This month, we’re delighted to shine the spotlight on Chris LaFlamme, MO#458. Chris is a life-long resident of Schenectady County and an active member of the ECCG Site Committee. Chris brings a wealth of skills, talents, expertise to the Site Committee as well as a lifelong passion for coming together with other people to create something for a greater cause.  His professional experiences in local real estate and corporate information technology, his service on the Niskayuna Planning Board, and his personal experiences living, playing, and exploring in our region have greatly contributed to the work of our Site Committee. 

1.What do you like about being part of the co-op community? 

I love being part of a community of people that not only shares my love for the people and places of Schenectady County, but also shares my passion for creating vibrant, walkable, healthy neighborhoods where people can thrive. This passion is what called me into a career in real estate - thriving neighborhoods require great rental housing options. But housing isn’t truly healthy without access to great food. I love working with others to create complete, walkable, thriving neighborhoods with great housing and food options. I’ve had a great time serving as a member of the Site Committee team. As a lifelong resident of Schenectady County,  it’s been a great way for me to contribute the skills, talents, and know-how I’ve developed through my careers in corporate technology infrastructure and real estate. 

When I began my professional life, I entered an industry that was about replacing old infrastructure - old copper with new fiberoptics to give us broadband and WIFI that we all enjoy. In that career, it was all about building something with other people for a greater cause. Working in sales, I was solving business problems with technology and I loved it. I was promoted to manager, because I could create great teams with other people who were very empathetic and solution-oriented. We were successful because we could get to know each client’s business intimately, to meet people where they’re at, and to understand what would make them successful and happy. 

Those capacities are also key to being a great real estate agent or a great landlord. A landlord could just be an owner of a building that maintains it as things break. A real estate agent could be all about closing deals. But what I love about being a landlord and a real estate agent is the opportunity to be in the work of creating a home for important people with specific needs. As a landlord, I try to modify or allow adjustments for those people, because it’s their home. When they thrive, we all thrive. 

2.What will having a downtown grocery mean to you?

As a landlord with the Stockade for over 10 years, a downtown grocery store is the number one request from my tenants. They have everything except the ability to buy groceries. We have great restaurants and bars, parks, bike paths, hair salons, yoga studios, massage centers, art stores, a Civic Playhouse, comedy shows, and public transportation. Most of them chose to live in the Stockade because they want to live in a walkable neighborhood, and many of them do not own cars. People are free to move anywhere - they are more likely to stay downtown when they can meet all their basic needs. When people don’t need to travel, they will shop for more of their needs within downtown. 

And soon, with our growing co-op community working together, we will have a community grocery for everyone!  A grocery that’s not only a great place for good food in a walkable downtown neighborhood, but also a center of community life and economic vitality. I’m so pleased that the site selected is within a couple blocks of the immediate downtown and a couple blocks of our wonderfully historic Stockade district - places where we have some of the highest residential density in our city. 

I think people sometimes miss how important grocery stores are for local economic development. I’ve learned this through my years of experience on the Planning Board for the Town of Niskayuna. We recently had a grocery store exit our market. When I spoke to businesses that were adjacent to the grocery store, just weeks after it closed, their business dropped 30 to 50%. So the question is - when finally we have a grocery store downtown after 23 years, what increase in sales for adjacent businesses will we see?  How much longer will people choose to live downtown than they normally do? When visitors come from outside Schenectady, how much longer will they extend their trip downtown when they know they can get their shopping in after a meal, a matinee, or a trip to the farmers' market?  How many visitors might consider moving to Schenectady sooner when they see a flourishing co-op?

3. What do you love about Schenectady?

Over my whole life, the thing I love most about Schenectady is that people are willing to show up, help out, and work together to get good things done that make life better for each other. 

It’s funny - the other day I had a flashback - it was 1985, and my buddies are calling me, asking me to come over to the Stockade to help to them dig a hole in the ground, to reach a shut-off valve for the popular community swimming pool at Professor Gil Harlow’s home. I came over, picked up a shovel and jumped in. Having fun, helping and doing. Working together, friends and community, to fix a problem and live well together. This is something I’ve always loved about Schenectady. 

Flash forward to August 3, 2024, and I’m standing in that same backyard, with one of those tunnel-digging buddies, Eric Johnson. The pool is gone now - we had to fill it in when we purchased the property together in 2021 and our mortgage provider required its demolition. But this day, neighbors have come together here, once again - this time to help clean up the yard and set up tents and chairs to host the annual picnic of the Stockade Neighborhood Association. When Eric and I were kids digging in the backyard nearly 40 years ago, we never would have dreamed that we’d become partners in owning and caring for 17 Front Street, a home with a legacy stretching all the way back to revolutionary times, all the way back to 1760. 

Legacies and democracies don't endure on their own. I'm proud to be part of a community with deep roots and a revolutionary, community spirit - the faith that people can come together to creatively solve real problems to benefit current and future generations. We only have historic buildings today because Schenectady residents rallied to save them from the wrecking balls during the first waves of urban renewal in the 1950s and 1960's, creating the Stockade Neighborhood Association in 1958 and establishing New York State's first historic district in 1962. We only have access to local fruits, veggies, meats, and other foods in downtown Schenectady because local residents and regional farmers have been collaborating since 2008 to create a thriving farmers' market just outside City Hall. Creating the Electric City Community Grocery will be another win for our city and region in a long legacy of diverse people coming together to make great things happen. I’m  delighted to be one part of the solution, with more than a thousand other Member-Owners working together to open our community-owned, democratically governed grocery store. There’s room for everybody to make it happen!