What part of let the college make their own decisions about their music program doesn't the County Council understand? Again it's you better do what we want or else we'll make your life miserable.
It makes me sick to my stomach when I read how this dicatorship runs EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY! You just watch and see....the college will have no choice what so ever but to move where Suzie tells them to. And I'm sure with the backing of 'Prince' Philip Morris(proctors chair), himself! If not...they will NOT get the money promised to them.
I don't know how these people sleep at night! I just hope and pray that the college has the ba**s enough to stand their ground! They certainly have public support!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
So, is this that Proctors didn't want it? What's another 1/2 a block move? What seems to be the problem here? Is there no one that wants SCCC's music program? IF that's the case, then I have an answer for you, the same one that SCCC originally offered. Keep the music program at the college campus.
It is a COUNTY college....it doesn't even have to exist.....it is not private----we pay for it......I think that is a long distance from the college---they better have a continuous shuttle for the students,,,at our expense.....fine......although there is the muddycup cafe for hanging out......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
When we first heard of Schenectady County Legislature Chairwoman Susan Savage’s proposal to move the community college’s music program downtown, we supported it. We thought that locating the program in the heart of the arts district would be good for the students, city and community. When the college strenuously resisted, though, we suggested a compromise: locate an already-planned new sound recording program there instead. Now, after Savage spelled out details of the plan in an October meeting with the board of trustees, the college is apparently more open to her idea, which still makes sense — and could also save dollars. The project shouldn’t be seen in isolation, but as part of a $79 million capital spending plan that the community college has proposed for the next five years. The county would be expected to pay half the cost, with the state paying the rest. In light of that — and the fact that the county has budget problems and other big capital projects coming, like the library and courthouse — every dollar counts, and the county should have a major say in how they are used. Besides the attraction of having the program downtown — where students could add to the vitality of the arts district and street life, and where community members are more apt to come to their performances — there is the prospect of getting new facilities with most or all of them paid for by state and federal money. That would leave the county in a better position to fund the other things the growing community college needs. Beyond the music program issue, future growth should occur off campus, which is landlocked and on a flood plain. The college did have a legitimate objection when splitting up the program was one of the possibilities. That would have been too disruptive. But the county’s current focus is on moving the entire program to Center City, which the Galesi Group is preparing to buy, renovate, lease and put back on the tax rolls. Savage estimates the cost of outfitting part of the mammoth building for music at $14 million, while Metroplex Chairman Ray Gillen says it might be less than that. (The college’s architect says $20 million). She and Gillen are confident of getting $5 million in RestoreNY funds and another $3 million in federal grants, which would then be matched by state funds for college construction. If they are right about the costs and the grants, the county would not have to spend anything, and would save the $2.7 million it previously approved for expansion of the music facilities on campus. We hope they are, and that the county and college can negotiate a deal that is in the interest of the school, students and taxpayers.
SCCC faculty adamantly opposed to music move RALF SCHAUER Schenectady The writer is president of the SCCC Faculty Association/New York State United Teachers (NYSUT).
I am writing on behalf of the 80-plus members of the SCCC Faculty Association, the largest professional organization at Schenectady County Community College. We want to express our determined opposition to the few members of the Schenectady County Legislature who have proposed stripping our campus of its noted music program and moving it to a poorly-suited off-campus location. The proposed location is technically unsound, inconvenient, unnecessarily costly to the taxpayers and harmful to all SCCC academic programs. It would deprive the music students of access to all of the college services, it would deprive them of access to other required courses, it deprives non-music majors of access to music courses as elective choices and it would deprive the college campus of its enriching concerts and music programs. The proposal to move our music programs is an uninformed intervention into the academic vitality of our community’s college. All constituencies on our campus are on record in opposition to this proposal — faculty, students, administrators and trustees. Let it be know that the SCCC Faculty Association will oppose any effort to divide the continuity of our college with any arbitrary and misplaced idea of moving any of our academic programs to unsuitable off-campus locations. The association further calls on the Schenectady County Legislature to release the funds in its current budget in order to construct the on-campus expansion of the SCCC music and drama programs as originally planned, such that the college will receive the matching SUNY building funds allocated for the budgetary year.
Leave the music program alone it's working fine and is getting results so Suzy stop trying to force the SCCC to move it's music problem to the millions of dollars block so you can brag that downtown is coming back.
