I am SOOOO sorry, but now I'm more lost than Moses ever was. Where and why would this aspect of Bethesda House show up on the SPD blotters? HAAALLLLLPPP!
Gee, I don't remember reading this in the Gazette. Did I miss it?
No the Gazette likes to withhold news that makes Metrograft Ray look foolish. Plenty of that. Like blowing $275,000 on the Van Dyke scandal was actually a good thing! Ray stated months ago that the old Sons of Italy, who wisely moved to Rotterdam, would be sold as a restaurant. Wrong again. A parking lot for empty Center City where the Y is not moving? By the way, moving the Sons Lodge was the best thing they ever did. No one wants to go Downtown.
Bethesda House has cost the taxpayers millions between moving fees and business relocation. With real estate prices crashing in the County they make a profit on the oppressed taxpayers? If you wonder why Schenectady has the highest taxes in the region and why our County taxes are 3X both Saratoga and Albany Counties, look no further.
The parking lot buy-out seems like 'the bridge to nowhere'. There will be a parking lot...for whom? I have to agree that I don't think the Y will be moving to center city anytime too soon. They got booted from the nott street development cause the plex got a better deal from golubs. To remind everyone, there was the big push to have the Y located on nott street for the 'union college kids'. AND for all of the workers that were suppose to be downtown. The plex was selling that one 'big time'.
Then we hear how the Y is moving to center city...like when? The BigHouse isn't open. Bombers isn't open. The store from Saratoga isn't open. The van dyke went bankrupt. The Bow tie cinema isn't drawing a crowd and there will be even less when cross-gates opens their IMAX. Sunmark moved out. Proctors can't fill their seats.
This is shameful. Why is it that Colonie, Guilderland, Saratoga, and Clifton Park, among other municipalities can 'plan' developments wisely? The only possible answer is that they are truly SMARTER!!! Schenectady county was blessed with recycled politicians who just don't get it yet.It is clearly an embarrassment!!!
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
This is another absolute disgrace that should enrage every County resident. The City should have acquired the old Sons property Downtown for $1 through eminent domain. Then sold it for $1 to Metroplex for the parking lot. This amounts to a County taxpayer hand out by Metrograft to Bethesda House of $450,000. BH is already getting over $4 million from the City to relocate up State St and dislocate a Minority owed business.
Other municipalities are not smarter they just don't have extra levels of government, Metrograft Authority, the horrible DSIC, to waste millions of taxpayer dollars. As far as who will use this parking lot, no-show City employees or customers flocking Downtown to Christmas shop at nonexistent stores? Has Ray resigned in disgrace-YET? We can't afford any more of his schemes. AUDIT! AUDIT! now more than ever.
SCHENECTADY Shelter effort risks losing grants Housing plan in jeopardy BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
The extensive undertaking that would get all of Schenectady County’s long-term homeless off the streets is now in danger. It is $1 million short with little hope for help as federal and state grants dry up. Project planner Margaret Anderton, who runs Bethesda House and would run the proposed upper State Street home for the long-term homeless, said the project will begin by Feb. 1 whether or not she has the final $1 million. She risks losing the $4 million she has already raised in federal and state grants if she does not start work soon. But if she starts without the fi nal $1 million — which she needs because the cost of steel and other construction materials has risen dramatically — she’ll only have enough money for three-quarters of the building. She’s planning to build 16 apartments, where the chronically homeless will be housed, and then use the rest of her money on the shell of the dropin center for city residents who are destitute or mentally ill. She still hopes she can complete the drop-in center by December, when her lease expires at her current building, because she must move out at that time. But she can’t do that without $1 million. Right now, she’s facing the possibility of finally reaching her dream of having supportive housing for all of the long-term or repeatedly homeless in the county, but at the price of losing the only drop-in center for homeless and mentally ill in the entire county. Anderton has poured her energy into the drop-in center for 11 years and says she’s not going to lose it without a fight. She says she’s been searching for grants, but even grants that had been offered earlier this fall have been withdrawn before the end of the application period. “They’ve disappeared from the [state] Web site,” Anderton said. “There are no new grants out there. Everything has been pulled.” Nationally, many cities have run into the same problem, according to an Associated Press report. States are laying off workers and cutting even school aid. Efforts like the 10-year fight to end long-term homelessness have been eliminated from most state budgets. At the same time, donations are down as the recession hits citizens, making it unlikely that agencies can fund-raise to come up with the shortfall. Some cities believe they may have to start from scratch when the recession ends. But they have huge numbers of long-term homeless and are still working to find ways to talk those people into accepting