All Over Albany

Jesse Calhoun, Republican
Basically, the elected mayors from the one-party system have had 70 years to make Albany a great place and I feel like they've failed. So, I think the city needs some new blood. And I think I'd be a great choice for that job.

Theresa Portelli, Green
I should be the next mayor of Albany because I have the experience, the skills, the temperament to do this. I've lived here for 30 years, so I know what a lot of the challenges are. And as a homeowner I've identified several big issues that I am very concerned about.

Joe Sullivan, Conservative
I've got deep connections here because when I first came to Albany I went up and knocked on Dan O'Connell's house, I knew who he was, and Charlie Ryan answered the door and I could hear Dan in the background say (gruff voice), "Who's there?" I told Charlie who I was, Dan said bring him in. He talked with me for an hour and he said, "OK, kid, you're one of us, you're in." And I was actually made a Democratic committee man on the spot. And in those days that was not really heard of much because committee seats were coveted positions. So it was really quite an honor for me to walk in and become a committee man right off the bat. I knew most of the key players, Assemblyman Dick Conners, I was close to him because I worked under him in the state legislature, I was chief of staff to senator Howard Nolan. So I have pretty good connections and sense of the history of the politics of this area. So I think that gives me some unique perspective.

Theresa Portelli, Green
Number one: Taxes. Because I see homes that are on the market sometimes for over a year. People can't sell their homes. My own daughter, when she and her husband decided to start a family, they couldn't afford Albany, so we're pricing those people out of the market. It just does not seem right. And I have a plan to reduce taxes by eventually, over a 10 year period, let's say, from property tax to a land value tax, which is used in many communities worldwide and we could do it here in Albany as well.

In addition, I'm very concerned about safety. As I go door to door and business to business, I find a lot of people who have been impacted by this issue. I've met waitresses who live in Center Square who everybody in their building has been mugged. I have met a women in Buckingham Pond who, I happened to be going door to door, and she had just been burglarized. I've met people in Mt. Hope Drive. This is something that we really have to focus on and my platform includes shifting our resources from low level crimes, such as marijuana possession, to the more serious violent crimes. And I think this is direction that Albany must take if it's going to move forward in all sorts of areas.

My final primary issue is air quality, especially concerning the landfill because I live further uptown, close to the landfill. And this is an issue that's not going away, there's no more extensions. What I'm proposing is that we refocus our efforts again toward recycling and compositing. San Francisco was able to reduce its waste by over 80 percent. And Albany is much smaller than San Francisco. I think we can do it, and I think our residents, we can reach out to them, and they will cooperate. Air quality is huge. I love the water in Albany, I think it tastes great, it's won lots of awards. And I think we have to protect the air quality and I didn't hear anybody else talking about this so I had to step forward.

Joe Sullivan, Conservative
I've got some very definite ideas about what should happen to Albany. First of all, we've gotta increase our tax base and give property tax relief to the homeowners. Because they pay the lion's share of the property taxes that support the city schools and the city government. So how do you do that? I advocate putting a refinery down at the Port of Albany. We have all this Dakota oil coming through by rail, it's being transferred to barges and shipped to New Brunswick, Canada for refining. Why not have a refinery right here? That'll improve the city tax base and it will have good-paying local jobs and hopefully it'll also lower the price of gasoline and home heating oil for people not only in Albany but the entire Capital District.

Energy is really the key to rebuilding our city and our manufacturing base. We have a 765 kV line that's going to be built from Quebec down to New York City, it's going to pass right through Albany along the railroad tracks, so I want us to be able to tap into that and get some of that cheap power. So if you have a local refinery, and lower electric cost, and I also I favor fracking in the Southern Tier. I think if we tap the natural gas in the Southern Tier that's going to be like the second coming of the Erie Canal, which is what put Albany on the map. [The canal] really had us take off in terms of economic development, population grew. So energy is really the key.

If we have all this energy available to us, I can see Albany redeveloping as a manufacturing center, which it used to be. Right now what keeps us alive is government and the colleges and universities, we we're essentially a white collar town. But when you look back at the boom times of Albany it was a blue collar town.

As far as our neighborhoods, the key to revitalizing our neighborhoods and city is we've gotta go back to K-8 neighborhood.

If people elect me, they get to keep Jerry Jennings and what I would is give him the title of mayor emeritus for a dollar a year. He'd have certain assignments. One would be, he'd actually be the lobbyist for the city with the governor and the state legislature, because there's no one who can match him for the rapport. And he'd try to get us mandate relief. The second thing is to get the PILOTs for the Harriman office campus and any other lands that are occupied by the state in the city Albany, and that would help our tax base. His other assignment would be dealing with education -- he's a natural for that because he was a vice principal before he became mayor. His assignment there would be to work with the Common Council and the state education department, the federal education department, also the state legislature and the governor, to accomplish the merger of the city schools and the city government. Have one property tax roll to support both. Sixty percent of our taxes are school taxes and we have no control over that, through the mayor, right now.

