New York Governor Kathy Hochul wants to invest $400 million in the city of Albany as part of her state budget. Local economic development leaders and state officials showed off where the money could go on a tour Friday morning.
Christine Mallett co-owns Studio 23 Hair and Nail salon at 46 State Street, which she and her sister opened right after COVID ended. She says she'd like to see some of the money prioritized to boost small business across downtown.
"I know there's a lot of other salons down here," said Mallett. "I do see some of them branching out and moving along. So just expansion, maybe some money for business, and building upgrades and things like that, some facade things, just, you know, beefing it up, making it a little better for everyone. I like to see everyone down here winning. So businesses, for sure, know it's a little rough time, little unsure time right now."
Angelo Maddox has owned and operated Fresh and Fly Clothing on South Pearl Street for 13 years, as the shop rose from a business incubator to a thriving downtown store.
"I would say one of the immediate things that needs to be done is to open up resources for small businesses to access working capital now. Not later. Not five years down the road. Not when this money is being utilized for big projects and then you have a big showing, or during times where everybody wants the downtown area to be seen. We need it now. You look around and you see it's... I'm like one business, and if I want to point a visitor or tourist or somebody that's coming to the Capital Region to just explore it, and walk down these streets, I gotta say, 'hey, go all the way down there to get something to drink,' or 'go all the way down there to get something to eat.' And it shouldn't be like that in the Capital Region. This is the capital of New York, the capital of New York. So we should be vibrant, more vibrant than any other city," Maddox said.
Keith Mahler owns Maurice's Deli on South Pearl Street. He says uncertainty among business owners is driven by lack of parking, public safety concerns, unhoused residents and little in the way of local state and federal government support.
"We're going to need to return all state county employees that work in the general area, they have to come back," said Mahler. "And the way to maybe get them to come back is to offer them something, like longer breaks. Put gyms in the place of eateries that are inside state facilities, so that maybe they can kill two birds with one stone while they're at work. How do you get people to come back to work that have been not working or working remotely for since COVID? They don't want to come back because they don't want to deal with what's going on down here, and also, they are leading a work life balance. Everyone is. It's no secret, if you work remotely, you're doing your laundry at home, you're cleaning your house, you're saving money on clothing, you're saving money on fuel and transit. You don't have to spend that money to come to work. So how do we offset that as a whole, for the state agencies and county agencies to come back?"
State Office of General Services Commissioner Jeanette Moy says the long-term goal is to bring the community back to downtown Albany.
"When the governor first started off about three years ago, when I joined the administration, she put $175 million into the Empire State Plaza, just for the just looking at infrastructure. And then we also put additional funds as we're thinking about decarbonization, and we're looking at greenhouse gas reduction, which is going to change the complex. And, you know, there are dollars that we put in relative to restoring the Hawk Street passage. You know, we're taking on the eastern approach. So, you know, our hope is to prioritize things that bring people back in the downtown area and make our workers all want to be back and thrive right here in downtown Albany. She's made a real commitment into the space. So it's gratifying to hear that those are also draws. It does make me think about other things that we can do, particularly as we look at this larger investment of $400 million into Albany. What do we need to do to sort of connect all of our activities," said Moy.
The budget is due by April 1st. State lawmakers have not released their versions of the annual plan yet.
