There's many elected officials in this area -- you got your mayors, your city council, your county legislators. Problems -- structural problems -- that's not a one-person issue. That's not a one-person problem. So you're going to need every elected official to begin that process. How we gonna deal with this structural problem and how are we going to make sure that our state and our federal government can work together to deal with this regional problem, not just an Albany problem.

How do you get all those people to work together?

As I say, you take it to the people. I'm not going to be a mayor that's going to say, "I'm going to solve this problem." I think that's when most elected officials get off. Yes, this is a problem, but whose responsibility and accountability is it to help fix it? And I think that my elected officials know already that Corey Ellis is going to make us come to the table and work, and not just say I'm going to support you because you're a nice person. You're gonna work because we have major problems that we can't solve by ourselves. And it's not being mean or being combative, it's about we are all elected to do a job and we know what the problems are, are we really making sure we're pushing as much as we can to get what our citizens need. Are we really doing it?

Part of my sweat equity plan is, we've heard people talk about the county land trust. That's great, but what I've seen with my experience in the last six years is the ability for people to get hold of those properties. As a city government -- because of the law where the county reimburses the city -- we may want to re-look at that and put the ownership on the city. Because once that happens there's no benefit for the city to really do anything once the county reimbursed us and the county owned the building. So now we're at the mercy of the county, hoping the county does its job. And the county had an adversarial [approach] because the county says, "Now you gave us a building that you didn't board up properly. You have strong code enforcements, but you didn't code enforce enough, so now it comes to us and it's a building we can't sell to get our money back that we gave to the city."

So I think maybe we have to restructure that law where the county doesn't feel the burden of us not taking control of our abandoned and vacant buildings and the city does so. Now, if the city has total ownership of it, I think there is more things we can do in a faster way.

So you want the city to take ownership of more of these abandoned or vacant buildings?

Yes. And right now if it goes into foreclosure or they don't pay property tax for three years, now the county gets it. And that's just the law. I'm pretty sure the county would say it takes a lot off their plate as well. If the city doesn't board it up properly it's harder to sell. And then it goes to auction and you get into this absentee landlord thing and people can go online and buy buildings. We need to really take that away and I think that's part of the process we can do. We can begin the process of changing this law so that the city can say, OK, this is what is going to happen to this building.

And we have such a large problem with vacant buildings. While they're putting together this land bank we have organizations in our city doing that already are doing that sort of, so we're creating another entity to do that. So now if you cut the red tape and allow people who have a stake in those neighborhoods and want to do the work -- that's part of my sweat equity program, and I'm going to allow the council persons in those wards to come up with the criteria of someone who can benefit from the sweat equity program.

For me, right now, the criteria for me: You live in the neighborhood or your parents live in the neighborhood, or you live in adjoining neighborhoods. But other people might have other criteria. The sweat equity program would be a program where we're not looking at one person doing just one building -- we want to make sure you can do three or four, make sure they are energy efficient, make sure the city can help applying for grants so the city, help make sure they're energy efficient so they're are affordable to rent out to renters in those communities. Because it is about continuing that community and continuing to grow that community, not having it come from the outside and building the community and rent prices going up and up so people who live there can't afford the rents. So that 's why we're looking at sweat equity being about you have to be a stakeholder in the city.

That armory has been there forever and there's been shows there and basketball games there, so I'm wondering, has this tension been created because there's a different kind of entertainment there? I don't know. But that's been there for years, and you'd get complaints, usually about parking -- it wasn't about the entertainment, it was about parking. Now it seems to have taken on a different tone and I don't know why that is. I've read the stories but is that an isolated incident? Is it about the type of entertainment? I don't know. As mayor you talk to people and you hear both sides and really get down to what the issue is.

Well, as mayor I can be a champion for every child, to promote education as the key to success. As far as a graduation rate, the superintendent outlined a plan that she would like to see implemented and is going to be implementing in our school district. So my job is to create a safe neighborhood. If every child feels like their neighborhood is not a place where they don't see hope -- so if I'm providing safe neighborhoods, decent streets, decent sidewalks to walk on, and making sure crime is down, I think that will help with our graduation rates. And I also think it will help provide more job opportunities for people who live in the city. That's why I keep saying developing downtown, because it creates job opportunities.

