Chris Churchill

Metro Columnist at Times Union (Albany)

Husband and father. Albany Times Union columnist. Send tips, info, love and complaints to [email protected]

Featured in: Favicon

timesunion.com Favicon

sfgate.com Favicon

chicagotribune.com Favicon

chron.com

seattletimes.com Favicon

cntraveler.com Favicon

kansascity.com Favicon

mensjournal.com Favicon

wcvb.com

mysanantonio.com + 50 more

Articles

Churchill: Applyrs chewed up Cerutti and spit him out

2 days ago | timesunion.com | Chris Churchill

In the end, it wasn't even close. Dorcey Applyrs smoked Dan Cerutti. She stomped him. She chewed him up and ... well, you get the picture, which is perhaps best painted by numbers from the city's Democratic Party primary. According to the preliminary tally, Applyrs, the city's auditor and soon to be its first Black mayor, received 52 percent of the vote while Cerutti, a tech executive, garnered 28 percent.
Churchill: Sheehan makes her case as Albany chooses her replacement

3 days ago | timesunion.com | Chris Churchill

ALBANY — A strange piece of mail arrived at city homes a few days ago amid the deluge from mayoral candidates. It touted the accomplishments of Mayor Kathy Sheehan. Sheehan? Is she running again?Nope. City Democrats will choose her replacement on Tuesday, ending a primary race in which the mayor has been a peripheral figure yet omnipresent.
Churchill: Why won't Troy let Bargain Grocery have the sign it needs?

6 days ago | timesunion.com | Chris Churchill

The opening of Bargain Grocery was a significant step for Troy, given that the River Street store sits at the edge of a neighborhood marked by decline and answers the call for fresh food in the city’s center. The conversion of its old industrial building has also won historic preservation honors, which speaks to its being unusual for a grocery. The store sits on a tricky site with a parking lot that’s a bit difficult to access, particularly from River Street.
Churchill: Troy's fight with developer Kevin Bette is hard to fathom

1 week ago | timesunion.com | Chris Churchill

When I started at the Times Union nearly 20 years ago, our business editor at the time, Marlene Kennedy, sent me out to meet individually with some of the area’s movers and shakers — the point being to help give a newcomer the lay of the land. One of the meetings was with Kevin Bette, the president of First Columbia development company. Among other things we discussed that day, he told me he shied away from media attention and that, unlike many developers, he avoided getting involved in politics.
Churchill: Our new rubble pile is a symbol of staggering incompetence

1 week ago | timesunion.com | Chris Churchill

A few days ago, a vacant but historic downtown building was demolished because it had been allowed to deteriorate so much that it was a danger to the public and could collapse. Now, you may assume that 4 E-Comm Square was victimized by another neglectful out-of-town owner, the kind that doesn’t care about Albany’s history or future, the type responsible for so many of the X-placard marked vacancies around town.
Churchill: 10 thoughts on the Albany mayor's race

2 weeks ago | timesunion.com | Chris Churchill

The primary that determines Albany’s next mayor is less than three weeks away, and, in a city where the outcome usually feels predetermined, we don’t know who will win. How about that? Article continues below this adYes, consider me geekily stoked about the lively and apparently competitive race Albany is enjoying. Maybe turnout will be halfway decent! Maybe we’ll get an unexpected result! The sun is shining, for now, and anything feels possible.
Actually Mr. Hegseth, Harvey Milk was a warrior

2 weeks ago | timesunion.com | Chris Churchill

In one of my earliest memories, I’m standing outside in a line with classmates at the George Peabody Elementary School in San Francisco’s Richmond District. When a solemn teacher asks if anyone knows why the flags in front of us are at half-staff, I raise my hand and say, “Because the mayor was killed.”The mayor was George Moscone, slain by former Board of Supervisors member Dan White in San Francisco’s City Hall.
Churchill: Albany is chock-full of secret Republicans!

3 weeks ago | timesunion.com | Chris Churchill

Dan Cerutti, currently a candidate for Albany mayor in the upcoming Democratic primary, was once a Republican. Shocking, I know. If you believe some of the folks supporting Dorcey Applyrs, also a mayoral candidate and the city’s auditor, that is a very important fact about Cerutti that every voter should never forget. The suggestion is that Cerutti can’t be trusted.
Churchill: For couple that met at St. Clare's, pension collapse was double troub

3 weeks ago | timesunion.com | Chris Churchill

SCHENECTADY — The collapse of the St. Clare’s pension fund was a stunning blow for 1,100 of the shuttered hospital’s former employees. But for John and Janet Rizzo, the hit was twice as hard. Janet worked for decades as a payroll specialist at the Schenectady hospital, where her mom had been a nurse, while John was a longtime maintenance worker there. As it happens, St. Clare’s is where the Rizzos met.
Churchill: Check out this Capital Region summer to-do list

4 weeks ago | timesunion.com | Chris Churchill

There are few things better than an upstate summer, and I'll question the sanity of anyone who suggests otherwise. Yes, we have long winters and springs that feel just like winter. Yes, we have autumns that ... well, actually, our autumns are also pretty great. But our fleeting summer is when this region shines, despite the mosquitoes, ticks, humidity, poison ivy, endless drone of lawn mowers and, worst of all, jackwagons who shoot off fireworks when it is not even close to the Fourth of July.