Albany Turns To The Community For Renovation Ideas

Over the years, Albany, and the Capital Region as a whole, has turned a corner. City officials have done everything in their power to turn Albany back into a bustling hub of culture and business.

Their first step? Focus on what the community wants.

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Reconnect the Empire State Plaza

These changes are all part of Governor Hochul's Championing Albany's Potential campaign, which will bring $400 Million of new investment to the area. One of their first programs is the Reconnect the Empire State Plaza project. In essence, it's meant to make the plaza more accessible for the local community.

Mainly, this project focuses on making it more physically accessible, creating more programs and events that take place at the plaza, repurposing underutilized spaces, improving signage, and partnering with the local community. All-in-all, the City wants to turn the plaza into a bustling hub of creatives, businesses, and locals.

Asking the Community for Help?

Want to help the community? Ask them to help you. On November 18th, the city hosted an event at the Corning Tower Observation Deck in the Plaza to gain insight into what locals in the area wanted to see. There were two separate sessions, one from 5 to 6 p.m., and one from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

The event itself saw several poster boards with different ideas for the plaza on them. The 50 or so guests that attended walked around the room, looked at each idea, and then pitched their likes and dislikes to the city. By integrating our community into this project, we can hope that Empire State Plaza soon becomes the place everyone had hoped it would be.