No matter what a couple of morons say Metrograft is a total failure. It is economic redistribution from suburban taxpayers to a handful of connected developers. It was created to increase sales tax revenues which have declined two straight quarters. No jobs, no increased revenue but pretty planters and new curbing.
The City is in economic free fall. A $13 million deficit caused by the moronic "working together " crew. All the pretty facades are not paying their taxes. Most telling is the sale of Key Bank on State St for only $150,000. This caused a domino effect of Downtown property owners also lowering their taxes. Key Bank and the old SACC-TV both were given away to nonprofits, permanently removing them from the tax rolls. The old trick of calming traffic, widening unused sidewalks, installing new curbs doesn't improve business and never will work.
NYS deficit for calender year 2010-2011 is currently $9.8 billion and Schenectady has a $13 million so it would appear that the politicians had better start to cut spending or this state is going to bankrupt itself in a very short time.
Explain HOW Schenectady has "much" improved. Can you do that?????
I'm going to pick up on things I've read on some other blogs/forums.
Tell us DVOR what has happened to the taxes locally in these ten years......I trust you DO know that you Savage woman has brought us to having the 19th HIGHEST taxes in the whole United State. Can you explain HOW that is an improvement??????????????
This county now gives HUMONGOUS tax breaks to millionaires and DRAMATICALLY increases the taxes on the people who are lower income. PUHLEEZ, DVOR, HOW can you justfy raising taxes on people with household incomes of $30,000 while at the SAME time giving huge tax breaks to millionaires? Do you REALLY believe it is just and fair to take from the poor and give it to the rich?????? Do you?
Tell us DVOR, what has happened to the crime in the these past ten years????????
It used to be that Hamilton Hill was "the bad neighborhood." But, DVOR, tell us what HOW the city has "improved" over the past decade.
Please explain the how Mt Pleasant has improved....do you really believe Mt P is a much more desirable place to live today than 10 yrs ago? How about Eastern Ave????? My parents used to be in that area---please explain HOW you have concluded so much has improved.....is it YOUR belief that Eastern Ave is a real safe place for people to leisurely walk around? Some woman goes into a corner store to buy something and get's murdered? DO you know that when that St. Mary's was open, a long time ago people used to walk to the church but whatever people still lived in the neighborhood and belonged to St. Mary's before they closed, those people would drive to the church, even only a few blocks....because it is a very dangerous....and that is what yOU say is an improvement?
Union St, that historic triangle....tell us DVOR, tell us how Schenectady has improve.....slumlords, drug dealers, even a shooting in broad daylight on Union St in front of St. John's church. And then a shooting in the triangle yesterday
More shootings than ten years ago and YOU call that an impovement?
Tell us how much improved the housing stock is. How is a 25% vacancy rate in the city an improvement.
Tell us how the causing of a bottleneck of traffic jams along State St, causing the drive time to probably triple is a good thing.
Tell us how snowplowing has improve. Tell us how drainage issues have improved. Tell us how the condition of properties have improved. Tell us what has happened to the percentage of owner occupant houses (people who generally take care of their properties) in the past ten years......do you REALLY believe that the dramatic increase in absentee slumlords is an improvement?
Tell us about a whopping quarter of as million dollars being bestowed on a pair of tax delinquent slumlords who let their properties fall apart is a good thing. Did those slumlord owners who owend the Foster Hotel and deliberately didn't pay the heat bill causing a million dollars in damage 10 years ago (which WE taxpayers have to pay to repair), ever pay the back taxes on their multitude of tax delinquent properties when we taxpayers paid them a quarter of a million to buy the old hotel building? Well????? Is that a good thing to give tax delinquents that much money and not mandate that they pay all their other back taxes?
Tell us how the situation is with the pools in the city? How many pools were there 10 years ago? How many today?
How about the conditions of all the parks and playgrounds....are they all in tip top shape today?
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
Metroplex has become a mechanism to receive taxpayer dollars, then donate it back to Savage, Stratton, and the majority party. This is so wrong and must be fixed.
The Metroplex failures have already been identified in the audit that was performed by the (Democrat) NYS Comptroller's office.
The conclusions of the audit are that the job projections contained in the project proposals reviewed were not realized and that the investement of public revenues is not property protected because of the excessive funding (as a % of project expense) by the public authority and that lack of claw back provisions in the funding agreements.
The most important aspect of the audit that was not addressed is the high correlation of Metroplex funding recipients with the major donors to the Schenectady County Democratic Committee.
THIS IS WORTH REPOSTING................. This should be sent to Stratton, Savage and Gillen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks bumble. What has happened to DVOR?????? He is totally SPEECHLESS
I can continue.....DVOR.....please tell us HOW the Central State St area is improved over 10 years ago. How about northside, tell us HOW that area is improved. Ditto the boulevards off Union.....tell us HOW shootings in a neighborhood are indicative of improvement.
