Researching Urban Renewal (formerly 98 Acres in Albany)
@urbanrenewal.bsky.social
Expect maps, renderings, appraisal photos, and stories about people who lost homes and businesses to redevelopment. (Guest appearances by The Monster Cat.)
https://urbanrenewal.substack.com
https://98acresinalbany.wordpress.com
https://urbanrenewal.substack.com
https://98acresinalbany.wordpress.com
Completely understand the impulse
December 20, 2024 at 6:27 PM
Completely understand the impulse
Think Bailey has a chance?
December 16, 2024 at 12:07 AM
Think Bailey has a chance?
Lower Madison in Albany before the South Mall Arterial and 787 -- SRO hotels (Madison and Empress), restaurants (King's Cafe and Dongan St Lunch), bar (Sportsman's Club), 2 barbershops, shoe shine shop, a whole food distributor, a couple vacant storefronts. Bonus: ghost sign advertising paints.
December 15, 2024 at 3:46 PM
Lower Madison in Albany before the South Mall Arterial and 787 -- SRO hotels (Madison and Empress), restaurants (King's Cafe and Dongan St Lunch), bar (Sportsman's Club), 2 barbershops, shoe shine shop, a whole food distributor, a couple vacant storefronts. Bonus: ghost sign advertising paints.
Looking for something else altogether, I found photos of Rudolph Paul's model, re-envisioning Robert Moses's Lower Manhattan Expressway. Curiousity about the model led me to this excerpt from Sam Lubell and Greg Goldin's *Never Built New York* www.gothamcenter.org/blog/paul-ru...
December 12, 2024 at 6:36 PM
Looking for something else altogether, I found photos of Rudolph Paul's model, re-envisioning Robert Moses's Lower Manhattan Expressway. Curiousity about the model led me to this excerpt from Sam Lubell and Greg Goldin's *Never Built New York* www.gothamcenter.org/blog/paul-ru...
Urban renewal led to the destruction of some of the nation's oldest buildings. But that doesn't mean renewal was necessarily antithetical preservationist goals. In many places, restoring historic structures was part of a plan to facilitate gentrification.
December 9, 2024 at 8:26 PM
Urban renewal led to the destruction of some of the nation's oldest buildings. But that doesn't mean renewal was necessarily antithetical preservationist goals. In many places, restoring historic structures was part of a plan to facilitate gentrification.
Between boxes and strings, this is Bailey's favorite time of year.
December 9, 2024 at 5:53 PM
Between boxes and strings, this is Bailey's favorite time of year.
"The South End is changing, its skidrow diminishing as the old buildings are felled for urban renewal projects, and the men move on, or pass on." William Kennedy and Bernie Kolenberg, "They Ask Wine, a Place to Sleep...." @timesunion.com 7/7/64
December 8, 2024 at 8:09 PM
"The South End is changing, its skidrow diminishing as the old buildings are felled for urban renewal projects, and the men move on, or pass on." William Kennedy and Bernie Kolenberg, "They Ask Wine, a Place to Sleep...." @timesunion.com 7/7/64
William Kennedy's Pulitzer-prize winning novel, Ironweed, grew out of his reporting for @timesunion.com. With photographer Bernie Kolenber, his 1964 series, "The Shadow World," focused on "the way of life of men and women along the skid row of Albany's South End."
December 6, 2024 at 1:41 AM
William Kennedy's Pulitzer-prize winning novel, Ironweed, grew out of his reporting for @timesunion.com. With photographer Bernie Kolenber, his 1964 series, "The Shadow World," focused on "the way of life of men and women along the skid row of Albany's South End."
Postwar redevelopment projects destroyed many of the places where the poorest, most marginal people lived -- typically w/o building replacement housing for them. We don't know what happened to Palombi Hotel residents, but we do know many South Mall displacees lived in SROS and rooming houses.
December 4, 2024 at 2:19 PM
Postwar redevelopment projects destroyed many of the places where the poorest, most marginal people lived -- typically w/o building replacement housing for them. We don't know what happened to Palombi Hotel residents, but we do know many South Mall displacees lived in SROS and rooming houses.
@dphochfelder.bsky.social sampling gingerbread cider at Nine Pin in Albany. (Going for bronze-level 26er.)
December 3, 2024 at 10:56 PM
@dphochfelder.bsky.social sampling gingerbread cider at Nine Pin in Albany. (Going for bronze-level 26er.)
Now for the dog lovers. We found this photo among a collection of prints focusing on the most rundown sections of the South Mall area in Albany. Photos such as this were used to justify redevelopment.
December 3, 2024 at 4:45 PM
Now for the dog lovers. We found this photo among a collection of prints focusing on the most rundown sections of the South Mall area in Albany. Photos such as this were used to justify redevelopment.
She's now too old (18, maybe 20) to jump up on my desk. But she caught a mouse last week.
December 2, 2024 at 5:18 PM
She's now too old (18, maybe 20) to jump up on my desk. But she caught a mouse last week.
A revealing Christmas skit by the firm hired by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts to oversee relocation, site management, and demolition of Lincoln Square urbanrenewal.substack.com/p/lincoln-ce...
