![]() ![]() Meanwhile, the violence spike is hardly unique to Albany. If city voters are upset with those policies, well, you wouldn't know it from last year's reelection, which saw Sheehan reelected with 63 percent of the vote. Would canning Hawkins, hired from Michigan in 2018, make sense? Would it accomplish anything or make a dent in crime?įor one thing, Hawkins serves at the mayor's behest, and she sets the policies that govern the police department. So let's get back to Anane's call for a new police chief. "But the neighborhood has gotten extremely violent." "We've been here 30 years and I want to be here another 30 years," Scavio said. Seraj told me it's becoming difficult to find employees willing to work in the neighborhood, especially at night, and customers are shying away, too.Ī few doors up Ontario Street, at the flagship location of Paesan's Pizza, owner Frank Scavio has already slashed hours in response to crime problems and is talking openly about shuttering the business - a move, he said, that would break his heart. ![]() "It's going from bad to worse," said Ahmed Seraj, who has owned Madison's Pizza since 2008. Instead, some business owners are fearing for their future. It should be attracting new investment, businesses and homeowners. It is the very heart of the city, the neighborhood where newcomers often land. Its poorest neighborhoods, in particular, will never be revitalized and residents of those areas will continue to suffer the most.īut Pine Hills is especially vital to Albany's future. The violence is, if you'll excuse the word, deadly to everything Albany wants to become and should be. What's happening in Albany right now can't become the new normal. Well, I can't blame Anane for doing what he can to bring attention to the issue of rising crime and the plight of the area between Washington Park and The College of Saint Rose, where much of Pine Hills' crime is concentrated. Mayor Kathy Sheehan, meanwhile, has voiced "complete confidence" in Hawkins, and her spokesman, David Galin, accused Anane of engaging in "baseless attacks" and "political grandstanding." "Can you imagine if this was happening in Bethlehem?"Īnane claimed he's received overwhelming support for his call and told me seven members of the Common Council have privately agreed Hawkins should go. "The reality is even worse than people think," said Anane, first elected to the council in 2017. It was only the latest crime to rattle a neighborhood where, according to Anane, police have recovered 200 shell casings this year. "The status quo is not working."Īnane, who represents the Pine Hills neighborhood, first called for Hawkins' departure last weekend after a brazen Friday afternoon shooting on Hamilton Street killed an 18-year-old. "The fact that the streets are getting more and more dangerous under his watch means we need a new approach," Anane told me. Might a new police chief have fresh ideas? A different vision? A new tone? Anane thinks it's time to find out. ![]()
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