Politics
Can $400 Million Rescue New York’s Run-Down Capital City?
Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed to earmark $400 million to revitalize the capital of New York, where poverty rates are high and the downtown is moribund.
The blight that pervades downtown Albany is hard to miss. Buildings are boarded up just blocks from the New York State Capitol. Chain-link fencing and other barriers surround the crumbling Capitol staircase.
The city’s lack of appeal even drew national scorn last spring, when Albany hosted a marquee women’s college basketball playoff game featuring Caitlin Clark.
“Good luck finding something to do in Albany,” the ESPN commentator Rebecca Lobo said on the televised broadcast. City leaders responded with a public relations push, but it was clear to the residents — including the occupant of the Executive Mansion — that something more concrete was needed.
Gov. Kathy Hochul last month included in her executive budget proposal a “City of Albany Rescue Plan” that would pump $400 million into downtown Albany. The area has not fully bounced back from a pandemic-triggered exodus of state workers, and pre-existing issues still linger.
Poverty rates in Albany are double the national rate, and a huge gap in homeownership between white and Black residents remains an impediment to the city’s revitalization.
