July 15, 2023
The Community Digest is TIMBER’s newsletter on recent news and upcoming events in Troy and the broader Capital Region. This month’s Community Digest is brought to you by Ironweeds, a weekly podcast by Trojans who love their neighbors but are not over the moon about capitalism.
TROY
Troy now has at least 63 open positions, up from 49 in June. Fire leads with 19 vacancies, followed by 15 in Public Utilities and 12 in General Services. Despite haircuts in the 2023 budget, almost a fifth of all DPU positions are vacant. By contrast, the police have only 5 vacancies out of 148 budgeted positions (~3%).
Councilmembers unanimously voted to subpoena the owners of Harbour Point Gardens weeks after their apartment complex was evacuated by city officials due to code violations which have since been remedied unevenly. Tenants spoke about their temporary lodging, sub-standard meals, rent demands, and other concerns at the July 6 meeting. The situation escalated again on Thursday when Troy Code Enforcement issued a stop-work order.
In late June, the City Council unanimously authorized a $295,000 settlement for a civil rights case brought against the Troy Police Department and related parties. In the same meeting, the council approved an $850,000 settlement pertaining to a contractor’s 2020 injuries while preparing for the demolition of Leonard Hospital.
Many residents complain that their tap water still reeks of chlorine. If you would like a free home water test, please contact greg@timbercorp.org or call 571-424-0540.
The Troy Planning Commission met on June 21 to discuss several proposals, including ones to refurbish the former American Theatre, convert the former Catholic Central High School into apartments, and construct a 5-story building for affordable housing.
ON BURDETT
In mid-June, Saint Peters Health Partners announced a plan to close the Burdett Birth Center, the only facility of its kind in all of Rensselaer County. This would redirect nearly 1000 births to other hospitals, straining ambulatory and medical services throughout the region. Many have rightly pointed out that this would negatively impact wait times, service quality, and staff turnover, but we encourage readers to just say that it will needlessly kill women and babies. You may encounter people who find this obvious point vulgar or offensive, but we find it vulgar and offensive to make breezy decisions that would kill women and babies, and we should be explaining the problem here as simply and honestly as we can.
You are doing SPHP’s work for them if you say or believe that Burdett’s closure is inevitable. Usually, institutions behave as though they are unstoppable when they are afraid of what you might do if you believed otherwise. The state has a lot of options to prevent this, and it is our job to make sure it knows that there won’t be backlash from the community if they exercise some of that power.
AROUND THE HORN
In June, the Albany County Personnel Committee unanimously voted to approve the county’s 3 new collective bargaining agreements with CSEA Local 1000 for Social Services employees. All 3 contracts are set to expire on December 31, 2027.
The Cohoes Common Council met to discuss possible modifications to its waste disposal code, vendor license fees (ORD5), and resurfacing and repaving plan (ORD6).
The Watervliet City Council convened on June 15 to award contracts for their water main replacement project (RES41), boiler control system (RES42), dam improvements (RES43), and seasonal paving project (RES46).
Incumbents Merton Simpson (D, D2) and Lynne Lekakis (D, D8) won their primary elections for the Albany County legislature, as did Mark Robinson (D, D4) and Ryan Conway (C, D25).
For Rensselaer County Sheriff, Kyle Bourgault (R) will face Brian Owens (D) in the November general election. The charismatic Christian musician successfully staved off a challenge by an insurgent ATF agent, which is not what happened the last time those two things squared off.
For Troy City Council President, councilmember Sue Steele (D) will face small business owner Brad Lewis (R) following her primary victory.
In Cohoes, Democrats Nicholas J. Izzo Jr. (W1), George M. Soloyna (W3), Thomas Dion (W5), and Thomas C. Fiffe (W6) each won their respective primary races for city council.
In Watervliet, Democratic incumbent Charles Patricelli (D) won his primary contest for mayor.
ON LEAD PIPES
On June 22, Troy's Department of Public Utilities presented updates on the city's lead service line replacement program. While we have provided the most essential bullet points from that meeting below, interested readers are encouraged to watch the full meeting online.
34% of all service lines have been inventoried as of June 22.
Contractors are currently replacing about 2-3 pipes a day, and it is expected that a second crew will begin work very shortly.
Up to now, the cost of a full-line replacement has been close to $7,500, which is a very pleasant surprise.
Troy intends to purchase an initial order of 400 filters by piggybacking off of the City of Rochester’s contract with Clorox.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Tomorrow, UPS Teamsters will be holding a practice picket at the corner of Route 7/Troy Schenectady Road and Wade Road in Latham from 10am to 12pm. Teamsters have made it very clear that they will not work a day past August 1 without a fair contract, so it is important for the community to show we’ve got their backs.
On July 18, Walkable Albany and Capital Streets will host a discussion about the area’s walkability issues. The event will be held at West Capitol Park starting at 6pm.
On July 19, the Troy Area Labor Council will be convening at 7pm at 386 First Street in Troy.
On July 20, the Environmental Bond Act listening tour will be stopping at SUNY Albany beginning at 1pm.
At 10am on July 29, the Sanctuary for Independent Media will be hosting a workshop to teach burgeoning storytellers to develop a piece to air on Hudson Mohawk Magazine.
On August 4, the Capital District Area Labor Federation will host its monthly labor breakfast at the Desmond Hotel beginning at 8:30am.
On August 8, the City of Rensselaer will be having legislative public hearings on the Dunn Mine and C&D landfill facility beginning at 2pm.
JOB OPPORTUNITIES
CSEA Local 1000 has new positions posted for an Internal Auditor and Contract Administration Specialist.
Oakwood Community Center is hiring an Administrative Coordinator and a Youth Program Coordinator.
Troy is hiring.
CWA 1104 GSEU is seeking a statewide organizer.
Citizen Action of New York is looking to fill a variety of communications, administration, and organizing positions.
NYSUT is looking for a Project Organizer and a Lead Organizer.
Cohoes has an opening for a Public Works Coordinator.
Workers United is hiring an upstate organizing intern.
If there are stories, events, job openings, or meetings that you’d like to see included in future Community Digests, please reach out to greg@timbercorp.org. If you enjoyed this digest but didn’t receive it directly, you can sign up for future newsletters below.
