Architecture, Engineering and Development
State-funded, low-interest loans are making rental housing affordable in the Albany area, the Albany Business Journal is reporting. The Small Building Participation Loan Program has provided $2 million at 0.5% interest to a developer who is turning nine row houses into 40 apartments. Patrick Chiou and Albany Clinton Redevelopment LLC also received financing from Community Preservation Corp., and they will work toward other tax breaks. Chiou says the renovation only makes sense with the SBPL program. The rents will be affordable at 80% of Area Median Income, the story says.
Government, Law and Legal Services
Residential taxes are going down in Fort Edward, the Post-Star is reporting this morning. According to the story, $3.4 million is back on the books from the Irving Tissue company, a property that had a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with the town.
Also in the Post-Star, Washington County is dealing with $11 million in expected federal stimulus funds by establishing an eight-person task force. The task force will look at a variety of possible uses, such as expanding broadband internet access, helping small businesses and helping residents with home improvements. Counties will get half the money directly and the other half after certifying how they spent the first half, the story says.
Leaders from the state’s Sexual Harassment Working Group have called for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s resignation while admitting that he signed some of the toughest anti-harassment legislation into law. However, they are also saying the governor’s behavior, especially his denial that asking probing questions and standing too close is not harassment but a misunderstanding, the Times-Union is reporting.