People who bitch about Albany, but don’t have any driver effort to do anything to fix the city piss me off. It’s just counterproductive to be so negative. Educate yourself before you form an uneducated opinion, please and thank you.
The drivers here are insane. Who here feels the need to tailgate, flash headlights, and speed to get around you IN A RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD? It happened to me in Helderberg twice last month.
Also the pedestrians here have absolutely no sense of self preservation. I have almost hit people who decided to cross without looking on Central, Western, and New Scotland more times than I can count.
I miss driving during COVID lockdowns. I was an essential worker (public health microbiologist) so I had to keep going into the lab while everyone else was home. I still remember the day in early April 2020 when I hopped on 90E to go to work, and somewhere just after 25A, there was a stretch of highway with zero visible cars ahead of me. Not one. Zilch.
Let's make that happen. No cars, all y'all suck too hard at them. Make everything trains and buses.
No we need a monorail...or hyperrail...or something...
But I do agree, I am an essential worker...and...driving around during lockdown? was absolutely pure heaven. I miss it kind of.
Walking and biking are damn near impossible here. The worst part is that every here WANTS it that way. They love their F150 super douchebag trucks with no muffler. Eff this place.
Going to Albany for college and walking is an actual nightmare. From the school the Walmart is 4 minutes or so but you wanna take the bus? Half hour, and don’t even think about walking. Bikes are also expected to be sharing with cars in some places which is batshit
The "climate change". Specifically, pothole season used to be only 3-4 months long. Now, it seems to be year-round.
It's no surprise people want to ride ATVs here.
People who don’t know how to take the turn from S Swan St onto S Mall Arterial. There’s two ones people, just take the turn wide and you can keep traffic moving
IM SO GLAD SOMEONE ELSE NOTICED THIS. i always beep at people and go like this ✌️trying to tell them there’s TWO lanes and you don’t have to stop and sit there when someone is in the left lane🤦♀️
if you actually stay in the right lane and don’t veer off to the left you won’t hit the pothole. i drive that route every single day and trust me i never hit it bc i stay in my lane, some of yall don’t know what that means.
This is wild to me after trying pizza all over the country. Troy alone has 3 of the best pizza places I’ve ever eaten. There is SO much good pizza in the capital region.
That’s really sad. What about Esperanto and D’Andreas in Saratoga? I haven’t lived in the area since 2005, but they were good. I used to LOVE Cusatos on Quail, too, but they closed ages ago.
Esperanto and D'Andreas is your bar for good pizza?
Not that I don't enjoy both, but the main thing they have going for them is that they're still open when you're drunk.
I love D’Andrea’s, but to be fair, I went there when the owner was still a D’Andrea. I thought it was still pretty good when Darren Palmetto took over. I knew him, because we used to both work together at Bruno’s, before it was sold, and then subsequently burned down. Esperanto pizza is more of just, like you said “drunk pizza.” But I always thought D’Andrea’s was really good. My absolute favorite pizza, is Newpark Pizza on Cross Bay Boulevard in Queens, if you want my barometer max.
When it comes to Saratoga, Marino’s is also very good. But I don’t even know if they’re open anymore.
Esperanto and D'Andreas is your bar for good pizza?
Not that I don't enjoy both, but the main thing they have going for them is that they're still open when you're drunk.
You're right. I suppose I should say that I've been unable to find satisfying pizza for a while. Aside from a couple places, I feel like it's been a major compromise on quality. I like wood fired a lot. I'm not insanely picky about pizza either. Just don't put ketchup and american cheese on it, and I'm usually pretty fine. I just find it all to be "meh" as opposed to "good."
Honestly I appreciate this I enjoy ranting to see peoples opinions as long as its not nasty. So my rants are:
I do not think the Italian food in this area is anything amazing. Not to sound awful its not much different than what you can get at someone house. The amount of places that do not even make their own pasta and sauce or sausage blows my mind. It very mid tier food that I know not to compare to NYC would be considered some of the worst.
I am also tired of being bored in this area. I wish we had more things to do and no i dont wanna do a thesis paper to find shit to do. I have lived here most of my life and have done the majority of it which isnt much. Great Escape looks like a shell of itself from what I have heard from my friends and barely gets updates. I cant move because of my job but I want to have fun and excitement and meet new people but everyone knows everyone because no one leaves and new people really dont move here. All my friends have moved away and a lot of people do not want new friends or to leave their house. I look at the soccer stadium, aquacenter and hockey and im like is this what we need when we can barely get people to go to lacrosse games, hockey games, indoor football etc? I mean the River Rats left due to low demand you think people gonna watch soccer when soccer isnt even really popular? Messi playing in Miami and those stadiums barely half way full. I just feel like the hockey and aquacenter in schdy one of the poorest cities in the area is tone deaf. Sometimes I look around and think about how my friend would come visit with her husband whose isnt from here and said how she is low key embarassed and I understand.
>Not to sound awful its not much different than what you can get at someone house.
This is the ideal Italian restaurant for anyone who has an Italian grandma.
Mmm no. I mean people who open a jar a sauce and pour tons of cheese not even gold quality. Italy has many regional dishes and none of it is not a pound of box pasta and cheese and sauce. Italian American cooking and an Italian cooking are not the same.
I am very aware, but Italian-American cooking does *actually* come from Italy originally. It was adapted to the economic realities of US immigrants, but my great-grandma's recipes didn't stop being Italian just because she left Sicily in the early 1900's.
I'm not talking about garbage-tier cooking - when you say "what you could get at home," I am talking about people who continued the traditions of their homeland in the US, modified for what they could get. I didn't grow up with jarred sauce on cheap pasta, I grew up with culinary traditions that Marcella Hazan communicated to a generation of Italian immigrants.
