I am shocked!!! We are one of, if not the highest taxed state in the country. People are getting laid off right and left. Businesses are all squeezing through the door to get out of this state. Retirees are also flocking to other states so they can survive. The young college graduates are going from commencement to the airport to find jobs elsewhere. And we give up $10M for a convention center? Paleeeeezzzzee!!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
ALBANY Blueprints lower cost of center Convention facility cost estimated at $230 million BY JILL BRYCE Gazette Reporter
New plans were displayed Friday for a redesigned Albany Convention Center that officials say will cut the cost of the project from $400 million to $230 million. The new plan maintains a commitment to build a 266,000-square-foot facility near Broadway but separates the proposed convention center, parking garage and hotel into three elements. The separation reduces the projected cost. Construction of the convention center, which would have entrances on Hudson Avenue and Liberty Street, could begin on the shovel-ready site next year, according to Gavin Donohue, chairman of the Albany Convention Center Authority. “If we build it, they will come, and market studies shows this,” said Donohue. The plan expands the footprint of the project and moves the parking garage and hotel, which would be built behind facades at 320 to 344 Broadway, areas that weren’t part of the original plan. Redesigning the convention center will save between $30 million and $40 million, Donohue said. Having a private company build the hotel will trim $136 million off the original proposal and redesigning the proposed 1,100 space parking garage will save another $11 million. Several hotel companies have expressed an interest in building the hotel on Broadway, according to Donohue, though he would not identify those companies. Donohue said Gov. David Paterson has decided to dip into the $75 million previously appropriated to the Empire State Development Corp. for the project and release to the authority $10 million to pay for pre-construction costs and land acquisition over the next year. More state funds will be necessary, according to Duncan Stewart, executive director of the authority, though it’s not clear how much. Donohue said he met several times with Paterson during the past few weeks to move the project forward. It has been at a standstill for months. “We listened to the governor about the private component. We went back to partners and said, ‘How do we redesign this?’ ” He said the governor’s staff is “very engaged in the project,” which officials say will bring hundreds of jobs to Albany and the Capital Region. Donohue said it’s a time to invest and the two years the Albany Convention Center Authority has put into the project indicate there’s private support. President-elect Barack Obama’s economic agenda is about restoring sites and infrastructure projects, Donohue said, and this project fits in nicely with........................................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00104
Oh,,,,but we need the convention center when the next hurricaine comes through and folks are stranded......where else would you put that many folks up for the night after a disaster or a significant incident......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Friday, January 30, 2009, 10:32am EST No money in stimulus package for convention center The Business Review (Albany) - Michael DeMasi
The $819 billion federal economic stimulus package doesn’t include any funding for a convention center in downtown Albany, N.Y., a state official said today.
“We don’t own the land,” state Assemblyman John McEneny told the Albany Convention Center Authority during a meeting this morning. “We’re not shovel-ready.”
McEneny told fellow board members it’s important to get control of the property where the convention center will be built so the authority can take advantage of another economic stimulus package that Congress may consider in the future.
“Many say that because of the gravity of the economy, this stimulus package will be followed by another,” said McEneny.
He said he’s meeting today with Congressman Paul Tonko to talk about the money that would flow to the area if the U.S. Senate approves the current stimulus package sought by President Barack Obama. The stimulus package includes tens of billions of dollars for a variety of construction projects nationwide that are considered “shovel ready.”
Plans for a new convention center, hotel and garage have been stymied by a lack of funding, but authority officials said they are making progress.
The Empire State Development Corp. is expected to rule Feb. 18 on an application that was submitted for $10 million, said Gavin Donohue, chairman of the convention center authority.
Gov. David Paterson has said he supports releasing $10 million to the authority to pay for land acquisition and other preliminary expenses. The funds would come from a $75 million pot of money that was previously allocated for the project.
Once the authority gets the $10 million, it will start negotiating again with property owners, Donohue said. The 266,000-square-foot convention center would be built off Hudson Avenue near the Greyhound bus station.
Those negotiations are expected to be more fruitful once the authority knows for sure it has the $10 million, said Duncan Stewart, executive director.
“With money available we can go to them with a specific offer and hopefully complete the deal,” Stewart said.
The authority is also working with McEneny and state Sen. Neil Breslin to introduce state legislation that would restore the Albany County hotel occupancy tax to 6 percent.
The tax dropped to 3 percent on Jan. 1 after previous legislation expired. If it’s restored to 6 percent, then 1 percent of the tax collected would go to the convention center authority.
The tax has generated about $1 million annually for the authority and is a critical part of any funding formula for the project.
The authority is also working with its architect and construction manager to hash out the details of a recent decision to seek a private developer to build the hotel.
$10M will help fund planning of convention center ALBANY — The Empire State Development Corporation on Wednesday formally approved $10 million in funding to pay planning costs associated with building the Albany Convention Center. The money will be used for pre-construction planning, land acquisition, environmental investigation, archaeology and historic conservation associated with the convention center during the next 12 to 18 months. Gov. David Paterson had committed the funds in November. The Albany Convention Center Authority in December announced a new plan that scaled down the cost of building the 266,000-squarefoot facility from $400 million to $230 million. The new plan divides the project into separate elements of the convention center, parking garage and hotel. A private company will build the hotel instead of the authority.
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