Lane Rosen’s confidence grows during mayoral campaign

Third in a six-part series about the city of Albany’s Nov. 3 municipal election.

ALBANY — What a difference a couple of weeks can make in a political campaign.

When businessman Lane Rosen decided to take the plunge and challenge incumbent Mayor Dorothy Hubbard, he did so tentatively, saying, “I don’t know if I have a chance to win, but I feel like I have to try.”

After jumping into his campaign with both feet, Rosen is now singing a different tune.

“I think my message has been so well received because I’m speaking about the issues that matter most,” Rosen, who has real estate holdings and is owner/manager of the downtown State Theatre, said. “I’m hearing from people who tell me they have my back because they know now I have theirs.

“If my voice could reach 99 percent of the voters in our city, I believe I would win this election with 99 percent of the vote. People here are tired of the same group of folks sitting around the same tables, eating free doughnuts and waiting for the phone to ring.”

Rosen, whose family has been in Albany for six generations, has hammered away at three primary issues during his campaign: reduction of utilities rates, increase in home ownership and expanding local reach outside the community in search of new jobs.

He said those issues are resonating throughout the community.

“When I started talking about running for office, people were telling me ‘We’ll never have another white mayor,’” Rosen said. “I was told the election is about demographics. But I don’t believe that. I’m familiar with the issues that impact the north and west sides of town, but I do my business on the southside, the eastside and downtown. One hundred percent of my time is spent in the predominantly black community.

“I understand the issues that impact the parts of our city that have been neglected for so long. And I can tell you that the people in south Albany and east Albany are tired of nothing being done in their neighborhoods.”

Rosen claims utilities rates in the community have soared since the Albany City Commission took tighter control of the city’s Water, Gas & Light Commission, renaming it the Albany Utility Board and making the utilities authority a city department.

“To get to the root of the poverty level in our community and address the low morale of so many of our citizens, we have to reduce power rates back to the levels they were before the city’s ‘hostile takeover,’” the mayoral candidate said. “I — and a lot of other people — tried to warn city officials that utilities and politics don’t mix. The mayor has said she’s proud that the city hasn’t raised taxes, but they’re taxing us to death through utilities.

“We need a common-sense approach, something as simple as reducing the garbage rate for senior citizens who need only one pickup a week, as opposed to a family of six. It’s such a waste to watch our garbage trucks dump empty garbage cans.”

Rosen said he’s long considered his real estate dealings “partnerships” rather than landlord-tenant relationships. He said he gives clients the opportunity to own their homes rather than rent, which instills a sense of pride and encourages them to invest in the city.

“When people own their homes, they’re going to pick up their own trash, their kids are going to do better in school, and they’re going to become more involved in the community,” he said. “I know this first-hand from being an ‘apartment kid’ growing up who was always asking his single mom, ‘When are we going to get our own home?’”

Rosen said expansion of his plan citywide will take work but it can be done.

“I’ve spent a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure out just how we could do this throughout the city,” he said. “I believe we’d need to get our legal department and an advisory panel involved, but I have no doubt it can be done. Certainly proposing modest tax credits would be incentive for landlords, who would no doubt love having tenants who take care of their property.

“And tenants would understand that their investments are not being thrown out the window. We can make this happen without making it a give-away program.”

Rosen says his third issue of focus is to “beg, borrow and bargain” to bring jobs to the community.

“That group sitting around the table, eating free doughnuts and waiting for the phone to ring is not helping our community,” he said. “We need people willing to travel, to go and talk with business owners and tell them what we have to offer. We need to tell them about our abundant water and our trained work force ready to work. And we need to tell them we can give them reasonable utility rates.

“As mayor, I’d go and meet anyone who could bring us jobs. I’d tell them what we have to offer.”

Rosen said campaigning has convinced him he is the person to best “bridge the gap” that exists in the community.

“I’m excited about my campaign, because I believe the change we all want is in our grasp,” he said. “Mayor Hubbard was a teacher all her life. Teachers work hard, but they show up and have their plans handed to them. I’m an entrepreneur. I’m a guy who writes the plans.”

Tomorrow: Mayoral challenger Tracy Taylor.