Rensselaer mayoral race showcases distinct goals
RENSSELAER, N.Y » Mayor Daniel Dwyer has been in office for just over 10 years now and the Democrat is looking to make his term as the city’s 32nd mayor even longer. However, he will have some competition to beat out in this year’s election.
Carl Gottstein Jr., a Republican, decided that this year would be the right year to try to bring changes to the city.
Gottstein, 52, was born in Albany and moved as a teen with his mother and brother to Pearl City, Hawaii, and then went on his own to London, England. After spending a few years in England, Gottstein then spent a few years in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, before arriving back in Albany in the late 80’s and to the City of Rennselaer in the late ’90s. He has been a resident since then. Gottstein said that he has run for political positions in past year, citing how he lost the Assembly 108th District seat in 2014 to Assemblyman John McDonald III, D-Cohoes. Gottstein currently works as the Director of Social Media for the New York State Rifles and Pistols Association and an associate editor of Bullet Magazine. Gottstein has two children who went through the Rensselaer City School District.
Gottstein said that he wanted to run for mayor this year because he feels that the city has been in “auto-pilot” for many years.
“Our city has been in auto-pilot for about a decade, I want to see a more hands-on approach,” said Gottstein. “We basically have a mayor who is vacant; he leaves the city half the year and he is not hands-on or aggressive with improving the condition of the city. Residents are more interested in having an engaged mayor, who is aggressively pursuing the best interest for the city of Rensselaer.”
Dwyer, 82, was first elected to office in November 2005, taking office in January 2006. Born in Cohoes, Dwyer’s family moved to Rensselaer when he was a oneyear-old. Dwyer is a graduate of St. John’s Academy and later, St. Michael’s College with a degree in Business Administration. Upon graduating from St. Michael’s, he entered pilot training in the United States Air Force, receiving his pilot wings one year later. Upon his discharge four and half years later, he went to work for Pan American Airways, where he was a career pilot for 26 years, retiring in 1991.
Dwyer and his wife, Kathleen, had just celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary in September of
2011, before her passing that December. He has two children and is the grandfather of five grandchildren. His son, Daniel, has been the Director of the Youth Bureau of the City of Rensselaer since 2002.
Prior to becoming mayor, Dwyer served on the Civil Service Commission in the City of Rensselaer in 1963 and the Zoning Commission from January 2002 until December 2005.
In the eight plus years that he has been Mayor of Rensselaer, a part-time position in which he applies full time hours to, Dwyer said he and his Council members have accomplished moving
City Hall to its new location, moved the Police Department to their new home, built a new Department of Public Works Garage, built a new North End Fire House, moved the Rensselaer City Court into the current City Hall location and relocated the Rensselaer Library. Experiencing financial problems when he first took office, Dwyer moved to stabilize the financial situation of the city. After three years, the City of Rensselaer was awarded an “A” Bond rating and after five years, received an “AAA” rating.
“I want to finish up some things that are started,” said Dwyer. “[I enjoy] trying to get the city to move forward and getting it to that point; we have done a lot of infrastructure work here.”
Dwyer said that some of
his other accomplishments include not having a tax increase for the past three years.
“We got our costs under control and we watch where every penny goes now,” explained Dwyer. “I am also very proud of our esplanade along the river and our trials through the river there and we just got another grant to extend the trail further.”
Gottstein said that one of his major campaign goals has been to try to capitalize more on tourism throughout the city.
“One of my major goals is to capitalize on the tourism that we get here for striper fishing,” said Gottstein. “During the season we have a tremendous amount of influx on the rivers, but we don’t really capture
that in the rest of the city and I’d like to see a pier system built along our river. I would like to see more development in tourism because there is more to capture here. We have a very busy train station in the city and we’re not capturing economic impact of it.”
Dwyer said that some of his goals if re-elected again would be to continue with smart financing and to finish other projects that have been started under his administration.
“The goal is to get this De Laet’s Landing done, to finish up the hollow and get some more money to finish up the trail down there,” said Dwyer. “I want to continue to keep stabilizing the finances and to also get more businesses into the city.”