November 24, 2024 at 4:32 PM
A revealing Christmas skit by the firm hired by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts to oversee relocation, site management, and demolition of Lincoln Square urbanrenewal.substack.com/p/lincoln-ce...
Any interest in figuring out how to create a custom Urban History feed? I've pinned the Urbanism+, What's History, and #History feeds. But I don't see a feed on the history of cities. Urban History can be such a fragmented field; it would be nice to connect. @urbanhistorya.bsky.social
November 23, 2024 at 3:45 PM
Any interest in figuring out how to create a custom Urban History feed? I've pinned the Urbanism+, What's History, and #History feeds. But I don't see a feed on the history of cities. Urban History can be such a fragmented field; it would be nice to connect. @urbanhistorya.bsky.social
We were so anxious to build highways that we somehow lost sight of the people occupying homes and property along the route. They were a hindrance to our ideas of progress." (Written by a NYS DoT official, 1969)
November 21, 2024 at 4:33 PM
We were so anxious to build highways that we somehow lost sight of the people occupying homes and property along the route. They were a hindrance to our ideas of progress." (Written by a NYS DoT official, 1969)
A quote from the archives that stays with me: "Maybe what we are finally experiencing ... is a revolt of sorts against the highway program.... We would be less than candid if we didn’t acknowledge that a lot of this feeling has been generated by our past cavalier attitude....
November 21, 2024 at 4:33 PM
A quote from the archives that stays with me: "Maybe what we are finally experiencing ... is a revolt of sorts against the highway program.... We would be less than candid if we didn’t acknowledge that a lot of this feeling has been generated by our past cavalier attitude....
The problem was that urban redevelopment projects, like Lincoln Square in NYC as well as the Empire State Plaza in Albany, destroyed (and failed to replace) many of the rooming houses and cheap hotels where people like the man pictured here once lived. (Photo courtesy NYS Archives.)
November 19, 2024 at 3:04 PM
The problem was that urban redevelopment projects, like Lincoln Square in NYC as well as the Empire State Plaza in Albany, destroyed (and failed to replace) many of the rooming houses and cheap hotels where people like the man pictured here once lived. (Photo courtesy NYS Archives.)
Relocation & Management Assoc. was a private firm specializing in urban renewal site management and residential relocation. The principals got their start working for Lincoln Center and Fordham University on the Lincoln Square site, where they relocated about 2,600 families in less than 2 years.
November 19, 2024 at 1:26 AM
Relocation & Management Assoc. was a private firm specializing in urban renewal site management and residential relocation. The principals got their start working for Lincoln Center and Fordham University on the Lincoln Square site, where they relocated about 2,600 families in less than 2 years.
Unlike most post-WW2 urban renewal projects, the Gov. Nelson A Rockefeller Empire State Plaza was State-planned and funded dev.picturingurbanrenewal.org/wireframe/ci...
November 17, 2024 at 4:18 PM
Unlike most post-WW2 urban renewal projects, the Gov. Nelson A Rockefeller Empire State Plaza was State-planned and funded dev.picturingurbanrenewal.org/wireframe/ci...
In Albany, we have been unable to find South Mall (aka Empire State Plaza) relocation records, tho we know where they ought to be. BUT we are able to see some of those people in photographs taken by the State of New York in the NYS Archives.
November 17, 2024 at 4:18 PM
In Albany, we have been unable to find South Mall (aka Empire State Plaza) relocation records, tho we know where they ought to be. BUT we are able to see some of those people in photographs taken by the State of New York in the NYS Archives.
How do we track down the people displaced by Urban Renewal projects? We start by looking in municipal archives. At the Ulster County Archives, for example, we found a binder w/ the names of UR area residents along with their pre- and post-relocation addresses.
November 17, 2024 at 3:58 PM
How do we track down the people displaced by Urban Renewal projects? We start by looking in municipal archives. At the Ulster County Archives, for example, we found a binder w/ the names of UR area residents along with their pre- and post-relocation addresses.
Handy ppt trick (courtesy @dphochfelder.bsky.social) -- end with cute cat photo.
November 12, 2024 at 5:45 PM
Handy ppt trick (courtesy @dphochfelder.bsky.social) -- end with cute cat photo.
We started researching urban renewal after finding a cache of appraisal photos at NYS Archives. Intended as evidence of fair market value, these photos told us more about people who once lived in places that no longer exist. We've since found similar photos in archives across the state, incl. NYC.
November 11, 2024 at 3:15 PM
We started researching urban renewal after finding a cache of appraisal photos at NYS Archives. Intended as evidence of fair market value, these photos told us more about people who once lived in places that no longer exist. We've since found similar photos in archives across the state, incl. NYC.
Another appraisal photograph from the same house in Albany. Before the State of New York's South Mall redevelopment project, it was home to William and Mary Long along with their three tenants.
November 10, 2024 at 4:58 PM
Another appraisal photograph from the same house in Albany. Before the State of New York's South Mall redevelopment project, it was home to William and Mary Long along with their three tenants.
Welcome new Bluesky friends! Hope you enjoy planning maps, architectural renderings, and appraisal photos.
November 10, 2024 at 4:12 PM
Welcome new Bluesky friends! Hope you enjoy planning maps, architectural renderings, and appraisal photos.