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From the article: "Speaking to the first in-person Troy 100 Forum since 2019, Troy Mayor Patrick Madden recently spoke about city finances and reinvesting in neighborhoods. Madden also remarked on the importance of the city finally retiring its MAC debt, enabling investments to move ahead on city services and infrastructure.
“In the past year, we’ve invested in our firehouses. We’ll be replacing the one in Lansingburgh but all the others we’ve spent a good deal of money on. We rebuilt the South Troy pool. We spent $1.2 million repairing a pool that cost us $200,000 to build in 1960. We have developed a parks plan where we will be investing in our parks again. So, retiring that debt again is important to the quality of our life going forward, just be patient, it is gonna take us time, we didn’t get here overnight,” Madden commented on the structures being addressed in the city.
Madden also explained the opportunity created by Congress to invest $42.8 million in American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) funds in making an investment with a long-term impact. The mayor noted the city has a website, TroyNow.org where residents can track the progress of those expenditures and decisions.
Madden noted his strong preference to invest this one-shot money in neighborhood improvements that create lasting change.
“So we have identified certain areas where we’re gonna expend these funds and there are some funds left over for additional community input but things like affordable housing, home improvement, homeownership promotion, those were issues that we heard from the small workgroups,” Madden remarked on some of the ideas put forth.
“Investments in our parks. We have a parks master plan. We also have a plan to replace the pool at Knickerbocker Park, not just nearly replace the pool but change the configuration of where the park where the pool is located. If you’ve been to parks in other communities, you find the pool, you find picnic tables and grills and volleyball courts and things around it. The Knickerbocker Park pool as exists today is off of an alley. It’s a dreadful location. Thank goodness it can’t be repaired so we don’t have to make that decision. It’s gotta be replaced. So, we wanna move the pool to a more premiere location, we wanna make the park a destination for our families, not just a place where you drop off your kids for summer activities,” Madden noted on reshaping the Knickerbocker Park in particular.
“Demolition of the vacant Taylor buildings, one and two, just a block away from here, those buildings have been vacant for over 10 years. We’re putting money into demolishing those, working with the Troy Housing Authority to redevelop that site to provide the residents of Taylor apartments [with] modern, new, efficient living quarters. So all of the units that are occupied in three and four will move into new construction that will be placed where buildings one and two are located now, opening up the rest of that site for redevelopment of more housing and greenspace along the river,” Madden explained regarding establishing more affordable and environmentally friendly housing in the city.
Madden also commented on the importance of having venues and activities for families to enjoy.
“The American Theater, also known as the Cinema Arts, has been closed for several years. Prior to the pandemic, Proctors collaborative which runs Proctors in Schenectady, Cap Rep, and the Music Hall in Saratoga, was moving toward reopening that as a theater both for performance art and for first-run movies. That was derailed by Covid. We are going to be putting some money into that, to bring that theater back to downtown Troy, which is great because we can only go so far on bars and restaurants, we also have to have other types of activities, like movies,” Madden explained."
and "Additionally, Madden spoke about investing in Troy’s children and creating jobs to keep them here.
“Other things we’re looking at, education and workforce development, we are emerging as a gaming development center in the city Troy, video gaming. This will create new jobs. I want it to be for our kids. I don’t mind people coming in and moving into Troy but I want our kids to get a crack at that. So we’re working with Hudson Valley’s [Community College’s] workforce institute,” Madden said.
“Youth programming, we all know how valuable youth programming is. Food access, that was something that was mentioned earlier as well. We’re working with Capital Roots and Barton groceries to open food access just north of the Hoosick Street Bridge. Child care, I don’t know exactly where we’re going with that yet but I know that if you want to get everybody back to work, if you wanna get everybody back to school, you’re gonna need to provide child care options. Child care was difficult before the pandemic and it became impossible during and after the pandemic,” Madden continued on a number of important issues the city is looking to address as well.
Madden concluded by acknowledging the creation of a Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion position at city hall. The position, passed by the city council and approved by the mayor, looks to foster a diverse, welcoming, and supportive workplace environment in the city."