Carl Strock THE VIEW FROM HERE Carl Strock can be reached at 395-3085 or by e-mail at carlstrock@dailygazette.com. College not hot to move music program
You may have thought that the move of Schenectady County Community College’s music program from the existing college campus to downtown Schenectady was a done deal, what with the declaration by county leader Susan Savage that it can be accomplished at no cost to local taxpayers. But think again. On the dissenting side are the chairman of the college’s board of trustees, Robert Ruggeri, and the president of the college, Gabriel Basil. One of the reasons they dissent is that they have in hand an architect’s estimate that the cost of reconfi guring Center City, downtown, to accommodate the music program will be far more than the $8 million claimed by Ms. Savage, that it will in fact be $21 million — compared with a projected cost of just $5.4 million to build an addition onto the existing music building at the campus. Thus the proposed move “does not appear to be cost-effective,” President Basil wrote in aconfidential memo to the board of trustees on Nov. 19, employing the rhetorical device known as understatement. Chairman Ruggeri followed two days later with amemo to Ms. Savage, saying, “The College does not see how such a move would be in its best interest.” He added, “There was no evidence of improved student learning/experience associated with the relocation proposal,” and further, “There was evidence of signifi cant negative impact on the culture of the campus life caused by the relocation.” In other words, not only would it cost a huge amount, it wouldn’t help and would probably hurt academic life, by dividing programs. This was a month after Ms. Savage, who chairs the county Legislature, had made a presentation to the board of trustees on her plan, to which she seems singularly committed. It entails an extensive rebuilding of Center City, which is the white elephant structure in the middle of downtown that was built 30 years ago with a federal grant in an attempt to arrest downtown’s deterioration and which has never found an enduring practical use. The idea is to outfitit for the college’s 140-some music students, plus faculty members, who of course require all sorts of specialized facilities, many of which already exist at the current campus, half a mile away, and are in full use. Why go to the great trouble and expense, whether the expense be $8 million or $21 million? To give a boost to downtown. To fortify what civic leaders hope will be a lively arts and entertainment district, centered on Proctors Theatre. That’s the thinking. I don’t know where the $8 million projection came from, since I was unsuccessful in reaching Ms. Savage to ask her about it. The $21 million projection came from Griffith Dardanelli Architects in Schenectady, who broke the project down into its component parts, with all its plumbing, electrical and so forth. Ms. Savage has said she hopes to get $5 million from the state’s “RestoreNY” program and another couple of million from federal sources to pay for the undertaking. If the true cost of transplanting those music students is actually $21 million, I don’t where such money would come from, but I believe it would have to come from some taxpayers somewhere, just as the $8 million also will come from some taxpayers somewhere. I don’t believe Neil Golub is going to pay for it, generous as he is. Anyway, as nice as it may be from downtown’s point of view to have 140 conscientious music students there, this is beginning to look like an extravagant project with no support from the people most intimately affected by it.
Ms. Savage has said she hopes to get $5 million from the state’s “RestoreNY” program and another couple of million from federal sources to pay for the undertaking.
Taxes, taxes, taxes...and she wants to represent us on the federal level? Hey, at least McNulty while sitting there not getting anything for us, at the same time, wasn't raising the entire nations taxes by getting funding.
It's a COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE.....what do we want to do with it????
Here's an idea, if it's a "community college" and taxes are going towards it, why don't we change it to a private college, with donations from people in the county. Or have it go private to sell stock in the college. After all, that's what big companies do, right? Is the college becoming a big company that has too much outside influence that is negatively impacting it? Then how about selling stock for, I don't know, $20 a share and let the shareholders of the college decide what happens, what tuition is, what buildings are built where with what funds.
Education is just about the only thing Schenectady can capitalize on with a lasting effect......companies leave, bars close, movie houses close, eateries close etc....but education is ALWAYS positive thing....we reap what we sow.......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Carl Strock can be reached at 395-3085 or by e-mail at carlstrock@dailygazette.com.
CLARIFICATION I said the other day that an architect’s estimate for reconfiguring Center City in downtown Schenectady to accommodate the music program of Schenectady County Community College was $21 million, compared with a $5.4 million cost of building an addition at the existing campus. The architects in question, Griffith Dardanelli, have since instructed me that the $21 million estimate was for putting up a new building at a “clean site” and they have made no estimate for reconfiguring Center City. I was misled by a memo from the college president that compared those two costs.
Why not ask others what they think of SCCC music plan?
The county Legislature appears to have decided, pretty much unilaterally in the person of county legislative Chairwoman Susan Savage, that the SCCC music department should be moved up State Street, into the City Center complex. The principal reasons cited are: inadequate room for expansion on the present campus; the student population will substantially benefit downtown; it would be less expensive to renovate City Center than to expand at the campus; the move represents a “forward looking vision” for the school and Schenectady. As an outsider to the situation (except that I attend many of the classical music concerts at the Taylor Auditorium, and have come to appreciate the quality of the faculty and their program), my own reaction is that none of the reasons above are obviously true, and we should be extremely skeptical of the wisdom of proceeding headlong with such a potentially disruptive proposal. Perhaps the most telling input to date has been the letter from the music faculty itself, expressing their complete opposition to the plan, mostly on the basis that it’s not in the best interests of the students or teaching program. This is pretty fundamental. What’s missing from the debate is a thorough, open, objective, evaluation based on inputs from all the affected parties — school, students, Legislature, downtown business community, taxpayers, concert audience and relevant technical experts (including architects, city planners and educators, as a minimum). It doesn’t appear that Ms. Savage is inclined to pursue this level of due diligence. She has a lot of independence in the matter, because she holds most of the purse strings. But the purse is filled with taxpayer money, not hers, and a lot of it may have to pour forth. Without proper research, there is no way to tell whether the proposal is sound or ultimately harmful to a very successful music program. BOB SCHER Clifton Park
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