shelter. In Schenectady County, the problem is just months away from being solved. That’s mostly because there are so few people in the county who qualify as “long-term” homeless — a category for people who have been homeless for at least one continuous year or four times within three years. HOMELESS NUMBERS There are only 12 long-term homeless in the county right now, according to yearly counts, and 16 beds will be available at the new Bethesda House building. Homeless will be welcome under a “housing first” program that gives them shelter before asking them to consider beating their addictions, taking screenings for mental illness and meeting other requirements. Other cities have found that long-term homeless people stay homeless because they won’t jump through those hoops just to get shelter. But programs offering them shelter with no strings attached have been successful in not only talking the homeless off the streets but also later convincing them to accept other help. That help is critically needed in Schenectady County, where Anderton has found that about half of the long-term homeless have severe, untreated schizophrenia. While all 12 of Schenectady County’s long-term homeless could be housed immediately at the new Bethesda House, with room for more, the building could eventually fill up. To keep people from staying homeless for long periods of time, Anderton and others believe the county needs a drop-in center like Bethesda House that connects the indigent with services designed to help them. They believe that the loss of the drop-in center could leave the county worse off than it is today, with more homeless on the streets for longer periods of time and no way to stop the problem from growing. Among other assistance, Bethesda House handles the disability checks for some renters who cannot stick to a budget. Bethesda House pays their rent and utilities before giving them the rest to spend. It also has washers, dryers, clothes and showers for the homeless — who are unlikely to be considered for any job if they cannot wash regularly — and maintains phone voicemail and mailboxes for them. Even residents who are not homeless can come to Bethesda House for free medical care and prescriptions, the cost of which forces some people into homelessness. All that could end in one year. Anderton must move out of her current building by December 2009 — and in fact the owners would like her out sooner. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, which owns the Liberty Street site, is considering selling it and the adjacent St. John the Baptist Church to Schenectady Light Opera Company. Anderton says she must raise $1 million by June in order to move the drop-in center into the new building before her lease with the diocese expires. Otherwise, the drop-in center for the homeless will be itself homeless next winter. The rest of the project funding is also somewhat in doubt. Among other grants, the project has $2.8 million from the state and more than $500,000 from the federal department of Housing and Urban Development. Those agencies could take their money back since Bethesda House hasn’t...........................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00101
SCHENECTADY — Bethesda House celebrated the start of construction on a facility that will expand its facilities for serving the homeless and working poor with a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday.
The agency's new three-story building at 834-838 State St. building will provide more space for its day shelter, which provides an afternoon meal, clothing room, housing case management, a food pantry, free telephone, shower and laundry facilities, and a wellness program. The building will also include 16 studio apartments for the chronically homeless.
Bethesda is moving out of downtown Schenectady after plans to expand on Liberty Street met with controversy from nearby businesses some years ago. The city and Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority agreed to help Bethesda find a new location.
The owner of a paving business also protested when the city said it had to take his property on State Street for the construction, but the business and city agreed to a settlement.
The $5 million project is being paid for by grants from the state Homeless Housing and Assistance Corp. and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as money from local foundations, including the Wright Family Foundation, Lillian Slater Charitable Trust, Golub Foundation, Schenectady Foundation and Broughton Foundation.
A capital campaign is going on currently to raise the final $1 million.
This is another absolute disgrace that should enrage every County resident. The City should have acquired the old Sons property Downtown for $1 through eminent domain. Then sold it for $1 to Metroplex for the parking lot. This amounts to a County taxpayer hand out by Metrograft to Bethesda House of $450,000. BH is already getting over $4 million from the City to relocate up State St and dislocate a Minority owed business.
Other municipalities are not smarter they just don't have extra levels of government, Metrograft Authority, the horrible DSIC, to waste millions of taxpayer dollars. As far as who will use this parking lot, no-show City employees or customers flocking Downtown to Christmas shop at nonexistent stores? Has Ray resigned in disgrace-YET? We can't afford any more of his schemes. AUDIT! AUDIT! now more than ever.
Right in October-Righter in April. Whoopie another Metrograft construction! Your Tax dollars at sleep. Has Death Ray resigned YET?
