I hear that Anderson moved to Rotterdam ... net gain for Rotterdam.
I heard he moved into the rear of the First Class Products building. Anyone confirm?

Quoted Text

  White said 85 percent of the people using Bethesda House have lived in the county for years and that half are mentally ill and some are unable to function in society.

So isn't that what Living Resources is for? Mentally ill adults who cannot function in society?

What are their guidelines for the mentally ill? Do they have physiciatrists on duty? Do they give out physiotherapy drugs? Is there any rehabilitation involved? Or is this just a high tax paid 'flop house'?

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Residents of Vale and Hamilton Hill complain that their distressed neighborhoods have become dumping grounds for the city’s problems, the latest being the relocation of Bethesda House to State Street.
    About 12 people from the two neighborhoods shared their concerns Thursday night with Schenectady Corporation Counsel L. John Van Norden and Bethesda House’s chaplain, Rev. Robert A. White, and case manager Daniel Payne during a Hamilton Hill Neighborhood Association meeting at Petta’s Restaurant.
    “Enough is enough is enough. They keep dumping on us,” said Bill Marincic of Vale. “How is the relocation of Bethesda House an advantage to Vale? If it is not an advantage, it is a disadvantage.”

LOOK---NIMBY'S JUST LIKE US.......who knew?

Quoted from bumblethru

So isn't that what Living Resources is for? Mentally ill adults who cannot function in society?

What are their guidelines for the mentally ill? Do they have physiciatrists on duty? Do they give out physiotherapy drugs? Is there any rehabilitation involved? Or is this just a high tax paid 'flop house'?

welcome to deregulation from the Reagan era of asylums and mental institutions----yes, they do walk among us....the systems we have set up in society are daunting and basically not user friendly and the human mind is a scary instrument that is unknown by anyone, we just toss 'drugs' at it in the medical profession and hope for a good outcome.....

dementia comes to all ages and in many forms due to many factors........there is no such thing as if P then Q in the human mind that one can see from the outside......

Quoted Text

Main Entry: de·men·tia  
Pronunciation: \di-ˈmen(t)-shə, -shē-ə\
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, from dement-, demens mad, from de- + ment-, mens mind — more at mind
Date: 1806
1 : a usually progressive condition (as Alzheimer's disease) marked by deteriorated cognitive functioning often with emotional apathy
2 : madness, insanity
— de·men·tial  \-shəl\ adjective

http://www.dailygazette.com

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City’s ham-handed handling of Bethesda House grossly insulting

    Too frequently, localities respond to the needs of the poor by pitting one constituency against another; only later to illustrate how marginalized these groups are, and how they can’t work together in the city’s interest. That’s exactly what is unfolding with Schenectady’s not-too-subtle gentrification of the poor out of downtown and into the neighboring Vale community.
    Bethesda House originally opened its hospitality center at the request of downtown merchants concerned that the homeless had no place to go. For decades, Bethesda House has successfully run its multi-service center on Liberty Street with the support of many of the city’s churches, synagogues and religious organizations like ours.
    In 2007, Bethesda House submitted plans to move its operations across the street onto the site of the former Sons of Italy building. Their expansion plans included a larger, more accessible drop-in center and permanent apartments for 15 of its long-term clients coping with severe and persistent disabilities.
    When this plan became public, local bar and restaurant owners submitted a petition signed by its patrons decrying the homeless impact on business; a petition which lacked factual basis, legal standing and only promoted long-dispelled myths of the homeless. However, the majority of the city’s planning committee members responded by forcing a series of delays on Bethesda House, creatively expanding the definition of environmental impact, questioning whether the submitted application was indeed really permanent housing, and whether the plans included enough parking places for the homeless.
    Facing a certain legal challenge of discrimination from advocates for the homeless, the city offered an alternative site with more land and a promise of swift approval. The site was located outside downtown, in Vale. With few options Bethesda House accepted the city’s offer to relocate. One small problem — the city failed to include the citizens of Vale in these discussions.
    In this context, the reactions of Vale’s citizens make sense: How could a proposal that was rejected on Liberty Street be good for Vale? “Isn’t the city dumping dangerous homeless people in our neighborhood because we don’t have the financial resources to fight it? How come we weren’t included?”
    To the residents of Vale and Hamilton Hill neighborhoods — don’t buy the bigoted arguments of those downtown merchants who claim the homeless are dangerous. Visit other supported housing programs in the region, and you’ll discover these programs are well run, have no detrimental impact on local businesses, and in fact, lower the incidents of crime in their neighborhoods with its round-the-clock staffing. They also provide needed employment opportunities.
Don’t allow the city to pit any of its neighborhoods against programs for the poor. Demand that the city includes all its citizens in economic development and come up with a comprehensive plan for its poorest citizens who lack affordable housing.
KEVIN O’CONNOR
Schenectady
The writer is trustee for the First Unitarian Society of Schenectady.

They have NIMBY's too......let's see...in rotterdam we have nimby's---those who will live behind the McLane's, those who dont want to pay for Masullo fix, those who dont want to pay for sewers on Hamburg St.....etc etc.....