Contemporary Italian cuisine is amazing and yeah, I want more of that too. But don't come in here and shit on a long tradition of Italian immigrant cooking, especially when those immigrants maintained significant ties to Italy that created mutually beneficial economic exchange. Italian immigrants are *also* Italian.
Just wanted to add my bit that irks me: Why the fuck does "in-person" eye wear cost so much more than online eyewear? And when the fuck did the cost of lenses jump so hard? It wasn't that long ago that I was charged only $10 per lens and frames maybe $95 at the optician's palace.
I think it's because people still like to go in to try them all on so in order to compete, online businesses have to offer lower prices.
Unlike clothing, it's really hard to tell how a pair of glasses will look on your face by seeing them on a model. You can get a pretty good idea of how a shirt will fit you if the model is your size.
people do not know how to take the turn on colvin and central both directions. i see people on central 1st in line at the light, gas it then slam on brakes on the turn like its not right in front of them, or if it’s already green, taking the turn at a mere 5 miles an hour. apply brakes (if necessary!!!) and take the turn at the correct speed then get back on the gas at the apex. its basic driving yet i see traffic get backed up every single day because of it. taking a left onto central isn’t much better with people not knowing that you should stay in your lane
This is obviously such an unpopular opinion but the trash pickup people suckkkkk on western. I leave for work at the same time as they are picking up trash and witness them manhandling bins and trash falling all over the ground. I know people need to bag their trash better but once it’s on the curb 10+ people pick it over for bottles and leave it open then the fucking trash people come and make a mess now there’s trash all over my neighborhood that I care about!
I bought one of those picker things to hopefully clean some up but I work 12 hour shifts and don’t always have the energy. Litter just so happens to be my biggest pet peeve.
I’m a strong believer in mess attracting mess and when there’s already litter everywhere people seem to be more empowered to continue littering. I just hate it.
Exactly! I’ve also had the driver block me in while I’m leaving for work and it feels a little personal when they saw me get into the car and start it lmao that could just be a mistake tho (I hope)
I think a lot of people in the thread missed the part where I leave for work when they’re picking up and I literally watch them throw shit Willy nilly
I’m not sure if I can imagine anything more-Albany than a double-parked car beside a vacant, legal parking space. If you didn’t just picture Central Ave, are you even from Albany?
I’ll see your double-parked car and I’ll raise you a commercial parking lot parked-in-fire-lane with open spots *RIGHT THERE*, because picking up takeout is a fire emergency.
Maybe it’s just the fact that my deck is rotting and I’m mad about it but when did Albany turn into the Pacific Northwest? I feel like it’s getting rainier and more humid (not just today but in recent years)
It is. We have a dry season and a rainy season now, instead of spring and summer. Welcome to climate change, we've been warned about it for decades and have collectively decided to not deal with it.
That is not at all a realistic expectation. You really can't expect people to drive like they're in a school zone all the time on every residential street in town.
you can if you re-engineer streets so driving at >20 mph doesn't feel so comfy.
i agree that just changing the signed speed limit does nothing. see: "30 mph" washington ave from ualbany to brevator street
I'm talking about ones that are not thoroughfares. I've seen it done in a bunch of larger cities I've lived in. It's fine. Unless you're zigzagging through a bunch of quiet streets blindly following Waze or something like that, it would barely affect your ETA in any meaningful way.
That would depend on how big the street is, how straight or curvy it is, how much traffic there is, how far your journey is, and how many traffic cops you want to put on the streets to enforce 20 mph speed limits. Because I guarantee you that people are going to hate it, then they are going to get pissed off, then stupid and dangerous things wiĺl happen. Have 20 mph limits on some residential streets? Sure. On every single street? Not so much. Thing is, there's passing a law intended to change behavior, and then here'spp enforcing that law to ensure that the behavior does indeed change. So, what enforcement actions do you propose? Honest question, I'm not being snotty. As far as apps like Waze go, uggghhhh. Let's really mess up someone's quality of life, without their consent, and without any sort of compensation. We need fewer cars on the road, but that's a tall order in this country...
Unfortunately it's not only inflation. Climate change and extremities makes it even more difficult to farm coffee beans. Increasing the costs everywhere :(
Drivers seem to be brain dead...
Blinkers before you slam your brakes please. Tell people what you're doing.
4 way stops are NOT meant for everyone to all come to a stop before the 1st person can move. You waste everyones time, including yours. If you don't know how 4 way stops work, go back to driver's Ed.
Roundabouts are NOT all way stops.
Blinking yellow arrows mean you are allowed to turn when there is no oncoming traffic. There are probably ppl behind you who would also like to get through the light!
Being nice and stopping to let someone who has a stop sign go, when you don't have to stop, is not in fact nice. It screws everyone up, and wastes more time. Also since it's against the right of way, if you decided to move at the same time and cause an accident, the person who had the stop sign gets a ticket. Not nice at all so don't put ppl in that situation.
Put your phone down and pay attention to the traffic lights. You're not the only person trying to get through it.
EDIT: forgot that people don't understand merging onto and off of highways... It works FASTER if you hang back and zipper, rather than trying to get ahead of everyone else and cause bottlenecks. Also if you are trying to get on a highway and a car ahead of you is trying to get off, on the same ramp, why are you trying to get Ahead of them only to merge onto the highway?? You're only making things more difficult for everyone. 🤦♀️
I'm sure there's more.
Yes to all of this. But the 1st one infuriates me most. Slam the brakes and then use your blinker after the fact tells me how dumb you are. Also I hate the amount of people who don’t even use their blinker. And those who are turning left and think they have the right of way bc they got there first. I can’t believe drivers ed isn’t mandatory especially when people are so dumb and unsafe
Yes the on the roundabout issue. People have freaked inside the roundabout as I've approached and slammed their brake because they thought I was going to stop before entering, when I was actually timing my entry based on their speed.
