THE CONVERSATION / CITY & COMMUNITY REVIEW
Bring your experience.
Your questions.
Your honest opinion.
This is an invitation to examine an Albany native’s ideas—not an announcement of an approved development.
Read the illustrated proposal ↗THE PERSON BEHIND THE IDEAS
Albany roots.
A practical perspective.
I’m Garry Holmes. I was born and raised in Albany, and I have worked on its homes.
My background includes buying, rehabilitating and reselling residential properties, mortgage work and a previously held real estate appraisal assistant license. I have also met with fire department personnel and scheduled occupancy inspections.
I want to connect that experience with what cities, land banks, residents and housing organizations are already doing. These ideas build on existing work; they do not claim to replace it.
THE QUESTIONS THAT MATTER
Challenge the thinking.
Make the next version stronger.
Where do vacant-lot sales and the lottery idea fit?
Which existing sale pathways work well? Could a drawing select qualified applicants for the opportunity to buy vacant lots at published prices? The selection would cover land only. Building a home and financing it would be separate later steps. What would ensure lawful, fair access?
What would make resident ownership last?
How should primary residence, upkeep and resale protections work together? Which existing requirements should we learn from, and how should hardship be treated?
Which housing and ownership choices are missing?
Where would rehabilitation, a single-family home, a duplex, a triplex, a condo or a cooperative make the most sense? How could residents help shape those choices?
Who else needs a place at the table?
Residents and renters, neighborhood groups, city staff, land banks, designers, builders and housing counselors all bring different knowledge. Include qualified minority- and veteran-owned businesses without claiming certification or partnerships we do not have.
LOCAL PARTICIPATION / PART OF THE ORIGINAL VISION
Make room for
more local expertise.
Include qualified minority- and veteran-owned businesses in the conversation about design, construction, rehabilitation and professional services. Use transparent scopes and official directories to identify capable participants. No current business certification, procurement preference or partnership is claimed for this project.
New York State MWBE resources ↗New York State service-disabled veteran business resources ↗
Veteran status alone does not establish service-disabled veteran business eligibility.
THE DISCUSSION LIBRARY
Read it.
See it.
Respond.
The revised 27-page proposal and 28-slide PowerPoint include the vacant-lot sales, bid and proposed vacant-lot lottery ideas, alongside the housing concepts and regional references. The proposal and presentation are available below for constructive feedback.
Updated illustrated proposal PDF ↗Editable PowerPoint ↗
Source register & image credits ↗
New vacant-lot discussion ↗
NO ENDORSEMENT EXPECTED.
What would
you change?
A correction, a local example, a practical objection or a referral can make this stronger.
Open an email to Garry ↗infill@simionmgmt.com
Opens your email application. Nothing is submitted by this page. No mortgage application, project approval or funding commitment is requested.
YOUR LOCAL KNOWLEDGE / HELP SHAPE THE NEXT VERSION
What have we missed?
Tell us where the ideas fit, where they fall short, and what other possibilities deserve attention. New suggestions are welcome. Which idea would you explore first, what should change, and who else should we hear from? Please identify a correction and source, an existing effort to learn from, a resident-protection concern, and one idea worth developing or dropping. Please share general feedback rather than account numbers, medical details or housing applications.
Local builders and skilled trades ↗
Youth skills and mentoring ↗
Cities, utilities and site preparation ↗
Education, workforce and reentry partners ↗
These links open an email in your email application. You choose whether to send it. This website does not save an inquiry form.
CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK / HOW WE IMPROVE
Listen carefully. Explain the changes.
The proposed review approach is to record each concern, check the evidence, and identify what to correct, clarify, investigate or leave open. A point already mentioned may still need clearer wording. Differing views deserve a reasoned response; not every suggestion will lead to the same change.
This is a manual review approach. No automatic reply, guaranteed response time or live feedback database is offered by this website.
FIVE QUESTIONS / YOUR CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK
Tell us what to change, develop or drop
Please identify: (1) a factual correction and its source; (2) an existing local effort to complement; (3) a resident-protection or hardship concern; (4) a parcel, utility or site-readiness issue; and (5) one idea worth developing or dropping. Reply to infill@simionmgmt.com. Record feedback, check the evidence and explain changes or unresolved questions; no automatic reply or response deadline is promised.
Open an email with your feedback ↗Opens your email application. This page does not submit or store a form.
IDEAS FOR DISCUSSION / OCTOBER 18 REVIEW
More voices at the table.
Resident knowledge, qualified local businesses and independent professional feedback belong together.
Residents and renters
Ask existing residents what the block needs. Explore tenant-to-owner counseling and ways for neighborhood renters to learn about opportunities. Any eligibility or preference would need separate review. Use neighborhood organizations, meetings and accessible formats or languages where useful, alongside email.
Local businesses and skills
Invite qualified regional builders, modular suppliers and trades, including minority- and veteran-owned businesses. Official MWBE and service-disabled veteran directories are specific resources, not proof of this proposal's certification or a procurement preference.
Lenders, appraisers and insurers
Ask about appraisal gaps, small-building ownership structures, insurance and the preparation owner-buyers may need. These are requests for professional feedback, not mortgage applications or financing commitments. Record feedback and explain accepted changes or unresolved concerns.
IDEAS FOR DISCUSSION / OCTOBER 18 REVIEW
Local experience. An open purpose.
An Albany perspective, with room to learn from the wider Capital District.
Why I am contributing
I was born and raised in Albany. My background includes residential rehabilitation, mortgage work, a previously held real estate appraisal assistant license, meetings with fire department personnel and scheduling occupancy inspections. I claim no current professional license here.
What this packet asks for
I am sharing an Albany resident's ideas and inviting constructive feedback. This packet requests no land allocation or contract. Any later business proposal would state my role and interests separately. My purpose here is to test the ideas, recognize current work and learn what should change, develop or be dropped.
A regional conversation
Albany is the starting focus. Schenectady, Troy and Rensselaer offer additional conversations and comparisons. Local conditions and program availability differ. The four-lot example illustrates a wider idea; it is not a promise of eight units or the limit of a regional opportunity.
IDEAS FOR DISCUSSION / OCTOBER 18 REVIEW
Build skills alongside homes.
Explore youth pathways while welcoming older career changers, returning workers and people rebuilding after incarceration.
Match learning to lawful tasks
Municipalities, schools and qualified employers could explore carpentry and electrical learning, mentoring and possible paid pathways. Classroom, shop learning, shadowing and employment are different. Under-18 site work must be legally permitted; supervision alone is insufficient.
Connect local tasks to a wider pipeline
Modular production may occur in a factory, while foundations, utilities, setting and finishing need qualified crews. Ask which work could stay in the region and support learning across a pipeline of projects. Do not assume one four-lot example supports a training program or reduces costs.
Work through qualified organizations
Invite Habitat, schools, BOCES, colleges, unions and employers to improve the suggestions. Ask about transport, tools, schedules and applicable licensing, insurance or bonding barriers. Training should build skills without replacing qualified trades or assuming unpaid labor. No partnership, placement or job is offered.
EXPLORE THE NUMBERS
A clearer homebuying picture.
Change a home price, location and household budget. Explore local assistance, voucher assumptions and the monthly share you would need to cover.
Program leads and conditional examples are not approvals. Your inputs stay in your browser unless you choose to save or share a file.
Open the Homebuying Explorer ↗