Spring Spree is coming on Saturday!

The fifth annual Spring Spree is on its way this Saturday from noon to 3 p.m. The Helderberg and Woodlawn-New Scotland neighborhood associations are hosting the annual event along New Scotland Avenue between Academy Road and South Manning Boulevard to celebrate local businesses in the New Scotland Avenue area and also to promote all that we enjoy about this part of the City of Albany.

New this year is the addition of free trolley rides between Quail and Allen streets!

As always, there will be live music, honored guests and children's sidewalk chalk art. There will also be kids crafts and art in front of New Scotland Elementary School, small-business coffee and networking underneath the red tent on Grove Avenue, a neighborhood history workshop, voter registration, pet adoption information and a SMART child ID station. The Albany Mounted Police and the Albany Public Library's bookmobile are also scheduled to make appearances. All are welcome to this free event . Come join us!


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Groundbreaking at the library

Civic officials broke ground Monday morning for the future John J. Back branch of the Albany Public Library on New Scotland Avenue next to the Engine 11 firehouse.

A healthy contingent of neighbors and local schoolchildren came out and showed their support, attending the event under clear blue skies. Library Board of Trustees President Dennis Gaffney served as Master of Ceremonies and delivered opening remarks. John Bach’s daughter, Ellen Bach, spoke of her father’s love for this neighborhood and for the public library. Mayor Jerry Jennings, Common Council President Shawn Morris and Council members Cathy Fahey, Jim Sano and Dominick Calsolaro were also on hand and were joined by Interim Library Director Timothy Burke and New York State Dormitory Authority Executive Director Paul T. Williams Jr.

More coverage at the Library’s Web site: Library Celebrates Groundbreaking at New Scotland Avenue Site

Originally posted at newscotlandneighborhoods.wordpress.com

 

Sunny April morning

Tulips outside Engine 11 firehouse, facing St. Teresa of Avila, photo by Jennifer

Originally posted at newscotlandneighborhoods.wordpress.com

 

Construction at St. Peter's

Construction continues at St. Peter’s Hospital at the corner and along New Scotland Avenue and Manning Boulevard. The addition of the power generators fronting New Scotland (pictured) appears to be long completed, save perhaps for some landscaping (hopefully).

Check out All Over Albany’s post last month about the giant crane that only recently (within the last week or so) left the site. AOA wrote “it’s one of the tallest cranes of its type in the world. As constructed at St. Peter’s, the crane is 300 feet tall.”

AOA also had some great photos of the giant red crane; one of them was captioned: “It’ll make your inner four-year-old smile.” I know of at least one 2½-year-old who smiled at it every day.

Originally posted at http://newscotlandneighborhoods.wordpress.com/

New sushi restaurant

Times Union restaurant critic and blogger Steve Barnes reported on the planned new sushi restaurant on New Scotland Avenue, expected to open in the space next to Graney's sports bar & grill in the commercial strip between Ontario Street and Grove Avenue.


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Albany National Little League

The Albany National League opened its 58th season under perfectly blue skies on Saturday morning, April 25, with its annual parade and ceremony at the William Sullivan Major League Field off Partridge Street.

The league was founded in 1951 by Joe Leone and is known as the city's original Little League.

The parade, led by a mounted police officer and completed with a pumper from Engine 11, followed its traditional route down Woodlawn Avenue onto Partridge, with an opening ceremony led by league and city officials.

Originally posted at newscotlandneighborhoods.wordpress.com
 

New Scotland Elementary

Not to be outdone in our six-month round-up (catch-up?), New Scotland Elementary — formerly known as Public School 19 — re-opened in early January after its renovation.

The school district's Open House for the new school on January 6 drew a packed house and rave reviews, particularly for its new media center, auditorium, separate gymnasium and music room.







Originally posted at newscotlandneighborhoods.wordpress.com

St. Teresa of Avila

In an effort to re-boot this blog, thought we would play catch-up with one of the biggest stories of the last six months in our neighborhood: the confirmed closing of St. Teresa of Avila church.

As the Times Union reported over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, St. Teresa will be one of 33 worship sites that will be closed all around the Albany Diocese, an issue that will greatly impact cities and their neighborhoods.

As TU writer Marc Parry reported:

“The closure of so many neighborhood landmarks isn't just a Catholic issue. Empty churches create ‘a hole in our community,’ said Lynn Kopka, a non-Catholic who heads the Troy's Washington Park Association.”

Obviously, the church means more than Sunday worship. Check out writer Scott Waldman's story and Skip Dickstein's photos in the Times Union story from February about the 35th — and final — basketball tournament at St. Teresa of Avila school on the corner of New Scotland and Hollywood avenues.

According to the story, the school is 81 years old, with the newer building built in 1957. As Waldman writes: “The tournament began at a time when many neighborhoods could still support their own Catholic schools. The student body at the squat brick building on New Scotland Avenue shrank as families moved to the suburbs.”