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2007 Weekly Messages |
01/04/07 - Christmas Trees
With the holiday season now over many families
obviously have Christmas Trees
they need to have taken away.
01/11/07
- Grocery Store at 3100 Sixth Avenue
Earlier this week I received an e-mail
from Councilman Mark McGrath about a video that surfaced
on the Internet regarding criminal activity in his
district. The video centered on activities inside of
the Community Grocery at 3100 Sixth Avenue.
01/18/07
- First Downtown Forum
On Wednesday, we will hold our first downtown forum
for people who live, work and
shop in the downtown area. The format of the meeting
is very informal and meant to be
more of an informational give and take. We want to
know what people are seeing and
hearing, and we want everyone to know that if we work
together we will certainly
achieve a greater quality of life.
01/25/07 - Outcome of Downtown Forum
The meeting was a great success for a number
of reasons, including the fact that it
started an important dialogue between City government
and the people invested in
downtown. Many topics were broached, including crime,
graffiti, weeds growing onto
buildings, and a number of aesthetic changes people
thought could be made.
02/01/07
- State of the City Address
Happy
Thursday everyone! Tonight at 7 p.m. I will deliver
my fourth
State of
the City
address,
and want to extend an invitation to anyone reading
this right now. For those of you that cannot attend,
I will post a copy of the address early tomorrow for
your perusal. Stay warm this weekend, we have another
cold blast of air coming in!
02/22/07 - The "Troy Night Out"
Kickoff
Troy Night
Out will showcase all that Troy has to offer in a unique
setting- the evening. That’s right, the event
will dare to do what has been taboo in Troy for a long
time, stay open after hours. From this point forward,
on the final Friday of each month the streets will
be filled with people enjoying our City from 5 p.m.
to 9 p.m. At least that is what we’re hoping
for.
03/01/07 - Congress Ferry Street Corridor
Tonight, the City Council will vote on two very important
issues involving the
Congress Ferry Street Corridor. The first is the sale
of the car wash site to the United
Hedley Development Team. The second is the road design
for the Congress and Ferry
Street Corridors.
03/08/07 - The Sale of City Hall
This idea was first
broached most recently at the State of the City address
when I announced that there was a developer showing
serious interest in purchasing this land to build
a hotel and parking facilities. Since that day, I
have had others approach us with additional options
for
the site.
03/15/07
- Hedley Park Place Project
This is a plan that will completely transform not one,
but several neighborhoods in the City of
Troy. First Columbia calls it the Hedley District and
estimates that the impact years from now will be felt
by more than the two-dozen surrounding blocks. This
is a reputable developer that would like to spend their
own money to build retail shops, commercial offices,
a hotel, and riverfront amenities that will change
the way of life for those in North Central, Columbus
Square,
and Downtown. Just thinking about it makes me smile.
03/22/07 - Arts Reception for the Troy
School District
One week ago tonight, City Hall had the wonderful pleasure
of hosting an arts reception
for the Troy School District. This is an annual event
that I always look forward to, mainly
because it showcases some very impressive talents that
our young children have.
03/29/07 - Our Second "Troy Night
Out"
And with temperatures expected to hit 60 degrees tomorrow
afternoon, I think it is fair to
say the outdoor conditions will be much more conducive
to the festive atmosphere that
Troy Night Out will soon be known for.
04/05/07 - Earth Day
This week, as the weather reminds us of February, I
want to just give a brief update on Earth
Day. The official cleanup will take place this year
on April 21st, throughout the entire day. The
list of projects, which I will put below this column,
is growing at a great rate. Several people
have called up and asked for information about individual
cleanups this week, and I think it is
going to be a great time.
04/12/07 - Foreclosures
This week I want to talk about the exciting world of
foreclosures. Each year we go through the process,
and though difficult, the end result is that it often
times provides wonderful opportunities to people. That
is certainly the case this year.
04/16/07 - Demolition of Two Buildings
on Foreclosure List [special
column]
I wanted to add this to last week’s column about
the foreclosures because of two recent
demolitions that took place since Friday.
04/19/07 - Earth Day
As we have talked about for the last few weeks, the
annual Earth Day Cleanup and
Celebration will take place this weekend. I am happy
to report that this year’s festivities
will likely reach new heights, as we have a record
number of projects, in addition to what
we believe will be an extraordinary amount of volunteers.
04/26/07
- Promotion of Tom Scorsone
Tom more than deserves this position, is a terrific
leader, and I was happy to be able to make the promotion.
