• 6 30-foot hybrid buses (31xxH Gillig series w/ sideways seats)
  
• 38 40-foot hybrid buses (41xxH Gillig buses)

They have a fleet of 174 conventional non-hybrid buses remaining, with about 20 of the 1996-1998 Orion buses being either sold to Binghamton Trasit or scrapped (those damaged by fires or otherwise totaled).

The Albany Coalition to Prevent Violence is holding a Community Forum this Thursday (June 11) at 5:30 pm at the Albany Housing Authority.

Albany has been selected to receive funding from NYS to implement SNUG - a community-based anti-violence initiative that has proved highly successful in other cities, using a model called CeaseFire that was orginally developed in Chicago.

This pilot program represents a paradigm-shift in violence prevention. It approaches violence as a public health issue and is premised on the idea that community-wide collaboration is needed to create meaningful change.

More important than our choice of models is our willingness to show up, do our part, and work together. No part of the community can resolve this problem on its own. Change must emanate from the community itself - and that means all of us!

A core group has been working on this inititative for some time - especially since the senseless death of Kathina Thomas a year ago. Now with meaningful funding and involvement from SUNY at the highest levels, a door has opened to the possibility of real change. The SNUG model engages all stakeholders, including residents of the neighborhoods where violence is most prevalent, community service providers, mental health advocates, members of law enforcement, educators, youth, formerly incarcerated men and women, clergy, and so forth.

Nicely put - we could call it "The Obama Test" of government, much like the Turing test for computers.

How does Albany do?

ALBANY -- The College of Saint Rose will honor four individuals for their community leadership during its fifth annual "A Community of Excellence" luncheon next week.

Honorees are George R. Hearst III, publisher of the Times Union [...]

Do you think Tim O'Brien will present the award?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact Kitt: (518) 462-5450
CapAreaCC@aol.com

Monday, June 1, 2009
6:15 p.m.
St. Paul's Episcopal Church,
21 Hackett Blvd. in Albany

Capital Area Council of Churches Peace & Justice Award

The Capital Area Council of Churches is pleased to announce this year's recipients of the James and Pearl Campbell Peace and Justice Award.  Established in memory of and named for a Methodist couple who were longtime activists in a whole host of social justice issues, the award will be presented at the Council's Spring Assembly on Monday, June 1, at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 21 Hackett Blvd. in Albany.

Recognizing the significance of the issue of gun violence in the City of Albany over the past two years, the Council has chosen two members of the Albany Common Council, the Honorable Dominick Calsolaro and the Honorable Barbara Smith, to receive the award. They represent the movements to establish a Gun Violence Task Force (on an official level) and the Community Coalition to Prevent Violence (at the grassroots level).

Although the awards are usually presented after dinner as part of the Assembly, since Monday is a Common Council meeting night, the Peace & Justice Awards will be presented at 6:15pm, just prior to the dinner. The Reverend John U. Miller, CACC Executive Director, who served as the Chair of the Albany Gun Violence Task Force, will present the awards.

Mr. Calsolaro, who represents Ward 1, is a native of Albany and graduate of Siena College. He has served on the Common Council since 2001, where he has been a strong voice for the South End and a persistent advocate for the formation of a Gun Violence Task Force.  

Ms. Smith was born in Cleveland, Ohio and has lived in Albany since 1984.  She graduated from Mount Holyoke College, holds an MA in English from the University of Pittsburgh, and did doctoral studies at the University of Connecticut.  An author and teacher, she has been active in movements for racial, economic, and social justice since the 1960's.  A resident of Arbor Hill, she was elected to the Albany Common Council in 2005 to represent Ward 4.

Today, I recieved such an e-mail from a local organization called Coalition For Change providing recipients with updated information with regard to important events in Albany Democratic politics to take place tomorrow eventing: a meeting of the Albany City and Albany County Democratic Comittees for the purpose of endorsing candidates for city-wide office, and a rally in staunch opposition to incumbent Mayor Jerry Jennings directly thereafter.

Or, at least, that is what it appears to be.  Here's the e-mail in full:

Pass it On - Pass it On - Pass it On - Pass it On - Pass it On

See, I'm just following instructions :-)  Now follow me below the fold...

What is it now, 2 or 3 years since Hiz Holimess was embarrassed into creating the 'Block by Block' program targeting blight?

Mind you, targeting does not mean eradicating, but merely identifying where in Albany it exists.

Kinda reminds me of that line - 'I don't know what it is, but I'll know it when I see it'.

If you don't visit our blighted neighborhoods, Mr. Mayor, you won't see it. If you don't see it, you may not care.

If you do see it, then surely you don't care, for if you did care, there would be none or little to be found in the city you've presided over for the past 16 years.

Seems Hiz Onerous One convinced Toughy to take some time away from working on the (now 3 year) oh, so intensive investigation into the Machine Gun scandal to create a hotline for reporting blight.

I guess they lost the survey.

( http://www.albanyny.org/newsarticles/09-02-24/block_by_block_2008_report-887380649.aspx )

Calling this a "Hotline" is as much a misnomer as would be calling our city "Utopia".  

Read the advisory, laugh a bit, then go out and get yourselves involved in working to dethrone our glorified hall monitor.

Unless, of course, you've enjoyed the ride with Jerry & hiz gangsta boyz for the past 16 years.

Be sure to report those blighted areas!

I think they want you to be specific, though.

No "the entire South End" "all of Arbor Hill and West Hill" or "all of Park South" reports, but I'm sure they'll be quite a few of those, if you know what I mean.