This week it looked like the long-contested redevelopment of this downtown Albany corner could finally begin. But not quite yet.
If you want to punish someone in Albany, you can sentence them to watch a hearing before the city’s Landmarks Commission. That’s my impression as I am following the proceedings before this board on Wednesday night, now going into its fourth hour just after 9 p.m.
The Albany Landmarks Advisory Commission spent only about half an hour Wednesday night to conduct two “quasi-judicial” public hearings and then approve minor alterations on the alley side of buildings facing First Avenue.
You wouldn’t think that replacing four wooden steps at your back door would require a public hearing, but in Albany’s downtown historic district it does. So does replacing a rear door on another building not far from those steps.
On an evening stroll through central Albany east of Lyon Street, I took a few photos of houses that impressed me as restored, repainted, fixed up, or just showing signs that the owner or somebody has been taking good care of them.
A ride this week took me down Fourth Avenue in Albany’s Hackleman Historic District, and I stopped to photograph a newly built house that looked close to being completed. I was struck by how nicely it fits in with the older houses on the street.
Council nixes treatment center in old house
The Albany City Council Wednesday turned down a permit that would have allowed an outpatient drug and alcohol treatment center to operate in the historic Sternberg House, 506 Ferry St. S.W.
Tags: 506 Ferry Street, historic districts, Planning commission, treatment center