Quoted Text

New Jay Street studio space has room for more artists
BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter

    Downtown’s artistic colony has found a new home and it has room to house more creative talent, a local official announced.
    The artists will occupy 164 Jay St., an empty store next to Paisa Miser, in March, said Philip Morris, chief executive officer of Proctors and of the ElectriCity Arts District.
    The artists’ new home will retain the name of its former home, the Jay Street Studios. The studio will house six artists in five spaces with room to accommodate additional artists in five more spaces, which are available for lease, Morris said.
    The Jay Street Studios was in the Center City complex since 2006. The artists had to leave by Dec. 31 because the Galesi Group, which owns Center City, is remodeling the complex. Galesi plans to demolish the space Jay Street Studios occupied and to construct a new facade along Jay Street and State Street.
    The ElectriCity Arts and Entertainment Corp., a subsidiary of Proctors formerly known as 440 State Street, will manage the studio and pay the rent for 164 Jay St., Morris said. The artists will sublease the space from the subsidiary, he said. Local officials want the studio space to establish an eclectic arts and entertainment district downtown. The new studio is on ..............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01303

I really need to ask this........was this article really 'news worthy'? I mean really. Mr. Morris must be so happy that the city is following his lead for the arts!! What are these people thinking....if at all? Just 'who' goes to these things? I'm not saying they don't have their place, cause they do. And I do appreciate good art. But really...the city is full of welfare recipients and gun shots are fired daily, while the drug lords are the most lucrative business in town!!!

So again I ask...was this article really really news worthy? Perhaps it should have gone in the 'Life and Arts' or 'business' section of the paper.

Plenty of empty space downtown despite all the phony "renaissance" hype? If things were half as good as promoted there would be no space available on Jay Street. Sales tax generating businesses would be renting and fighting for limited openings. What a complete flop. Pitiful entertainment-led by X-rated puppets and bad art. Tons of room for "artists" on State St. below Erie. Like every building including Gillen's Gulch.

More meaningless hype from the Gazetto. Of course its not "news worthy". Nobody cares and Mr. Morris should have been fired a long time ago. He doesn't have a clue on how to manage a large theatre.

     The term "news worthy" went out in Schenectady with high button shoes. Latest example of the paper cheer leading for the failed, tax ripoff called Metrograft. Until we get out arms around the City gang turf war and Krat property tax increases look for more of this type of nonsense "news".

Quoted Text

Sch’dy knows it needs artists, and shows it

    Overall, last year’s purchase of Center City by the Galesi Group was a big plus for Schenectady. The tired, underutilized facility is being renovated, to be occupied by MVP and, it appears, the YMCA. But nothing comes free. As part of the deal involving Galesi, the city, Metroplex and the building owner, two important things were lost: a public piazza out front that was starting to be used for concerts and other events, as well as artists studios along Jay Street.
    Now, after months of searching for a new home for the artists, Philip Morris, head of Proctors and its subsidiary, the ElectriCity Arts District, has found one — and in just the right place, on Jay Street. ElectriCity will rent and fix up the ground fl oor of a building just down the street from Center City, manage it and offer long-term leases to artists at below-market rates. There will be room for 10 or 12 of them, compared to the eight that were at Center City.
    Arts district as downtown attraction is not a new idea in Schenectady or elsewhere. They have helped turn around a number of cities. And Schenectady has the makings of a good one in Proctors and the buildings around it, including the movie theater. The Jay Street artists have been part of the district, participating in and benefiting from the oncea-month art nights that have been drawing decent crowds, summer and winter, since being introduced two years ago.
    The ideal arts district has artists actually living there, which hasn’t happened yet in Schenectady, largely due to the lack of cheap, habitable space. That should be the next goal of Metroplex and ElectriCity, as well as ...............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar00703

They wonder why they lose readership? First the outside plaza {a piazzo?lol} did not need to be removed. It cost the County sheeple hundreds of thousands of dollars and was sold, like the Gillette House, for $1. Where were the editorials demanding a complete investigation?

     This warrants not just a needless puff piece but editorial comment? Arts is always the last thing bureaucrats focus on after retail and manufacturing have completely tanked. Can't get stores so bring in the "artists". Then eliminate the minor sales tax generated to hurt County taxpayers even more.

     Big plus?-A few jobs shifted from MVP on Nott Terrace- without even the couple of sales tax generating shops on Jay Street. Where are the big retail chains Ray has been promising for years? No new jobs/No ice/No soccer/No problem.

WHERE IS THE SHOPPING??????? Although now would be a bad time.....no money to shop and no stores to shop in....hell,,,,just paint and be happy....
however downtown does contain alot of alcohol.....THANK GOODNESS.......