Schenectady should do a better job selling its story to the world
Schenectady needs a good public relations firm. Clearly the city that “lighted and hauled” the world has something to share with American tourists, if not a new generation of inventors and engineers. Three other American cities come to mind when I think of Schenectady. First is Charleston, S.C. It was bypassed by the Victorian Age — and so its antebellum treasures were protected from the wrecking ball. So were Schenectady’s treasures of the Gilded Age and Roaring Twenties protected by the suburban exodus of the 1960s and 1970s. Baltimore’s urban revival began with the selling of its rotting brownstones for $1 to young urban professionals. George Bush’s son-in-law recently bought one for upwards of $400,000. Not a bad return for a 30-year investment. Too bad Schenectady sold out to slumlords in the 1970s. Their tenants drained city resources and repelled any kind of urban renewal in the 1980s and 1990s. Fast forward to Seattle. Is it possible to compare the Seattle of today with Schenectady at the turn of the century? Computer brains from all over the world flock to Seattle, tolerate miserable winters and celebrate glorious summers to work with the best of their generation. So it was in the 1890s, when my great grandparents came to Schenectady from Germany, Ireland and Scotland to build a life during the Electric Age. After the war Schenectady became a one-company town and didn’t understand economic diversification. But with Schenectady’s proximity to New York and Boston, and the NAFTA opportunities of Canada, I can imagine a new generation of engineer and entrepreneur embracing urban living, returning the row houses to middle-class glory, green grocers popping up throughout the city and a modern metro streaming down State Street, bringing bright minds to a bustling downtown. Last week, my father — third generation Schenectadian, born the same year as the monitor top refrigerator — gave me a tour from the Stockade to Snowden Avenue, Central Park, Union College, St. John [the Evangelist] and the GE Realty Plot. We stopped at the museum and saw FDR’s fireside chat with the WGY logo, Ronald Reagan’s association with GE, the infancy of baseball. WGY was the first in television broadcast? Who knew? For 40 years I’ve summered at Galway Lake and heard about the ghosts, but never the glory. It’s time, Schenectady, to tell your story. Your contribution to the American experience is as important as Charleston, Philadelphia, Richmond and San Francisco. Stop telling yourselves how great Schenectady was, and start telling others. You’ll be great again. ANN WALLACE KAHN Richmond, Va.
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Salvatore
July 19, 2008, 7:18pm
Guest User
yes once upon the time it was wonderful but not with the illegal immigrants and the people slaughtering the goats, and the gunshots over there.
I have to agree with you on that one sal. Schenectady was once great...on the outside. People really didn't know just how corrupt it was back then. Just ask the old timers and they will tell you stories of corruption that would make your toes curl.
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
The difference was, you KNEW it was corrupt back then. Now, the politicians smile at your face while their accomplices are stabbing you in the back and yanking your wallet out.
The difference was, you KNEW it was corrupt back then. Now, the politicians smile at your face while their accomplices are stabbing you in the back and yanking your wallet out.
I disagree. The average guy did NOT know of the corruption taking place back then. The ones that did kept their mouths shut....until they reached old age!
Today, corruption is just wearing a different face. And the difference today is that EVERYONE KNOWS. The majority are the people who are benefiting by this corruption so they won't 'bite the hand that feeds them' and the minority doesn't have a chance to fight against it!
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
Everyone knew about it back then and raised their kids to think it 'normal'......so-------here we are....as long as the food gets onto the table and the roof is over the head........
...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
After looking at that link....it should make us all wonder why we are still not only living in Schenectady county, but why we are still in NYS!
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
Gunfire plague finally touches safe haven First published: Tuesday, July 29, 2008
While gunfire reports have been recorded in most every Schenectady neighborhood this year, one of the safe havens was Union College.
That is, until last week, when an 18-year- old sprayed five shots at a 23-year- old near the college's Union Street gate. Because the gunman would've flunked Marksmanship 101, the intended target was unhurt.
One of the errant slugs was found in a tree trunk near the campus home of Union President Steve Ainlay.
There were 61 street gunfire reports in the first four months of this year. Gunfire has become a way of life since the New York City exodus to urban centers along the Thruway.
Unfortunately for the 40-or-older lifetime upstate residents I speak with regularly, this new Wild West streetscape is tough to digest. They recall a much less hostile environment.
Some relive the days when instead of street crime, the cops' major priority was moving rush hour traffic created by up to about 40,000 General Electric jobs.
Just a few decades back, the most stubborn crime in town was illegal gambling, not drugs and street shootings.
An 88-cell county clink was usually only half full. During more recent times, a new jail capacity of close to 400 is taxed.
The refrain I hear from longtime locals indicates they now truly understand the meaning of "the good old days."
only because those who had the guns were related to those running the numbers.....
True...
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
I have been wondering lately why the city and the county never did anything with the fact that Thomas Edison was here and started G.E., a worldwide company, right here in our backyard. The Thomas Edison museum should be THE attraction to bring anyone who is interested in all of his inventions.
By MARV CERMAK First published in print: Tuesday, June 30, 2009
One midnight last week I came upon a bunch of police vehicles and scrambling cops on State Street real estate sandwiched between Hamilton Hill and the Vale neighborhood.
For decades these were Schenectady's only troubled neighborhoods, but in recent years, sections of Goose Hill, Eastern Avenue, Mont Pleasant and Bellevue are as bad, if not worse.
Anyway, at the crime scene one person got hit by gunfire. Both the victim and the shooter disappeared in the darkness. Presto!
Nearby, there was a blood-spattered sidewalk and seven spent bullets in the middle of State Street. Nice touch for the city's main thoroughfare.
Three hours later, 10 yahoos – according to witnesses – fired at least eight rounds of handgun and shotgun blasts at a Schenectady Street home. Police suspect both incidents were drug-related.
"This town has turned into Brooklyn North,'' a long-respected lawman told me. He will remain nameless because self-interested, political-type cheerleaders would accuse him of being negative.
Transition from a model hometown to a shooting gallery is troubling for older Schenectady natives. We remember the town when the only "bang, bang, bang'' you ever heard was on the 4th of July.
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