3rd Ward

The Ward is an in-between area. Nothing except the most hyperlocal activity is located here. 15 years ago this ward was the poster child of blight, since that time tools like the land bank and many efforts from nonprofits and socially minded business owners. We need a strategy for building out of poverty and blight. We can focus on making these points as developed as possible, the chapman center, the churches, the lot gardens to serve those who are here create a sustainable neighborhood; or we focus on developing the spaces that cause the ward to fit and connect into the city better, otherwise we are a place to be avoided, past through feeling that despite the progress, the ills of our society collect here and regardless of any small investments in ourselves the larger system sees us as a sacrifice zone.

Albany

The City has made progress in my lifetime and especially in the last decade, but remains governed in the same way as 300 years ago. A strong Mayor with a government that is both a state and political organization. There is so much more to do, and the 3rd Ward has been left behind. Our hood is a no man’s land, a sacrifice zone, it’s time we have the tools to turn that around for our own sakes. Reducing poverty through control of the economic flow is priority one. Crime, social ills, and quality of life will follow.