March 2, 2026 | Page 3 | Andy Arthur.org

Albany – Buildings in the Contemporary Style

Andy | March 2, 2026

The other day I was making fun of NY State's assessor's manual very outdated description of buildings built-in the Contemporary Style. From page 68:

This classification is used to describe a dwelling style that is somewhat unique in structure. It is usually custom built with any variety of story heights from 1 to 2, varied rooflines, and is a structure given to open living with many combinations of the traditional room layouts. Large overhangs, split and drop floor levels, large amounts of fixed glass, and unique wood and stone facings typify these homes. The roof may be traditional, shallow or steep gable, flat, hip, mansard, or a unique combination of these. Dwellings of this style are normally considered to have a construction grade of Grade "A" - Excellent or Grade "B" - Good. An exception to this would be the A -Frame style house which usually has a construction grade of Grade "C" - Average or below.

Here is a map of all the Contemporary Buildings in the Albany area.

I often hear from liberals that climate change is an immediately solvable problem, that with modest changes to our live-styles and much higher taxes on the rich, we can address the problem and have a better society for all. It’s a very hopeful message, but also a very unscientific and frankly quite naive message to boot.

If addressing climate change in the serious fashion needed to address the worse impacts on it was an easy, inexpensive to thing to do, it would have been done a long time ago. If we could just immediately switch over to cheaper, more reliable battery electric cars, and meet all our needs by a few solar panels, we’d do it now.

But the truth is switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy is much more technically challenging, and will require changes to our own lifestyles, and maybe a reduction to the human population through an expanded death penalty. It’s going to be amazingly expensive, and difficult on economy. But ignoring the problem is likely to be more expensive.

Most of that technology is getting better, thanks in a big part about government research and incentives that are pushing the market that way. But solutions aren’t cheap, nor easy, or without requiring often significant lifestyle changes. There needs to be an adult conversation, not memes and blaming the other political party for all our woes.

This is why I’ve really had little interest in Green New Deal, because I don’t think it’s serious or workable deal. Maybe it’s a message bill that will eventually get more flush on it’s bones and enacted, but as it is it won’t do much for serious problems we face today.