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Albany is in a state of transit ion. A hot knife has been thrust into its cancerous guts and is in the process of removing what has been festering there for many years . Where there once were s lums there will soon be m6dern office buildings; lots once crowded with tiny ba r s and soda shops now serve a s parking lots. One must remember , h o w e v e r , that so-called " s l u m s " are not always all that the t e rm implies. Many buildings in slum a reas do not fit the usual image of the slum. Many are clean and reasonably well-kept, their only fault that of being old and, consequently, s tart ing to slump and fall. The location is often the only reason for the demolition of a building. We must also remember that rundown apartment buildings are more than slums; they are the homes of many people and no matter how rundown a place may be, it is the home of some people and they have formed a certain emotional attachment to it. Consideration of this fact may give some insight into the objections of many people to urban renewal. South Mall A total of 85 ac res in downtown Albany is now undergoing urban renewal to make room for many new state government buildings, known as the South Mill project. This project serves a dual purpose; it not only c lears out many buildings that should have been torn down years ago, but it also provides space for many much-needed buildings to house various departments of the state government. Between the time of evacuation and construction of the new buildings, however, the state of the Mall area is unique. The vacated buildings stand like a child's forgotten toys; they seem to realize their uselessness and sag under the weight of this r ea l ization. The doors are boarded up, the windows are broken and a heavy dust sett les over everything. Now they have new inhabitants. Pigeons constantly fly in and out through the jagged window-frames, ra ts scurry through the broken glass in the ce l la r s of a thousand lifeless dwellings. The state of much of the South Mall area is now one of l i felessness, a kind of death is in the air .