Erie Boulevard looks great. It was certainly worth the investment of money and the "hassle" during construction. Now, they are redoing lower State Street. Then we can look forward to Mohawk Harbor and the renewal of the north end of the Erie Blvd Corridor. All of which will spur additional private investment in redevelopment projects in Schenectady.
So let's discuss this. $14 million of money taken from the taxpayers $14 million dollars that taxpayers were not able to put into the economy. Taxpayers had less money to spend, no buying cars (but of course there is NO PLACE in the city to buy a car anyway). Less money spend going out to dinner, less spending on clothes, actually, IN the city virtually no money for discretionary spending. Less money to for people to improve their homes. Certainly less money to save for retirement.
Of course less money to spend means less sales tax taken in. Let's see, Schenectady county is the ONLY county that had a drop in sales tax revenue! Hmmmmmm
Still that area north of the RR bridge will damage your car, but that's OK, you have to pay for repairs to your car so that's even less money you have to spend. But that's OK because "fancy lighting" was such an urgent necessity. Really, the city and it's residents just absolutely could not exist without the "fancy light poles." Never mind the potholes.
And spending on Erie Blvd, (and downtown). What is it doing for the tax base? What will the tax exempt Mohawk Harbor due for the tax base (except make Galesi rich).
And this remake of Erie Blvd, what has it (and any tax spending downtown), done for the home values in the city?
And this remake of Erie Blvd, is this going to result in a mass of people buying homes IN the city? Let's see, 10 years of DEM leadership, and spending tax dollars on fancy new buildings downtown for millionaires. What has all that remaking of downtown done for the desirability to buy a home IN the city? I'm not even talking about the lack of desirability to buy a house "on the hill." But look at the absolutely magnificent houses south of the plaza and near Central Park. Houses offered for a year or more, price drops in half, and STILL no one wiling to buy houses.
What is the remake doing for peoples' tax BILLS ??????
$14 million to remake Erie blvd. Should the city instead be using that money to maintain all the tax foreclosed homes? For those that did not see it on the news today, Schilling was talking about how the city is stretched so thin, because of the hundreds and hundreds of homes the city and SURA own. Then the reporter, I think it was, mentioned that the city will even be stretched more thin regarding the houses because there are a few hundred that the city is about to foreclose on.
Is it better that the city spent $14 million on the "remake of Erie Blvd" or should that money have gone to address these properties that are foreclosed.
Someone COULD DIE in such an explosion of these tax foreclosed homes. With so many tax foreclosed homes and more coming and NO ONE wanting to live IN the city (not even DV), there are so many vagrants getting into these buildings, in the winter the homeless can start fires and I DEFY anyone (who cheers for the spending of $14 million on Erie Blvd) to state that it's fine that people can die. Many houses in the city are close together which means that if a homeless person starts a fire to keep warm, and the fire spreads throughout that house he is in, then the closeness of neighboring houses means then can catch fire and people could be killed. Is it more important to spend $14 million on redoing Erie Blvd? Or is it more important to spend $14 million to maintain these houses and prevent vagrants?
Hundreds of millions of taxpayers dollars have been spent on downtown. In 10 years of this spending under DEM leadership, what have the taxpayers gotten in return for their "investment? Can anyone answer that AND provide EVIDENCE?
What have the neighborhoods gotten?
What will the taxpayers and the neighborhoods get as a return on their "investment" in Erie Blvd?
All the spending of tax dollars on downtown in the past 10 years has resulted in -- and this is NOT my OPINION -- a massively reduced tax base, falling property values, falling home sales, falling home sale prices, falling sales tax revenue, long time taxpaying businesses either closing down or moving out of the city, the elimination or reduction of vital and necessary services to the people who actually live IN the city IN the neighborhoods outside of downtown, and substantially increased tax bills. The spending of $14 million on Erie Blvd is just going to exacerbate the same.
Anyone care to discuss how this is helping the residents and taxpayers and explain what they are getting in return for their money (and provide EVIDENCE to prove their comments).
Logged