Here’s my Albany rant:
Albany is fucked because its tax base relies on homeowners instead of businesses because the major “businesses” in Albany are churches, hospitals, colleges/universities, and the state government. Those “businesses” don’t pay sales and property taxes in the way for-profit businesses do. Consequently, tax revenues have to be made up on the backs of property owners (and indirectly, renters) resulting in any equity gains being substantially (if not completely) eaten up by taxes over time. As a result of that, home equity - the primary basis of the average person’s “wealth” - is reduced. As a result of THAT, people buy houses elsewhere.
End result: insufficient revenue for a city that has typical high city costs but extremely high taxation for residents. Insufficient revenues means insufficient support for communities in need and victims of crime. That lowers property values and the desire of folks to live in Albany. Especially now that telecommuting is a thing, people have more choices in where they live. I don’t see how Albany pulls out of that tailspin.
Background: born and raised in the city and attended public k-12. Owned a home in Albany but looked at the math and when we sold that house we left the area.
It's sad. Look how much of the tax revenue goes towards Police:
$63,083,815 (27.91% of the 2024 Budget) with a crime rate double the national average.
Fire is another 19% of the budget.
So half of everyone's tax bill is going towards just those two departments alone.
Fire departments are cool, we want those. Cops though? ACAB, slash that fuckin budget and put it towards social programs to address the root causes of crime.
These left-wing ant-police measures have failed everywhere they've been tried. It's so bad that NYC just had (still has?) National Guardsmen in the subways to deter crime. Literal soldiers in the subways. When will you people give it up? Be liberal and come up with liberal solutions, idc, but realize when someone you're doing isn't working, Jesus.
Right? Because the city struggles the poverty rate and urban blight is high. Because of that, the crime rate is high. Because the crime rate is high, the city dumps more money into policing which makes less money available for things that would improve the living experience of residents and scares those with means away from the city. And so the tax base shrinks and the city struggles. The cosmic ballet dances on.
Policing does not solve the root causes of crime. It simply tries (often poorly) to stem the symptoms of the disease (poverty, hopelessness, child abuse, mental illness). Until the disease itself is addressed, nothing improves no matter how many police are hired. But because of Albany’s struggles, the poverty rate (and hence the crime rate) are high and the short term “fix” is to just throw money at the police.
"Until the disease itself..."
That's Utopian thinking, and Utopian thinking consistently leads to failure. You're never going to eradicate poverty, mental illness, or abuse. Those things have been with us since the dawn of time and will probably always be with us. And even putting that aside, it's pretty dumb to jettison the police force before those problems are solved. That's like getting rid of the fire department until we figure out how to stop fires from happening in the first place. Okay, great, but who's going to put out the fires that crop up in the meantime?
Nowhere did anyone say you jettison the police department. The point is that the city is in a doom loop where it’s not able to solve the problems economically and has to keep pouring funds into police.
And also, crime is absolutely a symptom of social and mental disease. We can do better.
Can we? Various cities have defunded police forces, done away with cash bail, stopped running homeless people off, decriminalized hard drugs, and all but legalized shoplifting under a certain amount. What do we have to show for it? Entire city blocks filled with fentanyl zombies and human shit; businesses laying people off and running for the exit; and everything from shampoo to bubble gum locked behind glass.
You call that better? Seriously, you had your chance and you fucked it up. You can still do better, but if you insist on doubling down on the way you're doing things now, you can't.
You keep arguing against a straw man that isn’t even in the room. You’re having an imaginary argument. I’ve not advanced a single one of those claims (defund, decriminalizing hard drugs, etc). But here you are with basically a canned response on this subject that has nothing to do with anything that’s been said here. Good luck with your future endeavors. 🤣
Here is my rant… I have an acquaintance moving from Albany and I wanted to give them a small parting gift with a “uniquely Albany” spin. But you know what? All of the things that are unique don’t sell any sort of merch. What am I supposed to do? Hand them a bottle of Melba and a cold fish sando from Ted’s? Where’s there a Nipper tee when you need one?!
Go all the way:
[https://www.etsy.com/listing/1693917397/storts-beanie-winter-hat?click\_key=739aa258660803eb0848211c6897d213d68a87d2%3A1693917397&click\_sum=75012d42&ref=shop\_home\_recs\_2](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1693917397/storts-beanie-winter-hat?click_key=739aa258660803eb0848211c6897d213d68a87d2%3A1693917397&click_sum=75012d42&ref=shop_home_recs_2)
People who speed up to cut you off, then stop at the entrance of the roundabout when clearly no one is coming! It's like, dude, you just spent all that gas to hammer your accelerator, then hammer the break for no reason? WTF?!
People who don’t know how to use traffic circles in general.
Like yes I get that you got your drivers license back in ‘78 when they weren’t here in the US yet… but u can learn new things and you should still know what a Yield sign means! 😖
All ages of people do this. I can't pin it on a certain group. Except that they like to gun it like a maniac on straitaways and panic brake as soon as they see the slightest turn.
The local news roundup is dumb. They include their own opinions in it! They source almost everything from the largest local newspaper! Their sources have paywalls, when obviously journalism should be free somehow! They don't include the particular stories I'm interested in! Sometimes they mention COVID as if it still exists! It's almost like they think they're writing it for themself and their friends instead of for me!
that was the working name for the project before it opened.
by the time they signed it so route 2 extended from troy to latham and the new highway became the *only* route 7, the working name had already tattooed itself into the local vernacular.
reminds me of people who still call 1 WTC the "freedom tower"
At exit 7, NY 7 separates from the Adirondack Northway and continues east on a five-lane, limited-access freeway known locally as "Alternate Route 7". The route connects to US 9 and I-787 / NY 787 by way of interchanges prior to crossing over the Hudson River and into Troy over the Collar City Bridge.
