I think we have to pull harder....our head is stuck......wait,,,,,, wait......it's loose.....no,,, no, it came off the shoulders.....now we have to actually go in
and get our head out of our butt.......

Quoted from senders

I think we have to pull harder....our head is stuck......wait,,,,,, wait......it's loose.....no,,, no, it came off the shoulders.....now we have to actually go in
and get our head out of our butt.......

Good one!!

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
Grant application urged
‘Corridor designation’ could benefit Hamburg Street
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

    Rotterdam’s Hamburg Street could soon reap the benefits of a facade grant program offered by the county Metroplex Development Authority.
    Metroplex Chairman Ray Gillen urged members of the Hamburg Street Merchants Association to seek the grants by applying for “a corridor designation,” which requires at least two businesses to show interest in the program. He said the authority could issue up to $30,000 worth of matching grants per business with such a designation.
    “We need to get this corridor into the facade program,” he said during the merchants’ meeting Monday.
    The Metroplex facade program would augment similar facade improvement grants issued through Rotterdam’s Industrial Development Agency. Last year, the agency issued 10 grants of $5,000 to businesses throughout Rotterdam, including several along Hamburg Street.
    Businesses along Hamburg Street could have applied for the Metroplex funding last fall, but never secured the corridor designation. This year, Metroplex is aggressively lobbying business owners to apply for corridor status and then seek grants in 2010.
    “I can tell you right now, if we receive an application [for corridor status], we’re going to approve it, because we want to work on this area,” Gillen said.
    Last year, Metroplex outlined a series of goals for its constituent towns and identified Hamburg Street as an area in Rotterdam that could benefit from improvement projects. Goals for the Hamburg Street included developing the facade program, finding tenants for the 35,000-square-foot former Grand Union building and bringing a sewer connection to the corridor.
    Gillen said bringing sewers to Hamburg Street is still important for future development.
    However, he said the lack of sewers hasn’t posed a problem with companies interested in relocating to the area.
    “It’s an issue, but it’s not that big of an issue,” he said.
    The broader issue is the large regional stock of empty box stores. Gillen said there are many more sites than tenants seeking to fill a large vacant building.
    “It’s a tough environment out there,” he said.
    The town is hoping to secure more than $5.5 million of federal economic stimulus funding to build a sewer line along Hamburg Street.
    The project is among a $36 million wish-list Rotterdam submitted earlier this year.
    Merchants’ co-director Frank DePalma said business leaders shouldn’t wait for the sewers to come before investing in improvements. He said the................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00701

Facades have worked so well Downtown, now bring them to Hamburg Street? LOL!

     These Metrograft "planners" should finish one thing, like the Big Hose, like Lower State St, like St James Plaza before they stick their beeks into Hamburg Street. Facades and new curbings does not mean more business. Smart business people should say NO! to Metrograft meddling. I am still waiting for the first customer to say; "I stopped here because of the beautiful new curbing!"

Ok....so we will use tax payer monies to make a facade improvements. For what? If Redwood diner gets a face lift, will it increase business? Of course not. They seem to be doing pretty good there already. Give Rollerama a facelift and will that bring more people in? Of course not! And they do pretty good too. The only major eyesore is the old grand union.

Put the money towards sidewalks and sewers.

it is time we get rid of the ida and use only the metroplex since this is becoming costlyer and more political by the day over here. Angelo does a good job but the people I know who are in the know say this has to end because Stevie and Mertz are ruining things with it and costing the taxpayers like in Shalmount schools with the chemical outfit

No sal, this is all Bush's fault.

Quoted Text

ROTTERDAM
Roundabout work will cause delays
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net.

