All Over Albany

Pedestrian killed in Latham, Kaloyeros sentenced, jury deliberating in murder for hire trial, Cuomo urges Dems to oppose funding for wall

Pedestrian killed in Colonie
A 61-year-old woman was struck and killed by a car on Tuesday night at the intersection of Swatling Road and Route 2 in Colonie. Police are investigating but they say alcohol was not a factor in the crash and the driver called 911 immediately. [TU][Spectrum]

Alain Kaloyeros
A federal judge sentenced Alain Kaloyeros to 3 1/2 years in prison on Tuesday for his part in a bid rigging scheme connected to the Buffalo Billion initiative, and for trying to cover up his crimes. Kaloyeros will remain free pending his appeal. He told the judge, "Your honor, I stand before you with a heavy heart. I feel enormous responsibility for the hurt and loss I have caused others. ... I feel enormous sorrow and pain. I take full responsibility for their struggle and will spend the rest of my life trying to make amends."[NYT][Spectrum][TU]

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The New York State Writers Institute is getting two large gifts for its future

Many of the walls in the offices of the NYS Writers Institute in the Science Library on UAlbany's uptown campus are covered with posters touting appearances from the history of the visiting writers series. It's a remarkable a list of well-known and notable authors.

The New York State Writers Institute announced this week that it's received two large financial contributions from UAlbany alumni that will allow it to continue and expand its events.

Gregory Maguire -- the author of Wicked, an Albany native, and 1976 UAlbany grad -- is giving the institute $500,000. The The Maguire Family Endowment will support the institute's hosting of writers. And it says the gift will also allow it to grow the Albany Book Festival.

Marc Guggenheim -- a screenwriter, author, co-creator of the TV show Green Arrow, and 1992 UAlbany grad -- has pledged $100,000 to the NYSWI Classic Film Series endowment.

The Writers Institute is one of the area's most prominent and important cultural institutions. And it's been going through some big changes over the past year.

Paul Grondahl took over as director, and with assistant director Mark Koplik they've been working to widen the field of writers brought in as part the popular visiting writers series. The institute staged the first Albany Book Festival, which included a ton of high-profile authors and drew thousands of people. The institute also honored William Kennedy, who founded the institute with money from his MacArthur "genius" grant, for his 90th birthday. It also made day-to-day changes, like launching a new website.

And, as Grondahl told us earlier this year, part of laying the groundwork for these transitions and the future of the institute is finding the funding to keep it all afloat. These gifts sounds like an important step toward that goal.

Earlier: Here's how the NYS Writers Institute gets all those great authors to visit

"I'd rather have cities doing the right thing badly (at first), than continuing to do the wrong thing better."

This is an interesting way of looking at how cities attempt to change, what former Vancouver chief city planner Brent Toderian calls the learning curve for cities: from doing the wrong things (new highways), to doing the wrong things better (nicer parking lots), to doing the right things badly (bike lanes that aren't part of a network), to doing the right things well (continuous learning and improvement). [Fast Company]

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What's up in the Neighborhood

Among the topics in this most recent spin around the Capital Region's online neighborhood: Phelps Mountain in the snow, ice on the lake, donating children's books, Albany Cake, Utica Club, Greenway, Kirsten Gillibrand, John Sweeney, judging chili, pizza, Two Birds Marketplace, Gracie's Kitchen, and a big goal.

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Albany winters have been getting warmer

Here's a larger version.

A lot of people seemed to enjoy last week's post about when it's "actually" winter here -- that is, the part of the year here that tends to have the coldest temperatures rather than the standard definitions of the season. We looked at it two ways, and the best way (in our opinion) pegged winter in the Albany area as being from December 1 to March 20.

So here's the B side to that track: On average, winters in the Albany area have been getting warmer over the last century (plus). And not by a little -- the average December-March temperature here has been trending up by .4 degrees Fahrenheit per decade.*

That graph above was generated by an interactive tool on the website for NOAA, the federal agency. It shows the trend for average December-March temperatures in Albany between 1896 and 2018.

Here are a few more bits.

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Gawking at the @HudsonPark residential conversion in Albany

At the corner of Myrtle and Swan.

This week we got a chance to gawk at the still-under-construction residential conversion of the former Long Energy building at Myrtle and Swan, right across from Lincoln Park in Albany.

It's an interesting project, in part because of the design challenge of reshaping the complex of three historic buildings -- they were originally used in association with breweries -- into apartments.

The project also represents a significant addition of residential units -- 75 -- to the neighborhood.

Here's a look around, along with a few more bits.

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