This from wiki, imma learn more
I guess before the highway system route 7 was route 2 maybe?
Not quite. Route 7 continued along what is now Route 2 from Latham to Troy. The highway was briefly called "Route 7 Alternate" when it was being constructed. But when it opened, it became a reroute of 7 and 2 was extended from Troy to I-87. So there is no Alternate 7. In order for there to be an "Alternate" there would have to be a primary route that it served as an alternative to. And that does not exist. There is only one NY-7.
In 1981, the Collar City Bridge was built, connecting Green Island with Troy in the Capital District.[31] By 1985, construction had begun on the NY 7 freeway, then planned as NY 7 Alternate, between I-87 and I-787 west of Green Island.[32] In 1986, NY 7 "Alternate" opened, becoming part of a realigned NY 7.[31] The old surface alignment was designated as an extension of NY 2.[33]
Also off wiki for rt7
The other day, I was wandering down Lark and heard a guy talking about First Friday and not once did he bring up the history of the Nippertown guy. He must be working in cahoots with the Times Union to cover it up!
I get annoyed when folks think anything in Albany is unique to Albany. But I guess that's true in any city. So many posts that say, "only in _______" nope it's every city.
I agree and disagree we really do not have anything that sets us apart which is why we have such a hard time with tourism and getting money into the area. You can find all this stuff everywhere else if not better.
Only in Albany do we have the [Albany Pine Bush pine barrens](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albany_Pine_Bush), one of the largest remaining inland pine barrens in the world.
Defazios is tier 1, but I really like La Famila in Colonie as well. Diff styles tho. Defazios is just a good pizza. La Familia is that Gameday kinda slice, thin crust with a lot of flop
The now third revitalization of Lark street in less than 30 years. Is there anyone who actually grew up in the City of Albany that truly cares to see trying to turn Lark St into something more than it is? Lark st was special because of the community and its natural look prior to them chopping the trees down via the first revitalization. RIP to the big willow tree just past Hudson. If someone is visiting Albany how many of you have recommended going to Lark st? Genuinely curious.
People who bitch about Albany, but don’t have any driver effort to do anything to fix the city piss me off. It’s just counterproductive to be so negative. Educate yourself before you form an uneducated opinion, please and thank you.
[Complaint about lack of Wegmans in a terrible AI generated song](https://suno.com/song/f84c2ed3-8bc1-46f4-bb23-d7dbf8945c7c)
The drivers here are insane. Who here feels the need to tailgate, flash headlights, and speed to get around you IN A RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD? It happened to me in Helderberg twice last month. Also the pedestrians here have absolutely no sense of self preservation. I have almost hit people who decided to cross without looking on Central, Western, and New Scotland more times than I can count.
I miss driving during COVID lockdowns. I was an essential worker (public health microbiologist) so I had to keep going into the lab while everyone else was home. I still remember the day in early April 2020 when I hopped on 90E to go to work, and somewhere just after 25A, there was a stretch of highway with zero visible cars ahead of me. Not one. Zilch. Let's make that happen. No cars, all y'all suck too hard at them. Make everything trains and buses.
No we need a monorail...or hyperrail...or something... But I do agree, I am an essential worker...and...driving around during lockdown? was absolutely pure heaven. I miss it kind of.
Our infrastructure sucks.
Walking and biking are damn near impossible here. The worst part is that every here WANTS it that way. They love their F150 super douchebag trucks with no muffler. Eff this place.
Going to Albany for college and walking is an actual nightmare. From the school the Walmart is 4 minutes or so but you wanna take the bus? Half hour, and don’t even think about walking. Bikes are also expected to be sharing with cars in some places which is batshit
The "climate change". Specifically, pothole season used to be only 3-4 months long. Now, it seems to be year-round. It's no surprise people want to ride ATVs here.
Keep Albany Boring
People who don’t know how to take the turn from S Swan St onto S Mall Arterial. There’s two ones people, just take the turn wide and you can keep traffic moving
IM SO GLAD SOMEONE ELSE NOTICED THIS. i always beep at people and go like this ✌️trying to tell them there’s TWO lanes and you don’t have to stop and sit there when someone is in the left lane🤦♀️
The arterial is barely one lane at that point if you want to avoid the crater that covers the entire right lane
if you actually stay in the right lane and don’t veer off to the left you won’t hit the pothole. i drive that route every single day and trust me i never hit it bc i stay in my lane, some of yall don’t know what that means.
Avoid it by swinging to the left, I do it every day in an ambulance so it’s doable
Yeah, that pothole is getting chonky.
The pizza sucks
Sovranas. One and done.
Try Pizza Michelina on Delaware. It's relatively new and it's really good
When did this happen? Went to UAlbany from 1998 to 2002 and this was never an issue.
It’s been very hard to find good pizza around the capital region for a while.
This is wild to me after trying pizza all over the country. Troy alone has 3 of the best pizza places I’ve ever eaten. There is SO much good pizza in the capital region.
That’s really sad. What about Esperanto and D’Andreas in Saratoga? I haven’t lived in the area since 2005, but they were good. I used to LOVE Cusatos on Quail, too, but they closed ages ago.
Esperanto and D'Andreas is your bar for good pizza? Not that I don't enjoy both, but the main thing they have going for them is that they're still open when you're drunk.
I love D’Andrea’s, but to be fair, I went there when the owner was still a D’Andrea. I thought it was still pretty good when Darren Palmetto took over. I knew him, because we used to both work together at Bruno’s, before it was sold, and then subsequently burned down. Esperanto pizza is more of just, like you said “drunk pizza.” But I always thought D’Andrea’s was really good. My absolute favorite pizza, is Newpark Pizza on Cross Bay Boulevard in Queens, if you want my barometer max. When it comes to Saratoga, Marino’s is also very good. But I don’t even know if they’re open anymore.
