Albany Common Council, NY Finance, Assessment and Taxation Committee, 2 Aug 2022

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From YouTube: August 2, 2022 Albany Common Council Finance Assessment and Taxation Committee Meeting

Description

To discuss Ordinance 13.51.22

A

A

B

Okay, hello: everyone um welcome to the finance meeting for tuesday august 2nd to discuss ordinance, 13 51-22 uh for the sale of 56 north clark street to the city school district. um This is a continuing conversation. We previously met a few weeks back, if not a month or so ago, to discuss the initial uh stellar initial conversation on this. At this time a few concerns were brought up via some council members about potential parking scenarios uh related to the sale. So we did want to get some some clarity on that.

B

um I believe at this time a lot of that has been addressed with the council member that brought up the original concerns council member robinson. However, I would like to give the floor to start to the uh appropriate school district representative, just to uh brief us on the information that has been shared since we last met.

C

B

And also sorry before we get started, I forgot to acknowledge. Who is here so let me go through that with us. Today we have council, member megan keegan councilmember, jenny, farrell councilmember, alfredo ballerin and councilmember robinson. I also see councilmember romero from the city school district. We have a number of guests with us today. It looks like tasha anderson, chris honeywell, martha mahoney and durrett miles and finally, from the council council team. We have our city clerk, danielle gillespie and our research council, john rafael, pachardo.

B

Thank you. You can proceed.

C

Thank you very much.

C

Thank you, council for meeting with us again again, I'm chris honeywell attorney for the district I'm joined today by drip miles who's uh the transportation director for the district, as well as tasha anderson who's, the assistant principal at the building, just in case more questions come up that, hopefully we can have some more immediate answers. The concern last time raised by councilman robinson, was primarily around parking and traffic um that he was saying that some constituents had complained about. You know, drop off and pick up around the building.

C

um I circled back with relevant parties and we've determined that the back driveway is not currently being used for pickup or drop off. It's blocked off from about 7 am in the morning until 5 pm in the evening. So the transfer of this land to the school district will have no impact on parking or traffic. um Positive or negative it'll continue to be what it is, although we certainly acknowledge the councilman's concerns.

C

The district was receiving some complaints at the beginning of the school year related to traffic and parking, although, as people got used to the the building and the drop off and the way the flow would work, those complaints lessened.

C

Additionally, the district entered into a lease agreement with a church right down the road to utilize their parking lot for additional staff parking and that occurred in january of this year so about halfway through the school year. So the district has not received complaints since then related to those two issues. So again, I'm not sure when those constituents made those complaints if they were at the beginning of the year, we were hearing similar feedback and we've been, you know doing our best to address those and we'll continue to do our best to address those concerns.

C

But in my opinion, the transfer of the property would have no negative impact on either traffic flow or parking, as the area at issue would continue to be utilized as play space once developed by the district.

B

Thank you very much for that explanation. I want to open it up to committee members to see if they have any questions for chris.

B

Unfortunately doing this on my phone, so I think.

D

So I'll just uh jump right in. uh Thank you chris uh for the explanation, and so uh the uh issue that I raised uh before wasn't so much a concern with whether that back uh space was actually used for parking. um The issue was really dealing with the amount of congestion at the pickup and drop off times for uh the school, and I know a number of neighbors raised some concerns that, instead of changing into a place space, how about adding more additional parking um so that it can maybe alleviate some of that congestion.

D

But I am uh since then satisfied with what the school district uh has has done uh regarding congestion, which is uh contracting with um one of the local churches in the area to use their parking lot for additional apartment space, to alleviate some of that congestion that the constituents my constituents were complaining about, um and so um I am okay to move forward with this ordinance.

D

um I just again um as a request before acts at the school district and the building principal or whoever's in charge of the building uh be responsive to concerns of the neighbors that live in that particular area. um You know um because the goal is, you know, definitely to be a good neighbor uh to uh for the neighborhood. So I'm.

A

Okay, with moving forward.

D

With the ordinance, as is.

B

Thank you, councilmember robinson uh councilmember, ballerin.

E

Thank you. I just wanted to echo uh the statement from councilmember robinson. uh Sometimes you know just because we stop hearing complaints and people are putting up with you know. Bad environment or a bad situation doesn't mean that we shouldn't be looking to address and make it a better situation for them. So I uh you know.

C

E

Just want to follow, you know, conquer those, those comments that helped the district and the building administrators are uh always open, uh minded and open-hearted when they get these concerns, and- and uh you know what may seem as complaints and just well, you just have to put up with it. Well, you know, that's not really the kind of answers the people who live in these neighborhoods want to hear, and I don't think that's the kind of answers that we want to have.

E

You know the mentality that we want to have uh you know with our school district. You know these are taxpayers. These are residents. These are people who live in these neighborhoods and we should make sure we respect their opinions and respect their concerns.

E

So when they bring up issues, the district is looking to address those concerns as quickly as possible. So I'm glad that some actions were done and I hope the district continues to have an open heart and open mind when people who live in a neighborhood say that concerns have been brought up by the institution itself. Thank you.

B

Thank you, councilmember ballerin, councilmember, farrell,.

F

Thank you and people can, let me know if my loud air conditioner is blocking what you're hearing at all, because I will turn it off. um I really wanted to thank the school district for working with councilmember robinson to make sure that these needs were addressed.

F

um I we're different parts working for the same group of people and that partnership is really important and that hasn't always happened, not necessarily because of any negative thing, but because of oversight, and I'm keenly aware of that, because the high school is now in my ward and I'm dealing with a lot of the things that I should have done when I was on the school board and pushing the high school project that I did not know should have been done.

F

So um we really really appreciate your awareness of this and um hope that you'll continue in this vein, so that um you know some future school board member that might be on the common council. Isn't like? Oh, my gosh. Why didn't I deal with that when I was on the school board? um So we really appreciate it, because um neighborhood concerns are the same concerns for the schools. The schools are part of the neighborhood and, if they're not um if they're doing things that hurt the neighborhood, then that's that's not what the school is for.

F

So we just really really appreciate your partnership on this and appreciate all you do for the kids.

C

Thank you. You know. We certainly appreciate um you know the council bringing these concerns to our attention, and you know, hopefully you know, as has demonstrated from we got the complaints in the fall and by a few months later in january, we had a creative solution working with with the neighborhood church there. So we recognize our part in the community as a part of the neighborhood, and we certainly take all those concerns seriously.

B

Councilmember robinson, I see your.

D

B

Is still up, do you have additional comments.

D

Oh no, I just forgot.

B

All right, I'm sorry I'll just say as well. uh Thank you for not only your partnership to serve our city and in your response, but also uh your flexibility with us and in terms of having a further conversation making sure we got this right.

B

So that being said, do I have a motion.

F

This piece of legislation, which I do not have the exact number in front of me out of the committee with a positive recommendation.

B

Thank you. We have a motion to provide a positive recommendation from councilman farrell. Second, second, a second from council member keegan and all those in favor.

F

B

All right unanimous for those of us that are here tonight so uh ordinance, 13 51-22, will move out of the finance committee with a positive recommendation, and this is the business we have for today's finance meeting as a reminder we'll be reaching out shortly to start scheduling blocks for the upcoming budget season. So please go to the lookout I'll work with our staff to make sure that that gets out and otherwise appreciate you hopping on the line today and thank you again to the city school district for your partnership.

C

Thank you, council.

E

Good night, everybody good night.

F