There are NIMBYs and there are NIMBI'S

N-not
I-in
M-my
B-best
I-interest

How do you win votes with them????? That's why it cost alot of money to 'campaign'......

http://www.timesunion.com

Quoted Text

Grants help clinic keep doors open
$15,000 from state and $25,000 from United Way let Bethesda House continue treating poor

By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer
First published: Wednesday, June 18, 2008

SCHENECTADY -- Bethesda House's Community Healthcare Access Free Medical Clinic will have enough money for another program year after state Sen. Hugh Farley secured a $15,000 state grant for the organization, Bethesda House Executive Director Margaret Anderton said.
     
The United Way also provided $25,000 for the 2008-09 year to allow the four-year-old clinic to remain open. Private donations round out the $47,000 budget.

The clinic provides primary care for more than 600 people who have no health insurance. Bethesda House is a ministry serving the homeless and poor in downtown Schenectady.

"We've seen some people who haven't been to the doctor in 10 years," Anderton said.

A doctor or physician's assistant and nurses are available to provide care from 10 a.m. to about 2 p.m. every Thursday at the Bethesda House clinic on Liberty Street.

Most of the $15,000 grant will go toward offering free drug prescriptions to patients. The drugs are needed by many participants who have chronic health conditions that need constant medical treatment. Anderton said to save money, some patients are asked if they can afford low-cost monthly prescriptions available through outlets like Wal-Mart.

Insurance providers are also available on Thursdays to determine if patients qualify for health insurance.

The clinic also works with the following agencies: Hometown Health; AIDS Council of Northeastern New York; Conifer Park; Well Care; Healthy Schenectady Families; the Ellis Hospital McClellan Street Campus; the Schenectady County Health Department and, new this year, American Mobile Dentistry.

All clinic patients also have access to Bethesda's other programs, such as meeting with housing case managers, and can get help at the emergency food pantry and clothing room.

Bethesda House is also seeking volunteers to assist in the clinic as well as help out in a variety of capacities, including the sorting of clothing and food preparation and serving. To help, call 374-7873.

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=729190

Quoted Text

Project price goes up again
Schenectady MDA pays $425,000 to buy downtown plot from Bethesda House

By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer
First published in print: Tuesday, October 14, 2008

SCHENECTADY — The Metroplex Development Authority paid $425,000 to purchase a downtown plot from Bethesda House that the provider of services for the homeless bought for $400,000.
     
Bethesda House planned to raze the Sons of Italy building at 415 Liberty St. and construct a $4.1 million center to provide food, medical and clothing services for the homeless and disadvantaged, as well as permanent housing for chronically homeless and disabled people.

The city rejected Bethesda's application, citing zoning concerns. Also, restaurateurs voiced concern that the project could tarnish downtown revitalization. City officials eventually found an alternate location of four parcels between 834 and 838 State St., but Bethesda was left holding the Sons of Italy site.

The Metroplex purchase of the site closed a few months ago.

Metroplex Chairman Ray Gillen said the sale was independent of the city's arrangement with the homeless provider. He said Metroplex wants the parcel for a parking lot that will be needed with redevelopment of the Center City complex on State Street. Metroplex already owns eight surface lots and the former municipal garage on Broadway.

The city now must pay $41,000 to remove buried petroleum and chemical tanks at Bethesda's new location. The city, which had previously purchased three vacant parcels on State Street, paid about $150,000 to Anderson Blacktop, the last remaining open business on site. Owner Freddie Anderson rejected an intial bid of $75,000. Bethesda will contribute $150,000 toward the overall land deal. Demolition could start next week, said Bethesda House Executive Director Margaret Anderton.

She noted that with construction costs on the new three-story facility soaring to $5.5 million, Bethesda must now raise $1.4 million on top of $4.1 million secured from state, federal and private grants for the new center.

Lauren Stanforth can be reached at 454-5697 or lstanforth@timesunion.com

So, not only does BH get a new building from the City/Metroplex, but they made a $50,000 profit on the sale of a building they never used - and all M'plex is going to use it for is a PARKING LOT??

Talk about lucrative

My God, our tax dollars are just flying out all over the place! Between city, state, federal, the plex...we are paying for EVERYTHING!! From $425,000 parking lots to non-profits. And here's a silly question...who pays for the up keep/maintenance of these 8 parking facilities owned by the plex? (snow removal, resurfacing, etc) Why doesn't the plex sell them or at least try to sell them to the private sector?

I would hope to believe that these costs would be absorbed and paid for by the tenants of these buildings that will use these lots. (sometime in the future)  The plex seems to be following the theory, 'if we build it they will come'.

I have come to one conclusion....it may have actually been cheaper to bulldoze down the 2 blocks of state street and rebuild new. Ya know like a 2 block strip mall with office/retail mix. I don't know if 'they'd still come' but I think it may have been cheaper and completed by now. We, the taxpayers, would have been already bled to death. This way, it is just a slow agonizing bleed.

Quoted Text

'if we build it they will come'.

Dontcha mean - "if we level it, they will park" ?

Gee, I don't remember reading this in the Gazette. Did I miss it?

Nope, wasn't there. Maybe later this week when their "reporters" read this sie.

So how does the TU get our local information BEFORE our local newspaper gets it? Is it that the TU has better investigative reporters or is it that the democratic machine doesn't want this printed in our local paper yet?

They both pull the same blotters from SPD daily / hourly ... maybe it was missed? conveniently?