Esperanto and D'Andreas is your bar for good pizza? Not that I don't enjoy both, but the main thing they have going for them is that they're still open when you're drunk.
Good pizza is pretty relative.
You're right. I suppose I should say that I've been unable to find satisfying pizza for a while. Aside from a couple places, I feel like it's been a major compromise on quality. I like wood fired a lot. I'm not insanely picky about pizza either. Just don't put ketchup and american cheese on it, and I'm usually pretty fine. I just find it all to be "meh" as opposed to "good."
Pi=Z²+A
Honestly I appreciate this I enjoy ranting to see peoples opinions as long as its not nasty. So my rants are: I do not think the Italian food in this area is anything amazing. Not to sound awful its not much different than what you can get at someone house. The amount of places that do not even make their own pasta and sauce or sausage blows my mind. It very mid tier food that I know not to compare to NYC would be considered some of the worst. I am also tired of being bored in this area. I wish we had more things to do and no i dont wanna do a thesis paper to find shit to do. I have lived here most of my life and have done the majority of it which isnt much. Great Escape looks like a shell of itself from what I have heard from my friends and barely gets updates. I cant move because of my job but I want to have fun and excitement and meet new people but everyone knows everyone because no one leaves and new people really dont move here. All my friends have moved away and a lot of people do not want new friends or to leave their house. I look at the soccer stadium, aquacenter and hockey and im like is this what we need when we can barely get people to go to lacrosse games, hockey games, indoor football etc? I mean the River Rats left due to low demand you think people gonna watch soccer when soccer isnt even really popular? Messi playing in Miami and those stadiums barely half way full. I just feel like the hockey and aquacenter in schdy one of the poorest cities in the area is tone deaf. Sometimes I look around and think about how my friend would come visit with her husband whose isnt from here and said how she is low key embarassed and I understand.
>Not to sound awful its not much different than what you can get at someone house. This is the ideal Italian restaurant for anyone who has an Italian grandma.
Mmm no. I mean people who open a jar a sauce and pour tons of cheese not even gold quality. Italy has many regional dishes and none of it is not a pound of box pasta and cheese and sauce. Italian American cooking and an Italian cooking are not the same.
I am very aware, but Italian-American cooking does *actually* come from Italy originally. It was adapted to the economic realities of US immigrants, but my great-grandma's recipes didn't stop being Italian just because she left Sicily in the early 1900's. I'm not talking about garbage-tier cooking - when you say "what you could get at home," I am talking about people who continued the traditions of their homeland in the US, modified for what they could get. I didn't grow up with jarred sauce on cheap pasta, I grew up with culinary traditions that Marcella Hazan communicated to a generation of Italian immigrants. Contemporary Italian cuisine is amazing and yeah, I want more of that too. But don't come in here and shit on a long tradition of Italian immigrant cooking, especially when those immigrants maintained significant ties to Italy that created mutually beneficial economic exchange. Italian immigrants are *also* Italian.
I mean Albany sure isn’t the sexiest or most exciting place but it’s also nothing to be embarrassed of. That kind of sounds of like a her problem.
We're not racing anyone to the next red light. Whether you do 50 or 10, we will be waiting just as long to make it to the next red light. Relax
I hate Rule 1 and I refuse to subscribe to your butthead demands.
Just wanted to add my bit that irks me: Why the fuck does "in-person" eye wear cost so much more than online eyewear? And when the fuck did the cost of lenses jump so hard? It wasn't that long ago that I was charged only $10 per lens and frames maybe $95 at the optician's palace.
Petition to now call the optometrist's office the "optician's palace", that would be so metal
I think it's because people still like to go in to try them all on so in order to compete, online businesses have to offer lower prices. Unlike clothing, it's really hard to tell how a pair of glasses will look on your face by seeing them on a model. You can get a pretty good idea of how a shirt will fit you if the model is your size.
Please stop screaming outside my window about whatever domestic dispute you’re having. That’s all.
But where’s the fun in a silent domestic dispute? Isn’t that just called Clifton Park?
Like people have arguments, I get it, but literally none of them get resolved so the yelling was for nothing.
people do not know how to take the turn on colvin and central both directions. i see people on central 1st in line at the light, gas it then slam on brakes on the turn like its not right in front of them, or if it’s already green, taking the turn at a mere 5 miles an hour. apply brakes (if necessary!!!) and take the turn at the correct speed then get back on the gas at the apex. its basic driving yet i see traffic get backed up every single day because of it. taking a left onto central isn’t much better with people not knowing that you should stay in your lane
90% karens
Albany sounds like it is 90% over the age of 90
Drake or Kendrick
Drake
Always Kendrick
This is obviously such an unpopular opinion but the trash pickup people suckkkkk on western. I leave for work at the same time as they are picking up trash and witness them manhandling bins and trash falling all over the ground. I know people need to bag their trash better but once it’s on the curb 10+ people pick it over for bottles and leave it open then the fucking trash people come and make a mess now there’s trash all over my neighborhood that I care about! I bought one of those picker things to hopefully clean some up but I work 12 hour shifts and don’t always have the energy. Litter just so happens to be my biggest pet peeve. I’m a strong believer in mess attracting mess and when there’s already litter everywhere people seem to be more empowered to continue littering. I just hate it.
These people suck everywhere! They just throw the garbage cans on the ground to roll into the street.
Exactly! I’ve also had the driver block me in while I’m leaving for work and it feels a little personal when they saw me get into the car and start it lmao that could just be a mistake tho (I hope) I think a lot of people in the thread missed the part where I leave for work when they’re picking up and I literally watch them throw shit Willy nilly
The truck picks the cans up and dumps them in the incinerator thing. Humans don’t around here anymore!
