What'sthe plan for Arbor Hill? (Albany: apartments, neighborhoods, public school)

[citylove101]

I've been in Albany a few times but last week was the first time my friend showed me the hood, Arbor Hill. So I asked whether the city had any long range plans to clean it up, revitalize, try to jump start gentrification, build new affordable housing, whatever... He shrugged and gave me a look that said, "why on earth would anyone waste time on that?"

Neighborhoods change all the time in NYC so I though it was a pretty reasonable question. Places that looked like s**t a dozen years ago now sprout Citibank and Starbucks-- as somebody said, from baggy pants and pit bulls to skinny jeans and tiny dogs. Because its the state capital I was wondering; any body in the city doing anything for positive change in this blighted neighborhood? Or are folks just prepared to write it off?

[sarchivist98]

I haven't heard of any formal plans for Arbor Hill, which, of course, doesn't mean there aren't any. Right now the focus is on Park South, an area that directly abuts Albany Medical Center and the Cultural Ed Center at the Empire State Plaza. They have already razed some buldings for Albany Med, offices, and mixed use office-residential buildings. And they are putting in essential services like Panera Bread .

Plans are also being enacted in the Morton Ave area, where more garden-type apartments, a community service "campus" and a better set-up of buildings security-wise are in store.

Maybe this means the closer you are to the Capitol, the more attention you get? It is also true that Arbor Hill is more stable and has more services than these other neighborhoods. Arbor Hill has a core of active long-term residents, a neighborhood public school, a community center with a pool, the new library branch, a park/ball field, etc. All this means a bit of a sense of community that some other neighborhoods lack is already established in that neighborhood.

NYC has the situation where people with 6 figure salaries can't afford decent housing. This does more to redevelop the bad neighborhoods than any urban development plan ever could. Which isn't to say I want the unaffordable housing situation replicated in Albany!

[7 Wishes]

There's also another huge difference the OP isn't realizing.

In NYC, part of the "housing problem" is you have to go dozens of miles to find "open space" and it is so congested that the amount of time it takes to commute a given distance is greatly lengthened compared to many smaller cities. In Albany you are in full "farm country" just a few miles from downtown in some directions. And having lived for a few years in the Albany area about two decades ago, I can tell you at least then Arbor Hill, while not a "nice" neighborhood was small and tame compared to the worst sections of the 5 boros.

This is really an "apples to oranges" kind of comparison. Sarchivist98 said it will.