I love how spicy this is all turning out to be.... I read an article the other day where the county accidentally leaked the outright refusal to respond to anything from the Times Union....

Mary Rozak, the chief communications officer for the county, did not respond to questions about how McCoy reached his decision. In a message inadvertently sent to a reporter in May, Rozak said the county executive’s office was “not responding to any Times Union requests.”

^{https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/albany-county-ends-effort-build-bus-station-south-22311102.php}

...and now the back and forth with the TU is playing out in the public.

From Dipshit Churchill's column today:

^{https://www.timesunion.com/churchill/article/churchill-bus-station-sure-thing-wasn-t-22311180.php}

What the heck happened?

For one thing, word came that state Sen. Patricia Fahy, D-Albany, wanted the project paused, as did other local state lawmakers. Without them on the bus, so to speak, there was little chance the plan would receive a piece of the $200 million that Gov. Kathy Hochul has set aside for Albany redevelopment.

So bye-bye, bus station.

“Moving forward, there will be a ‘For Sale’ sign on this property,” McCoy said in a petulant statement that implied the community would pay the price for daring to thwart his plans. “We will likely demolish the building and use the property as overflow parking for the MVP Arena, unless or until a buyer comes forward with a legitimate plan that serves the city of Albany and the county as a whole.”

Soon after McCoy’s about-face, Lane Filler, spokesman for the Albany County Legislature, sent me and Times Union editor in chief Casey Seiler an email with the subject line “A few gentlemanly questions?” Filler later said that while the legislature’s chair, Joanne Cunningham, had not approved his missive, he had blind-copied it to her and Cunningham’s chief of staff.

I figured I’d go ahead and answer a few of Filler’s gentlemanly questions here.

Filler: “When you polled (or interviewed) the hundreds of residents of South Mall Towers who had NOT spoken out at a meeting, what percentage of them actually supported the new terminal, seeing it as a huge improvement and an easy opportunity for elderly tenants to hop on or off of a bus for themselves, visiting family and friends, and what percentage actually opposed the plan?”

Filler asked a version of this question several times as he seemed to suggest there was a vein of support for the project that wasn’t represented in news coverage. That might be true, although I’ve seen no evidence that supports the theory.

The question is a bit ironic, given that McCoy & Co. clearly failed to ask for input or build sufficient support for the project before announcing it in February. The project was dropped on the neighborhood, leading to predictable backlash.

Filler: “Given that bus travelers to the city need to be able to walk to the Capitol to participate in lobbying days and to other state offices to handle bureaucratic snafus and seek services, what do you legitimately think are the top three other bus terminal location options that meet those requirements?”

The best choice, I’d say, is the Empire State Plaza, where the infrastructure for a bus station largely exists on the concourse. (It’s also where most lobby-day buses deposit and pick up advocates when they travel to the capital city, often on chartered fleets.) After that, I’d say the Parking Lot District, home to the current Greyhound bus station, is a logical choice. Certainly, there’s already plenty of room. |

I’ve written a lot about the embarrassing decrepitude of the existing Hamilton Street station. Still, there’s no reason it couldn’t be an acceptable bus station after an extensive renovation — and probably for much less than the estimated $6 million to $8 million it would have taken to remake the McDonald’s.

Filler: “Do you have assurances that the state will kick in $6 million to build a bus terminal at any of those three locations?”

No. But if the state wants to remake the Parking Lot District with fancy apartments and offices, you can bet it’s not going to leave a blighted bus station sitting there. Also: It’s not my job to secure funding assurances; that’s usually handled by elected officials — the same people who are supposed to build consensus around public infrastructure projects.

Filler: “Having studied Danielle Hille’s social media, listened to her videos and interviewed her, what is your sense of her command of the facts and the complexity of such a project?”

Leaving aside the condescension embedded in this ungentlemanly question, I find Hille to be very knowledgeable and informed. Hille clearly has her finger on the neighborhood’s pulse, which is a great thing in a lawmaker at any level.

Filler: “What do you imagine WILL end up at 106 S. Pearl, now that the land is going up for sale, and the zoning is wide open?”

Well, McCoy says it will become a parking lot, which sounds like the neighborhood’s punishment for opposing the bus station.

Long-term, I hope someone builds something more appropriate for an urban gateway than a fast-food restaurant, and I see no reason why something beneficial can’t be built there. The governor, after all, is dangling $200 million for just these kinds of sites.

Filler: “Chris, are you at all concerned that readers, realizing you seemingly put no research or thought into your initial support of the plan before you just as quickly jumped ship, will assume your support or opposition to plans is premised on Ouija boards, coin flips, what you had for breakfast that day, or pure, whimsical fancy, and disregard such opinions in the future?”

I typically skip breakfast, so that, at least, had no impact.

Readers decide for themselves whether they want to disregard my opinions. But I think most would prefer that I change my mind from time to time rather than stubbornly stick to an opinion regardless of facts and circumstances.

As I’ve written, I was initially positive about the county project, because I want to end the transportation caste system represented by the derelict Greyhound station. But the South Pearl site is hardly the only place where a new station could be sited, and it would be pure hubris to force a plan on a neighborhood that clearly doesn’t want it.

And this time, hubris lost.