Only one candidate appears on the ballot for Common Council President this year, but an Albany resident with a big social media presence is waging a write-in campaign -- largely from an Instagram account. WAMC’s Cailin Brown reports.
Tonight, Jesse Sommer, a business owner, veteran and lawyer, will discuss his platform publicly at Lionheart on the Green in downtown Albany. His competition, and the only candidate on the ballot, running on both the Democratic and Working family lines, is Kelly Kimbrough, city council member, president pro temp, and a former Albany police officer. Kimbrough won’t be at the Lionheart, claiming Sommer trolled him at a Council committee meetingto participate in a debate.
Sommer said he invited the councilperson in early October via email. Sommer is running his campaign just as he operates on social media where he is known as the “the Sheriff of Lark Street.” Online, he publishes well-produced vignettes on a variety of issues, much of them about the city’s deficits. He frequently showcases vacant city buildings, recorded his run up the Corning Tower as part of a 9/11 memorial, and advocated for non-violence in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s death. One of his recent posts attracted 136,000 views.
Sommer has made central to his platform, the $400 million state funded plan to help redevelop Albany. He says the funding, now earmarked in part for improving the state’s museum, doesn’t help the city’s neighborhoods.
“I have a better plan for it. One that actually is going to assist in Albany’s rejuvenation, which is what the objective is,” Sommer said. “And, it has to do with leveraging what is one of our best resources, the vacant buildings. Beautiful structures that are now dilapidated, as a means of creating housing for low-income residents.”
Kimbrough, who is serving a third term on the council, represents the fourth ward. He also spent 22 years as an Albany police officer, and still remembers first visiting the city when he made his way to U-Albany as an undergrad.
“I’m just a guy that loves the city, that loves doing the work and taking care of people, that’s my frame of reference and where I come from. So, in relation to the council president, what I’d like to do,” Kimbrough told WAMC. “The role is largely ceremonial, but it’s also about setting the tone for how the city moves forward. I’d like to be a part of that. As president, I’ll use the platform to bring people together, make sure every neighborhood feels heard, and ensure the council works collaboratively for the good of Albany, because some neighborhoods get left behind.”
Both candidates are in lockstep when it comes to focusing on affordable housing and reviving some of the city’s struggling housing stock.
“The city building department will tell you, yeah, there are 873 vacant buildings,” Sommer said. “They are falling into disrepair. They are subject to lots of notices of violation and citations, because the property owners are understandably not making investments, in what basically are broken down buildings.
Both Kimbrough and Sommer are looking at housing solutions that incorporate relying on small businesses to remedy the citywide housing challenges
The current council member said: “I’d like to see smaller developers being supported. I’d like to see infill housing and infill development because throwing a 20 or 50 unit building here and there and in some of these different areas isn’t going to help bring our neighborhoods back. We need to be trying to build, I know it may sound corny, the whole block-by-block issue, but we really need to start rebuilding our communities. Because the red “X” issue, again those things all need to be dealt with.”
Kimbrough continued, “and with the money that is going to be put being put forth for this, I think that the community needs to be involved in the discussions. Not only that, the community needs to be heavily involved in the decision-making with regards to that also. Because, we have had money come along throughout the years where we got funding, and I don’t see lasting impressions from some of those opportunities.”
Sommer, who is running with no party affiliation, has ideas for housing opportunities too.
“We can rehabilitate these projects, through the auspices of a public works program, that hires not the big development companies, but smaller, three -to-seven person local contracting outfits,” Sommer told WAMC. “Electricians and plumbers, engineers, architects. We can get these to a condition that a certificate of occupancy can be issued. And then, if you take these buildings, you can turn them into condominiums, each of which has a deed. And those deeds can then be given to members of the community, so for example, a low-income tenant who never before has had an opportunity to own property, they could enter a lottery, get a deed, with some restrictions, and if they then start making the investment s in that property, they start feeling ownership, in the neighborhood in which they live, these pillars of the community can return these properties to the tax roll and they can address Albany’s number one issue, which is housing.”
For WAMC, I’m Cailin Brown.
Albany Common Council: two candidates, one on the ballot, one write-in
