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Community meeting in Albany’s Pine Hills neighborhood centers on crime, gun violence

SNUG 518 Outreach worker Richard “Pancake” Williams addresses the gathering at St. Vincent's, October 18, 2022.
Dave Lucas
/
WAMC
SNUG 518 representative Richard Williams addresses the gathering at St. Vincent's, October 18, 2022.

A neighborhood meeting in Albany Monday focused on the recent uptick in gun violence.

More than two dozen residents packed a community room at the Church of St. Vincent De Paul on Madison Avenue, a block away from the Madison Park neighborhood, which has experienced a surge in crime over the last year.

The Pine Hills Neighborhood Association and SNUG hosted the "Unite for our Community" gathering.

Neighborhood Association Vice President Leah Golby is a former common councilor:

"As a member of this community, I'm not prepared and I don't think my neighbors are prepared to just sit back and accept the fact that there's increasing violence," said Golby. "It's important for us to come together and say, 'What can we do to solve this problem?'"

The groups declared the recent escalation of violence in the 10th ward and beyond “unacceptable.” Albany Common Councilor Jack Flynn of the 8th Ward said while the headlines have focused on Pine Hills, crime is a citywide problem:

" It's unfortunate that a lot of the crime gets the attention it's in the lower wards, but I always tell people and I, I've told Corey Ellis, Common Council President, there's a lot, because there's crime in each ward that happens a lot, that people are unaware of," said Flynn. "So there is crime in this in the city of Albany, catalytic converters, we have a lot of break-ins. We actually had a murder a few years ago, and it did get a little attention. But my point is, it's throughout the whole city. And I don't want people to think that oh, it's just in the lower wards in the city. And I hate to say this, but as you know in the wards, all the wards throughout the city, it's occurring everywhere throughout the city of Albany. And the reason why I'm here for this meeting is because it started low rewards. Now it's in the 10th ward. I'm trying to prevent it from getting to the 8hth Ward, the 14th Ward, the 15th ward. I hope it doesn't get there, and I hope we can stop it somewhere."

Attendees shared ideas about how to address recent deadly and unruly incidents in the vicinity of Madison Park and along Hudson Avenue and Hamilton Street, where many college students reside.

With low-income households dotting the neighborhood, SNUG's Richard Williams says with poverty comes frustration.

"If I have a parent or guardian that is financially strapped, don't have the resources to continue to pay the bills, they're going to be upset and that negative energy spreads out throughout the household," Williams said. "So that makes it that much tougher for a child to get up and want to go to school, if they have not eaten, if they have a back and forth with the parent, or it might be just the parent might be at work and trying to make ends meet. So the child is there by itself for the next 13 hours because the parent is working and you can't fault a parent for trying to make ends meet. So you have to understand where the household is at, and get to the root of the problem before it becomes a shooting, a homicide or something of that conduct."

In the heat of the moment following a shooting that left one dead, 10th ward councilor Owusu Anane called for Police Chief Eric Hawkins' resignation. Common Council President Corey Ellis says he has been calling for more of a police presence, on the neighborhood level.

"And the chief is finally listening," Ellis said. "Mr. Anane, even though he went a little overboard on his comments, you cannot forget what he was trying to convey. We need a different plan. We need a different way of policing in our city. And we need that support from the police department because we have the businesses, we have the citizens who will support that. And they've said it, many of them said it to the chief. So what we're looking for is a different plan of how do you make a police presence that will deter crime."

Third-term Democratic Mayor Kathy Sheehan spoke with WAMC the same day Congressman Lee Zeldin, the Republican nominee for governor, focused on crime while campaigning in the city:

“We're really working on solutions and I'm really pleased with the work that we're doing with the business owners on Ontario and in that area, their response, their acknowledgement that we all have to work on public safety together and we are implementing strategies as we speak to address some of the issues that they raised, and some of the concerns that they had," said Sheehan. "So, we're working on it here on the street, you know, at the local level.”

The neighbors say they're likely to gather again. Golby tweeted that the meeting "...was the beginning of a conversation about how we can work together to stop gun violence & strengthen our community."

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
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