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New
Weapons in the Arsenal
Watervliet
looks for ways to attract new business by utilizing its existing
infrastructure and its proximity to tech valley
Rosemary Nichols has been at her new job as head of the city
of Watervliet’s Department of Planning and Community Development
for only two weeks now, but her desk already is covered in
business cards. Nichols is not overwhelmed, she said. Planning
and developing in the community she lives and works in is
something she has been thinking about for quite some time.
The newly elected mayor, Michael Manning, met Nichols, who
runs her own law firm, while campaigning for his run to become
a councilman a few years ago.
“Mike
and I started talking about planning,” said Nichols of the
meeting, “and we have been talking about it for two years
now.” Nichols will eventually be tasked with coming up with
a comprehensive plan for Watervliet and will work at securing
federal and state grants, helping businesses find the right
space in the community and working with the Watervliet Arsenal
on attracting private- sector business. During the past administration,
it was the task of city employees to apply for grants.
Manning said that since a position of this nature did not
exist before, he expects Nichols will have to do a bit of
catching up. “If you compare Watervliet to Green Island or
Cohoes,” he said, “they have been at it for a couple years,
and they are having some success. Green Island has been developing
their open space, and their development is different than
what we would do. Cohoes has mills to renovate for businesses
and residents.”
Manning said he thinks that Watervliet offers a small community
with easy access by bus or car to places like the College
of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University at
Albany and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, as well as being
directly connected to the arsenal. “Why couldn’t we be another
bedroom community?” he asked.
“I
believe Watervliet has had the dubious distinction for many
of years of having the most tax-exempt property of any municipality
in the state. And it is payback time,” said Nichols, who plans
on acquiring state and national funds to improve infrastructure
in the city.
“Watervliet
doesn’t have the street cred or the immediate impact that
some streets in Troy might have, but there is a lot of really
sound, attractive housing here for small businesses that can
be reused, and they can become part of the community fabric,”
she said. Nichols runs her law firm out of the first floor
of her Watervliet home.
“For
the technology sector, we have lots of reusable space,” she
said. “We know we are not going to be the Harriman redevelopment,
but I guess the Harriman campus isn’t going to be the redevelopment
either. We have a lot of space to start out a small business
and for them to grow to bigger spaces in that incubator idea.
We also have space to use the idea of working out of your
home.”
On the horizon, thanks to pending federal Base Realignment
and Closure recommendations, portions of the Watervliet Arsenal
may soon shift from government to private ownership and give
Watervliet a chance to offer businesses the chance to be part
of that military complex. “We need to integrate planning and
put an emphasis on what to do with land should it become not
federal,” said Manning. “When the walls come down, we need
to integrate their plan with our plan. We will touch with
them on three sides.”
Manning also said he has an upcoming meeting with representatives
of Colonie’s new administration. “We both agreed to talk about
how our two communities can work together. They border us
entirely on the west; we have the arsenal in between us, and
a big strip of railway. There is a lot of potential economic
development. We are going to try to set up some sort of ongoing
meeting in the spirit of cooperation. It’s a two-new-kids-on-the-block
type of thing.”
—David
King
dking@metroland.net
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| What
a Week |
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Unnecessary
Roughness
A
family in Menands, including local public-relations
firm owner Libby Post, witnessed the beating of
two crime suspects at the hands of the Troy police
this week. The witnesses told the Times Union
that they heard the suspects screaming, and ran
outside to tell the police officers to stop. The
policeman, the witnesses allege, taunted them
by saying that they “were probably members of
the jury that let that killer go free” (a reference
to the acquittal of Edward J. Jidoun in a Troy
murder). The officers also allegedly told the
family that the suspects would kill them if they
were free. Investigations into the incident have
been launched by the Troy police and Albany County
District Attorney David Soares.
Kingmaker
John?
Many
bloggers and politicos alike say that they see
candidate John Edwards, the proverbial third wheel
in the Democratic presidential campaigns, as likely
to have a more important place in the process
as some might think. Pundits assert that if the
race between Obama and Clinton stays as tight
as it is currently, with both candidates taking
an equal portion of delegates, Edwards may be
able to direct his delegates at the Democratic
convention to side with one of the frontrunners,
thereby giving Obama or Clinton a decisive lead.
Others disagree, pointing out that delegates are
not bound to Edwards, and it is more likely Edwards’
delegates would vote for the candidate playing
most favorably in the media at the time.
Hard
Times
The
economic news is as gloomy as it has been any
time in the past 30 years. The subprime real-estate
market has ravaged our banks. The dollar has hit
new lows in trade value. More and more foreign
investors have been buying up the country’s bonds.
Every standard cost of living continues to skyrocket
as wages stagnate and home values plunge. The
Fed this week cut the overnight federal lending
rate by three-quarters of one percent, the largest
cut in decades. President George W. Bush and leaders
of Congress have proposed a $150 billion stimulus
package, aimed at reversing this downward trend.
Experts agree that this number is a drop in the
bucket.
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PHOTO: Joe Putrock |
The
Campaign Comes to Town
The
Coalition to Save Albany recently opened campaign headquarters
for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)
at 94 Lexington Ave. in Albany’s West Hill, marking the first
time that neighborhood has been home to a presidential campaign
office. Meanwhile, the campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.)
had tentatively opened an Albany headquarters downtown at
the office of the City Democratic Committee, 901 S. Pearl
Street, though the campaign said yesterday (Wednesday) that
the location is not final.
| Loose
Ends |
|
-no
loose ends this week-
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