SCHENECTADY Home’s staff hopes to lure homeless New Bethesda House building to contain studio apartments BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or moore@dailygazette.com.
Now that the new Bethesda House building is safely under way, executive director Margaret Anderton has another fight on her hands. It wasn’t enough that she had to persuade area residents to support — or at least not oppose — her home for the chronically homeless. Now she has to persuade the homeless, too. “There’s some that are very willing. There’s a couple whose mental illness and degradation will make things difficult,” Anderton said. “There’s a whole lot of fear. One man with paranoid schizophrenia had a wife and children. They tried everything — he was hospitalized, they tried all the medications. He was afraid he’d hurt his family. That’s why he left them and became homeless.” Although the man had never harmed them, he had frighteningly violent delusions. In his moments of clarity, he decided he was too great a risk, Anderton said. Many other long-time homeless residents feel the same way. “Paranoid schizophrenia is a major mental health issue that does affect many of the people we see,” Anderton said. “One guy, because of the paranoia, he won’t live at the Lighthouse because it’s communal living. We’re really going to be talking up the fact that here [at the new site], these are separate studio apartments. It’s much more private.” The Lighthouse was Bethesda House’s first residential center for the homeless. The new center, with 16 studio apartments, will be called Liberty House. Bethesda House’s drop-in center for the mentally ill and indigent will also move to Liberty House from its current location in the heart of the downtown. Originally, Bethesda House was going to build Liberty House downtown, but business owners objected vehemently to the presence of the homeless and mentally ill. They argued that without Bethesda House there, those individuals would not wander through the business district. While Anderton disagreed with them, she agreed to move to 834-838 State St., about half a mile from downtown. Work began early this spring, and she held a celebratory groundbreaking Thursday . The new building should be completed by December, and she hopes to let the homeless move in by February. Recent counts indicate that there are 20 to 25 chronically homeless people in the area, Anderton said. In the next 10 months, she needs to convince half of them to move indoors. The building is already popular with those who are suffering from less severe homelessness — those homeless just briefl y or for reasons that could be fixed with money management, better medicine or other inexpensive services. They’re eager to move into Liberty House. “We’ve got a waiting list already,” Anderton said. But many of the residents she wants — the one who need the program most — haven’t yet signed up. “We’re mostly going to have to approach them,” she said. As for those on the waiting list, she’s hoping that she will be able to offer them more help once the new building is done. With many of the chronically homeless in housing, she said, her staff may have time to expand other programs. In particular, she wants to add more homeless to the payee program, in which they turn over their Social Security and disability checks to Bethesda House and...........http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00801
If they need to be 'lured in' then there is no economic issue/just safety...the only other option would be a 'state institution'.....where's Sal and his great white horse???? Sal, those poor folks......
...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
First published in print: Sunday, October 4, 2009 SCHENECTADY -- Bethesda House, which offers services to the homeless and working poor, will open its new facility and apartment units on State Street in January.
SCHENECTADY Bethesda House on track for move Demand for housing greater than expected from homeless, indigent BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or moore@dailygazette.com.
The nearly-completed new home of Bethesda House on State Street is already providing benefi ts to the homeless and indigent who need it. Many regular Bethesda clients got jobs on the site during construction, with several recently hanging sheetrock and others working light construction throughout the project. Bethesda House provides respite for the homeless, indigent and mentally ill. The new building at 834-838 State St., which will open in January, will also house 12 clients in an effort to end their chronic homelessness. When construction plans began in 2005, Bethesda House Executive Director Margaret Anderton thought 12 apartments could house most of the chronically homeless in Schenectady. Recent counts have suggested there are 20 to 25 in the area, and she thought it would be a victory to persuade half of them to move inside. But 30 clients have asked for a room at the new facility, forcing her to choose among them. .......................>>>>......................>>>>..............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01003&AppName=1
Logged
No the Gazette likes to withhold news that makes Metrograft Ray look foolish. Plenty of that. Like blowing $275,000 on the Van Dyke scandal was actually a good thing! Ray stated months ago that the old Sons of Italy, who wisely moved to Rotterdam, would be sold as a restaurant. Wrong again. A parking lot for empty Center City where the Y is not moving? By the way, moving the Sons Lodge was the best thing they ever did. No one wants to go Downtown.
Right in October-Righter in April. Whoopie another Metrograft construction! Your Tax dollars at sleep. Has Death Ray resigned YET?
