Quoted from Shadow

When people elect idiots they get what they deserve.

LOL! Well didn't you hear about the "renaissance"? Great plan build new homes in one of the emptiest neighborhoods in the entire State. Didn't they learn nuthin from the Anthony St debacle?

Quoted Text

Assessments should be reduced on Sch’dy’s ‘green’ houses

    Affordable housing has been the mission of Better Neighborhoods Inc. (BNI) since 1966, and we are proud to be developing [“green” houses] in the areas of the city where no one else would think of building. We incorporate the most updated energy saving and environmentally conscious building techniques to make these homes affordable, comfortable and safe for the homeowner.
    But — ah, yes — the property/school taxes. The project has received “wonderful” press notices regarding the assessment rate [Dec. 20 Gazette]. The $140,000 assessments are, I feel, inflated. The private appraisals we have conducted and the bank appraisals received for the first four homes did not exceed $124,500.
    Why not do what prior city administration, beginning with Mayor Karen Johnson, did with the assessed value they placed on a home that we developed or rehabilitated? They assessed the home at the subsidized price the homeowner paid at the time of the mortgage closing. Simple, yes, and easy to calculate for affordability.
The subsidized cost to the buyer(s) of the “green” homes from BNI is $80,000; the Land Trust model will be somewhat less, based on the purchaser’s income.
The city should give a careful review of the project’s assessment rate and I am sure it will adopt a policy that will make this project “affordable.”

EDWARD AUGUST
Schenectady
The writer is BNI’s executive director.

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00503&AppName=1

There are too many homes in the City. Nobody cares about "green houses" in a neighborhood known as the emptiest in the entire State. Maybe once the schools improve (if ever) there will be some demand for housing?

      City "leaders" should be knocking down eyesores instead of wasting prescious tax monies on these nit wit schemes. Anthony St townhouses flopped, condos on lower Union@Barrett (?), and now these "green houses". Enough. Start concentrating on reducing public involvement in the risky housing market. Let the private sector meet the nonexistent demand.