ALBANY — The clack clack clack of paddles smacking table tennis balls over nets ricocheted off a brick wall and merged with the traffic noise of Central Avenue a few steps away.
This urban symphony was music to the ears of Scott Schuster, a business owner who has been on a yearslong quest to transform a littered, rat-infested and violent drug-shoot-up lot, vacant since 1972, into a field of dreams.
He is convinced it can become an oasis for a struggling stretch of neighborhood and infuse it with the joy of building community and forging friendships while playing ping-pong and chess…