With a decidedly different atmosphere in Albany, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo will roll out his legislative plans for 2012 on Wednesday at the State of the State address at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center. The question that will be posed up until this is what, exactly, does the governor have in store to be accomplished?

New Yorkers had become accustomed to be a largely ineffective state government with constant gridlock and the “three men in a room” philosophy – which in effect brought about several years of late budgets to the Empire State. With Cuomo, the number one thing the governor has done to New York state government has been turning the tide of building back the trust of a state that forgot that things could be accomplished in Albany.

A property tax cap, renegotiated labor contracts, “rightsizing” state government, marriage equality, creating a “tuition plan” for SUNY, and regions competing for economic development grants were all part of Year One.

Year Two is going to start off with figuring out how to close the state’s ever-growing budget gap, estimated to be between $3.1 and $3.5 billion. This comes off of a new income tax plan that took effective on January 1 that the governor’s office has been touting as the “lowest tax rate in 58 years for middle class New Yorkers.” With the elimination of the alternative minimum tax (AMT) to businesses in 2010, the state will find itself with less and less ways to close the gap without having to resort to cutting down services – something that a cut-weary legislature may not find itself as willing to do this year.

A major snag in the process will be the fight over redistricting and when exactly primaries for state and federal offices will be held (Assembly Democrats want May; Senate Republicans want August). Top that with LATFOR and it’s not exactly a clear path on what the legislature will ultimately decide, which will heavily play into what Cuomo sets to do.

Reducing unemployment will remain in the governor’s vision for the duration of his term. It remains to be seen whether another blockbuster deal – such as the $4.4 billion nanotechnology package announced in September – can see a sequel in 2012. A series of smaller moves will probably be the norm in 2012 such as attracting companies using hybrid state-county tax incentives across Upstate New York.

Most everything Andrew Cuomo set for himself at his first State of the State – he got done (for the most part). On Wednesday, we’ll start this year’s score card.

Christmas has now passed and we’re on that annual stretch before calling in Baby New Year to ring in 2012. With that being said, there’s still time for a great time with friends before getting drunk on champagne and finding yourself in a cab with twelve others.

One of the more uniquely put-together and always stunning establishments in Albany is the Midtown Tap and Tea Room (289 New Scotland Avenue, Albany), right in the mid New Scotland Avenue commercial corridor between Albany Medical Center and St. Peter’s Hospital. Instead of simply being a “tap room,” this establishment prides itself for being a “coffee house” by day and a place to grab appetizers and smaller portioned plates in the evening.

Midtown Tap and Tea has the typical array of drinks on tap – including my beloved Sam Adams – in addition to a strong slate of various wines, which makes for all the more festive of an occasion. Be it you’re out to dinner with that special someone, reminiscing of years gone by with old friends, or having that post-work drink, Midtown Tap and Tea is your place.

The best part of Midtown Tap and Tea are both of the patio sections – in the front and back – in warm weather months. The front has an approximate capacity of probably ten to twelve, with the back patio overlooking Ontario Street with the back-of-restaurant bar accessible. My sole criticism of Midtown comes down to the second bar, which seems way too big for the reception room setup.

I’ve been to a number of fundraisers and events in the backroom, and although having a large bar works in many cases – this bar creates a rubberneck situation. I find myself having to squeeze between elected officials and donors uncomfortably if I want to get from one side to the other, but it’s a here-and-there situation.

Overall, a very California-style exudes from this New Scotland Avenue watering hole. If you don’t mind driving up New Scotland Avenue and away from the core of bars on Pearl and Lark, make the visit to Midtown Tap and Tea. It’s worth it.

Midtown Tap and Tea Room
Rating: Four out of Five Pints
289 New Scotland Avenue, Albany (phone: 518-435-0202) 435-0202
Facebook: Midtown Tap and Tea Room

For the amount of demonization that the GOP gets for siding with big business for economic policy, one provision as part of the large spending bill passed this past weekend has many small business owners sighing in relief – a huge sigh of relief, in fact.