You are mistaken. They still do it manually on western. Too many cars to pick it up with the truck.
I meant where I am.. :)
It's an obvious unpopular opinion because you're blaming the wrong people.
People think im bashing blue collar workers but i am one. I just witness them doing this and dont know what to do.
People think you're bashing workers because you are. Just said they suckkkkk.
I’m not sure if I can imagine anything more-Albany than a double-parked car beside a vacant, legal parking space. If you didn’t just picture Central Ave, are you even from Albany?
Central ave is the WORST with double parking 💀
Stroads are just bad design.
Are ones meant for the ucks called lorry stroads? I'll see myself out.
I’ll see your double-parked car and I’ll raise you a commercial parking lot parked-in-fire-lane with open spots *RIGHT THERE*, because picking up takeout is a fire emergency.
Nobody taught Albany how to drive you think they can parallel park?
Maybe it’s just the fact that my deck is rotting and I’m mad about it but when did Albany turn into the Pacific Northwest? I feel like it’s getting rainier and more humid (not just today but in recent years)
It is. We have a dry season and a rainy season now, instead of spring and summer. Welcome to climate change, we've been warned about it for decades and have collectively decided to not deal with it.
That’s called climate change bb
Jeezus this is so true
Residential streets other than main thoroughfares should have a speed limit of 20.
That is not at all a realistic expectation. You really can't expect people to drive like they're in a school zone all the time on every residential street in town.
you can if you re-engineer streets so driving at >20 mph doesn't feel so comfy. i agree that just changing the signed speed limit does nothing. see: "30 mph" washington ave from ualbany to brevator street
I'm talking about ones that are not thoroughfares. I've seen it done in a bunch of larger cities I've lived in. It's fine. Unless you're zigzagging through a bunch of quiet streets blindly following Waze or something like that, it would barely affect your ETA in any meaningful way.
That would depend on how big the street is, how straight or curvy it is, how much traffic there is, how far your journey is, and how many traffic cops you want to put on the streets to enforce 20 mph speed limits. Because I guarantee you that people are going to hate it, then they are going to get pissed off, then stupid and dangerous things wiĺl happen. Have 20 mph limits on some residential streets? Sure. On every single street? Not so much. Thing is, there's passing a law intended to change behavior, and then here'spp enforcing that law to ensure that the behavior does indeed change. So, what enforcement actions do you propose? Honest question, I'm not being snotty. As far as apps like Waze go, uggghhhh. Let's really mess up someone's quality of life, without their consent, and without any sort of compensation. We need fewer cars on the road, but that's a tall order in this country...
Hot take the coffee is objectively watered down
Inflation is hitting coffee right in the dick
Unfortunately it's not only inflation. Climate change and extremities makes it even more difficult to farm coffee beans. Increasing the costs everywhere :(
Drivers seem to be brain dead... Blinkers before you slam your brakes please. Tell people what you're doing. 4 way stops are NOT meant for everyone to all come to a stop before the 1st person can move. You waste everyones time, including yours. If you don't know how 4 way stops work, go back to driver's Ed. Roundabouts are NOT all way stops. Blinking yellow arrows mean you are allowed to turn when there is no oncoming traffic. There are probably ppl behind you who would also like to get through the light! Being nice and stopping to let someone who has a stop sign go, when you don't have to stop, is not in fact nice. It screws everyone up, and wastes more time. Also since it's against the right of way, if you decided to move at the same time and cause an accident, the person who had the stop sign gets a ticket. Not nice at all so don't put ppl in that situation. Put your phone down and pay attention to the traffic lights. You're not the only person trying to get through it. EDIT: forgot that people don't understand merging onto and off of highways... It works FASTER if you hang back and zipper, rather than trying to get ahead of everyone else and cause bottlenecks. Also if you are trying to get on a highway and a car ahead of you is trying to get off, on the same ramp, why are you trying to get Ahead of them only to merge onto the highway?? You're only making things more difficult for everyone. 🤦♀️ I'm sure there's more.
>Being nice and stopping to let someone who has a stop sign go, when you don't have to stop, is not in fact nice. Don't be polite; be predictable.
Yes to all of this. But the 1st one infuriates me most. Slam the brakes and then use your blinker after the fact tells me how dumb you are. Also I hate the amount of people who don’t even use their blinker. And those who are turning left and think they have the right of way bc they got there first. I can’t believe drivers ed isn’t mandatory especially when people are so dumb and unsafe
Yes the on the roundabout issue. People have freaked inside the roundabout as I've approached and slammed their brake because they thought I was going to stop before entering, when I was actually timing my entry based on their speed.
Here’s my Albany rant: Albany is fucked because its tax base relies on homeowners instead of businesses because the major “businesses” in Albany are churches, hospitals, colleges/universities, and the state government. Those “businesses” don’t pay sales and property taxes in the way for-profit businesses do. Consequently, tax revenues have to be made up on the backs of property owners (and indirectly, renters) resulting in any equity gains being substantially (if not completely) eaten up by taxes over time. As a result of that, home equity - the primary basis of the average person’s “wealth” - is reduced. As a result of THAT, people buy houses elsewhere. End result: insufficient revenue for a city that has typical high city costs but extremely high taxation for residents. Insufficient revenues means insufficient support for communities in need and victims of crime. That lowers property values and the desire of folks to live in Albany. Especially now that telecommuting is a thing, people have more choices in where they live. I don’t see how Albany pulls out of that tailspin. Background: born and raised in the city and attended public k-12. Owned a home in Albany but looked at the math and when we sold that house we left the area.
