About Our Magazine & Blog “Smalbany, New York” UPDATED!

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About Us. SMB and You

Back in 2012, when the Smalbany Magazine & Blog, back then it was known locally as “The Blog,” it was obvious that something had to be done to get the facts out to the public. The spark that lighted the wildfire of public education and information disseminated by The Blog, was the corruption of local government, particularly in the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk area for starters, and the general scandal plaguing Capital Region politics at all levels. Tyrany reigned and Lady Liberty was weeping!

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What is the Capital Region of New York?

The Capital Region is located in the eastern part of mid-New York State, covering 5,199 square miles and refers to the four core counties (Albany, Rensselaer, Schenectady, and Saratoga) which constitute the US Census’s defined Metropolitan Statistical Area, but the census also includes Amsterdam in its Albany-Schenectady-Amsterdam Combined Statistical Area. Locally and ‘unofficially’ the Capital Region includes Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Warren and Washington counties and spans 5,336 square miles; the Capital Region is larger than the entire state of Connecticut. (Editor’s Note: Connecticut is the third-smallest state in the USA and is about one-tenth the size of New York state.) The reported population of the Capital Region is 1.2 million (2018 US Census).

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Editor’s Note:  According to the 2018 U.S. census, the Albany-Schenectady NY Combined Statistical Area CSA has an estimated population of 1,171,593. Adding the 2018 estimated population of Greene County (47,491) to the 2018 estimated population of the CSA (1,171,593) yields a total 2018 estimated Capital District population of 1,219,084.

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Why an online magazine and blog?

In 2019 88% of Capital Region households had at least one computer; 80% of households had a broadband Internet subscription. One fact that caught our interest is that, while there are 7 colleges in Albany alone, and 28 colleges within 50 miles enrolling a total of 89,572 students, the statistics for level of education in the region are rather disappointing: only 39.6% of persons 25+ have a bachelor’s degree or higher. What this means is that 8 out of 10 Capital Region residents can access online resources but only half of those residents (40%) have the education to understand what’s going on their home turf. We needed to get the information out to them as an alternate source of news and information, distinct from the partisan mainstream media.

Furthermore, various economic and business development organizations unrealistically inflate the opportunities and potential of the greater Albany area. That’s one of the reasons why Smalbany felt it necessary to step forward and provide first-hand, impartial reporting on what’s actually going on in Smalbany. Government and private business and commercial interests, including the real-estate scammers, were providing cosmetized portraits of the Capital Region that simply were not factual; in fact, they were spreading conspicuous misinformation about the area! That has been going on forever!

The Smalbany Magazine & Blog, now a stable component of the Capital Region information landscape,  started about 10 years ago in defense of a local resident who was getting crucified by what we then and still call the Coeymanazis, a corrupt group of self-interested scoundrels, figuratively Nazis in the worst sense of the term. Our investigations proved that local police, local officials, local news media, and even teachers were involved in the criminality, the immorality, the corruption; many still are involved. Smalbany found a niche: to defend those who couldn’t or wouldn’t defend themselves. That was ten years ago. We made a difference then, and we’re continuing to make headway in improving our community.

The Smalbany blog began as a journalistic experiment and an experience in integrity and truth.

Everything, even something that appears to be beautiful, has a sometimes sinister shadow side. There’s something about small cities and the little towns that cluster around them. Somehow there’s a sort of contagion that happens. Albany and the towns that surround that provincial municipality, including the towns in the foothills of the Catskills, in southeastern Albany County (Coeymans, Ravena, Selkirk) most of Greene County, western Columbia County, Rensselaer County and Schenectady County seem to share the arrogance, anger, anxiety, and apathy that comes with being small and declining. Much of the negative can be attributed to public and private abuse, and the exposure and vulnerability necessitates a defensiveness or in the worst cases, a species of treachery and narcissism, a sociopathology manifested by low self-esteem, denial, envy, arrogance, divisiveness, cowardice, perhaps akin to response to feeling threatened, a survival instinct from a primeval past. These conditions give rise to pack and herd behavior, and what we call “sheeple.”

When people become frustrated and desperate to be heard or to find some sort of justice in a confusing and sometimes adversarial and flawed system, where the cards are stacked against the victim confronting law enforcement and the courts, they frequently turn to Smalbany for help and support, and they get it. We’ve intervened in several local situations where mothers have turned to us to get the word out about law enforcement botched investigations and the failure of local government to do their jobs.

There’s an awful lot happening in the region in the Capital Region, the region we call Smalbany, We follow Albany, Ravena, Coeymans, New Baltimore, and neighboring municipalities and backwater hill towns, just to name a few of the hotbeds of juicy scandal and banditry, and corruption that plague these areas. Faces have changed over the past 10 years but it’s business as usual in the Smalbany Region!

