Troy

When a developer proposed affordable housing at the old Leonard Hospital site, the backlash was ugly.

That was in 2017. Under the proposal, the developer would raze the building at no cost to the city. At last, a dangerous and crumbling eyesore was set to fall.

Then came the objections from some neighbors on Troy's northern edge, a fierce backlash motivated by those who might live in the development. The poor. Black people. Outsiders.

No, not every opponent in Lansingburgh was motivated by prejudice. But some were, and that's not just my opinion.

Dean Bodnar, then a Republican on the City Council, talked about the ugly "undertones" he heard from opponents. Mark Robarge penned a Troy Record column on the backlash that was headlined, "Prejudice by any other name is still prejudice."

Most troubling was how some on the City Council responded. Support for the project crumbled, killing it. Council President Carmella Mantello, who initially tried to counteract ugly misinformation spreading on Facebook, was among those who flipped. She was up for re-election that year.

Here was how Robarge saw it:

"What shut down this project," he wrote, "was nothing more than bigotry on the part of opponents that was acknowledged, if not encouraged, by council members who provided the 'no' votes."

That was exactly right. The vote was a profile in expediency, not courage.

Mark McGrath refused to flip. Describing the behavior of his neighbors as one of the more disturbing things he had seen in politics, the Republican from Lansingburgh stood against the mob and voted for the affordable housing.

"It'll cost me votes, no doubt about it," McGrath said at the time. "I'm not going to sell my soul for votes."

The last few days have not been good for McGrath. Last week, an old and bizarre recording, a voicemail, was sent to the Times Union. On it, McGrath spits out the worst of racial slurs.

"That f---ing n----r. F---ing c--n f--k," he says, apparently unaware that the call had gone to voicemail, before adding: "Hey ... it's Mark McGrath, give me a call, will ya?"

Forget that the release of the recording from three years ago is some sort of political revenge, another punch delivered in Troy's ongoing bare-knuckled political brawl. The recording is nevertheless ugly. Terrible. Inexcusable.

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"I'm sick over this," McGrath said to me Monday. "I'm so ashamed."

Mayor Patrick Madden, for whom McGrath has long been a thorn, has called for the councilman's resignation. Pastors in Troy have done the same.

Even if McGrath doesn't resign, the recording will end his political career. His district, which includes the impoverished North Central neighborhood, is about 30 percent black, and those residents can rightly wonder whether McGrath cares about them or represents their interests.

In 2017, having angered some white voters with his Leonard Hospital decision, McGrath won re-election by just one vote. If he runs again this year, he'll also face angry black voters and others offended by the slurs. It's untenable.

But no matter what happens, that Leonard Hospital decision remains to McGrath's everlasting credit. Actions should matter as much as even the most offensive words.

If just one more councilor had shown McGrath's courage — the vote defeating the housing was a 4-4 tie — families might already be living in the 120 apartments and townhouses that had been planned for the New Turnpike Road site. Some of the units would be set aside for seniors, the disabled and domestic violence victims; others would be targeted at income ranges high enough to include cops and firefighters.

All the residents, black and white, young and old, would have had their lives improved by the new, safe and affordable housing.

What does Troy have instead?

The rotting old husk of Leonard Hospital, its windows broken or covered by plywood, surrounded by weeds and a chain-link fence. Troy will spend $2.5 million — enough to repair its shuttered swimming pools — to raze the building, one more burden for taxpayers who already pay too much.

The former hospital is scheduled to come down this summer. But so long as it stands it will remain a monument to the dangers of prejudice and misinformation. It is a symbol of what can happen when politicians put the fears of a small number of neighbors before the good of an entire city.

They should put a photo of the rotting hospital up in the City Council chamber, as a reminder for elected officials to do better and to have a backbone when need requires.

McGrath could look at the photo without feeling any shame. He is flawed, like the rest of us. He said terrible things on that recording.

But when his neighbors and constituents were at their worst, he put principle over prejudice. He did the right thing.