Tom is formerly the head of the Troy UFA. Being a union
head is a difficult job, and Tom always handled himself
with class and dignity. That should never be overlooked.
Congratulations Tom.
05/03/07 - Annual Striped Bass Fishing
Tournament & The annual Literacy Run Fundraiser
We have two major events taking place along the Hudson
River and our historic downtown.
05/10/07 - Capital Improvement Plan
I am happy to announce that over the next several months
we will embark on a Capital
Improvement plan that will spend more than $2.5 million
in our City. Out of that money
more than $2 million will be spent on paving roads.
I drive the streets like all of you, and
I am well aware that we need more paving.
05/17/07
- Troy's New Marketing, Branding, and Advertising
Campaign
This morning, the City of Troy announced that we would
embark on a new marketing,
branding, and advertising campaign to help change the
perception of this City and put it
more in line with reality.
05/24/07 - 4th Annual River Street Festival
For those of you that don’t know, the festival
takes place on June 16th from 10 a.m. to
7p.m. Last year we joined up with WEQX to strengthen
the musical portion of the show,
and we hit it big time this year.
05/31/07 - City's Plan to Move North
Police Substation
Yesterday was an important day for us in Troy as it relates to our fight against
criminal
activity and the constant pursuit for a better quality of life. The City announced
it would move to its North police substation into North Central at 3100 Sixth
Avenue, the site of the former Community Grocery.
06/07/07
- Quality of Life in Troy
Welcome to summer! Or at least what seems like summer. We have a potpourri bag
today. Tonight is a very important Council meeting for a number of reasons, all
of which pertain\ to quality of life in Troy.
06/14/07
- 4th Annual River Street Festival
The time is finally here. After months of planning, hours and hours of hard work,
and lots
of stress over the weather, the 4th Annual River Street festival is just hours
away.
And it looks as if the weather just may hold out, which would be wonderful. Everyone
cross your fingers that we can dodge that late afternoon thunderstorm.
06/21/07 - N.I.C.E Program
The annual Neighborhood Improvement Through Code Enforcement
(the NICE Program) began earlier this month in South
Troy. If you live in South Troy, throughout the summer
Code Enforcement officers will be walking through your
neighborhood, looking for violations on the exterior
of buildings.
06/28/07 - The Best of...
This morning I was reading the Times Union on-line
and taking
a look at the annual Best-Of section, when
I stumbled upon the Best Local Arts Scene Development
and saw that our terrific monthly event, "Troy Night
Out" finished a close second to Albany’s
version.
07/05/07 - Crack Down on Fireworks /
Powers Park Concert Series
As I drove around the City last night, it was clear
to me that fireworks are still a problem, though not
as bad as last year in many spots. I would like to
think that was a result of people wising up to the
fact that they are dangerous, but I’m guessing
it had more to do with the warning from police and
bad weather.
07/12/07 - Power Outage
By now, most people have heard about, or dealt with,
the situation involving National
Grid. On Tuesday morning, most of the City of Troy
was left without power, and it was
hours before we knew why, or how long it would be out.
07/18/07 - The Best of...
For the second time in the last few weeks, we have
a “Best-Of” list to discuss this week,
this one coming courtesy of Metroland. And boy, what
a list it was. Many thanks go out
to their staff, who I’m sure put in a tremendous
amount of work to put the issue together.
And they certainly are well aware of some of the wonderful
things on this side of the
river.
07/25/07
- Friends of Barker Park
I really want to thank the Friends of Barker Park for
its commitment to improving that area.
Many of you have seen that within the last few weeks,
concrete
has been replaced with grass there, and plans continue
to unfold to make the park more welcoming and accessible
for people around the City.
08/02/07 - New Mesh Wireless Network
This announcement is another positive step towards
creating a unique and positive
environment in the City of Troy. Whether we are providing
residents with amenities or
businesses with incentives, we must continue to do
all that we can to bring people to the
City of Troy. Through the combined effort of many people
this is the latest step in our
goal to make Troy a 21st century destination.
08/08/07
- 10th Annual Mayor’s
Cup
The Mayor’s Cup will again benefit the Frear Park
Conservancy, a not-for-profit group in
the City of Troy dedicated to improving Frear Park as
a whole, outside of just the golf
course. They are a committed group of people, and we
are very pleased to be able to
support them with the proceeds from the event.
08/16/07 - ChowderFest
With more than two-dozen restaurants participating,
it is going to be quite the experience.
Many, many thanks to Tosca Grille Chef Larry Schepici,
who has come to Troy and not
only brought a unique culinary treat, but also energy
that is unmatched. His staff has
worked tirelessly with the City to ensure the event
is a success. All we need now are the
people to come down and have some fun.