If the residents are not on the attack, or in someone’s pocket, they tend to lay low and let the loudest among them fight it out. You’re safe if you have some dirt on them or if you can afford to sue. Only the attorneys come out on top in a lawsuit, and local attorneys are at the top of the Smalbany Scoundrels List (e.g., George McHugh (Ravena), Michael Biscone (Ravena), Brendan Baynes (Ravena), but there are also local Town and Village Justices, state and local law enforcement personnel, local and state governement officials, public servants serving themselves, and even so-called “private” citizens doing their dirty work.

Local news media like News Center 6, 10, 13 are failures, and the print-media-gone-bad like the Albany Times Useless, the Ravena News Herald, the Capital Region Independent Media, the Johnson Newspaper Group are anything but ‘independent,’ and publish partisan rubbish, snapping up any putrid bait they can find, and rushing to spill ink–hoping it won’t backfire. Fact-checking? Forget about that, especially if real facts will adversely affect your handlers’ agendas. Sound familiar? It should, because it’s what’s happening all over the country in mainstream media, isn’t it? The people are drowning in “breaking news,” but starving for true facts and ethical journalism!

So much of the information comes as attacks in ambush, under cover of darkness, and most of the time you won’t know where the shots are coming from. (This has actually happened in the Town of Coeymans, where a business owner was attacked and the local and state police let the case go cold, despite very solid leads and evidence. Politics at work? Do ya think?) Local residents tend to be close-lipped, in hiding; most fear retribution from the power cliques.

Right from the start, Smalbany aimed and continues to aim at changing that through the power of freedom of expression and courageous investigative journalism. We like to tell it like it really is and publish what the logrolling reporters won’t touch either to please their liberal cowering editors or to save their own necks, to avoid rocking the boat, or because they’re in that special inner circle, on the local A-list, and up to their necks in corruption themselves.

You should also know that we encourage your participation in this magazine and blog — it’s your Smalbany, and it’s all about you, and for our community — but this is not one of those hit-and-run sites where you can leave a nasty anonymous message and hide behind a fake identity (Think Facebook). We require all contributors to have a valid e-mail address when leaving a comment. The e-mail will not be published but it just keeps the game clean. We hope you appreciate our efforts. We also ask you to sign your comments. If you have a comment, we think you should have the courage to own your comment. Besides, if you get our interest, we may want to talk to you more about what you have to share.

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We hope you’ll stick with us and send us your comments. Tell us what and how you feel. Stand up! You don’t have to take it anymore!

Be welcome and enjoy your visit!

P.s. If you like this blog please copy this link https://wp.me/P2jPFe-2 and paste it into an e-mail or a Facebook post to your family, friends, and contacts. Help to grow this important information source and make life better for all of us!

Smalbany Magazine & Blog is totally free and never has accepted favors or advertising. That’s because we want to remain totally independent and impartial. Our work is expensive not only in terms of the time we spend following up, researching, investigating and writing for our community, we also have overheads like gas, office supplies, Internet service providers, etc. We cover those expenses out of our own pockets. But you can help out by pledging or making a one-time donation. Please visit our Patreon funding page at Smalbany Magazine & Blog. Thanks in advance for your support!

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Populations Counties Included in the Capital Region of New York State (2020 vs. 2010 % Change)

County	2010 Population	2020 Population	Rate of change
Albany	304,204	314,848	3.5%
Columbia	63,096	61,570	-2.4%
Fulton	55,531	53,324	-4.0%
Greene	49,221	47,931	-2.6%
Montgomery	50,219	49,532	-1.4%
Rensselaer	159,429	161,130	1.1%
Saratoga	219,607	235,509	7.2%
Schenectady	154,727	158,061	2.2%
Schoharie	32,749	29,714	-9.3%
Warren	65,707	65,737	0.0%
Washington	63,216	61,302	3.0%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

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Special Notice: We make every effort to be truthful, complete, fair, and balanced on this blog; therefore, if you see anything that you know to be false or incorrect, or if you have additional information to clarify any issue, please let us know by e-mailing your information or by leaving a comment. It’s very important to us that we don’t fall into the same category as those whom this blog is intended to expose. Thank you very much in advance for your cooperation and assistance!As Regards Copyright If any image or excerpt should appear and if the alleged owner claims copyrights, we defend our use of that image or excerpt under the doctrine of “fair use.’ While we do not generally remove material for which copyright is alleged or claimed, we are pleased to include an appropriate credit or a link to the relevant site, if not already provided.