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A
Test Long Failed
‘Consider
it a test” began the recent Times Union editorial titled
“A Test of Leadership,” which stated that, in the face of
the fatal shooting of 10-year-old Kathina Thomas and other
acts of gun violence around Albany, now is the time for Albany
Police Chief James Tuffey and Mayor Jerry Jennings to lead.
At this point, however, the idea that Tuffey and Jennings
are still in the midst of some sort of test—to see whether
they can provide safety for the citizens of Albany, no less—is
beginning to sound absurd, if not utterly insulting. This
is a test long failed. The pair’s lack of leadership on this
issue is well established. If Jennings and Tuffey had bothered
to listen to the good advice of many of this community’s true
leaders, they would not be acting as though the presence of
“community guns” and the community’s general distrust of the
police are new problems. Perhaps recent tragedies could have
been avoided.
Tuffey still can’t let the word “gang” pass his lips. “Groups
of kids” is his favorite turn of phrase. The time for denial
is long over. The city’s real leaders have been dealing with
these issues for years, and they have not tried to sugar-coat,
dissuade, or lie to the public to do damage control for their
political ambitions. The future leaders of Albany have made
themselves apparent by addressing the issues Albany faces,
while Jennings and Tuffey have denied them.
Yes, there are community guns; this is not a new revelation,
and Jennings and Tuffey have had their time to act. Unless
they have had their heads buried in sand, they have long been
aware of these problems.
Three years ago, a Metroland staffer sat with David
Soares as he explained how urgently he needed access to abandoned
buildings in Albany to confiscate community firearms. He detailed
the resistance he was receiving from landlords and even certain
heads of city government at the time.
Almost a decade before, Common Councilman Dominick Calsolaro
(Ward 1) worked to establish a weed-and-seed program, which
dealt with the presence of guns located in abandoned buildings.
Long before the recent shooting of Kathina Thomas, Calsolaro
knew that Albany needed a gun-violence task force to bring
the community together around the issue. If Calsolaro had
been in Jennings’ shoes, the issues of community guns and
gangs would have been in the open for a decade. And the task
force would have been long-established, offering a forum for
vibrant public discussion.
As for the issue of community cooperation with the police,
Councilman Corey Ellis (Ward 3) has offered to work with the
police department to build trust between the communities he
represents and the police officers that protect them. Ellis
has extended his hand to Tuffey and offered to task a number
of respected members of his community with walking with officers
and introducing them to members of the community—to give the
officers a better chance to know the people they are protecting
and for the community to know their protectors. But according
to Ellis, the chief told him only that he would think about
it. Like all ideas Jennings can’t claim as his own, Ellis’
idea has been left to languish.
Perhaps some Albanians still remember Calsolaro telling the
mayor that people in his neighborhood were scared because
of gangs and gun violence. Perhaps they remember Jennings’
reply: He claimed he does not have to listen “to what Calsolaro
says” and told Calsolaro to get out and walk his streets to
see how safe they are. How safe does the mayor think the streets
of his city are now, when a 10-year-old girl can be shot dead
with a bullet fired by an anxious 15-year-old?
“There’s
a crisis in Albany, and nothing short of a crusade can reverse
it. That’s why the mayor and the police chief are in the hot
seat,” the Times Union’s editorial concludes. If the
only way to solve Albany’s gun violence problem is a crusade
by Tuffey and Jennings, then Albany is a lost cause. Because
Jennings and Tuffey refuse to listen to their community. The
chief can’t be bothered to sit through a full meeting of the
gun-violence task force. Occasionally he even asks to speak
before the public comment period, so he can dart out. While
he attends meetings in Albany and consistently hears the refrain,
“We need community policing, we need our beat cops,” he ignores
it. Having a new cop on your street every other day does not
build trust in the police force. It feels like a faceless,
invading force.
It is one thing to attend meetings. To compromise and share
ideas is another. Jennings and Tuffey have long alienated
the community members they need to help them improve the city.
They have burned the bridges to the forward thinkers and politicians
and activists who are on the street making a difference. Come
next November we expect Jennings, if he does decide to run
again, will face the final grade he has earned by choosing
not to listen to all the communities of Albany, only the ones
who line his campaign coffers. Unless he dramatically alters
his governing style in the next year, we expect he will be
replaced, hopefully by someone who can unify Albany and repair
the ugly scars left by neglect and denial. The Albany police
want to do their jobs well, and they will continue doing their
best no matter who is in charge. But our next mayor needs
to appoint a chief who can lead and listen. Hopefully another
life won’t be lost while we wait for someone to pass the test
of real leadership.
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