Downtown Development Authority awaits Albany City Commission on loan program

ALBANY — As a compromise to board member Omar Salaam’s contention that small businesses should be included in a Downtown Improvement Loan Fund program that is based on the Albany City Commission approving use of funding from its so-called Deal-Closing Fund, Albany Downtown Development Authority Chairwoman Thelma Johnson asked Salaam to write up the small business component and incorporate it into the plan.

Interim Downtown Manager Sharlene Cannon, along with Johnson and others who are part of the Development Authority board, had created the proposal as an economic development tool intended to stimulate commercial development by providing gap financing for projects in the city’s downtown tax allocation district. The program calls for loans that would be available to new and existing businesses.

Salaam said existing small businesses should be a component of the proposal, although Johnson, Cannon and fellow board member Michael Stewart pointed out that “(making loans to small businesses) is not the focus of this.”

“We don’t want to exclude anyone, but the smaller type loans you’re talking about are not what this program was designed for,” Stewart said. “The idea is to target specific development.”

In a presentation before the joint Albany City Commission/Albany Utility Board Long-Term Financial Planning Committee, Johnson offered a proposal that called for purchase of specific downtown property along the 100 blocks of Front Street and Pine Avenue, the former Albany Heights Building on Pine, and the Exchange Building at the corner of Washington Street and West Broad Avenue. Her presentation, which included several other targeted properties, called for an infusion of $3.375 million from the Deal-Closing Fund, which is monitored by the Long-Term Financial Planning Committee.

Johnson told the LTFPC that the money would be allocated as loans that would serve as a catalyst for downtown redevelopment.

“The thing is, large businesses aren’t coming downtown,” Salaam said. “That’s why we need to include smaller local businesses. We keep saying ‘think local’ and ‘buy local,’ but we should also be saying ‘build local.’”

The Development Authority learned at its monthly meeting Wednesday that an additional $413,752.82 was available now for use by the authority. The city of Albany used SPLOST funds to pay for lighting in the Old Northside Neighborhood, returning the more than $400,000 to the Development Authority’s budget. That amount increased the authority’s budget for future projects to $677,500.50.

Cannon also told the board County Administrator Richard Crowdis had forwarded a letter to the authority saying it was responsible for an estimated $3,687 in damages to pipes during work on the authority-sponsored kayak launches adjacent to the Flint River. The Downtown Development Authority was then known as ADICA, the Albany-Dougherty Inner City Authority.

“Isn’t the contractor (LRA Constructors) involved?” Stewart asked.

Cannon replied, “Yes, but we’ve contacted them and they are not assuming responsibility. They say there were city and county vehicles in there and the responsibility was not on them. There could be a battle ensuing, and I wanted you all to be aware.”

Board member Charles Ochie said he’s concerned about the growing negative reputation of the authority.

“We’re being seen as dysfunctional,” the Albany State University professor said. “I’d like to see us do stuff in the community, present the impression that we are a viable organization. I don’t want to be associated with a body seen as dysfunctional. I don’t come here every month just to discuss nothing.”