Local & State Headlines

'Blight has no boundary'

• Two of the biggest challenges facing downtown are image and code enforcement, its manager says.

Barbara Rivera Holmes

ALBANY — Don Buie has stolen and adopted a phrase that he’s hoping all city residents will take for themselves.

“I’m all about Albany,” Buie, an East Baltimore transplant, said Tuesday.

He said it’s important for Albanians to understand that they have a vested interest in what happens in and to downtown Albany, an area that was once the center of city life but whose image suffered through the decades. In recent years, the district has struggled with redevelopment.

“I think you should care because it’s your city,” Buie, the downtown manager and CEO of the Albany-Dougherty Inner City Authority (ADICA), told Dougherty County Rotarians during their noon luncheon. “We need everyone to be all about Albany.”

In the less than 90 days since his arrival, Buie has assessed the district for vacant structures, blighted structures and infill opportunities “to get a clear picture of what we’re working with,” he said.

That assessment — which includes blight elimination and targeted development — led to a downtown management work plan that initially focuses on the 18-square-mile area from Front Street to Mercer Avenue to Madison Avenue to Residence Avenue.

Buie shared findings for a four-block segment on Residence from Madison to Washington:

• six vacant and blighted structures

• 15 occupied and blighted structures

• one blighted structure for sale

• 14 empty lots (neglected)

• two sale/lease properties

• three places of worship

• six businesses

• 25 residences

Analyzed for their “blightness,” the first block is 62 percent blighted, with the second, third and fourth blocks at 39 percent, 53 percent and 55 percent, respectively.

“Blight has no boundary,” Buie said.

“It decreases the tax base,” he said. “You have an entire inner city that has a low population, little density and maybe the little tax not worth collecting.

“So, we take on that burden,” he said of the broader tax base. “Inner cities that go neglected for years require maintenance ... and that comes from you and I.”

“We gotta bust the blight.”

For those who think blight isn’t a part of their reality, Buie cited findings from a 2001 study. According to data presented Tuesday, a house located within 150 feet of a vacant or abandoned property sees a net loss of $7,627, while houses at 300 feet and 450 feet see a loss of $6,819 and $3,542, respectively.

“How far does blight have to go before it affects you?” he asked.

Asked if there would be incentives for downtown landlords, Buie said that “it’s not the city’s job” to find free money in order for downtown landlords to clean up their acts. “These are (their) properties and I don’t think it should be up to the taxpayers. That’s (their) investment.”

Buie said he’s drafting an enforcement plan. Enforcement, he said, is one of the downtown area’s biggest obstacles, but also one of its greatest opportunities.

And already he’s working on phase one of a targeted development plan for the 200 block of Broad Avenue and the 100 block of North Jackson Avenue.

Buie is scheduled to present his findings to the Albany City Commission on Feb. 5.

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