Weasel of the Week: Sam Judge

Downtown Troy has been without a first-run movie theatre for several years, ever since the last multiplex at the Uncle Sam Atrium was converted to state offices. Just when it looked as though the drought would finally end, Bow Tie Cinemas, which would be moving into Rensselaer County for the first time, bowed out the other day. Why? Litigation.

Troy developer Sam Judge had tried and failed to fill the vacant space at Monument Square after the former City Hall building was demolished in 2011. Judge's company owns the Verizon building where city offices had relocated in 2008 until moving to their present location in Hedley Park Place on River Street. The two sides have been involved in lawsuits over the Verizon building, and now, Judge is part of a group of "influential" people along River Street who are blocking Bow Tie and Bonacio Construction from building a 11-screen multiplex that would bring fresh income to city businesses surrounding the theatre.

However, Judge and his associates don't see that. They see environmental concerns that haven't been resolved in the past five years or better, and last month, Judge filed suit against Bonacio & Bow Tie. At the end of last week, the movie theatre project was shelved, with Bow Tie & Bonacio Construction backing down and out. Judge bullied them out, is what it really is.

Instead of searching for a compromise that would make both sides happy, Judge seems content with keeping 1 Monument Square vacant, and in this writer's opinion, it's going to stay that way until Judge himself can put forth another proposal to develop the space, whenever he decides to take the chance. In this writer's opinion, Mr. Judge, you're little more than a self-serving little Weasel who's depriving the citizens of Troy of a quality, state of the art facility, and the opportunity to see a movie without having to drive to Albany, Schenectady, Rensselaer, or Clifton Park, to name a few examples. Shame on you, then, Mr. Judge, for putting your interests ahead of the rest of the city.