Albany is in the need for landfill space and cash from tipping fees. The city also has a crime and blight problem. Imagine if the city leaders could solve both problems, by removing a blighted urban neighborhood in the process?

Sheridan Hollow has long been one of the most blighted areas in the city. It has been even featured on the television show, Jeopardy! as a symbol of urban blight. It is where a majority of crimes occur within the city, and is an empty depression on the landscape that could be used for dumping garbage, while eventually creating a quality park or nature preserve that is level to downtown.

Building a downtown landfill makes a lot of sense for Albany and the Capital Region. Downtown Albany, by the city’s own analysis is the center of the wasteshed. It would reduce trucking costs to dump garbage in Sheridan Hollow, especially compared to more distant sites. It would be a lower greenhouse gas alternative, and the landfill gases could be pumped into the Sheridan Hollow Steam Plant to help heat state office buildings.