New Toolcat Roars Through District

The Central Business Improvement District has a new pair of hands shoveling snow and cleaning curb cuts. The CBID is currently leasing a 5600 Toolcat vehicle to assist with district clean-up.

The lease is on a trial basis. “We want to try it out, see if we like it,and see if it can handle the work load,” said Anthony Capece, Executive Director for the BID. The vehicle is equivalent to a 1-ton truck, with hauling capacity, and offers 40 different attachments to work with, including a sweeper and mini-bulldozer.

Before getting the Toolcat, the 16 miles of sidewalk clean-up was done by hand, with brooms and shovels, and, during the winter months, it took days for the five-person staff to complete. “It was tough,” said Stephen McBride, Supervisor of the BID Maintenance Crew.

“We couldn’t keep up with the weather, and I was wearing out the crew,” Capece added. Especially in a heavy winter like the one we’re having now, when there’s been no real thaw, and snow banks have built up along the sidewalk. “Everything’s hard as a rock,” Capece said.

But the Toolcat, emblazoned with the CBID logo, makes short work of the mountainous cliffs of snow. In seconds, Maintenance Crew member P.J. Stone scoops up a load of snow and carts it away. The vehicle is also great for punching out "cuts" in the snow banks and for spreading salt on crosswalks, to ensure safer pedestrian crossing. The new machine makes snow removal a pleasure (almost). The CBID helps the City and the property owners in keeping the crosswalks open in bad weather. It's just another way we try to make the BID area safer and cleaner.

“With the Toolcat the guys don’t mind the snow so much anymore,” said Capece, with a smile.

'Spare' Time: Bowling is affordable fun

Looking for a fun, affordable way to spend an evening with friends or family? Consider bowling! But whatever you do, don’t call the bowling center, a bowling alley. Bowlers don’t like that. After all, alleys call to mind unseemliness and subterfuge—and what’s more above-board than bowling?

“Calling it a bowling alley is a no-no,” said Bowler Hal Bieber. “It’s a bowling center.”

Bieber, 77, and his pal, Norman Greenfeld, 83, are both volunteers with the Albany Bowling Association, a district resident since 1974. The bowling association is a not-for-profit organization, with just over 6,000 members, and as a member of United States Bowling Congress, the association is responsible for organizing bowling leagues and competitions in the Capital Region. The organization is also the interceptor for national bowling tournaments and athletes, Bieber said.

Bieber, Association Manager, has been bowling since 1953, and began to work for the association after he retired from AT&T in 1986. At that time, the association had just over 24,000 members, spread across three groups, the American Bowling Congress, the Women’s International Bowling Congress, and the Young American Bowling Association, but in 2006, the association merged these groups to trim expenses. Today membership is dwindling because there are so many different leisure activities competing for people’s free time, said Bieber. “It’s just too many things going on, and people can only participate in so many things,” he said.

The association offices are chock full of reminders from bowling’s heyday. The walls are decorated with murals of bowlers in mid-swing, as well as the giant aluminum bowling pins that decorated Sunset Lanes on Central before its recent remodel. There’s also a hooked rug of President Richard Nixon bowling, allegedly taken from the White House Lane. The offices also contain a case full of trophies and memorabilia—photographs from the Moscow Musical Theater Troupe in 1988 (what else?) bowling—and certificates and plaques commemorating historic accomplishments. Against one wall is the association’s Hall of Fame, showcasing the names of meritorious achievers, in two categories: good deeds and good bowlers, Bieber explains.

What does it take to be a good bowler?

“Depends what you mean by a good bowler,” Bieber says immediately.

“There’s guys who throw the ball all kinds of ways and get strikes, but I wouldn’t define them as good bowlers,” adds Greenfeld. Greenfeld, a retired University at Albany psychology professor writes a column for the association’s newsletter, titled ‘Why Bowling?’ and has devoted a lot of time to meditating on what it takes to be a good bowler.

According to this savvy bowler, good bowlers need know-how and good technique, and they have to be consistent. Good bowlers are also mindful of the surfaces they’re working with, including the surface of the ball and the lane, Greenfeld said. The weight of the ball can affect how it rolls, and the relative slipperiness of the lane can also be a factor in getting that strike.

“You need physical coordination, mental stick-to-itiveness, and consistency,” said Greenfeld. “It’s mechanical and psychological.”

Recently, Greenfeld was diagnosed with tendonitis in his shoulder and has had to take a break from bowling. He was asked to join a Wii Bowling League, a video game version of the sport, but he declined. For him, bowling is largely social, and he doesn’t see the sport in sitting around video-gaming. “You can find sport now in twiddling your thumbs,” he joked.

When asked about the future of the sport, these two bowlers are thoughtful. “It’s not going to get any bigger,” Bieber allows. However, as long as people are looking for an affordable team sport that is inclusive and promotes camaraderie, bowling will be there, he said.