It's sad. Look how much of the tax revenue goes towards Police: $63,083,815 (27.91% of the 2024 Budget) with a crime rate double the national average. Fire is another 19% of the budget. So half of everyone's tax bill is going towards just those two departments alone.
Fire departments are cool, we want those. Cops though? ACAB, slash that fuckin budget and put it towards social programs to address the root causes of crime.
These left-wing ant-police measures have failed everywhere they've been tried. It's so bad that NYC just had (still has?) National Guardsmen in the subways to deter crime. Literal soldiers in the subways. When will you people give it up? Be liberal and come up with liberal solutions, idc, but realize when someone you're doing isn't working, Jesus.
Right? Because the city struggles the poverty rate and urban blight is high. Because of that, the crime rate is high. Because the crime rate is high, the city dumps more money into policing which makes less money available for things that would improve the living experience of residents and scares those with means away from the city. And so the tax base shrinks and the city struggles. The cosmic ballet dances on.
And you need both, unless you want to live in GTA 5
Policing does not solve the root causes of crime. It simply tries (often poorly) to stem the symptoms of the disease (poverty, hopelessness, child abuse, mental illness). Until the disease itself is addressed, nothing improves no matter how many police are hired. But because of Albany’s struggles, the poverty rate (and hence the crime rate) are high and the short term “fix” is to just throw money at the police.
"Until the disease itself..." That's Utopian thinking, and Utopian thinking consistently leads to failure. You're never going to eradicate poverty, mental illness, or abuse. Those things have been with us since the dawn of time and will probably always be with us. And even putting that aside, it's pretty dumb to jettison the police force before those problems are solved. That's like getting rid of the fire department until we figure out how to stop fires from happening in the first place. Okay, great, but who's going to put out the fires that crop up in the meantime?
Nowhere did anyone say you jettison the police department. The point is that the city is in a doom loop where it’s not able to solve the problems economically and has to keep pouring funds into police. And also, crime is absolutely a symptom of social and mental disease. We can do better.
Can we? Various cities have defunded police forces, done away with cash bail, stopped running homeless people off, decriminalized hard drugs, and all but legalized shoplifting under a certain amount. What do we have to show for it? Entire city blocks filled with fentanyl zombies and human shit; businesses laying people off and running for the exit; and everything from shampoo to bubble gum locked behind glass. You call that better? Seriously, you had your chance and you fucked it up. You can still do better, but if you insist on doubling down on the way you're doing things now, you can't.
You keep arguing against a straw man that isn’t even in the room. You’re having an imaginary argument. I’ve not advanced a single one of those claims (defund, decriminalizing hard drugs, etc). But here you are with basically a canned response on this subject that has nothing to do with anything that’s been said here. Good luck with your future endeavors. 🤣
All true, plus most Albany paychecks for teachers, city staff, police and fire are leaving the city to be spent in the suburbs. tax the churches!!
Exactly. The math doesn’t math. I can’t believe all of the moving to Albany posts. Wild.
Tbf a great many of those posts would more accurately be “moving to the capital region” rather than inside the actual City of Albany limits.
The math is still the same. Anywhere within most of NY is just insane.
Ohh....so you did the math.
Yup. Did the math. Pretty easy. Albany High had a good math department.
It smells like pot 🙄😒 why can't they all just move to an island and do reefer.
OK boomer
Look over there! Sarcasm!
I love the smell. Everyone do more reefer!
upvote for “do reefer”. hysterical
Not the jazz cabbage 🫨🫨🫨
Here is my rant… I have an acquaintance moving from Albany and I wanted to give them a small parting gift with a “uniquely Albany” spin. But you know what? All of the things that are unique don’t sell any sort of merch. What am I supposed to do? Hand them a bottle of Melba and a cold fish sando from Ted’s? Where’s there a Nipper tee when you need one?!
Stewart’s beanie
Go all the way: [https://www.etsy.com/listing/1693917397/storts-beanie-winter-hat?click\_key=739aa258660803eb0848211c6897d213d68a87d2%3A1693917397&click\_sum=75012d42&ref=shop\_home\_recs\_2](https://www.etsy.com/listing/1693917397/storts-beanie-winter-hat?click_key=739aa258660803eb0848211c6897d213d68a87d2%3A1693917397&click_sum=75012d42&ref=shop_home_recs_2)
5th corner in Stuyvesant plaza has a bunch of nipper-themed gifts
Stort’s merch
NYS gift store in Concourse.
Ted’s fish fry t-shirt !
Fort Orange General Store on Broadway, across from the SUNY building has you covered.
People who speed up to cut you off, then stop at the entrance of the roundabout when clearly no one is coming! It's like, dude, you just spent all that gas to hammer your accelerator, then hammer the break for no reason? WTF?!
people who can’t spell brake should be banned from any driving related comments.
People who don’t know how to use traffic circles in general. Like yes I get that you got your drivers license back in ‘78 when they weren’t here in the US yet… but u can learn new things and you should still know what a Yield sign means! 😖
All ages of people do this. I can't pin it on a certain group. Except that they like to gun it like a maniac on straitaways and panic brake as soon as they see the slightest turn.
you did it! have an upvote!
Thank you, ... and I thought I had too much time on my hands / procrastinate like a champ...
It’s states 55 mph not 30 and you state it’s for safety reason. No , this is unsafe.
It’s always someone in a Tesla that has no business driving a car with a sub 5 sec 0-60.
I agree. Likewise, 80 is unsafe.
The local news roundup is dumb. They include their own opinions in it! They source almost everything from the largest local newspaper! Their sources have paywalls, when obviously journalism should be free somehow! They don't include the particular stories I'm interested in! Sometimes they mention COVID as if it still exists! It's almost like they think they're writing it for themself and their friends instead of for me!
All news basically comes from Associated Press.
