Those concerned about the coming closure of the College of Saint Rose are attending a community forum tonight in Albany.
Common Council Members Owusu Anane of the 10th ward and Ginnie Farrell of the 13th are hosting a two-hour town hall at the Pine Hills Library.
The College of Saint Rose will close soon after May’s graduation ceremonies. Among the questions surrounding the future of the private campus is what will happen to more than 80 buildings the college owns in Albany’s Pine Hills neighborhood.
Anane says he has fielded phone calls from residents expressing concerns after the November 30th board of trustees decision to shutter the private school, some offering ideas for repurposing the campus.
"This is to allow a forum for residents and business owners, who have these concerns hurt and you know, to be brought up in front of two members of government and others," Anane said. "So we can point to what people want to see in their neighborhoods. And that is what this meeting is about, right? The College of Saint Rose is an anchor in our community. It's in part why residents choose to move into the Pine Hills neighborhood. And we want to put this meeting together to hear directly from stakeholders of the Pine Hills neighborhood, and others."
Farrell says the plan is to start a conversation with the community.
"Councilman Anane and I and I have both gotten a lot of outreach from our constituents with great ideas, some concerns, and just really a lot of great ideas on the potential of what could go there. And we thought it would be a really good idea to kind of just gather, kind of get people together to talk about it, and maybe start something so that we can actually maybe give Saint Rose or give the decision makers, some ideas of direction, some ideas of what the community would like to see, really give the community an opportunity for a voice. And I thought this was a good opportunity to kick off potentially a process that we might move forward with," said Farrell.
Farrell says hands down the public would like to see another academic institution occupy the campus. Constituents have weighed in with other suggestions as well.
"I've even had ones where people say that maybe a theatre company could take over the theatre space or something along those lines, there's been a lot of different... most of them are, again, academic, a desire for an academic institution, but people have also said, you know, what about Albany Med? Could there be an expansion of that? I think that there's a lot of different ideas. I think that's the real idea, that we want to see the different ideas. So I think a lot of people expect to, obviously it lends itself to being an academic institution. All the buildings are geared towards that already. But it's also a real opportunity to think about, to think outside the box and the more people you gather together, the better ideas they can kind of gather," said Farrell.
Anane describes Pine Hills residents as "nervous, but very engaged, optimistic that the neighborhood will be resilient.” He adds dignitaries and stakeholders have been invited to the event he says is all about moving the city forward.
"When individuals come in, they're going to sign in if they want to ask questions. They can if they want to speak they can. But essentially, my colleague and I were going to give statements, and then we're going to take questions and statements from the public," Anane said. "If there's something that we can answer, we will. But most of this mean is about FAQs and just laying the facts as we know it. Again, there's most of the College of Saint Rose is owned by the bondholders and they ultimately are going to make the decision. But I believe that is an opportunity for us to voice the vision that we would like to see in our neighborhood. Again, I want to hear from constituents directly. There are people, elected officials, putting out op-eds, but we really want to hear from residents who live in the neighborhood."
A previously announced community roundtable hosted by the Pine Hills Neighborhood Association is planned for January 18.