For those of you looking to try the sport, here’s some tips from our pros:

*Your arm should swing like a pendulum. A lot of people try to force the ball, instead just let it roll off.
*Your body should be bent forward at a 6 degree angle as you walk up to the line, and as you reach the line, you want to put a slight slide and bend in your knee to act as a shock absorber.
*Keep your eye on the target, and keep your head still.
*Whatever you do, don’t call it a bowling alley. It’s a bowling center.
*Likewise, don’t call them gutters, they’re called channels. By that token, a gutter ball shouldn’t be called a gutter ball, then? “Right,” said Bieber. However, after a moment’s pause, he sighs, and concedes, “It shouldn’t be, but it is.”

The Albany Bowling Association is located at 253 Central Avenue. For more information about the sport or about joining a league, call (518) 465-4878.

Everett Road puts best face forward for city visitors

The massive multi-million dollar road construction project on Central Avenue continues, and the latest piece heralds a new era for the city. Illuminated banner poles have been erected on both sides of Everett Road, to mark a grand new entrance to the city of Albany's main commerical corridor, Central Avenue.

Everett Road has been long recognized as one of the city's highest volume access points, with traffic from the east and west coming in from 1-90. The banner pole treatment will serve as a big entrance to the city, and will welcome thousands of visitors every year.

The banner poles are just the latest facelift for Everett. The busy road was also repaved this year, and to make pedestrian navigation easier, sidewalks, curbs, and medians were added. Look for world class flower plantings and a grand gateway sign.

Banners will most likely be mounted in the spring.

Salsa Latina Delivers Authentic Latin American Cuisine

On a recent snowy night, I braved a wintry storm to get a little heat at Salsa Latina. The new Latin American and Mexican grill on Central had come highly recommended--and not just by the locals, but by other Mexican food enthusiasts. These are people like me, who came from the southwest, and now find themselves stranded in a land of ice storms and ketchup parading as salsa. This little group of expats is always on the lookout for a spicy fix, and they said they found it at Salsa Latina, so my expectations were high when I went in that night--and I wasn't disappointed.

We started with chips, salsa, and queso. The queso wasn't any of that cheez whiz goop that you find other places--this was homemade, a thick white sauce in the true Mexican tradition. And the salsa was...well, fresh homemade salsa, and that's a high compliment.

We ordered Carne Asada, which came with two big steaks, pounded thin and seasoned just right. They had that fresh-off-the-grill flavor, and were served with avocado, pico de gallo, beans and rice and warm tortillas, so I could eat them with a knife and fork, or roll 'em up. We also ordered the combination platter with beef enchilada and tamale. The enchilada was smothered with the cheese the way it's supposed to be, and the tamale had a nice crumbly masa shell with a flavorful filling. The service was great with plenty of soda refills, and a couple of trips back to the kitchen for more salsa. Our bill for dinner two came to about $28.

Owner Luis Uzhca caters to a range of tastes here, with authentic dishes from Central America as well as Mexico, including Bistec Salteado and Pollo al Limon. This isn't your average Tex-Mex experience, and fresh-baked breads and import sodas only reinforce that fact. The interior is warm and inviting--lots of dark wood booths, Spanish tile, and rounded arcades. They offer dine-in and delivery, and a Sunday breakfast, which now tops my to-do list. If their huevos rancheros or breakfast burritos are anything like their dinner entrees, I may have found a new home.

Salsa Latina is located at 315 Central Avenue. Call 426-7050 for more information, or visit their website at www.misalsalatina.com

Auto dealerships shovel out this winter

Winter clean up isn't easy, and yet the car dealerships on Central Avenue are sparkling. From Armory Auto to Orange Motors to Lia Hyundai and Advantage Suzuki, Central Avenue is home to some of the biggest auto dealerships in the area. How do they manage to get all of winter's mess of those brand new hoods every day?

"It's a job, I'll tell you," said Armory Auto Salesperson Alan Alpart. With the spate of snow and ice storms we've had lately, the dealerships have to scrape the cars down almost weekly, and then drive them around the lot in a carefully choreographed series of moves, to allow for the snow plows to come through.

At Lia Hyundai, the staff cleans the 300 cars off by hand, using long snow brooms with foam pads, said Larry Burwell, Sales Manager at Lia. Once cleaned, they move them to one side of the lot so they can plow, then move them to the other side so that side can be plowed. "We move them around the lot all day," Burwell said. Usually, the whole staff teams up to make quick work of the clean-up project, he said. "You just get out there and do it."

At Armory, the sales staff runs the cars through the car wash they have on premises, and then hires an outside company to do the plowing and salting. With 800 cars on the lot, clean-up has to be strategic, Alpart said. They keep some cars inside, and try to clean the cars in front first, and then move back through the lines, depending on the time and weather, he said. Freezing rain is the worst, because the cars can't be banged up or scratched, so the ice has to be melted off.

"We hope that we don't have too much weather, but this year we've had some," Alpart said.

We wish you a short, dry winter, guys!