In order to compromise with Senate Democrats with their requests, the House Republicans pushed forward with a plan to delay mandating energy-efficient bulbs (the squiggly-shaped bulbs) to be installed in commercial storefronts and businesses. For energy savings advocates, yes – this was a loss but in terms of the economic savings of handling tax credits and regulation, this was actually a win for small business.

I spoke with a couple of of small business owners – both progressive and largely in support of energy conservation. However, the cost of converting from incandescent bulbs to energy-efficient LEDs (in order to dim lights – typical energy-efficient bulbs don’t) would be too great of a burden at this stage in their business (for one business owner, the cost was approximately $9,400 upfront). It’s unreasonable to ask a small business – in which you constantly hear of the “50 percent of small businesses fail in their first year” – to put more money into long-term savings if the foundation of the business is not yet solid. If a rebate program was implemented, maybe – but that doesn’t help budgetary controls on the government side.

Sometimes, you gotta be patient – the newer bulbs will be the standard by the end of the decade and it’s adoption will happen naturally. And once it reaches a peak point, then passing a provision to mandate these bulbs makes sense in order to get everyone on the same page. But until that point, let’s wait.

The technology behind these bulbs is moving along, but it needs to reach the price point for business to make fiscal sense. Flat screen TVs, laptops, and hybrids all went through the same situation – at first, too much of a burden for business or consumer customers before reaching a point where it was more viable to purchase the more energy-efficient option. Bulbs just haven’t reached that price-point yet, but they will, rest assured.

Although the public stance could be seen as the House Republicans once again putting business interests before the environment, this one actually saved much needed capital for small businesses who would like to make the move to energy-efficient bulbs (because of the obvious long-term savings), but technology needs to catch up in price to benefit these enterprises.

A huge, if not paramount, concern of higher education activism groups Save Our SUNY and New York Students Rising is the amount of tuition being assessed to CUNY and SUNY students is (a) not reasonable to pay, (b) not supporting the programs they want, and (c) can be modified on a moment’s whim.

Their large-scale argument is valid – what you pay isn’t what you see, explicitly. However, the argument of capping the principal rate of tuition cannot happen for any other reason except for the tenets basic economics: what’s worth $1 in year 1 will not be worth the same in year 5 due to inflation. Therefore, I am now publicly advocating for something I’ve spoken about in private circles: tuition efficiency.

Tuition efficiency would present a detailed, itemized view of how tuition for public education is being spent at SUNY and CUNY schools, which would include costs associated with academic and staff salaries, program operating costs, capital expenditures, entitlement and legacy service costs, and various operating expenses needed to run a public higher education institution. Each dollar would be explicitly stated for a purpose – be it to repair a bathroom, provide proper funding for a Russian and Eastern European Studies program, or whatever. On the accounting and internal control side, you would still have the separation of capital and operating funds – this would still be disclosed.

This money furthermore would not be subject to “collection” by the State of New York into the general fund, but each dollar would need to be spent for CUNY and SUNY – no where else. Not for building a telecom system at the Harriman campus, or subsidizing high speed rail, but just for direct public education.

Tuition, in this case, would need to go up annually on an inflationary and program-specific basis. Not a blind $100, $500, or $1,000 increase, but an itemized increase (or decrease for that matter, given an institution’s savings) of where the new funding would go. Additionally, tuition efficiency would also need to require the legislature to allow individual campuses to set their own tuition given that each campus adopts the plan to itemize each expense publicly. A key to winning over support is the needed disclosure of what’s being spent where – once that’s done, further trust can begin to be established between the institution and students. Without that, students undoubtedly will feel helpless in determining the course of their institution for the present and the future.

The obvious obstacle here is how to justify in a budget setting how both SUNY/CUNY and the state would address such a change. For the state, the loss of tuition “collection” would present a larger gap than what the legislature and the governor will face next year. For SUNY/CUNY schools, developing a plan of action given the additional income would be the challenge, especially for schools that may be going through transitions of leadership on the staff level, but at the student level as well.

