Albany City Hall is taking steps to making itself more amenable to visitors.
City Hall Cafe is now open. It’s a clean, spacious spot in the basement of the 200-year-old building, offering a relatively inexpensive but healthy grab and go lunch menu featuring sandwiches and homemade soup. Albany's Commissioner of Administrative Services Rachel McEneny recommends the coffee.
"I had a lot to do with the choices of coffee. I think people really like to take a walk and have a cup of coffee."
McEneny says folks stopping in to apply for a permit, pay a fine or meet with a representative of local government now have a place to eat, relax, and enjoy free wi-fi.
"We have not had anybody in there in about two and a half years and the city has a lot of people who come by and miss the old cafe that was run there. So we're hoping for this to be a place for employees as well as people who are waiting for court or getting their birth certificate that they can come down and get homemade soup or salad or a cup of coffee."
