Who’s Minding the Store Now?

By Don Rittner

Last week, the city tore down four buildings that have been allowed to deteriorate for the last 10 years. Like so many other buildings in the city, they were owned by absentee landlords. You can expect this to continue since the city has never done a complete inventory of the buildings in this city, though we certainly have asked for one for years. They still act like they don’t know a historic building from a doughnut shop. I would rather see the Mayor standing next to a certificate of occupancy instead of a wrecking ball, but the way things are going, we may be seeing a lot more of the wrecking ball.

While the Mayor was getting publicity for knocking down four buildings, over in Albany just the opposite was happening. Eleven abandoned buildings over in the Mansion Hill neighborhood, originally in the same condition as the now missing Troy buildings (four of them having partial collapses in the rear of the buildings), received a $5 million overhaul, and 39 residential units are already occupied.

The net gain for Albany is new residents living and spending their money in the city. What is the net gain for Troy? More of the same, that is, more vacant land and a snowball’s chance in hell to be re-developed in this economic climate any time soon.

To make matters worse, the city’s historic advisory commission got their walking papers last week. That’s right. A month or so ago, the city expanded the historic districts in downtown Troy and now has fired the very people who know something about the buildings within those districts. More amazing is the fact that the three people on this advisory commission had resumes that could fill a mayor’s office in terms of experience. Remember also, that the Mayor dissolved the old planning commission and replaced it with a planning board with less people on it. So now we have a smaller planning board, handpicked by the Mayor, with no oversight? Hmm, if I were cynical!

This is not to say the new planning board is not making good decisions. They stopped the demolition of a local attorney’s plans for destroying a historic building on Third Street so he could expand his parking lot (he had already destroyed the one adjacent to it). However, in good government you need to have checks and balances, and we no longer have them.

With no criticism intended of the present planning board, nor the planning department of the city, which also adds their opinion to the process, the combined expertise of these folks does not match that of the three people on the former advisory board. These three professionals, with more than 90 years’ experience as architectural historians, architects, and designers, were serving the city for no salary, and provided a great service to the people of the city. They had hopes that our greatest resource besides its people - our history - would be an integral part of the planning process, and the future of the city. They had no political ax to grind.

Part of the criticism of the advisory board is that they may have been tough in insisting homeowners do the right thing. That was their job. The fact that we have a historic downtown that people from around the world come to see is the very result of doing it the right way. One must also realize that it was an “advisory” group, which means you could appeal its decision. With no oversight board now, don’t be surprised if you see a Burger King next to the music hall. Don’t laugh. To borrow a phrase, the city needs to start thinking “outside the box.”

We need to have a complete inventory of the buildings in this city and evaluation of their historic importance and structural condition. For those buildings owned by absentee landlords and not occupied, with the obvious purpose of letting them deteriorate through neglect, the city should give the owners a direct order. For each of your buildings: stabilize, rent, or sell it, or the city will take it, stabilize it, and charge the cost back to you. If that doesn't work, the city should take the building and sell it to someone who wants to own and live in a good historic structure in the city. This is legal, and this kind of action has occurred in the Capital District since the 17th century.

As someone who has his ear to the ground, let me point out that there are a lot of new people moving to the city and demanding quality of life actions, including preserving our history. They won’t think twice about using the legal system to make it happen.