Challenges also arise in the way public higher education is being treated – the education activism groups (SOS, NYSR, etc.) need to step their game up, as well as each institution’s administration, in finding an equitable solution. NYSR provides a great, direct outlet for students who want to participate not only in the public policy element of education, but truly caring about the direction of their campus. Their lack of direct power lies with what could be seeing as their “competing organization,” the SUNY Student Assembly, who has a seat on the board of trustees.

And these changes would need to be discussed with significant input from all parties – from the board of trustees, academia, from non-teaching staff, students, and regional partners in business and government. For instance, if a college’s School of Political Science wants to build a new building, they would allocate ‘x’ amount of dollars for a number of years to be part of their school’s tuition allocation in order to finance construction (if they didn’t want to use Dormitory Authority or institutional advancement funding).

Of course, this is only a start of where the discussion needs to go. Inflation is here to stay and with that, tuition needs to be modified, but in the way that all sides can participate in a more interactive fashion.

It was June 24, 2011. I was outside the State Assembly chamber with a number of staffers and onlookers, watching a TV adorned with a video feed from the State Senate where Sen. Mark Grisanti was giving his reasoning on why he was voting in the affirmative for the state’s marriage equality bill.

Once the bill passed 33-29, a defiant Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo passed the onslaught of reporters outside the Senate doors to congratulate Sen. Thomas Duane and other Senate Democrats on passing the bill. In a post-vote press conference, Cuomo stated, “The other states look to New York for the progressive direction… What we said today is, you look to New York once again. New York made a powerful statement, not just for the people of New York, but for people all across this nation.”

Cuomo – unlike his counterpart on the other side of the Hudson, N.J. Gov. Chris Christie – was on the “side of history,” as many commentators would note. This would be the high point of what was seen as six months of extremely effective governing from the eldest son of Mario Cuomo. The younger Cuomo, unlike his father, would not embrace the same liberal mantra Mario had so effusively and proudly promoted.

That day – June 24, 2011 – would mark the midpoint of an effective first six months in office followed by a bruise-filled second six months.

In Andrew Cuomo’s fifty four years, the Queens native has gone through a number of transformations and humblings. As his father’s primary aide and enforcer through the 1970s and 1980s, Cuomo displayed tenacity and grit equal to someone 20 years older. He would later earn his own chops first as Assistant Secretary of HUD during the Clinton administration before becoming Secretary for Clinton’s second term. As HUD Secretary, Cuomo, in his own words, had fixed HUD. Current HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan lauded Cuomo to the New York Times, saying, “It’s pretty clear Cuomo helped save the agency.”

After a bruising primary battle against then-Comptroller and now-SUNY Board chair H. Carl McCall in 2002, Cuomo went into the shadows and reconnected with a number of key supporters before humbly succeeding Eliot Spitzer as Attorney General. Unlike Spitzer and uncharacteristically, Cuomo did not display the same pugnacious nature of years prior but a silently intense advocate for consumers. When Cuomo finally announced his run for Governor, it was the accumulation of ten years of returning to his home state and becoming his own name statewise.

However, for all the joy that supporters across the spectrum had for the effective nature of the first half of the first term of the fifty-sixth governor of the Empire State, that same excitement has worn thin in the past six months in which should line up to be a more intense budget season in early 2012. Besides the ESDC Bill Clinton event in October, Cuomo’s second half has been a mess of tangling with unions and arresting protesters.

Most recently, Cuomo’s op-ed concerning changing the state’s tax structure earned him criticism of Capitol bureau reporters and editors, who critiqued the use of “op-ed” for his statement regarding how fix long-term New York State’s current taxation structure.

Cuomo’s use of state police at the Occupy Albany site, although in the great scheme of things is insignificant, but telling of an individual who proudly supports expanding the rights of the LGBT community but cannot fathom having a “Cuomoville” across from the state capitol.