DVOR, while the median household incomes in the city of $30,000 are paying their own property taxes AND Golub's taxes AND all the other rich ones downtown, can you tell us what has improved in the infrastructure in the city? Tell us what improvements have been made to the drainage in the city so peoples basements don't get flooded in storms like this? Can you answer that? Do you know, DVOR, that the city DOES NOT cover damages to peoples homes even when the city itself has caused the damage by failing to maintain, replace, repair, etc the drains! However, when the tax delinquent owners of the Hotel Foster failed to turn the heat on 10 years ago, and caused a million dollars in damage, they got off scott free, they NEVER put a penny in it, and what did YOUR dem buddies do? They took OUR hard earned tax dollars and rewarded them with a quarter of million. On top of that, repairs will be made to that building at taxpayer expense. But the the hard working individual homeowner taxpayer---what happens to him/her when the city causes the damage????
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
they don't care, they have the welfarites, the creatures in publicly funded housing, the cops union leaders, and every other special interest group dating to the time of the Pilgrims backing them- The doctors, the nurses, the unions, the teachers, the administrators, the elderly, the parents, the college kids, the public workers, the women, the gays, the minorities, those that refuse to speak English etc etc. What do they need you for?
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
Thanks bumble. What has happened to DVOR?????? He is totally SPEECHLESS
I can continue.....DVOR.....please tell us HOW the Central State St area is improved over 10 years ago. How about northside, tell us HOW that area is improved. Ditto the boulevards off Union.....tell us HOW shootings in a neighborhood are indicative of improvement.
DVOR, while the median household incomes in the city of $30,000 are paying their own property taxes AND Golub's taxes AND all the other rich ones downtown, can you tell us what has improved in the infrastructure in the city? Tell us what improvements have been made to the drainage in the city so peoples basements don't get flooded in storms like this? Can you answer that? Do you know, DVOR, that the city DOES NOT cover damages to peoples homes even when the city itself has caused the damage by failing to maintain, replace, repair, etc the drains! However, when the tax delinquent owners of the Hotel Foster failed to turn the heat on 10 years ago, and caused a million dollars in damage, they got off scott free, they NEVER put a penny in it, and what did YOUR dem buddies do? They took OUR hard earned tax dollars and rewarded them with a quarter of million. On top of that, repairs will be made to that building at taxpayer expense. But the the hard working individual homeowner taxpayer---what happens to him/her when the city causes the damage????
Of course he is speechless!!! There isn't an intelligent come back for this stuff!! Good job MC.....good job!!!
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
Downtown Schenectady has VASTLY improved in the past 10 years. Anyone with half a brain can see that it has improved. Unfortunately, you folks seem to have 1/2 a brain that you share between all of you.
George Amedore & Christian Klueg for NYS Senate 2016 Pete Vroman for State Assembly 2016[/size][/color]
"For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground." Lyndon Baines Johnson
Downtown Schenectady has VASTLY improved in the past 10 years. Anyone with half a brain can see that it has improved. Unfortunately, you folks seem to have 1/2 a brain that you share between all of you.
I guess when you can't dispute the facts, you have to turn to insults. It's the democrat way.
I noticed he qualified his response to downtown Schenectady, the 2 block area around Proctors that they spent millions developing while the rest of the city fell down around them.
Downtown Schenectady has VASTLY improved in the past 10 years. Anyone with half a brain can see that it has improved. Unfortunately, you folks seem to have 1/2 a brain that you share between all of you.
How exactly has it improved? Are more businesses paying sales tax - lowering the rate for everyone? Has crime gone down or up? Has snowplowing gotten better? Are the panhandlers off the street? Are people still urinating on the sidewalk? Has the parking situation improved?
Are you going to claim it's VASTLY better because some storefronts are now filled? If so, what's the judge of their success? # of people in the business? Amount of taxes paid? Exactly what retail businesses are there now that weren't before? Maybe a couple on Jay, but all I'm seeing is gin mills, empty theaters, non profits and metroplex funded operations.
Downtown Schenectady has VASTLY improved in the past 10 years. Anyone with half a brain can see that it has improved. Unfortunately, you folks seem to have 1/2 a brain that you share between all of you.
First, yeah, there has been SOME improvement. but tell us WHERE is the shopping? If you want to go to a show or go get rowdy and drunk.
