Can $400 Million Rescue New York’s Run-Down Capital City?
The New York Times
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.
Two generations of one family have owned this restaurant in the Bronx, trying to change with the times while staying true to the borough.
Several incidents, including an attack on a synagogue in Michigan, a shooting in Virginia and a thwarted explosives attack in New York, may be linked to the fighting in the Middle East.
Love Locks left behind were one thing. But when actual garbage (like tampons and condoms) started appearing, a righteous quest to remove it was born.
President Trump is the first American leader to embrace fighting a full-fledged, joint war with Israel. Washington has tried to avoid that level of coordination in the past.
The school also said that it would review policies about philanthropy and donor engagement after new revelations about the disgraced financier were made public.
A formal tally on Friday showed Sam Page ahead of Phil Berger, the powerful longtime leader of the State Senate. A recount is expected but experts say that is unlikely to flip the results.
Legislation has been introduced to authorize two new casinos at the Meadowlands and Monmouth Park racetracks to compete against the three new casinos planned for New York City.
“We are synagogues — we are houses of worship,” one rabbi said. “We are not Fort Knox.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been reluctant to force people indoors, even in dire weather. But conditions, whether on the streets or in shelters, can be dangerous.
The threats to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz are complicating President Trump’s calculations about how and when to end the war.
The proposed law, which would not take effect before this year’s midterm elections, was modeled in part on President Trump’s top legislative priority in Congress.
The billionaire is said to be willing to spend up to $5 million to help Assemblyman Micah Lasher in his bid to replace Representative Jerrold Nadler, bypassing a Kennedy scion, Jack Schlossberg.
The proposed law, which would not take effect before this year’s midterm elections, was modeled in part on President Trump’s top legislative priority in Congress.