So improving the city schools and the image of the city schools is fundamental to having people come back to the city. If we don't do that, people are running away from the city right now because of a 50 percent drop-out rate and we have enormous taxes. ... And we have to change the school curricula... so it better suited to the needs of urban kids. A lot of our kids in Albany are not academically inclined, so how about training them for trades and other productive occupations -- everybody doesn't have to go college. And with the debts now that people are required to go to college, running up 20, 30, 100,000 dollars of debt, saddled with that for life, that's not a good thing, especially when there are not jobs ready when they get out.

Security and public safety... that's my number one priority. Because if we're not secure and safe, none of that other stuff matters. People forget that there are people out there who want to destroy us. Our southern border has been virtually wide open and you've got tens of millions of illegal people who invaded our country.

Among them are the jihadist and people who want to do us in. ... They can do enormous damage. Look at a city like Albany, knock out the power grid during the middle of winter, a lot of people would suffer and a lot of people dying. We've really gotta look at our immediate area and address what are the possible terror targets, even a simple thing like a sewer plant. You want to disable a city, blow up a sewer plant. ... We have to address these realities that there are people who want to do that to us. So I think I'm uniquely qualified for this position of mayor because I realize the severity of the problem, and it's not politics as usual that's going to help us survive.

We've got to have safe streets in every neighborhood. Right now it's not too safe, murders, robberies, muggings, vandalism and all that sort of stuff. Community policing doesn't seem to be working. All this touchy, feel good stuff -- it might be OK with some people, it doesn't register with the people who are there committing the crimes. They're not necessarily touchy feel-y, and they're very violent.

Jesse Calhoun, Republican
Definitely financial issues, I feel like we're on the road to Detroit until we stop continually running deficits. Meanwhile the number of city officials making over $100,000 doubled in 2012 and now there's 152 making over $100,000 -- while they're running deficits. So, I feel like city officials should be making middle class wages so that we can have a city that we can afford.

And just respecting people's rights in the city. It's upcoming concern for people that they we want to be respected by the police and treated fairly in the city. Just how the police force interacts with the residents of Albany.

Joe Sullivan, Conservative
Emergency disaster preparedness. People should be prepared to survive. My theory is that government can't save us -- we have to save ourselves, and save the government. Too many people rely too whole heartily on government. So given the fact that we're at war with an enemy that is bent on destroying us, we've to figure out if something really bad goes wrong -- even a natural disaster, doesn't have to be a terror attack -- people have to be ready to save themselves in terms of having some emergency food, some water, some necessary supplies available. Because if you have a tremendous chaotic situation, whether it's natural or manmade, there's only a limited governmental response that's available. You can see that in Katrina, in New Orleans. ... We have to be prepared to stand on our own and survive whatever comes our way. And that goes for individuals. I've been advocating for churches and households to do this, institutions like drug stores, local pharmacists. I think I'm very different from the other candidates because I realize how important these things are. We've got to encourage people to be prepared.

[Re: landbanks]... bad idea. Land banks, I've got some links on my blog, are fraught with corruption... and they invade private property rights and they also take away local decision making by local people. ...

[Re: state fiscal control board]... I wouldn't go to them. Because once you go to them they're going to control the city finances, and why are you the mayor? Why even have an elected government? Let's just surrender the city to the state. I think we have to solve our problems on our own. ...

I would deal with Governor Cuomo very differently. Kathy Sheehan is going to have to go with hat in hand, I don't have to because I'm an enrolled Conservative. ... These guys in state government take us for granted. I would change that. I'd say, OK, if you expect you're going to win win governor next year, you need Albany, you're going to have to do something for our city. Let's get rid of these mandates. A Democrat can't do that because of the party structure. So I think we have to have more independence in our political leaders.

Jesse Calhoun, Republican
I'm an advocate for less government over more government. So I think that's really what separates me from a lot of the pack here. I just think the size of it is too big. And if there were more freedom in the economic system, and just the way that permitting on live music venues is... I feel like if there was more freedom it'd be better for the whole city.

Theresa Portelli, Green
One, for taxes. It's not an issue we can step away from. It's like we can say, oh yeah, let's just keep raising taxes. It's unsustainable. So my approach, again, is to shift to a land value tax. There are over 3,000 vacant lots in Albany. So if we shift the taxes from our homeowners, to our residents, to those vacant lots then that would incentivize those owners of those vacant lots to develop them or to sell them. A lot of is based on getting good assessment, and quite frankly in the past our assessments have not been good and have not been valid. And that's nationally recognized. So we can do better in that area, as well.