WHERE can a FAMILY go? A typical family of four from Schenectady, where the typical household (not per person, but total household) income is on.ly a paltry $30,000 generally can' afford to go to Proctors at $50 a ticket. OK, an occasional movie perhaps. NOt sure if you have been here all your life, but people, no, families could go downtown and buy virtually everything they needed, from clothing for male and female, from infant, to children, to teen, to adult. Clothing from top of the head to the end of the toe, from undergarments to outer garments, from affordable play clothes, to affordable dress clothes, to classy dress clothes. You could buy all the need for your home, from paint to bedding to dining & kitchen needs and decor (yeah, they have that super high expensive design place that only Golub can afford). You could buy toys for the kids, toys for the teens (like antique versions of CD's and players), and toys for the adults (sewing machines and fishing gear). You could buy a recorder or a piano whichever you prefer to learn. Or you could buy a bike, roller skates or skateboard. And everything for the holidays except the tree - there was no tree farm downtown. And nothing beat Planters Peanuts. While there were places to dine that catered to the pub/drinking crowd, there were ample places to go to take your family, those hot dogs at the Carl Co were the best outside of Newest.
So, tell us how downtown has improved for other than young adult drinker/smoker/late night partyers and for other than the rich that can go to Proctors?
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
It hasn't improved. There are still no stores Downtown. There are no business people. The DEMS think it is an improvement when they shuffle Rotterdam/Mt Pleasant businesses Downtown. The Savage/Gillen shuffle. Liberal elites like SS Savage think it's better because they can get a lousy espresso or lobster pizza after a show at Proctor's. Everyone is laughing nonstop at Savage's idiotic commercials.
The proof is in the crashing County sales tax revenues. DOWN every quarter this year. Sheeple are finally waking up on Metrograft. It benefits a few chosen developers and no one else. DVOR showed his true colors on Mt Pleasant/Bellevue . In complete free fall under this horrible DEM administration. I guess the Mayor is not responding to your pleas for help for the old hood? There is no one else to blame. The DEMS had all the controls and drove off a cliff.
and Schenectady is MUCH improved in the past 10 years.
Again, HOW is Schenectady MUCH improved??????
For our tens of millions, can you tell us what we have gotten in these ten years that YOU claim it's MUCH improved?
1. Tell us what has happened to the neighborhoods.....can you do that??????? Come on DVOR, what has happened to the neighborhood in the past 10 years????????? YOUR words are "MUCH improved." Tell us exactly HOW Schenectady is improved.
2. Tell us what has happened to the housing stock in the past ten years. Can you do that????? YOUR words are "MUCH improved." Tell us HOW
3. Tell us what has happened to the vacancy rate of residential units---be they apartments or houses. Can you explain the improvement that YOU claim has happened.
4. Tell us what has happened to the city services, will you? YOUR words are that the city is MUCH improved....can you tell us how much more street cleaning has occurred to prevent drains from getting clogged to prevent the flooding streets like yesterday?
5. Again, YOUR words... "MUCH improved." Do you know that everyone is mandated by city law to place their trash in covered cans. So, tell us how much improvement has been accomplished in the enforcement of those rules in the past 10 years.
6. "MUCH improved." Tell us HOW much better the snowplowing is. Prior to ten years ago, the city would declare a snow emergency, and plow BOTH sides of the street. Tell us about ONCE, even ONCE that a true snow emergency was declared in the past ten years. Try driving down a street where you have weave to the left and to right around the snowbanks that are left practically in the middle of the road because the plows push the snow against the cars, people shovel in the front and drive away leaving the "snow bank" (that had been pushed up against the cars) in the street.....so EXPLAIN just HOW the failure to push the snow back to the curb (by failing to declare a snow emergency) is an improvement.
7. Tell us HOW much improved the towing of cars off priority streets has become in ten years. Tell us HOW the cars left covered with snow and unmoved for several days after a snowstorm on priority streets is an imporvement. Tell us how improved the enforcement is?
8. DVOR, YOUR words were MUCH improved....tell us HOW much more improved the city is for children to play and walk to the corner store. Can you tell us how much safer the city has become, because to be much improved the city MUST be a safer place....so YOUR words are that it is MUCH improved....explain to us HOW much safer it is for children to play outside
9. "MUCH improved" these are YOUR words, DVOR....YOUR words.....so tell us, use facts, tell us how much the crime rate has improved....can you do that?????
10. "MUCH improved." YOUR words....tell us about the improvement in education and schools in the city. How much improved is attendance? How much improved is the graduation rate? How about the pregnancy rate of students?
YOUR words DVOR.YOUR words....."Schenectady is MUCH improved." Here are just 10, just a paltry ten items that are important to residents of almost any city. Is it possible that you can respond to each point and explain to everyone here how you arrive at YOUR words that Schenectady is MUCH improved?
Of course other posters can probably list other things. I could too, but let's just start with ten.
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
No matter what a couple of morons say Metrograft is a total failure. It is economic redistribution from suburban taxpayers to a handful of connected developers. It was created to increase sales tax revenues which have declined two straight quarters. No jobs, no increased revenue but pretty planters and new curbing. 
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