If the Board of Zoning Appeals allows the ridiculous application to turn St. Joseph's Church into a brewery/restaurant/pub to go forward, they will have destroyed one of the most architecturally intact neighborhoods in the city of Albany.
Susan Holland, executive director of Historic Albany, which owns the building, professes to be about preservation, but obviously that is not the case. Her agenda is to take this building, which Historic Albany has been unable to maintain, and unload its responsibility at any and all cost to the neighborhood. If this goes forward, the residential zoning of the whole neighborhood will change to commercial and Ten Broeck Street will become another Lark Street.
Some people call the church a "jewel" and a structure to be protected; however, if you have destroyed the setting, even a jewel loses its luster and beauty.
I beseech you: This plan will destroy this beautiful neighborhood for the sake of a few people making a profit.
RICHARD MARCLEY AND TALMADGE LACY
Albany