Additionally, I'm really not for an aquarium. If we're going to focus on something, I'd rather focus on the historical value and what we have in Albany as the sixth oldest city in the country. And I really think there's a lot we can do with that.

Jesse Calhoun, Republican
I think the media really needs to engage a dialogue. I feel like they treat the whole thing like it's over -- the mainstream, the TV networks, not necessarily the written ones. You know, really engage the people. There hasn't been a fully televised debate of all the candidates in the general election. And I think that's kind of a striking fact. Why it that? Why haven't we been presented with all the candidates? And to really get feel, more than just a second quote or just a one-line thing. So I think that's a good way to engage people. And starting the dialogue, and really showing people how it's affecting them. Even the retail issue -- why is it that we have to go out to Colonie to get some affordable clothes, why isn't there more retail in Albany? Why aren't these things happening that would happen if it were a more small business friendly city.

Theresa Portelli, Green
I think there's just wide range cynicism throughout this city, and I think part of it is because the same party has been in governance of city hall for over 70 years. And people just look at it and say nothing is ever going to change, then they complain about it. If you really want change you have to look at the political parties. You have to look and consider candidates such as myself -- I'm not beholden to anyone. I just got a something in the mail from one of the other candidates with about 20 supporters and endorsements. And you know what, you have to look at what is the cost of that.

So I think people are terribly disillusioned. I think also on national front, when you look at what we've just gone through with the budget battles and the sequester and everything like that, people are really fed up. They want someone who can get things done and who can look at things objectively and it's not an old boys' club anymore. So that's what I offer.

Joe Sullivan, Conservative
I think it's there for anyone who wants to take it. But people have become very complacent. In fact, this election coming up now, I think it going to be the lowest turnout probably ever. ... How do you get them involved? You have to encourage them. What I used to do as a committee man, I didn't care who you vote for, but get out there and vote. ... And I used to tell people how I'd vote, and I didn't always vote the Democratic line, I voted for who was the best candidate. I think you have to be honest with people and you have to be freer. You have to get away from this party-line voting. It's stifling, it's almost like regimentation. And we have to encourage more people to run for office. I really isn't that difficult and you don't have to have a lot of money for local seats on the Common Council.

Theresa Portelli, Green
I hope it's an Albany where we have a lot more young people choosing to move in and stay beyond college and investing here and buying homes here. I'm looking at a school system that offers something to all students. And I'm looking for more of a tapestry, more of an integrated community where people are really reaching out to help each other.

There is a synergy between our colleges, between our residents, between our small business owners. And I really want to increase our support to small business owners. My son just opened a little diner a year ago on Central Avenue, and I watch him work 80 hours a week, and now I also help him do his buying and stuff. These are really, really hard jobs, but they're exciting jobs and they really do offer a lot of opportunity -- not just in the service sector, but also hopefully in spin-offs from the nanotech and all these other IT-type opportunities.

I think Albany, as the capital of the state, has so much to offer, both upstate and downstate. I'd really like to see Albany as the center of a hub of so many other things going on, including travel opportunities and historic opportunities. Albany really is a city of a great potential and I think if we approach it a little bit at a time, we can do it.

Joe Sullivan, Conservative
What I'd like to see in the Albany of 20 years from now is one that has a stable economy that's more diverse. Bring back some of the manufacturing. You can take the riverfront and let's capitalize on tourism, because we're fantastically historical. And New York City gets a lot of foreign tourists, let's bring back the riverboats ... for tourists. The Hudson Valley is America's Rhein. You go over to Europe, the Rhein, they have riverboats and they have tours and vineyards, it's great. We have the same thing here, but it's not being utilized with proper imagination. ...

Transportation, we're at the crossroads still... Let's capitalize on that location because trucks depending on gasoline, they could eventually be powered by natural gas. So being at a crossroads between Montreal and New York and Boston, let's develop our transportation jobs. We've gotta re-build our railroads, too, because a lot of them aren't being maintained well. I don't favor high-speed rail because that's just a waste of money, just a big money pit, it takes subsidies. Look at Amtrak now, Amtrak has more ridership than ever and yet they're still on the verge of collapsing. But railroads for freight are very important because that's a good backup.

Eventually you could see cars disappear. ... We're going to have to go back to more mass transit. We're going to have build light rail lines for people who live out in Clifton Park and the suburbs, why can't they jump on a train and come right into the city center.

Jesse Calhoun, Republican
I think the general consensus it that we do need to be moving towards a more independent city, where we have energy independence with green, sustainable energy. Things like LED streetlights, and buses that run on solar or electric. So that we have a city that if oil prices continue to rise we that our city could survive and thrive with local food sources and local small business. So that it's more independent and autonomous. And I think that would be the best thing for our city to do.