Perhaps Don can give us a brief lesson

My Papa was caretaker, driver and maintenance man for the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in the ’40’s & ‘50’s. Dad tells stories of riding with him on laundry deliveries. The family home for decades was the carriage house on the corner of Peoples & Eleventh. When RPI acquired the Peoples Avenue Complex, they kept Papa on to continue taking care of it. That is, until most of it was torn down in the mid-70’s coincidental to Papa reaching their “required” retirement age. My love/hate relationship with RPI has thus been life-long.

Imagine my surprise when I learned that the great RPI had its beginnings in the very same area that my ancestors chose to plant roots: North Central. The Rensselaer School opened its doors nearly 185 years ago in Middleburgh, occupying the old Farmer’s Bank building. Perhaps the community of RPI is willing to support our efforts to Revitalize Uptown Troy. We challenge them to live their pledge of “Comm-University”.

The surname from yesterday’s question was Eddy. Perhaps Don Rittner can give us brief lesson? Please continue supporting The Uptown Initiative’s efforts and those of our Capital District Coalition Partners: Albany Jewish Community Center, Project Hope/Fort Edward, WSW Art Farm, Encore Theater and Palace Theater. We hope to add more CDC members soon. If you know of a worthy Upstate NY Project, leave a comment when you vote with some info.

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A Great Foundation to Start with right Tina?

I’ve been told many times by people how amazed they are with the work that The Uptown Initiative has been able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. Yes, we have begun to see a change enveloping the areas we have focused on in our 9-month existence. However, without the dedicated work of Tina Urzan, Thila Belle and Nina Glandz amongst many others Uptown wouldn’t be ready for the revitalization we perceive it is about to receive. We had a great foundation to start with right Tina?

We understand that, throughout the histories of Troy and Lansingburgh, our area connected the two entities - at first separating them and then merging them together. Middleburgh, or Batesville as then also known, was chosen as home to The Farmer’s Bank precisely because it was located smack dab in the middle. Therefore, we understand that from our core we can Revitalize Uptown Troy.

The North Central and South Lansingburgh neighborhood associations have worked as a team for years and The Uptown Initiative was born of that collaboration. That's why we have joined the Albany Jewish Community Center, WSW Art Farm, Encore and Palace Theaters and Project Hope/Fort Edward as part of the CDC.  Working together works. Can it be said better than this?

“United we stand; Divided we fall.”-A. Lincoln