Albany commissioners discuss redefining ADICA’s mission

ALBANY — With her outside-looking-in perspective, interim Downtown Manager Sharlene Cannon offered the Albany City Commission a succinct snapshot of the problems that have plagued ongoing efforts to revitalize the inner city.

“There have been so many promises made and so many promises broken,” Cannon said.

Still, the commission’s discussion of the Albany-Dougherty Inner City Authority and its role in revitalizing downtown left many feeling optimistic about the prospects of affecting true change in a district that has had little success in doing so.

Interim City Manager Tom Berry led the discussion of the city’s troubled development arm, calling ADICA a “pretty visionary” concept.

“ADICA has the opportunity to do some good things downtown,” Berry said. “But over the years they’ve gradually started operating in an autonomous manner. Until they work jointly with the city, they’re not going to be effective.

“ADICA is focusing on residential, and they have some (bond) money left that they can use in that regard. I think that money should be expended with your vision. Now’s the time to refocus, to find the best place to expend that funding.”

Asked what her plan was for ADICA moving forward, Cannon turned the tables on the commission.

“My question is do you all have a plan to allow ADICA to bring people downtown?” she said. “We have to create a partnership. A development authority (like ADICA) should carry out the vision of leadership. We need your guidance to get a buy-in from the community, which is the key piece we’re missing here.

“I pledge that I will put together one of the best mainstream programs in the state with your guidance.”

Ward III Commissioner B.J. Fletcher encouraged her fellow board members to focus on downtown.

“We need one person to take one location and get things started,” she said. “It won’t happen overnight, and it probably will be painful. But the change is going to have to come from this commission. We have to quit worrying about demographics and entitlements and be leaders.

“At some point, we’ve got to quit thinking about being re-elected and do what’s best for this community.”

Ward II Commissioner Bobby Coleman said any efforts at revitalization should focus on inclusion.

“We hear the same voices in everything we do here,” he said. “Until we expand our reach to include the entire community, we’ll be doing this 10 years from now.”

Ward V Commissioner Bob Langstaff, referencing comments attributed to NewTownMacon CEO Josh Rogers, said Albany officials need to quit falling back on ready-made excuses.

“Yes, Macon’s bigger than we are, but we’re not that different,” he said. “(Rogers) gave statistics that show the poverty level (in Macon’s inner city) is greater than ours and their median income is lower. He also said that they finally discovered a truth in urban development: residential is the key.

“He pointed out that for every 15 lofts that were filled in Macon, a new business came to town of its own volition. Businesses are going to come where the people are. And he also said downtown property owners got serious about marketing their property when the city created a vacancy tax that they placed on empty properties.”

Fletcher had suggested enacting such a tax in downtown Albany during the first month of her tenure on the commission.

Ward I Commissioner Jon Howard asked Cannon for an honest evaluation of the city’s situation compared to others she’s worked on.

“If you graded from an A to an F, what would you give us? And be honest,” Howard said.

Cannon hesitated briefly then said, “D-minus.”

In a discussion of developing a standard rental property code for property owners in the city, sparked by an article that appeared in The Albany Herald, commissioners asked Berry to take the lead in determining whether such action was feasible. The city manager said he has begun to recruit landlords to form a focus group that could help come up with an equitable plan. He said property owners and landlords interested in being part of the group should contact him at his office (229-431-3234).

Ward IV Commissioner Roger Marietta volunteered to “take the lead” on working to resurrect the failed T-SPLOST legislation for the region. He said the just-passed HB 170 offers regions that did not pass the 1 percent transportation sales tax a second chance to approve the measure.

“The regions that passed T-SPLOST are really benefitting from it,” Marietta said. “There are a lot of transportation needs in the county — like new hangars at the airport — that could be addressed with that funding. I think we should take advantage of this second chance.

“The projected vote is a ways off, in 2016, and I wouldn’t mind taking the lead in working with the county to push this forward. If the majority of counties in a region don’t pass T-SPLOST, the new bill allows counties to go it alone. I think the majority in our county support T-SPLOST.”