Albany

Albany ((listen) AWL-bn-ee) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. It is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about 10 miles (16 km) south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. The city is known for its architecture, commerce, culture, institutions of higher education, and rich history. It was the original eastern terminus of the Erie Canal, connecting to the Great Lakes, and was home to some of the earliest railroads in the world. In the 1990s, the New York State Legislature approved for the city a US$234 million building and renovation plan, which spurred redevelopment downtown. As of 2020, Albany's population was 99,224; the Capital District is the third most populous metropolitan region in the state, with an estimated population of 1.1 million in 2013. The area was originally inhabited by Algonquian-speaking Mohican (Mahican), who called it Pempotowwuthut-Muhhcanneuw, meaning "the fireplace of the Mohican nation" The Mohawk were one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, or Haudenosaunee. In 1664, the English took over the Dutch settlements, renaming the city Albany in honor of the Duke of Albany, the future James II. Albany was officially chartered in 1686 under English rule.

History

Albany is the primary city name, but also Colonie, Roessleville are acceptable city names or spellings. Albany is one of the oldest surviving European settlements from the original thirteen colonies. It is the longest continuously chartered city in the United States. In 1754, representatives of seven British North American colonies met in the Stadt Huys, Albany's hall, for Congress. The Albany Plan of Union, which was never adopted by Parliament, was an important precursor to the U.S. Constitution. The city was named for the Duke of Albany (later James II), a Scottish title given since 1398, generally to a younger son of the King of Scots. The name is ultimately derived from Alba, the Gaelic name for Scotland. The Dutch briefly regained Albany in August 1673 and renamed the city Willemstadt. The English took permanent possession with the Treaty of Westminster (1674) On November 1, 1683, the Province of New York was split into counties, with Albany County being the largest. At that time the county included all of present New York State north of Dutchess and Ulster Counties in addition to present-day Bennington County, Vermont. Albany was formally chartered as a municipality by provincial Governor Thomas Dongan on July 22, 1686. It became home to the Committee of Correspondence (the political arm of the local government) in 1763, when the French and Indian War began. It ended in 1775, with French prisoners of war often jailed in Albany, and the Tories took control of the county and expanded its power.

Geography

Albany is about 150 miles (240 km) north of New York City on the Hudson River. The highest natural point in Albany is a USGS benchmark near the Loudonville Reservoir off Birch Hill Road, at 378 feet (115 m) above sea level. There are four lakes within city limits: Buckingham Lake; Rensselaer Lake at the mouth of the Patroon Creek; Tivoli Lake, which was formed as a reservoir. The interior of Albany consists of rolling hills which were once part of the Albany Pine Bush, an area of pitch pine and scrub oak, and has arid, sandy soil that is a remnant of the ancient Lake Albany. Albany is in the humid continental climate zone (Köppen climate classification: Dfa), and features cold, snowy winters, and hot, humid summers. The city experiences four distinct seasons, with temperatures dropping to 0 °F (18 °C) or below on nine nights per annum. Albany receives 40.7 inches (1,030 mm) of precipitation per year, with 138 days of at least 0.01 in (0.25 mm) each year. It is in plant hardiness zone 6a near downtown and along the shore of the Hudson and 5b at its western end. It receives 59.4 inches (151 cm) of snow per season, but with less accumulation than the lake effect areas to the north and west, as it is farther from Lake Ontario. It occasionally receives Alberta clippers and the city occasionally receives heavy snow from Nor'easters.

Crime

New York has an effective statewide crime rate of 385/100,000 people as of 2009. Albany's violent crime rate is nearly on a par with Rochester (1028 violent crimes/ 100,000 population) and much lower than Buffalo (1514) By comparison, New York City's crime rate was 639/100, 000 in 2013. New York has a crime rate that is higher than any other U.S. state or city. It is also the highest rate in the United States, followed by California and New Jersey. The state crime rate has been rising since the early 1990s, when it was at its lowest point in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It has been steadily rising since then, reaching an all-time high in 2009. The rate is expected to continue to rise as the state population continues to grow. In 2013, the crime rate in New York was the highest in the nation, surpassing the national average by more than 2.5%. The state has a rate of more than 1,000 violent crimes per 100,00 people. In 2012, the rate was 1,200, and in 2013, it was over 1,100. In 2010, the state had the highest crime rate, with more than 3,200 violent crimes in each of the top 10 cities in the state, including Buffalo and Rochester. The crime rate for the city of Albany was nearly 1,300 violent crimes, compared to about 1,400 in Rochester.

