I don't understand why the heck they need a DSIC! What the heck is the plex and the chamber for? Businesses pay over $400/year to join the chamber and for what? Saying that a municipality that is being represented by their chamber for $400 bucks/year, is clearly a slap in their face if they also need the DSIC!!!

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EDITORIALS
A better way to choose DSIC board in Sch’dy

    The Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. has a new location on lower State Street, which its staff and members like, and a new idea for choosing board members, which we like. The question is, will Mayor Brian Stratton — who gets to choose the organization’s board (subject to City Council approval), and who has been unwilling to give up any of that power in the past — like it?
    Since turning from a special assessment parking district into a full-fledged business improvement district in 2001, the DSIC has done some good work, beautifying downtown with plantings and hanging flowers, sweeping and removing snow from streets and sidewalks; administering the very successful Metroplexfunded facade program; marketing downtown and sponsoring events like Art Night.
    But it has also had some problems, including continuing complaints from business owners about the assessment formula; dissatisfaction about the organization’s strategic and geographic focus; unhappiness about a board president who lived in Saratoga (though she worked in Schenectady); and frustration about a lack of choice, or even input, in choosing board members.
    Members were relieved when the board president, Karen Zalewski-Wildzunas, recently resigned to run her own business in Albany. And things seem to have settled down under Executive Director James Salengo, who was brought in to replace Robert Buccieri after the board fired him in July 2007.
    But there remains that issue of representation. Members complain that a number of the mayor’s appointees are uninvolved and don’t even show up for board meetings. They want some say in how board members are chosen, which, given their direct financial contribution and the impact the organization has on their businesses, is hardly unreasonable.
    The proposal, from the DSIC advisory committee, is for members to nominate people for the board. Those nominees would present their qualifications and be vetted by the advisory committee, which would then prepare a slate for the mayor. The mayor wouldn’t have to choose from the list (under law he couldn’t be made to, anyway), but there would be more names than board openings, so he would have plenty of choice. ...........>>>>............>>>>............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar03001

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Schenectady mayor seeks to end conflict with downtown business association
Thursday, August 6, 2009
By Kathleen Moore (Contact)
Gazette Reporter

Mayor Brian U. Stratton offered an olive branch to the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation this week, saying that if the downtown business owners come to a consensus on who they want to run their corporation, he’ll seriously consider their nominees.
The proposal may end years of rancor between the mayor and some downtown business owners, who felt they were not represented by the mayor’s hand-picked DSIC board members.
The board has great authority over how to spend the annual fee collected from every downtown property owner, and some owners have vigorously debated whether that money is being spent wisely. Many have said that the money would be spent in better ways if business owners could choose their own board members, but Stratton refused to relinquish control.
A handful of owners have met with Stratton to lobby for their own choices, but he said he was hesitant to give full weight to such recommendations.
“One person’s suggestion — well, there are some 500 members,” he said. “Obviously, there needs to be some sort of reasonable consensus.”....................>>>>..............>>>>...............http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2009/aug/06/0806_biz_district/

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The proposal may end years of rancor between the mayor and some downtown business owners, who felt they were not represented by the mayor’s hand-picked DSIC board members.

And this is how you control the people.....government strategically placing their czars in key positions. There is no way in hell I'd belong to the dsic if I had a business in the city. No way....no how! Actually I wouldn't belong to the chamber either! What is  it exactly that the chamber does any way?

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Businesses will get more input on DSIC board
Thursday, September 24, 2009
By Michael Lamendola (Contact)
Gazette Reporter

SCHENECTADY — The Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. says it has adopted a nomination process that will give it a stronger voice in naming candidates to the corporation’s board of directors.
The process gives downtown Schenectady property owners and businesses more input on the DSIC’s governance, said corporation president Richard Antokol.
However, it leaves unaffected the mayor’s and City Council’s powers to appoint and confirm their own candidates to the nine-member DSIC board.
Councilman Mark Blanchfield said the process “does not change things all that much. What it does is give more of an appearance of an open process, which I think is positive.”
The DSIC operates as a business improvement district. It collects $221,000 in assessments annually from 600 properties in the district. The corporation spends the assessments on downtown beautification projects and to publicize events such as the green market. It also administers a facade program and an interior restoration program......................>>>>........................>>>>.....................http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2009/sep/24/0924_dsic/

