All Over Albany

Albany mayor Kathy Sheehan is now officially running for re-election

Albany mayor Kathy Sheehan officially announced Saturday that she's running for re-election.

She made the formal announcement before a crowd at the Ancient Order of Hibernians hall in Albany. A clip:

When I was running for mayor four years ago, I heard three things over and over again. That we were a city with a plan, but no action -- lots of plans and no action. That we were being strangled by out-dated rules and regulations that made it hard for people to do things like put a deck on their house without going before the zoning board of appeals, and that we were guilty of leaving money on the table when it was clear we needed every dollar we could get. I took those concerns to heart and every day over the last three years we've worked to turn those perceptions and the realities around. We are showing ourselves and the world that Albany is a city with a plan, and that we know how to act, and that we know how to get results.

And we're doing it through hard work; the un-sexy, unglamorous work; the big-picture, Capital Center, Park South, anti-poverty work. We're tackling the longterm problems we knew we had when we started this journey together four years ago.

Video of Sheehan's announcement speech is embedded below.

Sheehan is currently in her first term as mayor. Prior to that, she served as the city's treasurer for four years. Albany has had just four mayors since 1942.

The Democratic field for mayor now includes Sheehan, Common Council president Carolyn McLaughlin, and Common Council member Frank Commisso Jr. They will be focused on the September party primary, which has historically been the de facto election for the office because of the party's overwhelming enrollment advantage in the city.

Dan Plaat has announced his intent to run for mayor on Green Party line.

Sheehan was introduced Saturday by a lineup of speakers that included Common Council member Dorcey Applyrs; former state Assemblyman Jack McEneny; former county legislator Noelle Kinsch speaking on behalf of her husband, city treasurer Darius Shahinfar, who was away because of a family commitment; Albany County exec Dan McCoy; and Congressman Paul Tonko. The intro also included a recorded video message from US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand expressing her support for Sheehan.

Also of note: Former Common Council member -- and mayoral candidate -- Corey Ellis was part of the intro lineup. He's running for Common Council president and endorsed Sheehan -- to whom he lost in the last mayoral race -- for re-election.

Announcement speech

This clip doesn't include the first and last few seconds of the speech.

Kathy Sheehan mayoral announce 2017 from All Over Albany on Vimeo.

Earlier on AOA:
+ Carolyn McLaughlin is running for Albany mayor (with announcement speech video)
+ Frank Commisso Jr. is running for Albany mayor (with announcement speech video)