Governor Hochul: “I’ve invested, as governor, already over $4 billion dollars in transformational projects for this city and this region. Why, because this is my home. It’s the home of all New Yorkers as well. Because this is the capital of the greatest state in the nation, and we must wear that with pride every single day.”
Hochul: “You are the keepers of the flame to take us into the future. Harken the voices of the past, those bold adventurers who let nothing stand in their way. Be those people today, because I’m counting on you. I’m counting on everyone in this room. So we’re going to look back some day and say it all began on a beautiful August night in Albany back in 2025. That’s when this city was starting to realize its full potential once and for all. And I say, finally.”
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul kicked off the $400 million Championing Albany’s Potential (CAP) Initiative’s first Downtown Albany Strategy public workshop, held at the Albany Capital Center. The workshop welcomed hundreds of participants, including Albany residents and partners from business, academia and government. The CAP initiative includes $200 million in funding to plan and implement projects that reinvigorate commercial corridors, strengthen small businesses, promote housing growth, and revitalize underutilized real estate and open spaces. A new website – downtownalbanystrategy.com — was also unveiled at the public workshop, which will include updates on the Downtown Albany Strategy planning process and dates for future public workshops.
PHOTOS: The Governor’s Flickr page will have photos of the event here.
A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:
Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone. So grateful to be here this evening. What a voice. I’m taking that guy everywhere. It feels like “let’s get it ready to rumble.” I also wanna recognize, in addition to our state officials, we are joined by our great mayor, Kathy Sheehan, who’s been a driver of change for the city.
Yesterday, we went to the most spectacular public swimming pool in America, and thank you for making that happen. Glad we could toss in a little $10 million to get you over the finish line. But that’s what I’m talking about, transformational leaders doing transformational projects. And I also wanna thank our county executive, County Executive Dan McCoy who’s joined us here today, another leader of these efforts to make sure that this region lives up to its full potential.
Members in my administration you’ll be hearing from shortly – Hope Knight, the CEO and President of Empire State Development who’s leading the charge. Commissioner Jeanette Moy, the Office of General Services, as well as Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez of the Department of Transportation. All of them, my dream team will be intimately involved in executing. So I was just with Commissioner Dominguez yesterday as well as were walking along the waterfront not far from here. Talk about reimagining nine miles of that waterfront and connecting the people of this great city to that magnificent body known as the Hudson River, and we’re going to get it done. Multi-billion dollar project with the 787 will also be reimagined. And looking at the Livingston Avenue Bridge right there as well. So if you add it all up, I’ve invested, as governor, already over $4 billion dollars in transformational projects for this city and this region.
Why, because this is my home. It’s the home of all New Yorkers as well. Because this is the capital of the greatest state in the nation, and we must wear that with pride every single day. And to those who are naysayers, I grew up in a place that was full of naysayers, known as Buffalo New York — until the Buffalo Bills came along and they started winning games.
But I know what it’s like when people give up on a community, it’s contagious. It vexes the entire psychology of a region, and it’s very devastating. Especially to those from the outside who say, well is this a place I want to start a business, raise a family, and if they’re feeling that overwhelming sense of negativity — they’re going to walk away and say “I’m going somewhere else.”
That cannot happen to any upstate city, but it certainly can’t happen to Albany, because I believe in this city. I believe in the people of this city, I know we can get this done. Buffalo came back, other cities are coming back, and now it is time for one of the greatest comebacks. Other than Buffalo Bills breaking a 17 year playoff drought. I’m sorry, I watched hard knocks last night. Anybody watch hard knocks? Okay, alright —I have to watch TV once in a while right?
Also Blake Washington is here as well — I neglected to acknowledge someone who was a real driver of ideas for this region. But I spend more time here than anywhere else in the state. It’s where my family visits, my granddaughter thinks that every grandma has a really nice house like mine. But I’ve walked the streets, I eat at the diners — and I was at breakfast this morning. Pearl Street Diner is closed by the way this week – they’re on vacation, and I went over to Skinny Pancake. What a fun place that is. Not real good for a diet, but it’s really a fun place.
