Dominick enjoys serving the residents of the First Ward in the South End of Albany, New York and working on ways to make Albany a more desirable place in which to live.
List of all introduced and co-sponsored legislation by Dominick Calsolaro, download PDF format or download Word document.
Council Member Calsolaro introduced the following:
Ordinance Number 1.11.09
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING PART 3 (DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY) OF CHAPTER 42 (DEPARTMENTS AND COMMISSIONS) OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF ALBANY TO REPEAL ARTICLE XI-A ENTITLED “GUN VIOLENCE TASK FORCE” AND TO ADD A NEW ARTICLE XI-A ENTITLED “GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION IMPLEMENTATION TEAM.”
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| (L-R) Councilman Calsolaro is joined by President Faith Takes on their recent tour. |
CALSOLARO LEADS TOUR OF REGIONAL EDUCATIONAL CAREER COLLEGE FACILITY
In an effort to connect with the students of the Capital Region on a more personal level, Albany City Common Councilman Dominick Calsolaro, along with County Legislators Wanda Willingham and Norma Chapman met with Faith Takes, President of Mildred Elley/Austin School of Spa Technology. The campus, located on 855 Central Avenue in Albany is shared by the two colleges and is equipped with state-of-the-art classrooms, clinics and student service areas for the Austin School of Spa Technology and newly renovated space designed specifically for Mildred Elley. It allows for the staff and faculty to fuse their expertise and experiences together to share them with the students in a more efficient and effective manner. Continue reading . . .
Albany announces that it has (finally) struck a deal for public access TV
Published on 1/28/2010 by Metroland written by by Ali Hibbs, METROLAND
The city of Albany has an nounc ed plans for a public access cable television system (including educational and government channels) more than 30 years after neighboring cities such as Schenectady and Bethlehem implemented similar public services. Monday, Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings and Common Councilman John Rosenzweig (Ward 8) announced a new franchise agreement between the city and Time Warner Cable. Along with all the formal verbiage covering legal and geographical considerations, this new, 10-year contract contains a section titled Public, Educational and Government Access Channels and Service. Under the terms of this part of the new agreement, Time Warner will provide funding for equipment to be provided at five locations for training, programming and broadcasting purposes. The cost to Time Warner will not be more than $217,000 until 2013, at which point Albany may request up to $217,000 more for repairs and additional equipment. A board of directors - Read more
Albany expands plastic types to cut volume of trash sent to Rapp Road
Published on 1/14/2010 by the Times Union written by JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer
ALBANY -- The city is expanding plastic recycling in hopes of more than doubling the percentage of trash diverted from the Rapp Road landfill in the coming decade. In addition to the kinds of plastic that residents can already dump in their blue recycling bins -- those labeled with numbers 1 and 2 -- the city is now accepting those with numbers 3 through 7, Mayor Jerry Jennings announced Wednesday. The new class of recyclables includes plastic drinking cups, yogurt containers, butter containers, pancake syrup bottles and prescription pill bottles. Plastics that have no number stamped on them are not recyclable. The expanded recycling -- which is aimed at keeping non-biodegradable material out of the landfill while reducing the overall amount of trash flowing into it -- was made possible by $150,000 that the Common Council added to the 2010 budget. To boost awareness, the Department of General Services has put together a new - Read more
Facing state aid cuts, Mayor Jennings calls for greater financial efficiency
Published on 1/5/2010 by the Times Union written by JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer
ALBANY -- An outside financial management firm will scrutinize the workings of city government in the coming months to help sidestep "financial tsunami" in 2011, when, among other things, state payments to the city in lieu of taxes are scheduled to plummet nearly $8 million, Mayor Jerry Jennings announced Monday. The city will also convene a task force of outside financial experts to examine the fiscal difficulties special to Albany as a capital city, such as the abundance of tax-exempt property, Jennings said in his annual State of the City Address, which focused largely on Albany's place in the larger state fiscal crisis. Jennings said that outside review will include exploring the possibility of collecting revenue from agencies and nonprofit organizations in the city that "are engaged in essentially for profit activity" -- a potentially controversial undertaking. The panel will also be asked to investigate whether the inequitable distribution of state - Read more
Albany's diverse new leadership hopes to hold up through budget woes
Published on 1/1/2010 by the Times Union written by JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer
ALBANY -- Mayor Jerry Jennings artfully dodges talking about legacy. Ask him about how, if he serves the full four-year term he starts today he'll be the second longest-tenured mayor in the city's history, and he'll just as likely change the subject to the work the remains to be done. But it's that work -- namely, confronting the increasingly sharp budget pressures as the flow of state aid slows -- that may figure prominently in how Jennings' fifth term and perhaps his mayoral tenure as a whole are judged. It will also likely loom large in the mayor's State of the City Address next week in the same City Hall rotunda where Jennings, 61, spoke of unity in government on Thursday after taking the oath of office from Justice Anthony V. Cardona. And if the new city government sworn in with him -- perhaps the most diverse ever -- is to succeed in - Read more
Albany makes it illegal to let a commercial vehicle idle more than 5 minutes