Cuomo’s challenge in Year Two no doubt will look similar to what he encountered in Year One, but like the age-tested phrase, “game has changed but the people remain the same.” With an estimated $3.5 billion deficit to encounter and a Republican-led Senate that’s looking for a reason to remain in power, the environment of navigation for Cuomo will not be nearly as effective.

The honeymoon of Andrew Cuomo is over, and with that, Albany will go back to being a tug-o-war of wants, needs, and desires from across the state.

Over Thanksgiving week, my two roommates and I did what most 25 year old guys of distinction do in the early evening: play ‘Monopoly’ on our Sega Genesis.

Yes – Sega Genesis (we collectively agree console games stopped being fun when they went to the interwebs, but that’s another story). Anyway, most of the negative stigma with ‘Monopoly’ is the length in which the game can go (hours, days, etc.) and the dirtiness of tactics of players (i.e. monopoly-related violence). However, what I noticed what the increasingly similarity to our economy’s composition to the Parker Brothers game.

So as many of you know, the goal of ‘Monopoly’ is to effectively gain a set of property (the ‘monopoly’), in which you could buy houses or hotels on each space, increasing the rent of each of these space. Some properties – your Baltic and Mediterranean avenues – are the equivalent of your slums whereas Park Place and Boardwalk resemble high-end coastal properties, each with respective rent rates (Baltic with a hotel is $250 of rent compared Boardwalk hotel’s $2,000 – of course, these all are 1935-based prices).

In the game, a player could land in jail (or collect a “Get Out of Jail Free” card), pay income taxes and utilities, and collect income through passing “Go.” Additionally, players can make deals with each other, such as forgoing rent and making alliances. All things that have a real-life equivalent.

With Occupy Wall Street and an increased awareness of income inequality, the game of ‘Monopoly’ is no longer played with dice on a board, a thimble, and a race car, but now with the increased value and consolidated power of financial corporations, utility companies, and political organizations, it’s the American public that’s being taken on a dice roll of a nation of broad-based wealth to a small number of individuals who would wield influence that could not be swayed.

Ten years ago, the names of Fleet, Washington Mutual, Bear Stearns, and Lehman Brothers were among the dozens of national financial companies that led Wall Street. Those names – through mergers, collapses, and assumptions – in addition to many others are now consolidated into four behemoths: JPMorganChase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Citigroup. The same goes for telecom, which is now held by AT&T (Ma Bell returned, folks), T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint; and media with Time Warner, News Corporation, and Disney.

Pretty much, these companies hit a series of good streak of ‘doubles’ without going to jail (i.e. previously passed regulatory legislation that’s been largely dismantled). And by creating a ‘perfect storm’ of a loophole-ridden tax code, flexing strength through lobbying for less regulation, and creating unannounced alliances, the ‘rent’ that the American public will continue to rise as long as these companies can build their ‘hotels’ and ‘houses’ on the backs of the American taxpayer.

And when you think the American public caught a break – guess what? Go directly to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Jail in this sense is the inability for one to rise to the upper class, let alone the inability to get a job or achieve the American dream.

So as we were wrapping up one of more recent games, my one roommate – who had gone to jail numerous times (in the game), attempted to make ill-conceived deals – was finally able to build a hotel and had a gleam in his eye. I, who had controlled three monopolies on the board, didn’t think it was wise to build. No later than one turn after that, his hotel, along with all of his cash, were mine as he landed my hotel-filled Illinois Avenue. I didn’t need his money or his properties, but it shows how fast one can believe that they can make it before the “powers that be” come back to collect that ‘rent.’

The reverence of the Happy Valley and the paternalism of Joe Paterno (no pun intended) has come undone in the past few weeks from Penn State’s child abuse scandal involving former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. The larger question that Penn State, its staff, and fans must address is reforming the culture in which this entire scandal was prime to exploit.

In March of 2002, Mike McQueary was a graduate assistant for Penn State’s football program, his alma mater where he had only a few years prior been the team’s record-setting quarterback. After making his own attempts to get into the NFL (specifically with the Oakland Raiders), McQueary went back “home” – to the Happy Valley of State College, Pa. It was on the first day of this month at 9:30 p.m., where McQueary witnessed such a horrific event that no matter how he addressed it would change his life forever.