So I’ve been here, I go to the restaurants, and I go to ball games; I go to attractions. I saw women’s basketball here not too long ago. Farmer’s markets. McGeary’s — McGeary’s, Go Bills. There’s always a connection to the Bills here. But as I said, I’ve invested a lot, you’ve invested a lot We’re gonna invest even more — because I also know that we start making changes like me driving past that central warehouse for so many years and saying, “Why is that still standing? Blake? They need money to tear it down. Blake, give them the money to tear it down. I want that done now.” Because vestiges like that are a sign of a city in decline, and yet we’re not. That’s why we cannot have buildings like that, and we’re taking it down with great support from the State. I want to make sure that gets done.
And it’ll clear the way for development. Look at the potential there. Every bit of space that has a building that needs to be demolished, I’m looking at a place for possibly new homes or new businesses and new life. And we just announced $10 million for this center. This is an extraordinary place, coming up on its 10-year anniversary in 2027. That’s why we’re going to continue making investments to show you don’t rest on your laurels. When you have a fascinating attraction like this, you keep reinvesting. I want to keep bringing more people all across the country to do conventions here because they need to learn our history, our story, our people and all that’s happening right here.
So we have a lot to do. I’m up for the task. My team is up for the task. We’re in it for the long haul. And I also look at Albany — what are some of the challenges? I hosted some people over, some of the thought leaders, to a dinner last summer at the residence, and I said, “What do we need to do? Tell me, you’re the ones who are here, your families are here, your business are here, tell me what you need.”
And of course, the answer was money. And I understood that, but I also said, “We need the community to be engaged.” We’re not going to ever sit in a capitol building and decide what a community should have as their city. The planning, the ideas, the vision must come from the people who live here and call this home.
That is why I am overwhelmed and thrilled to see the number of people here tonight who gave up time from their schedules. Maybe you didn’t have dinner yet, you’re probably a little hungry tonight and your families are waiting for you at home, but you’re sitting here because you are the true believers. You’re the drivers, the shakers, the movers, the people who want to see something happen while we’re still here walking this earth. And that’s why a community like Albany with its challenges where a lot of people didn’t come back to work after the pandemic — that was a hard hit on our local businesses, our storefronts, some of them empty, I want them full of life. I can feel it.
And that’s why this $400 million initiative that we envisioned and came up with and got the support of your local legislative leaders who we referenced earlier tonight, we said, “Let’s show this community they matter. Let’s show them. Let’s give them the resources they need to fulfill their dreams.” And so we’re calling it CAP, Championing Albany’s Potential. I didn’t come up with that, but it’s very clever.
This is a gift to the city, but it’s not one that the city didn’t deserve. This city has always mattered. It always should have been at the top of the list of investments. Other Governors come and go for decades, but none of them have spent as much time here as I have. None of them see the potential and want to make it become reality.
So today, that process is being kicked off. I am not going to stand here and tell you what it should look like, but you know in your heart what you want to see. And if you grew up here a long time ago, maybe things were different then. There are more shops downtown and you want to see that once again for your kids and grandkids. I’m going to leave this up to you because we’re not going to have it top down, as I said. So we’re going to make those investments. We’re going to give you what you need. We’re going to listen to you. And the other thing I’m going to promise you, we’re going to move quickly, because I believe that people lose faith in their government when everything takes so long to happen.
I’m just as frustrated, my friends. I’m always looking for the next challenge, but I want to make sure the ones we started to solve are already accomplished. So I’ll be driving my team hard. I said, “You come up with a vision, let our team know,” — they’re all vested in success as well. Every one of these professionals who dedicate their lives to public service, my commissioners and others who are orchestrating this event will carry on the execution because everything is in the execution.
I do not want this to be what has happened in too many cities across our state where people come up with, “Oh, this is a 2025, 2026 vision for the City of Albany. Let’s put it on a shelf with all the other ones.” I want to break down those shelves and no longer have shelves. We’re not putting it on shelves. We’re making the magic happen as fast as humanly possible. That is my commitment to you here tonight.
So I’m excited. I’m energized. I’m fired up. And I want you to know that the future of this city, which has a storied past, steeped in an incredible history of commerce and exploration — we’re so proud of that. But also you are the keepers of the flame to take us into the future. Harken the voices of the past, those bold adventurers who let nothing stand in their way. Be those people today, because I’m counting on you. I’m counting on everyone in this room.
So we’re going to look back some day and say it all began on a beautiful August night in Albany back in 2025. That’s when this city was starting to realize its full potential once and for all. And I say, finally.
Thank you very much for everyone joining us here tonight. I’m going to introduce our great leader of ESD, Commissioner Hope Knight.