Published on 12/22/2009 by the Times Union written by JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer
ALBANY -- City lawmakers on Monday night made it illegal for any commercial vehicle's engine to idle for more than five minutes. The new ordinance, which expands on existing restrictions on buses, stems largely from complaints out of the Mansion Neighborhood about the all-night noise from some trucks associated with shows and other events at the Times Union Center, said Councilman Dominick Calsolaro. Calsolaro, who represents the 1st Ward, originally sought to limit idling for all motor vehicles, similar to broader restrictions already in place in New York City, but encountered resistance from some on the council. The amended ordinance applies only to commercial vehicles as defined in state vehicle and traffic law and excludes emergency equipment and television news trucks. Calsolaro cited environmental, public health and quality of life reasons for the ordinance. "The people in the Mansion Neighborhood actually called the police," Calsolaro said of one event at - Read more
Albany residents say next police head must bridge "disconnect" with public
Published on 12/4/2009 by the Times Union written by JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer
ALBANY -- Residents want the next police chief to have proven experience in community policing, to be "culturally competent" and to be able to bridge the disconnect not just with neighborhoods where officers are viewed suspiciously as an occupying force but with rank-and-file members of a department suffering from depleted morale. That was the message to the eight members of the unprecedented panel charged with finding a successor to former police Chief James Tuffey, whose abrupt September retirement has left the 328-member force leaderless for three months. But some of the most poignant advice was for the task force members themselves, coming from 46-year-old West Hill resident Jason Thomas, who urged them not to waste the opportunity to truly involve residents in a city growing tired of meetings and hollow promises with little action. "We've got meetings about meetings about meetings," Thomas, a lifelong city resident - Read more
Published on 11/17/2009 by the Times Union written by JORDAN CARLEO-EVANGELIST, Staff writer
ALBANY -- Councilman Dominick Calsolaro will be the guest speaker a meeting Wednesday of Citizens for Public Transportation. Calsolaro said he was asked to discuss recent cutbacks at the Capital District Transportation Authority and the elimination of stops on numerous routes throughout the region, including on bus routes that serve Albany, Waterford, Troy, Watervliet, Latham, Schenectady and Crossgates Mall in Guilderland. Calsolaro, who represents the 1st Ward, said he will talk about how the elimination of the stops adversely affect disabled riders. CDTA has said the moves boost the efficiency of its service by moving from stops every block to every several blocks, an industry standard, while also helping the authority cut its operating budget. At least two routes that serve Duanesburg and Westerlo have been eliminated outright. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Albany Public Library's main branch at 161 Washington Ave - Read more
November 10, 2009 Mr. Angelo Marcuccio DEC Division of Environmental Permits 1130 N. Westcott Road Schenectady, New York 12306-2014 Re.: Waste Management, Port of Albany Material Recycling Facility, add Municipal Solid Waste DEC Application ID #4-0101-00185/00002 Dear Mr. Marcuccio: Waste Management of New York, LLC (WM) has applied to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) for authorization to add MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE (MSW) to the types of waste they are presently authorized to accept at their facility in the Port of Albany. The residents of the South End live in an “environmental justice area” which requires WM to notify the public about their proposal and to conduct information sessions. A public information meeting was held on Thursday, November 5 at 6:00pm at the Albany Housing Authority’s offices, 200 South Pearl Street. Many of the people who attended this meeting spoke against WM’s proposal to expand the types - Read more
Recycling center owner renews try for state OK to handle garbage
Published on 10/22/2009 by the Times Union written by BRIAN NEARING, Staff writer, Times Union
ALBANY -- The owner of a recycling center at the Port of Albany is making another attempt to get state permission to handle garbage. Waste Management of New York LLC wants permission from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to receive up to 749 tons a day of municipal solid waste at its recycling center on Church Street at the port, according to an application filed in March with the state Department of Environmental Conservation. "I can't believe they are trying this again," said Common Council member Dominick Calsolaro, a First Ward Democrat from the South End whose district is next to the port. "I have a lot of problems with this. It will mean a lot of garbage trucks driving through city streets, along with risks of vermin, odors and birds." Parent company Waste Management Inc. is one of the largest haulers of household garbage in the U.S. and the - Read more
Published on 10/8/2009 by the Times Union written by PAUL NELSON, Staff writer
ALBANY -- In her 20 years in the city's First Ward, Vickie Smith has seen the ups and downs in this diverse neighborhood of brownstones off Madison Avenue. But the daylight stabbing Wednesday of Edward Duffy, 19, adjacent to her home and rental property, located side by side, is unsettling to this 49-year old mother of two. "Do I feel worried and harm? No, but I don't want children to feel that stress," said Smith afterward. She was among about three dozen neighborhood residents at a candlelight vigil held near the knifing a few hours after it happened. A police car's lights and yellow police crime tape that remained at the scene were visible from where the crowd gathered at Grand Street and Ash Grove Place. Smith told the crowd, which included many young children, including her own daughter, that "ignorance and poverty is not an excuse to take from - Read more