08/23/07
- The City is packed with activity this weekend
The City of Troy is packed with activity this weekend.
From groundbreakings to new students, to baseball games,
there is something for everyone.
08/30/07
- Uncle Sam Jam
This coming Sunday we have Uncle Sam Jam taking place
in Riverfront Park. This is yet
another free event brought to you by the City. These
festivals really seemed to jump to
another level this summer.
09/06/07
- The Sell of City Hall
This is an exciting and monumental day in the City
of Troy. For years we have bemoaned
the fact that the riverfront in the City of Troy was
underutilized and not conducive for
appropriate development in the future. For proof we
need to look no further than the site
of City Hall. Today we took a giant step towards correcting
one of Troy’s past mistakes
in a move that will change the face of downtown for
years to come.
09/13/07
- New Contracts
Tonight there will be a City Council meeting at 7 p.m.
to take action on two new
contracts that were agreed to last week by the CSEA
and the Command Officers in the
Police Department.
09/20/07 - New Homes for Low to Moderate
Income Residents
You may remember that back in July we broke ground
on six new homes to be built on
Project Road, with the intent of selling these homes
to low to moderate-income residents
as part of the Troy Homes initiative. Those homes are
now nearly complete, and today
we had the opportunity to choose who would live there.
It was an old-fashioned, names in
a basket, pull ‘em out lottery.
09/27/07
-Visit to Curves
On Wednesday morning I had the pleasure of visiting the Curves location on Campbell
Avenue. I must admit, I did not know what to expect when I walked in the front
door.
Curves is not your typical gym, and in my opinion, that is a good thing.
10/4/07
- Fund-raisers: Firefighter Tug of War &
the 3rd Annual Empty Bowls
The money raised from the Firefighter's Tug of War event
will go to volunteer Fire Departments on both sides of
the
Hudson
River. Obviously,
as a municipality that enjoys 24-hour police and fire
coverage, we sometimes forget what a relief that can
be, knowing someone is there to protect you. The men
and
women that volunteer to do this job are vitally important
to their communities and raising money for them is equally
important.
10/11/07 - The
Conservatory formally Stanley's Department Store
Today is one exciting day. This afternoon at 3 p.m.
the official ribbon cutting celebrating
the near-completion of the former Stanley’s Department
Store at 65 Third Street in
downtown Troy will take place.
10/18/07
- Habitat for Humanity
This morning the City held a press conference to announce
a new partnership with Habitat for Humanity, and we
could not be more excited. In an effort to restore,
stabilize and revitalize our housing stock we have
formed a new partnership with Habitat for Humanity.
10/25/07
- Troy's Bond Rating Increases
The City of Troy received a financial boost from Moody’s
Investors Service and Standard and Poor Rating Services
on Monday after the two firms increased Troy’s
bond rating. In essence we now have a better credit
rating.
11/1/07 - Home Programs
Along with the Troy Homes project, the Home Code Compliance
Grant Program and our down payment initiative, each
brought in house last year, continue to move forward
full steam ahead. These are programs that are federally
funded, but for the first time in a long time, the
money is being used where it should be. I’m very
proud of that.
11/8/07 - Thank You For Your Support
/ Troy Turkey Trot
To begin this week, I want to thank all of the voters
that went to the polls this week and voted for the
future of our Great City. I think it goes without saying
that
I am personally pleased with the results for Mayor,
and I want to thank everyone for the wonderful support
I received.
11/29/07
- Victorian Stroll
Sunday brings us the 25th Annual Victorian Stroll,
an event we are gearing up for in many
different fashions. And why not? On this celebrated
occasion, the City of Troy embraces
the opportunity to let people know what it is we have
to offer. The Victorian Stroll marks
the official beginning of the Holiday Season in Troy,
and we look forward to you joining
us for the festive occasion.
12/13/07- Snowstorm
It appears that we also have the potential for another
big storm this coming weekend.
With that in mind, I suppose it is time for my annual
discussion of snow, and how
everyone can help the City in its clean up efforts.
12/20/07 - Happy Holiday
I want to celebrate the Christmas Season with a bit
of Troy history. Before we begin, I want to extend
my warmest greetings and sincere blessings that everyone
in Troy have a wonderful and
peaceful holiday.
12/27/07 - Oath of Office
I believe my second term in office will be a vitally
important one for the City of Troy.
There are several issues that we must focus on, must
improve upon, and must act on in
order to keep this great momentum we have.
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