According to McQueary’s grand jury testimony, the now-assistant coach saw Jerry Sandusky, his former coach during his playing days, performing anal intercourse to a young boy (approximately ten years of age). Critics – including Pa. Gov. Tom Corbett who had been the state’s attorney general – say that McQueary didn’t do enough to stop the alleged abuse. McQueary himself is now backtracking on his own story – saying he informed police, yet the police say that McQueary never reported anything to them. Additionally, the judge in Sandusky’s case, District Judge Leslie Dutchcot, has been taken off the case due to her connection to Sandusky’s charity, Second Mile, in which not only did she volunteer but they threw her a fundraiser in 2007 when she ran for re-election.

Besides genocide, I’d rank child sex abuse as the most heinous of crimes to be committed. According to lore, even hardened criminals who’ve murdered and pillaged look down on those in the “big house” for sexually abusing a child. McQueary’s position – having seen the incident occur in the shower room in the football building at Penn State – put the child and him into a particular difficult position. First, the protection of the child must come first and it’s difficult (according to McQueary’s statements) to say how he exactly “stopped” the abuse from continuing. Secondly, each action that Sandusky needed to take required fast-paced thinking amid seeing the unthinkable.

The quandry that McQueary faced in reporting the incident – first to his father, before speaking with Paterno and other university officials – is a situation that many communities that have a deep reverence to a institution – a community that “takes care” of situations and develops a culture that it makes it a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” predicament. To a degree, it’s the same as what happened in Los Angeles with Rodney King, New York with Abner Louima (“It’s Giuliani Time!”) and Amadou Diallo – building a culture that feels so empowered, that they can do no wrong even though what they are doing cannot be described with simple words.

Let’s say McQueary was more proactive in stopping the abuse, grabbed the boy, and reported Sandusky. How sure could McQueary be asserted that (1) his own career wouldn’t be in jeopardy for “whistleblowing” the situation, even though Pennsylvania has a fairly robust whistle blower law and (2) can he face the pressure of testifying against someone who supported his playing career? And let’s say that McQueary wasn’t active at all and someone found out that he had seen the incident and failed to report? An even worse situation that could have allowed for more abuse to occur.

McQueary is seen as someone who can’t get their story right, but you can’t entirely blame him. Consider that both the 2002 incident and the 2000 incident in which janitorial staff member James Calhoun saw another shower incident – both Calhoun and McQueary reported them to their superiors, in which they failed to ask. Why? Because the culture at Penn State had evolved into taking their of their own (Sandusky) before thinking of the emotional and physical ramifications of the abused child. The riots that occurred after Joe Paterno’s firing, with Penn State students clamoring for the return of Paterno, showed what’s wrong with a collegiate culture that places such reverence upon a particular program.

Besides Penn State, other victims from Second Mile had attempted to report Sandusky, but were assured by school officials that he was an upstanding individual and wouldn’t ever – in their wildest dreams – perform such acts.

In order for Penn State and it’s fans to recover from the onslaught of publicity damage to its institution, Penn State needs to abandon and reform the culture in which it had developed so meticulously of creating a “church” of the Nittany Lions football program, a “church” that saw it’s temple (Beaver Stadium) grow from just over a capacity of 50,000 when built in 1960 to over 100,000 today due to expansions, a “church” that never thought twice to question from within.

Only when they realize that football is only a game, only then will the Happy Valley name be restored ethically.

As with anything that’s seeing success, we’re looking to expand.

In consultation with Rich Fazio, our company’s chief operating officer, and Jaqi Cohen, our senior vice president for news and digital content (as well as managing editor for the Ledger), BASKnickerbocker Inc. is proud to announce that MetroLedger.com will launch by New Year’s Eve this year.

The exact date for a soft launch has yet to be determined, but we’re looking at an official launch on 12/31/2011.

