What's your vision?

What do you want your neighborhood to be in the next 10 years? What Could it Be Like? What Should it Be Like?

The Helderberg Neighborhood Association will sponsor one of its “special” additional neighborhood meetings on Wednesday, Oct. 15, to do some brainstorming about what we residents and business owners would like to see our neighborhood be like in the coming years — a visioning meeting. The meeting will be participatory in nature, so please bring your thoughts and ideas with you. It will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Sage College of Albany, Campus Center at Academy Road, where our regular HNA meetings are held.

The idea for holding a special, participatory discussion on what we would like to see for our neighborhood, and ultimately, for the greater city, is in part, a response to and preparation for the beginning of the City of Albany’s city-wide comprehensive plan and planning process that is underway in its initial stages. Further, October is National Planning Month per the American Planning Association, and our neighborhood is a great, walkable, livable neighborhood that is a model for other neighborhoods and outside communities — if we can sustain all of its great qualities. Here are some suggested topics for the October meeting, for a robust discussion on these and other issues that participants are encouraged bring to the table:

• Is our great neighborhood prepared for the changes going on in the city? We are fortunate to be receiving significant public investments in public buildings in our neighborhood: the renovation of School 19 is nearly complete, with a January 2009 anticipated opening; and the John S. Bach Library construction next to the fire house on New Scotland Avenue is slated to be open in 2010. And likewise, some amazing private investments are occurring as we speak: the $500 million expansion of St. Peter’s Hospital at one end of our neighborhood, and the same large scale investment is underway at Albany Medical Center and the Park South neighborhood to the other end.
  
• Are we ready to embrace potential changes at the St. Teresa of Avila Church and School campus, located in the heart of our neighborhood?
  
• Will our small, locally owned and operated businesses be able to adjust and thrive amidst all the changes happening around our neighborhood?
  
• How can we support the growing numbers of our neighbors who are earning a living working out of their home?
  
• How can we support the folks near or into retirement being able to continue to live their lives in our great neighborhood?
  
• Is there enough green space for our children in the neighborhood and the city?
  
• How can we secure enhancements to our neighborhood and the greater city for pedestrian and bicyclists to safely travel? How can we support mass transit in Albany?
  
• Can we reduce/manage the commuter traffic, by encouraging more employees to live in our neighborhood and city?
  
• Ultimately, how can we work with and improve our relationships with the City of Albany and other partners and neighborhoods to keep our great neighborhood going, and to support the strengthening of not only our neighborhood, but the whole city?

As our neighborhood has never been the subject of any comprehensive study or analysis, it seems like a great opportunity to meet and share ideas about why we moved to this neighborhood (and/or decided to stay in this neighborhood), what we like and love about our neighborhood, and what are the issues and concerns we have today and looking to the future. This meeting could be a great discussion for us to start to really focus as a group on what our shared goals are — and maybe we’ll find constructive, doable ways to keep improving this great neighborhood — by working together.

If you would like to help us prepare or have suggestions for this visioning discussion, please contact Jennifer Viggiani at 489-3824 or jvigg2005@yahoo.com.

Originally published in the September-October edition of the HNA Reporter newsletter.