From the article: "True North Troy Preparatory High School, aka Troy Prep, held its first in-person formal graduation ceremony on Friday. The charter school within the Uncommon School network celebrated 24 graduates from its second-ever class of high school seniors. Last year’s graduating class held a drive-in graduation due to pandemic restrictions.
At the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, enthusiastically proud family and friends gathered to cheer on the class of 2022. The graduates have been accepted to over 30 colleges and universities, including Siena, Skidmore, Cornell, Hampton, and SUNY schools.
In her address to the graduates, Principal Dr. Preethy Gowrinathan advised them to “pause and reflect on the beauty of the journey” they had taken since eighth-grade graduation four years ago. It was a journey of highs and lows, adversities and triumphs, and great personal growth.
“As you prepare to navigate the challenges of the real world, we hope that you will pause and remember the journey you took,” Gowrinathan said.
Salutatorian GiaVanni Singleton congratulated her classmates on making it to graduation day and wished everyone well before going separate ways.
“We are strong,” she said. “I’m honored to have gone through these four years with all of you.”
Valedictorian Shakeim Francis spoke of the bonds that had been forged in families and friendships over the years, including through the pandemic, and noted that those bonds would continue to bring strength and comfort for years to come.
“Keep building these bonds after high school, and show gratitude for them,” he advised his classmates. “Remember, we took our first AP exam on a computer screen over a Zoom call, so I’m confident that we can overcome any obstacles.”
Keynote speaker Neal Currie, the Chief Impact Officer at KIPP Albany Community Public Charter Schools, advised the graduates to celebrate hard because they had earned it.
“Today is a day for celebration, so I want you to dance to your favorite song, I want you to clap your hands, I want you to stomp your feet, I want you to jump up and down, I want you to yell and scream,” Currie said. “Appreciate all the victories you’ve accomplished from kindergarten to grade 12, but today you can say ‘I did that!’ It’s also a day for gratitude. Say thank you to your family members and friends, because they helped you get here.”
Currie encouraged the graduates to “dream the impossible dream” as they envisioned their futures.
“You are whatever you say you are, so hold fast to your dreams,” he said. “What problems are you going to solve to make our world more beautiful?”
After the students crossed the stage to receive their diplomas, Gowrinathan guided them in moving their tassels, officially marking them as high school graduates. They received a standing ovation from the audience before recessing out of the theater.
“These kids have been an absolute blast,” said Brooke Paradise, director of College Completion after the ceremony. “I would greet them every day, saying ‘good morning my beautiful humans.’ The relationships we’ve been able to form have customized their high school experience, and I’m really proud of them. I will never stop rooting for them.”
Gowrinathan believes the school’s small size helped the students in ways a more traditional high school never could, because of the high level of community involvement that doesn’t end with commencement.
“It’s amazing to see how cohesive these students have been,” she commented. “I know they’ve got a strong network of educators and colleagues they can continue to turn to. It’s definitely been beneficial to our students to have so much community support. Today’s commencement speaks to the power of choice our families have. Our vision is to grow, and because our foundation is so strong, I believe we’ll have lots of new opportunities for our future students.”
Founding Troy Prep principal Maisie Wright, who currently serves as the school’s assistant superintendent, agreed with Gowrinathan’s sentiments, crediting the school community as a factor that contributed to the graduates’ success.
“These initial classes show how much the families have believed in what’s possible for their students,” she remarked, in between greeting students outside of the Music Hall. “It’s really laying the foundation for all future classes. There will be many more celebrations to come.”
A family member was an inaugural tenant in The Collar Factory Lofts on River Street. Redburn did a fantastic job of converting the old factory into apartments. Original wood floors and beams mixed in with new amenities in a spacious 1 bedroom. Warm in winter and AC for the hot days. Nice common areas with a rooftop deck, gym and dogwash station. Most of the residents I saw were young to middle-aged and a mix of ethnicities and races. Not hipsters in the Williamsburgh sense, just regular people getting priced out of nicer areas.
The area around it was questionable at best as low income residents from the south portion of Troy were pushed further north of 7. Family member moved out at the lease's end. While they liked their neighbors, apartment and amenities, the ever present police or fire sirens wailing up River St at all hours, along with the occasional gun shots proved to be too much.
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