Albany Mayor Asks The City For Their Top Priorities

On November 4th, 2025, Dorcey Applyrs won her election and became Albany's first Black mayor in history. She was the first new mayor in 12 years, and wanted to get right to work.

She wants to grow the city, as all mayors do, but she's doing her part to ask us what we think, and we'll be taking a look at those answers today...

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How to Survey a City

Within her first 100 days, Mayor Applyrs decided to get a finger on the pulse of the city. To do so, she surveyed 6,359 Albany residents, 5,387 of which responded. In doing so, she collected over 173,000 data points, making this the largest public engagement campaign in the city's history.

What Did We Find Out?

The major issue discussed in this survey is the city's desire to bring vacant storefronts and buildings back to life. There are so many places across the city that closed their doors years ago, and never reopened, which can lead to Albany feeling "dead" from the outside.

Another major issue that was agreed upon by almost all surveyed peoples was the need to clean up the city. Picking up trash, fixing sidewalks, filling potholes, etc.

Reducing nonviolent arrests and providing more stable mental health care in high-stress situations were also topics of discussion, with mostly younger audiences caring about these.

There is so much work to be done to turn Albany into the city that we want, and it seems that for the first time in a long time, they're taking a step in the right direction.