Bobby Coleman kickstarts ‘Fight Albany Blight’ at building razing
City commissioner says demolition part of ridding city of non-code-compliant structures
Albany City Commissioner Bobby Coleman didn’t use a plastic garbage bag to kick off the city’s “Fight Albany Blight” weekend Friday — he used a backhoe instead. (Staff Photo: Terry Lewis)
By Terry Lewis
ALBANY — Albany City Commissioner Bobby Coleman didn’t use a plastic garbage bag to kick off the city’s “Fight Albany Blight” weekend Friday — he and a crew of city staff used a backhoe instead to bring down an abandoned structure at the corner of Hobson Street and Clark Avenue.
“This building has been here for the past 10 or 15 years in basically the same condition,” Coleman said. “As part of the ‘Fight the Blight’ weekend, it seemed like a good place to start. This intersection is the gateway to people’s homes, and they are elated to see it coming down.”
Coleman added that not only was an East Albany eyesore coming down, the razing of the building was also meant to send a message.
“Let this serve notice to the slumlords and blighted property owners that the city of Albany is serious about removing blighted properties,” Coleman said. “Our Code Enforcement people are going to be more aggressive.”
The commissioner said the demolition of the concrete block structure is just the start of an initiative that will sweep the entire city.
“There are four or five more properties on this road (Clark), and we are going to contact the property owners of these blighted buildings and find out what their intentions are,” Coleman said. “They really have two choices — bring the property up to code or we’ll bring it down for them.”
The owner of the property razed Friday gave the city permission to take it down and agreed to pay for the demolition work.
“In truth this work should have been done long ago,” Coleman said. “And I am happy this owner decided to cooperate. But in the future, even if they don’t cooperate, we’ll knock it down and send them a bill for it. We want to make it clear that the city of Albany is no longer going to tolerate blighted properties.”
Based on a plan devised primarily by city/county Planning Services Director Paul Forgey and co-directed by Forgey and Albany Police Department Chief Michael Persley, the city’s “Fight Albany Blight” program will kick off today with a day of action planned in a sector of the city that includes an area from Roosevelt Street to Second Avenue and from the Flint River to Davis Street.
That event, which will start at Engram Park at the corner of Society Avenue and Monroe Street, will begin an intense six-month, targeted program that will involve neighborhood watch groups, volunteers, city agencies, local nonprofits and businesses.
When the six months are up, the effort will move to another section of the city, the next in East Albany.
Carlton Fletcher contributed to this report.
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