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SCHENECTADY
City Council urged to cut DSIC budget
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    Normally, DSIC board members urge the City Council to approve the special downtown improvement corporation’s annual budget.
    This time, the only board member who spoke begged the council to cut the budget and thus reduce downtown taxes.
    The DSIC taxes every downtown property owner, using a special district assessment of roughly $300 per small business owner. Larger business owners in the core of downtown pay more.
    The tax has gone unchanged for several years, and is proposed to remain the same next year. ......................>>>>..................>>>>.............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01103&AppName=1

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SCHENECTADY
DSIC targets grants for facade work Lower State Street buildings part of redevelopment effort
BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter

    Several buildings along lower State Street will receive facade upgrades and other work, part of a strategy to target the area for redevelopment, county economic development officials said.
    The Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. awarded $230,000 in facade grants to nine buildings and is also providing some with grants from the New York State Main Street Program.
    Building owners must provide a one-to-one match to the grants, but often provide more, said Ray Gillen, chairman of the Metroplex Development Authority. Metroplex provides funding for the DSIC-operated facade program.
    Gillen said the nine projects, which will begin this summer, bring to 101 the total number of building owners who have used the downtown facade program to improve the appearance of their businesses.
    “We are being strategic about the facade program. We went out with the DSIC and helped sign these people up,” Gillen said.
    “Our goal was to hit the ground running when weather broke,” Gillen said.
    James Salengo, DSIC executive director, said the Main Street Program provides grants to new commercial and residential construction projects in designated corridors. DSIC has obtained $600,000 through the program over the last three years. .............................>>>>................>>>>...............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00701&AppName=1

How many government agencies are need to run two blocks? They should change the name to the six figure club. You have an executive director, an assistant, a Proctors CEO, a Metroplex CEO and an Executive Director. Who am I forgetting?

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How many government agencies are need to run two blocks? They should change the name to the six figure club. You have an executive director, an assistant, a Proctors CEO, a Metroplex CEO and an Executive Director. Who am I forgetting?

That way they can rape the taxpayers.....one agency and one CEO at a time!

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SCHENECTADY
DSIC chief stretches group’s reach
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    After two years on the job, Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. Executive Director Jim Salengo is finally winning over the naysayers.
    They complained that DSIC favored the heart of the downtown, filling it with flower baskets while ignoring the streets at the edges of the commercial district.
    Salengo agreed. He added more baskets.
    The business owners on the outskirts of the downtown complained that their streets were being neglected by the DSIC cleaners, who were focusing on State Street and Jay Street.
    Salengo moved the street cleaning operation in-house, giving him more control. He added better equipment, more workers and weekend hours, and sent them to every street in the district.
    Then they said he ought to spend more time and money on promoting their businesses, rather than beautifying the area. Salengo introduced a weekly e-mail listing the weekend’s events and began holding meetings with merchants to design campaigns to draw in customers during the annual Proctors Broadway series.
    The business owners on the outskirts acknowledged the changes, but said they would be better represented if some of their own were on the DSIC board. Yet they were rarely chosen by the mayor, who appoints the board.
    So Salengo and the DSIC board created a new process by which anyone could nominate themselves by getting 15 signatures from other owners. Everyone who got 15 signatures must have their name passed on to the mayor; currently he is considering a list that includes three self-nominators and six board nominations to fi ll seven seats. ................>>>>....................>>>>............................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01100&AppName=1

They hired a consultant? Whoppee! Great away to avoid solving a problem. Nothing has "improved", the vast majority of businesses want this disbanded, the Mayor still fills the board. Is Peggy King still warming a seat? Some great business leader. The director still lives and works in Saratoga.

      What worse is the huge tax payment made every year to keep this useless bureaucracy afloat. What are they doing that the Chamber/City can't do? A total waste of tax money and job destroyer since the fee prevents additional hiring. No wonder these idiots are facing pool closures and a record $13 million deficit.