Cityscape

The neighborhoods of Albany include Arbor Hill, Center Square, Pine Hills, and the South End. The Empire State Plaza, a collection of state agency office buildings, dominates almost any view of Albany. The oldest building in Albany is the 1728 Van Ostrande-Radliff House at 48 Hudson Avenue. Housing type quickly changes as one travels westward, beginning with two-family homes of the late 19th century, and one- family homes built after World War II in the western end of the city. Albany's housing varies greatly, with mostly row houses in the older sections of town, closer to the river. The city is home to one of the oldest tennis clubs in the United States, the Albany Tennis Club. The New York State Capitol was opened in 1899 (after 32 years of construction) at a cost of $25 million, making it the most expensive government building at the time. The Albany Riverfront Park at the Corning Preserve has an 800-seat amphitheatre that hosts events in non-winter months, most notably the Alive at 5 summer concert series. The Erastus Corning Tower, the tallest building in New York outside of New York City, is the city's most recognizable landmark. The Wriman State Office Building on the uptown campus of Albany University was built in the 1950s and 1960s and was the state office campus of the university until the 1970s, when it was replaced by the Averell Harriman Building.

Demographics

Until after the Revolution, Albany's population consisted mostly of ethnic Dutch descendants. Settlers migrating from New England tipped the balance toward British ethnicity in the early 19th century. Irish immigrants soon outnumbered most other ethnicities by the mid-19th century, and were followed by Italians and Poles. African-Americans made up three percent of the city's population in 1950, six percent in 1960, 12 percent in 1970, and 30 percent in 2010. Since 2007, the number of Burmese refugees to Albany has increased. An estimated 5,000 BurMese refugees reside in Albany as of January 2015. With a 2013 Census-estimated population of 1.1 million, the Capital District is the third-most populous metropolitan region in the state. As of April 1, 2020, Albany’s population is 99,224.As of 2010, 20.2% of Albany's Population was under the age of 18, 19.3% was aged 18 to 24, and 13.1% was 45 to 64. For every 100 females, there were 86.5 males over age 18, and there were 90.6 males for every 100 Females age 18-64. In the 2000 census, the top five ancestry groups in the city were English (4%), German (10%), Italian (1%), and English (5). The top five ancestries in Albany are Dutch, German, English, Italian, and English. The city is home to the U.S. National Museum of Natural History, which is open to the public.

Culture

In recent years, the city's government has invested resources to cultivate venues and neighborhoods that attract after-hours business. Many restaurants, clubs, and bars have opened since the mid-1990s, revitalizing areas that had once been abandoned. The city has a "cultural identity crisis" due to its widespread geography, which requires a car to reach most of what the area has to offer, a necessity not seen in larger and more densely populated metropolitan areas such as New York and Boston. This traditional Albany event marks the beginning of spring as thousands of tulips bloom in the park in early May; attendance to the Tulip Festival in 2010 was approximately 80,000. Another large festival in Albany is the Capital Pride Parade and Festival, a major gay pride event held each June, attended by an estimated 30,000 spectators annually from across Upstate New York. The TU Center is the city’s largest musical venue for nationally and internationally prominent bands, and also hosts trade shows, sporting events, and other large gatherings. Last call in New York City is 4:00 a.m. nightly; New York law sets that time as last call statewide; although counties may set an earlier time, municipalities may not; all three counties have an earlier closing time; Albany County, like all counties in the Capital District, does not have a "crisis" in the middle of the night. The most active entertainment areas in the city are the most active nightclubs, bars, and clubs.

