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Jennings repeated his call for swift action on a scaled-back downtown
convention center Tuesday as he used his annual State of the City
address to cast Albany's future as a proving ground for emerging
technologies that will improve quality of life in communities across
the globe.
"While I believe it is unrealistic to believe that we can expect New
York state to fund a nearly $300 million facility," Jennings told the
standing-room-only crowd of well over 200, "I believe it is totally
realistic to move forward in collaboration with the state and with
Albany County to improve existing facilities at the Times Union Center
and at the Empire State Plaza and to include the construction of a new
ballroom and hotel that will connect into these facilities via the
existing walkway."
Jennings' remarks built on a concept he first floated publicly in
October, when he voiced skepticism that the state would foot the bill
for the existing plan calling for a $220 million complex to rise on
about six acres between Broadway, Hudson Avenue and the South Mall
Arterial. That concept, around in various forms for at least a decade,
also involved a hotel and parking garage.
There has been no public discussion of the scaled-down plans since and
it's not clear whether support for the proposal is universal among the
project's key players, some of whom — including Gavin Donohue,
chairman of the Albany Convention Center Authority Board, former
Assemblyman Jack McEneny and County Executive Dan McCoy — were absent
from Jennings' speech.
"I'm going to be making sure that we have not dropped that," he said
of the project, of which he has long been a supporter. "I have
committed to moving it forward."
The backdrop of Jennings' address — and in many ways the center of it
— was historic Kiernan Plaza on Broadway, the former Union Station
train depot-turned-bank-headquarters that fell vacant when Bank of
America pulled its offices out in 2010. The speech is typically held
at City Hall.
With a boost from a previously announced $4 million state grant, the
turn-of-the-20th-century building is now slated to be transformed into
a high-tech incubator overseen by the University at Albany's College
of Nanoscale Science and Engineering.
The plan, branded SCiTI for Smart Cities Technology and Innovation,
calls for high-tech firms to commercialize research done at the
college's uptown campus off Washington Avenue into technologies that
can make cities more efficient — and then test them in Albany, said
Michael Francher, the college's vice president for business
development and economic outreach.
Jennings said the total investment in the technology hub, which will
include training to steer at-risk city kids toward jobs in high-tech
fields, is expected to hit $25 million.
"Tonight I commit to you that from this location not only will we
continue the work of building a better city, but we will begin the
work of building a better world," Jennings said. "It is a bold
promise, but we have put into place, with the strategic partnerships
we have established, the framework to make the new Smart Cities center
the epicenter for technological innovation for our region and beyond."
Jennings also revealed that new University at Albany President Robert
Jones, who joined the campus earlier this month, will fill the vacancy
left by the resignation of RPI President Shirley Ann Jackson as
co-chair of the Capital Region Economic Development Council, which
secured the $4 million incubator grant and is one of 10 councils that
Gov.Cuomo has competing for hundreds of millions of dollars in
state economic development money. Jones will work alongside James
Barba, CEO of Albany Medical Center.
Those among the standing-room-only crowd who came hoping Jennings, a
19-year incumbent Democrat, would reveal whether he plans to seek a
sixth term later this year left unsatisfied. But Jennings, 64,
concluded his 40-minute speech — titled "Commitment — with remarks
that left several party insiders saying they were all but certain he
will.
"So long as any child still lives in poverty, so long as any part of
our community still struggles, so long as any individual still
suffers, the effort must go on," Jennings said. "So, for me, the
commitment endures — a commitment that I have literally dedicated my
life to as a teacher, as a school administrator and for nearly 20
years as the mayor of our great city. It is a commitment born out of
my love for Albany and its people. And it is a commitment that is as
strong and as passionate today as it was on that first day in office."
Asked after his speech whether he wanted to elaborate, Jennings smiled
and said: "Print what I said." say what jerry?
SHOW ME THE MONEY!
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