Why MetroLedger.com? Why not, I say. We’re going to syndicate some of our columns of course, but most of the material will be New York City/tri-state area-specific. So, if you’re reading MetroLedger.com, you’re not going to see news about Albany Mayor Gerald D. Jennings… unless he’s with Mayor Bloomberg, then maybe.

MetroLedger.com will be online only – the fact is, where in Albany we can get away with a print edition (which, by the way, is expanding in size – I’ll get to that later), in New York, it’s not financially feasible to do so. We want to be your source for music, politics, entertainment, and more.

Another difference between the Knickerbocker Ledger and MetroLedger.com is we’re looking to make it more interactive – more video, more audio exclusives, and back-and-forth between you (our readers) and our staff writers.

On Thanksgiving, you’ll be able to ‘like’ and ‘follow’ Metro Ledger on Facebook and Twitter, respectively. Until now, follow my Twitter handle (@joe_bonilla) for updates.

Thanks for the continued support and we look forward to continuing what we started —

Joe

We all love a big plan – a plan that affects every man, woman, and child. A plan for our time, a project that will shape the very essence of the way we think.

That’s what Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, big business, and state leaders believe in investing in major projects such as the Albany Nanotech complex’s expansion and although I do believe that these large endeavors are necessary pilot-lights to creating comprehensive growth, the trickle down of creating auxiliary enterprises (i.e. small business) needs the same amount of support.

For years, New York has been considered an “unfriendly” state for business as in “unfriendly” to large businesses who want to reap already prime benefits for being located in the Empire State. “Unfriendly” in that we’ve had three successive Attorney Generals who have been proactive in enforcing regulatory action for consumers.

However, who New York is most “unfriendly” to is small business. It doesn’t make a difference is a business is a home-based, brick-and-mortar, or another variety – the state has made an obstacle course of regulations, fees, taxes, and bureaucracy for the very businesses that provide neighborhood vitality in many communities across the state.

And these are the same businesses that provide organic job growth – not the large swathes of employment promises that have been made. These are businesses that not only provide sales tax revenue, but create between 3 to 15 jobs each and depending on how successful, increases the property values and vibrancy of where they reside.

Here’s how New York can stop “hating” on small business:

Reduce the principle tax rates and fees for first and second year businesses and provide direct incentives for non-traditional business owners to accelerate growth.

Want to know real quick how businesses fail in their first year? Most of the time, it’s because they had an ineffective operation but some of the time, it’s because of the unreasonable burden that the state places on businesses during their infancy. You wouldn’t give a six month old baby a bill for rent – the same applies here. The state and the municipalities in which these businesses conduct operations need to allow time for a business to get on it’s feet before hitting them up for money. Allow the business to gain a following, increase revenue, and voila – the state and counties should see increased revenue. It’s almost like the state has a problem with instant gratification – if you wait, biggest benefits will be reaped.

For example, a generic small business in the state is almost guaranteed to pay more in franchise business taxes than Fortune 500 companies – why? Because these larger enterprises see massive tax credits which eliminate any sort of liability, these same tax credits that don’t apply to businesses under a certain amount of revenue. Let’s balance that out.

Additionally, we need to see more incentives by the state to get non-traditional (i.e. minority, young, and women-owned) business owners in order to fast-pace growth. A business that’s going through rapid expansion can immediately fall into despair if it’s not nurtured the right way. Some business owners have the tools, others don’t, in terms of knowing how to finagle through bureaucracy. Incentives don’t have to be financial – they can be of the mentor variety.

Provide infrastructure support for businesses in brink neighborhoods and be responsive to requests by small business, since they are your “eyes and ears.”

If you can’t get to a business, how can they get customers and in turn, pay applicable taxes. Municipalities need to invest in their commercial corridors that aren’t “downtown” – the corridors where you would see the neighborhood coffee shop, a restaurant, movie theater, small grocer, etc. These are areas that need the structural support the most – if their streets are full of potholes, if it’s ill-lit, or crime-ridden – why would someone go out of their way to head to that business when they can find a suitable substitute in an area that has seen proper investment? Let’s even the score and actually beautify these areas. This also includes provides realistically-drawn and executed transit routes – not following what’s been tried and true 100 years ago, but seeing where growth has occurred and being able to get people who wish not to use automobiles there.

