12-6-06 Meeting

Council of Albany Neighborhood Associations

Meeting Minutes December 6, 2006

Albany Public Library

1) Introductions

The Albany Public Library Board of Trustees has decided to move ahead with a comprehensive improvement for plan for branch library facilities and to postpone decisions on replacing the main library. A public referendum on the plan will likely occur in February. (John Cirrin)

Albany �s First Night event will be replaced with Albany Winter Festival to be held on Saturday, December 30, 2006 , from Noon to 6 PM . The festival activities will be family-oriented and more will take place outdoors. Admission will be free except for the Jingle Jog. The schedule of events will be published in the �Times Union Newspaper.� (Sue Cleary)

2) Guest Speaker - Terry O�Neill � Neighborhood Preservation Crime Prevention

For more than 20 years, State�s assistance to communities for crime prevention has been focused on prosecution and incarceration. Governor Pataki�s program, �Operation Impact,� has not encouraged crime prevention, nor has it provided resources to localities to address community-based justice, alternative dispositions of offenders� cases, or prisoner re-entry.

In 1983 the Division of Criminal Justice implemented the Neighborhood Preservation Crime Prevention Act (NPCPA) to form a network of non-profits and community agencies that would work with local law enforcement agencies to fight back against crime, drugs and disorder in neighborhoods.

However, the program has been abandoned and there is presently no network of crime prevention coordination between law enforcement agencies, community groups, and non-profits. The NPCPA act is still on the books and governor-elect Spitzer is expected to revive the DCJS program. Together with the present �Operation Impact� NPCPA can offer a powerful resource for civilian-based crime prevention.

Real time crime statistical mapping technology is available and used by several cities nationwide. Police Chief Tuffy�s redeployment plan relies heavily on technology for crime mapping, but will only be used internally. Neighborhoods should be able to access communications with police agencies.

The Citizen Observer Alert Network (http://www.citizenobserver.com), a Minnesota-based internet company provides two-way communication between law enforcement and the public that enables immediate notification of criminal information 24 hours a day. A two-way communication system would probably cost Albany about $2,000 per year.

27,000 to 28,000 prison inmates re-enter New York State communities each year. The Pataki administration�s policy is to keep sex offenders in prison until the very end of their sentence. When released, two-thirds violate parole or re-commit crimes. A well-organized network of providers to address the health, chemical dependency, educational and employment needs of these former prisoners can drive down crime rates. Citizens must advocate for funding of such programs.

Questions and Comments:

	A group has been set up to begin to work with these issues.
	DCJS does not map crime because there is no demand from the communities and no funding.
	The City administration is hesitant to share information via technologies and data is old by the time it�s published.
	Presently the Alban Police Department is moving toward next morning reporting and is getting faster. Computers have been placed in some cars and information will be available to the public in real time.
	Crime statistics can be obtained by making a request under FOIL.

3) Committee Reports

Zoning: No report

Codes: The committee continues to meet with city staff and has a meeting scheduled with John Egan. The Albany Fire Department will be assigning an inspector to each neighborhood association. They have requested each association�s meeting schedules.

Cable: Media attention has been brought to the issue of public access television. Cable television subscribers pay a franchise fee to Time Warner Cable each month. Those monies are forwarded to the City of Albany to cover the costs of public access television. However, Albany has no public access television. To date, the city has deposited the money into the general fund. Mayor Jennings has announced that he will revitalize the public access television committee and Councilman Ellis plans to introduce a resolution to the Common Council for members to sign on.

Budget: No report

University and Community Relations: The next meeting will be held on December 13 at 7:00 PM . At the November meeting, Police Chief Tuffey was a special guest and he discussed the APD Reorganization Plan.

Executive Nominating Committee: The committee has submitted the following nominees to serve on the Executive Committee in 2007-2009.

OFFICE	NAME	ASSOCIATION
Chair	Howard Stoller	Melrose NA
Vice Chair	Holly Katz	Mansion NA
Treasurer	Stephen Winters	Second Ave NA
At Large	Mary Connair	Delaware Area NA
At Large	Andrew Harvey	South Park NA
At Large	Patricia Maxon	Upper Washington NA
At Large	John Panetto	Shaker/Bishop�s Gate NA
At Large	Harold Rubin, Past chair	Center Square NA
At Large	Marggie Skinner	Pine Hills NA

Pat Maxon is coordinating a short reception to take place 30 or so minutes before the February 7, 2007 , CANA meeting to introduce newly elected neighborhood association leaders. Space has been donated near the library.

Neighborhood Works Conference: About 150 people attended. The presentations were very informative and covered such topics as code enforcement, jobs for residents; the comprehensive plan, the failing performance of schools; and community resources. A report is forthcoming. The workshop concluded with a �speak out� that identified two issues of concern; (1) public transportation and (2) the stock of 2-family housing units that are a good option for first-time home buyers being purchased by outside investors.

4) New Business

The date of the January 2007 CANA meeting is tentatively January 3. That meeting may be postponed until after Mayor Jennings has presented his State of the City Address to the Common Council. If the Mayor postpones his address to CANA until February, the issue of public transportation will be discussed in January.

A new neighborhood association is being formed by residents who live on the side streets off Whitehall Road .

The public is invited two upcoming meetings of the South End Action Committee that will be held on December 11 and 12 at 5 PM . The public will be asked for input at the December 11 meeting and the developed plan will be presented and reviewed on December 12. Both will be held at the Albany Housing Authority building.

The Park South Redevelopment Plan is still in development and progressing. Presently, there is a lot of out-migration of the population.

5) Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 8:10 PM

Submitted by

Deanna Colfels

CANA

December 6, 2006

Meeting Attendees

NAME	ASSOCIATION	ADDRESS
Lynne Jackson	Albany Bicycle Coalition	223 So Swan St
Daniel VanRiper	Lincoln Park NA	dwvr@mac.com
Jim Lyons	Melrose NA	jlyons@nycap.rr.com
Joe Cunniff	Upper Washington Ave NA	jcunniff@nycap.rr.com
Gene Solan	Pine Hills	126 So. Allen St
Harold Rubin	Center Square	156 Chestnut St
Donald Wardle	United Tenants	125 Dove St
Rev. Joyce Hartwell	Artists All-Faith Center	revjoy@nycap.rr.com
Pat Maxon	UPANA	34 Victor St
PO Kathi Rissberger	APD	536 Western Ave
Tom Gebhardt	University at Albany	tgebhardt@uamail.albany.edu
Holly Katz	Mansion	harriskatx@mac.com
Helen Klaysen	West End	817 Livingston Ave
Lisa Ternullo	Whitehall Dana
Paul Fowler	Center Square	209 Lancaster St
PO Matthew Montesano	APD	126 Arch St
Julie Elson	New Scotland Woodlawn	510 West Lawrence St
Blake Pavlik	Mansion Hill	69 Trinity Place # 401
Dianne Hansen	Manning Boulevard NA	22 Manning Blvd
Joyce Rambo	Center Square NA	189 Lancaster St
John Paneto	Shaker Park	11 Rosemary Drive Ext.
Brian Levine	Hudson Park	92 Willett St
Andrew Harvey	PSNA	Aach2004@aol.com