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Updated
June 8, 2006

Reprinted from the Times Union, January 7, 2006

Convention panel misses bus

Talks about moving the Greyhound station
bypass authority, which hasn't met

By BRIAN NEARING, Staff writer
First published: Saturday, January 7, 2006

ALBANY -- Members of a state panel created to oversee construction of a multimillion-dollar convention center questioned Friday whether their authority is being ignored.

Their reaction came amid revelations that Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Mayor Jerry Jennings are eyeing relocation of a downtown bus station to make way for the project.

A day earlier, Bruno said the Greyhound bus station near Broadway might be moved to the Amtrak station in Rensselaer to clear the Albany property for the convention center.

His disclosure came even though a nine-member authority created last year by the state Legislature to control planning for the convention center has yet to meet.

On Friday, Jennings said his discussions with Bruno on moving the bus station "don't imply anything" about the future site of the convention center. "Joe and I won't have any approval over the site. If it's not the convention center, I have other developers who are interested in that site."

The bus station is part of two sites between Broadway and Beaver Street that were recommended for a convention center and hotel complex by a Jennings-created task force in 2002. The other recommended site, which includes the landmark Wellington Hotel, is on State and Eagle streets near the state Capitol.

On Friday, two authority members -- Assemblyman Jack McEneney and Deputy Albany County Executive Joe Pennisi -- questioned why Bruno and Jennings are discussing the future of the Broadway site behind closed doors while the authority board remains moribund.

"I'm not here to be a fig leaf," said McEneny, who was appointed to the board by Speaker Sheldon Silver. "Everyone is a little bit ill at ease over this. ... The senator's comments implies that there have been meetings among people who may feel that decisions have been made."

Created by the state in 2004, the authority is responsible for deciding where the project will be built and how it will be paid for. It is required to hold public meetings.

McEneny, Pennisi and several authority members said they don't know why they haven't met and are waiting for someone to call a meeting. Gov. George Pataki appointed three members, Bruno and Silver picked one member each, and Jennings and County Executive Mike Breslin chose two members each.

However, the legislation that created the authority doesn't specify who is responsible for calling the initial meeting. A call to Pataki's office for comment was not returned.

On Friday, Bruno spokesman John McArdle said discussion between Bruno and Jennings were at an "early stage" and "nothing has been decided upon."

McArdle dismissed as "speculation" a question whether the talks of moving the bus station showed that Bruno and Jennings were backing the Broadway site for the convention center. "The purview of the convention center authority is not not where the bus station goes, it is where the convention center goes," he said.

Pennisi, who was named to the authority by Breslin, echoed McEneny's concerns.

It's obvious that they can't ignore us," Pennisi said. "There are requirements in the legislation requiring that the authority have public meetings."

Bruno and Jennings representatives on the authority said they weren't aware of the Greyhound discussions until learning of them through the media, but dismissed any concerns about the authority being marginalized.

The owner of Jack's Oyster House, Brad Rosenstein, who was appointed by Bruno, said the authority's job was to take up the convention project after "leaders" had "finalized it," describing them as "the powers that have to get everything all put together before we get together."

George Leveille, a Jennings appointee, said Bruno and Jennings talks were "good news" because it showed "the people in leadership are working to advance this, which is their job."

He said he was anxious for a meeting to be called, and suggested it was Pataki's responsibility. "I don't what is going on behind the scenes. I'm encouraged they are talking about it. ... When the time is appropriate, the authority will get involved."

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