Municipalities also need to be responsive to requests by small businesses. If there’s a lingering loiter on the street up to no good, assign a beat officer to the area – it’s not rocket science, yet these are steps that haven’t been followed in a number of communities. Listen to small business, and you’re going to find that your neighborhoods will improve because of it.

Make it possible to fight City Hall, or at least get a cup of coffee.

For a brick-and-mortar business, one of the longest periods of time in the development of a business is approval by a city or county for zoning regulations or for permits. Let’s make this process more streamlined, yet retain the same regulatory focus in order to retain safety and consistency. For example, it used to take six months or more to get a liquor license from the State Liquor Authority – in the past two years, SLA has streamlined their operations in order to reduce this time to less than three months, yet kept the same prejudicial stance in terms of ensuring that the proposed bar/restaurant was complaint. City Hall can do the same – let’s make zoning variances and permit processing move into the 21st century, yet keeping with the regulatory scrutiny of the 20th century.

Finally, patronize.

Not patronize as in listening to someone to make them feel good, but patronize these establishments and promote them in order to keep them there. Nothing is worse in a neighborhood than an abandoned building not because they had a bad concept, but no one knew they existed. Yes – this is part of what a business is suppose to do, but support from a city – either hosting events there or just promoting it as part of a tourism push – not only helps the business’s bottom line, but develops a rapport between government and small business.

Of course, these are just a few solutions and it doesn’t stop there. Albany has a number of these corridors and businesses that need such support – whether it’s Quail Street or the South End, they may be demographically different, but the same problems apply in terms of a need for investment from the city.

So, all in all, help a small business and you’re helping your community.

So many bars and clubs in the Capital Region make an attempt to be “New York City” – and most, if not all, fail to do so at all. It’s not just to have the look, the people, the drinks, or whatever – there’s just that “special” something that makes you know you’re in the city. Some of these start ups have had spectacular fails (see: Vapor in Saratoga Springs – clubgoers don’t wear overalls… unless the hipsters adopted that too).

This past December, infamous nightclub Plastic finally shut it’s doors down after countless shootings and other seedy aspects. Along with the Assembly and Skyline, with Plastic closed, it marked further abandonment of the corner of Sheridan and North Pearl.

Enter baron restaurateur John De John, who built/acquired an empire of restaurants/bars on the southern end of Lark Street (De John’s, Justin’s, and Legends on Lark) and Pearl Street (joint venture of Pearl Street Pub). Legends on Lark is a three floor sports lounge – a bit tight, but an enjoyable locale.

In the prior Plastic space, De John expanded upon the Legends brand and opened Legends on Pearl (84 North Pearl Street, Albany).

No doubt this is a sports lounge, but with three bars (including its color-changing main bar), two floors (second floor complete with DJ booth), and relative open space – it’s definitely prime for people packing. When I worked in New York and did marketing for theatrical shows, we would go to bars around West 4th (near NYU) – in particularly one place called “Off the Wagon” which I just loved. There hasn’t been a single bar upstate that reminded me more of that place until now.

The prices are in line with the rest of North Pearl – higher single digits for well drinks and Bud Light on tap. What to expect that different than the rest of North Pearl is the level of service that the rest of the DeJohn’s establishments has attained – well trained, fun, and engaging.

As you know, I love a bar with a patio… but since this is primarily indoors, their overlook over the bar on the second floor is pretty cool and is satisfactory to my tastes.

All in all, a great reconfiguration of space, a reputation for excellence, and the true New York atmosphere – Legends on Pearl does the job.

Legends on Pearl Sports Lounge
Rating: Four 1/4 out of Five Vodka Tonics
82 North Pearl Street, Albany (phone: 518-694-4352)
Facebook: Legends on Pearl – Sports Lounge