Education

Albany has a prominent history in higher education and was ranked third in a Forbes survey called "The Best Places with the Best Education" in 2005. The City School District of Albany (CSDA) operates the city's public school system, which consists of 17 schools and learning centers. Albany High was listed as the nation's 976th best high school in a 2010 Newsweek/Washington Post report. SUNY Albany is a unit of the State University of New York and one of only four university centers in the system. Other colleges and universities in Albany include Empire State College, The College of Saint Rose, Excelsior College, Maria College, Mildred Elley, and Sage College of Albany. Nearby Hudson Valley Community College fills the community college niche in the Albany-Troy area. Combining the student bodies of all the aforementioned campuses (except HVCC) results in 63,149 students, or almost 70 percent of the 2008 estimate of Albany's permanent population. In the 2015-2016 school year, over 9,000 students were enrolled in the publicSchool system. The district had an average class size of 18, an 81-percent graduation rate, and a 5-percent dropout rate. The school district's 201011 budget is $202.8 million. It is considered by the state to be one of the lowest-achieving high schools in New York, but it was ranked 976 out of 976 schools in 2010. The city is home to a number of private schools, including the coed Bishop Maginn High School.

Economy

More than 25 percent of the city's population works in government-related positions. Albany has the fourth highest amount of lawyers in its employment pool (7.5 lawyers per 1,000 jobs) Since the 2000s, the economy of Albany and the surrounding Capital District has been redirected toward a high technology focus. Tech Valley is a marketing name for the eastern part of New York State, encompassing Albany, the Capital District, and the Hudson Valley. The area's high technology ecosystem is supported by technologically focused academic institutions including Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the State University ofNew York PolytechnIC Institute. With heavy state taxpayer subsidy, Tech Valley has experienced significant growth in the computer hardware side of the high-technology industry. It has great strides in the nanotechnology sector, digital electronics design, and water- and electricity-dependent integrated microchip circuit manufacturing. The city's economy is heavily dependent on government, health care, education, and more recently, technology. Because of these typically steady economic bases, the local economy has been relatively immune to national economic recessions in the past. More than 162,000 people live in the city of Albany, which has a population of more than 1.2 million people at any one time. It is the largest city in New York state, followed by New York City, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. Albany is home to the U.S. Air Force Academy and the University of Albany. It also has one of the highest concentration of doctors in the nation, with more than 2,000 doctors working in Albany.

Government

Albany has a mayor-council form of government, which functions under the Dongan Charter, granted by colonial governor Thomas Dongan in 1686 when Albany was incorporated as a city. The mayor, who is elected every four years, heads the executive branch of city government. The current mayor, Kathy Sheehan, was first elected in 2013. As the seat of Albany County, the city is the location of the county's courts including Family Court, County Court, Surrogate Court, Supreme Court, and New York Court of Appeals. Albany is the site of a federal courthouse that houses the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York. As of 2022, every elected city position had been held by a Democrat since 1931. In the early 21st century, Albany continued to be dominated by the Democratic Party. Democratic Party enrollment in the city was 38,862 in 2009, while Republican enrollment was 3,487. The city is in the 20th Congressional district, represented by Paul Tonko (D) in the U.S. House of Representatives. It is also in the 44th district in the New York Senate, representedby Neil Breslin (D), and the 108th district is represented by John T. McDonald III (D). In November 2013, she became the first woman to be elected Mayor of Albany. She replaced former mayor Gerald Jennings who was mayor for 20 years from 1994 to 2013. It has been the capital of New New York since 1797 and is home to all branches of the state and county governments.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Albany, Albany County, New York = 34.6. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 71. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 80. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Albany = 3.5 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 99,224 individuals with a median age of 33.6 age the population grows by 0.57% in Albany, Albany County, New York population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 4,635.77 residents per square mile of area (1,789.90/km²). There are average 2.07 people per household in the 40,920 households with an average household income of $35,424 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 8.40% of the available work force and has dropped -3.76% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 24.08%. The number of physicians in Albany per 100,000 population = 387.1.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Albany = 35.6 inches and the annual snowfall = 40.2 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 126. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 182. 83 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 17 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 51, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Albany, Albany County, New York which are owned by the occupant = 34.47%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 65 years with median home cost = $123,650 and home appreciation of -4.85%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $20.98 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $10,395 per student. There are 12.8 students for each teacher in the school, 534 students for each Librarian and 583 students for each Counselor. 8.25% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 17.45% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 15.55% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).