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Published on: 2/19/2008
Last Visited: 2/19/2008
This is a view that committee member Patrick Quinn doesn't share.He calls much of this hype surrounding City Hall and the proposed Judge deal "misinformation."
"Up to the time that I was asked to be on the committee, I have heard these rumors," Quinn said, about the decrepit state of City Hall.
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"The question of whether it needs to be torn down is a serious issue," said Quinn, the former Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute dean of architecture.
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There are many questions, Quinn and Zalewski said, and not nearly enough answers.And while the administration operates under the presumption that one answer satisfies all-that the Judge deal is the best and only deal-how is the committee or the Troy City Council suppose to know?
No one has put forth a detailed estimate of what it will cost to transform the building at 1776 6th Ave. from the cubicle-filled and dreary office building of a private corporation to what members of the committee believe ought to be an open, inviting building of the public's business.The Verizon building is almost the antithesis of a city hall, Quinn said, pointing out that currently, the entrance lobby of the Verizon building is not used; employees use the back entrance, which is just a small, single door.
The question of how to transform this building dogs the proposal, and more importantly, Quinn stressed, the question of cost has not been satisfactorily answered.With just the cursory examination he was afforded Saturday, Quinn is certain that any number, including the $400,000 number that has been bandied about by the administration, is an arbitrary and meaningless estimation.No one at this point has done the due diligence to know how much it will cost to prepare the Verizon building for the city's offices.
Quinn said that he could just as easily claim that it would cost $2 million, and be no more out of line than the administration.