    Work on Schenectady County’s first roundabout in Rotterdam began Monday.
    Contractors with the state Department of Transportation are conducting preliminary work on the utilities near the Curry Road intersection with Hamburg Street in anticipation of the project. Agency spokesman Peter Van Keuren said the $1.6 million project will close the intersection for only two weekends before work concludes in November.
    However, Van Keuren warned of delays as work on the roundabout advances. He advised motorists to avoid the intersection when possible.
    “We realize it’s kind of a busy area,” he said Monday. “So we want to tell people to expect lane closures.”
    Van Keuren said half of the roundabout will be built at a time, which will prevent a full closure of the road. He said the state hasn’t scheduled the two closure dates, which will occur toward the latter end of the project as the center of the roundabout is built.
    DOT officials opted to build the roundabout in order to help reduce the rate of accidents that occur at the bustling intersection. In 2007, the intersection had an accident rate that was 177 percent above the state average for similar road configurations.
    The roundabout is also anticipated to reduce the average wait motorists experience at the intersection. During peak traffic hours, more than 100 vehicles can line up at the Curry Road intersection with Hamburg Street, according to DOT estimates.
    Under the proposal, traffic will move counterclockwise through a one-lane roundabout, which will have exits on Curry Road, Curry Road Extension, Carman Road and Hamburg Street. Elongated triangular medians will rise 6 inches off the roadway, dividing opposite lanes of traffic approaching and leaving the roundabout.
    In addition to the roundabout, the state will also build sidewalks on all four approaches. Van Keuren said the aesthetics of the roundabout’s center will be left up to the town.
    Some residents have suggested the center would be a good location for the decorative windmill that now stands in front of the Curry Road Shopping Center. Supervisor Steve Tommasone said the windmill is too large for................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00801

Stevie Ego should consider putting the windmill on his brother Dan's property on Shardon so
he can justify another large assessment reduction.  Surprise surprise, surprise will do anything
Stevie Ego asks him to do with regard to assessment redux.  ROTFLMAO

Sounds personal PDQ

this business about his brother getting a reduction bothers me. No relative of any elected official past or present or candidate should get one. Actually, anyone who is friends with any candidate, or official past or present should not be allowed to apply or get one either. That way, no one will be allowed to get one, then we have solved the problem, right? I happen to be acquainted with a few officials over the years, and I never asked for one because it would have been made hay of in PDQ's eyes. But until then, I guess the law allows this sort of evil. I do have siblings, but I never have heard whether they applied. I imagine if they did I would of had to disown them, or possibly asked my elected friends to use their supreme powers to stop them from applying- because I am acquainted with some officials, it might look bad. Makes sense?  


NOT.


Where does it end. PDQ, when you wrote that letter you sent out about Angelo Santabarbara receiving "pork," did you realize how bad it would backfire?

I will avoid this area until the round-about is done.

Quoted Text

Gussy up Hamburg Street without those tacky signs

I applaud the business owners (and residents) of Hamburg Street in their effort to improve their facades and the general aesthetics of the area [April 22 Gazette]. However, posting hand-written “sale” signs on wooden pallets propped up in vacant parking lots in order to promote business is counterproductive in making Hamburg Street a place where people will want to come and do business.
Let's all try to make an effort to enhance the place in which we live and work.

JUDITH CLARK
Rotterdam     

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00507

Quoted Text

Aesthetics count for little in Sch’dy County

    I would like to rebut the May 4 letter by Judith Clark, “Gussy up Hamburg Street without those tacky signs.” The letter was directed at a thrift store on that thoroughfare.
    It is commendable to make grandiose statements like, “Let’s all try to make an effort to enhance the place in which we live and work,” but let’s also be realistic. This is Schenectady County; no matter how much politicians brag about “making this community’s future brighter than it ever was,” the truth remains this is virtually a no-growth economic and population zone.
    We are living in an area that turns its back on viable new business, has a limited sense of aesthetics and even the manner of maintaining a consistent and responsible appearance.
    Many properties are unkempt and yards overgrown. And many other shopkeepers place signs of their own design in order to attract the measly dollars that this community can generate — especially in these hard times.
    In fact, if it wasn’t for government jobs, schools, hospitals and “cloned” retail establishments largely born in other areas, there really isn’t much more in this area except garage sales and secondhand commodities.
    At least a few small humble businesses are trying to survive. At least they have the decency to pull in their signs and wares off the sidewalks and curbs at the close of business every day. Try asking the average county resident who has a garage sale to do the same!
    Worse yet, most don’t know what a regular maintenance schedule is, as set by the city’s precedent, which is too busy collecting local and state funds to care about providing services, let alone its appearance!

CHARLIE BERTOLINO, JR.
Schenectady     

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar03004

Charlie, you forgot to mention the high taxes problem the county has which drives businesses out of and prevents new business from opening in Schenectady.