When I'm out talking to people about our school district and people are saying they're leaving Albany because of the school district, we have to really find out -- is it because you fear your child won't get a good education or is it something else?

And what I've been mostly hearing is the perception that our schools are dangerous -- not that their child won't get a good education. So my job as mayor is make sure people understand -- 'cause I'm in those schools -- they're not dangerous. There's a perception problem that they are. They're not. A few years back we had this perception problem and it seemed like every time there was one incident at the high school, there were five police cars there. I talked to the superintendent about it and she talked with the chief. If a cop just comes to visit and they park out front, the perception is, "Hey, what's going on in the high school?" So to change the perception -- park out back.

So there's a perception problem as well as a graduation problem. But I'm going to make sure I send a message to every child -- education -- to every parent -- education. A child has to be ready for school, has to be prepared -- and that means on time, and that means they have a decent meal before they go to school. And they understand that the only way of success is education. And I think that's how the mayor can really help to be a champion and that's not just for public schools, but charter schools as well. Every child can get a quality education.

There's a new administration. You're going to have more of a say in your city government. We want to promote that. We want to promote more of those who have traditionally felt like their voices were not heard. Your voices will be heard.

If you have one group pushing their issues, politicians tend to go to that group because the squeaky wheel gets the oil. We want everybody to get the oil. We want everybody to know that if you come and say something we are going to take it seriously.

I've done that as a councilperson. Most of the legislation I've gotten passed was because someone came down to the city council and said, "This needs to happen." And I said, "Oh, that's not a law? No? Oh, let me get to work." And I am going to continue that. I am going to attend council meetings. Especially if there is a hot button issue on the docket and you know members from that community are going to be there -- they don't have to call me, I'll be sitting in that seat. Public comment is the best time to be there. If you're mayor, why wouldn't you want to be at public comment? Especially when people are coming in droves to talk about their concerns for their community. Why wouldn't you want to be sitting there? This is a community forum. And if you go there as mayor once in a while and let people know you are going to be there, more people will come to the Common Council meetings. More people will come because its an opportunity to give the mayor an earful.

Well there's many issues. When we talk about infrastructure -- we have a major issue with the Normanskill creek that always overflows -- always. I've been up there, I've talked to people about it. That's an issue because a whole neighborhood can be affected. But I think there's many issues that people don't talk about because they really cater toward their neighborhood. Tivoli Park -- what are we going to do about that? How are we going to make it more friendly? Is the city doing enough to make it feel like a park and not just a place where people go? To make sure we are getting the best use out of it without killing it as a park? To make people feel like it is a park -- that it is a place that coincides with the neighborhood. That is an issue we don't talk about a lot, but people want to see how we structure our parks.

It's called Prayer for the City, by Ed Rendell -- about when he was mayor of Philadelphia. I read that book about seven years ago. It was given to me by a friend who said if you're going to be on the council, you might want to read this.

That book showed me you have to stand up and you have to make sure that everyone understands what is going on. That's what transparency means. It doesn't mean you just put everything up on a website, it means that everyone understands what is going on. These are our issues and these are our partners that are trying to help and these are the ones that are supposed to be helping but are not. And say, "I need you as residents to ask them, help me ... ask them... you're part of my city and I need your help."

And it was enlightening how former Governor Rendell began to enlighten people about the major problems of their city. And that is how things began to change. "We love these services -- can we afford it. do you want to pay for it. We love our parks, but do you want to pay for it?"

A friend of mine said to me ,"I like that you want to be that transparent but what you might find out is when you ask them 'Do you want to pay for it? Can we afford it?' they might say 'You make the decision, that's why you're mayor.'" (laughs)

A city that is growing. A city where people can feel a vibe that it's growing. That there is definitely a shift in the politics of the city, but also definitely a shift in our optimism for our city. In four years that's the goal. You have to create that optimism that we are moving in the right direction. That people are feeling positive about the things going on in their neighborhoods. And also that the politics of Albany has changed. I think that will really encourage more people to think about Albany as a place where they might possibly want to live and raise a family.