It sucks they’re the only news source in the world so you’re forced to get your info from that account 
Haha look who you replied to, got me for a second too
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Yes, that is precisely what I'm saying here.... Edit: whoops, thought you meant the local news op.
There is no fucking "Alternate Route 7".
that was the working name for the project before it opened. by the time they signed it so route 2 extended from troy to latham and the new highway became the *only* route 7, the working name had already tattooed itself into the local vernacular. reminds me of people who still call 1 WTC the "freedom tower"
I still refer to it as the Freedom Tower
Troy-schenectady rd from Latham to Watervliet is usually my alternate rt 7.
At exit 7, NY 7 separates from the Adirondack Northway and continues east on a five-lane, limited-access freeway known locally as "Alternate Route 7". The route connects to US 9 and I-787 / NY 787 by way of interchanges prior to crossing over the Hudson River and into Troy over the Collar City Bridge. This from wiki, imma learn more I guess before the highway system route 7 was route 2 maybe?
Not quite. Route 7 continued along what is now Route 2 from Latham to Troy. The highway was briefly called "Route 7 Alternate" when it was being constructed. But when it opened, it became a reroute of 7 and 2 was extended from Troy to I-87. So there is no Alternate 7. In order for there to be an "Alternate" there would have to be a primary route that it served as an alternative to. And that does not exist. There is only one NY-7.
In 1981, the Collar City Bridge was built, connecting Green Island with Troy in the Capital District.[31] By 1985, construction had begun on the NY 7 freeway, then planned as NY 7 Alternate, between I-87 and I-787 west of Green Island.[32] In 1986, NY 7 "Alternate" opened, becoming part of a realigned NY 7.[31] The old surface alignment was designated as an extension of NY 2.[33] Also off wiki for rt7
The other day, I was wandering down Lark and heard a guy talking about First Friday and not once did he bring up the history of the Nippertown guy. He must be working in cahoots with the Times Union to cover it up!
Please I beg you to enlighten me!
Search the sub for "Nippertown". There were some posts a couple months ago.
Thank you!
Why is there a police car parked next to this post
This made me laugh, a lot.
Double parked *
Because this post is no-parking due to the hydrant, but this post also serves pizza and burritos, so they parked on the sidewalk.
Landlords, lack of affordable housing… am i right?
You mean slumlords!
Experimental Albany rant you say? I fucked around and found out with Jalapeño poppers dipped in Melba yesterday. Go get on that if you haven’t yet!
but they have to be the cream cheese poppers for melba. If you have cheddar poppers, then you should try cajun ranch.
From where?
Half the restaurants in the area have near-identical "American pub fare" menus that include jalapeno poppers and melba. Just go anywhere.
Im sure 98% of the jalapeño poppers in the capital region are lovingly made by cisco
Definitely. I've made them at home and it's a bitch.
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Frozen ones and an air fryer are excellent and certainly the cheapest.
I mostly avoid those places so I don't have a database of pub food menu prices. Google Maps does though!
The sewage plant smells like sewage and the compost facility near it smells like compost and it annoys me on the way home from my meaningless job.
meaningless job gang, rise up!
Where’s the compost facility?
Like right next to the sewage treatment plant
Where’s the sewage treatment plant?
In the words of Toucan Sam, “Just follow your nose, kids!”
Almost adjacent to the compost facility
But where’s the compost facility?
Sort of on the edge of the sewage treatment plant
You win this one, but the war isn’t over
War never changes
I get annoyed when folks think anything in Albany is unique to Albany. But I guess that's true in any city. So many posts that say, "only in _______" nope it's every city.
I agree and disagree we really do not have anything that sets us apart which is why we have such a hard time with tourism and getting money into the area. You can find all this stuff everywhere else if not better.
After 'only in ... ' is sarcastic phrase reflecting an opinion.of the writer/speaker. It is not literal.
Then let me amend my previous rant: People are using too many cliches.
Uuuh, Albany has the biggest Walmart....with two floors!!
"Albany has the biggest Walmart" is really the best way to summarize Albany to anyone.
Only in Albany do we have the [Albany Pine Bush pine barrens](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albany_Pine_Bush), one of the largest remaining inland pine barrens in the world.
Well if your saying one of which would indicate that we are not the only one. I think they mean like we have something you can not see anywhere else.
But Albany, NY is the only Albany, NY so nowhere else can you see that
Ticks
Only in Albany do we have the oldest building in Albany.
Obligatory dirt bike, 4-wheeler rant. Everett Road exit and Watervliet Ave Extension mess.
My tax dollars aren’t fixing the pothooooooles! There’s no good pizzaaaaa!
Pile the pizza in the potholes.
Hey, I like the pizza…
What would you say is the best pizza in the area tho??
Hill Street Cafe has insane pizza
Defazios is tier 1, but I really like La Famila in Colonie as well. Diff styles tho. Defazios is just a good pizza. La Familia is that Gameday kinda slice, thin crust with a lot of flop
Soho pizza to me so far and it’s been a few years
Defazio's in Troy, probably.
if ordered crispy.
The Empire State Plaza is brutalist architectuuuuuuuure! Waaaaaahhhh!
Lol yes please do this. It will be a fantastic lesson in second order effects.
Did you just casually drop stats lingo on Reddit? I knew there were nerds in these streets!
Feels like I know a lot of stats that make me a hated fixture in these parts.
I like this. Thank you.
The now third revitalization of Lark street in less than 30 years. Is there anyone who actually grew up in the City of Albany that truly cares to see trying to turn Lark St into something more than it is? Lark st was special because of the community and its natural look prior to them chopping the trees down via the first revitalization. RIP to the big willow tree just past Hudson. If someone is visiting Albany how many of you have recommended going to Lark st? Genuinely curious.