Quoted from Patches

there are no millionaires in the city...where is affordable housing??...do we al have to lean toward Section 8...in order to live comfortably?????


stupid people......there are no big jobs around here.....depending on tips doesn't get you in a "luxury" apt...

Yep, no millionaires.  

Will Galesi move INTO one of these apartments?

Will even ONE of the Mallozzi family move INTO one of these apartments and then walk to work?

Will Marcella move INTO one of these apartments and then walk to work?

How about David Buicko?

Maybe King Phillip?

Perhaps Queen Leesa?

Wait, how about the TAX DEADBEAT political cronies -- the metroplex architect and his board of assessment member wife?

Let's see McCarthy or Gillen move into these apartments.   I think it should be a condition of holding office IF you give out tax exemptions to these places

Quoted from CICERO

Ahh...the strategy of wedging the poor out of their homes to make room for the wealthy.  

I don't see it as a wedging of the poor out of their homes to make room for the wealthy.  This proposed development is on a current parking lot.  All wealthy people aren't bad people.  Just as all "poor" aren't all bad people.  The "poor" will do better because of a development like this.  Schenectady will rise and like the tides the "poor" will also rise.  

This city doesn't need anymore housing or apartments, for Christ sake look at the boarded up houses not selling throughout the city.

Quoted from mikechristine1

Yep, no millionaires.  

Will Galesi move INTO one of these apartments?

Will even ONE of the Mallozzi family move INTO one of these apartments and then walk to work?

Will Marcella move INTO one of these apartments and then walk to work?

How about David Buicko?

Maybe King Phillip?

Perhaps Queen Leesa?

Wait, how about the TAX DEADBEAT political cronies -- the metroplex architect and his board of assessment member wife?

Let's see McCarthy or Gillen move into these apartments.   I think it should be a condition of holding office IF you give out tax exemptions to these places

Are you related to any of these people ?

Quoted from TakingItBack

I don't see it as a wedging of the poor out of their homes to make room for the wealthy.  This proposed development is on a current parking lot.  All wealthy people aren't bad people.  Just as all "poor" aren't all bad people.  The "poor" will do better because of a development like this.  Schenectady will rise and like the tides the "poor" will also rise.  

I agree with all that you said.  Just one correction: the proposed development would actually go on a currently vacant lot -- not the parking lot.  This is a good thing because I am pretty sure that will be adding assessable value to the tax rolls.

The other thing that the critics need to understand is that the only way to bring retail back downtown is to bring middle and upper income residents back into downtown.   Broadway once had single and multifamily homes on bOTH sides of the street from Crane Street down towards downtown.   Downtown used to have single and multifamily homes along Veeder Ave and Nott Terrace -- in fact several blocks of homes once stood between Liberty Street and Franklin Street from Nott Terrace down towards City Hall.   Bring residents back into downtown and soon they will be demanding -- and getting retail (food, clothes, other goods) back downtown.

And there will be demand for these residential units - once the 2nd track is completed and high speed train service begins to NYC and as transportation costs increase which will pull more people back to the urban centers.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

The other thing that the critics need to understand is that the only way to bring retail back downtown is to bring middle and upper income residents back into downtown.  .

and you fail to understand that the middle class and upper income people you feel are needed that badly will simply go to wall-marts that is about 3 minutes away from downtown for just about any need?

Quoted from sanfordy2

and you fail to understand that the middle class and upper income people you feel are needed that badly will simply go to wall-marts that is about 3 minutes away from downtown for just about any need?

Wal-Mart is not the type of store that upper middle class and higher income people flock to.  They are looking for a different quality of merchandise and different merchandise than the typical Wal-Mart customer.  I stand by my statement and prediction -- building more middle and upper income residential downtown WILL lead to an increased demand for and development of retail businesses in downtown Schenectady.

we will see...time will tell

but how many different ways must be tried before ANYONE in the city will understand the downtown of the past is gone? why not try to make downtown something different?

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Wal-Mart is not the type of store that upper middle class and higher income people flock to.  They are looking for a different quality of merchandise and different merchandise than the typical Wal-Mart customer.  I stand by my statement and prediction -- building more middle and upper income residential downtown WILL lead to an increased demand for and development of retail businesses in downtown Schenectady.

Are you implying that the Downtown development plan is geared to/catering to only a certain "class" of people at the exclusion of any class below that preferred one?   This would seem somewhat of an elitist stand to take to some, and further perpetuating the class system.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

I agree with all that you said.  Just one correction: the proposed development would actually go on a currently vacant lot -- not the parking lot.  This is a good thing because I am pretty sure that will be adding assessable value to the tax rolls.

The other thing that the critics need to understand is that the only way to bring retail back downtown is to bring middle and upper income residents back into downtown.   Broadway once had single and multifamily homes on bOTH sides of the street from Crane Street down towards downtown.   Downtown used to have single and multifamily homes along Veeder Ave and Nott Terrace -- in fact several blocks of homes once stood between Liberty Street and Franklin Street from Nott Terrace down towards City Hall.   Bring residents back into downtown and soon they will be demanding -- and getting retail (food, clothes, other goods) back downtown.

And there will be demand for these residential units - once the 2nd track is completed and high speed train service begins to NYC and as transportation costs increase which will pull more people back to the urban centers.

This fits right in with the "everything for downtown, F&ck the rest of Schenectady" mantra that was been going on since the birth of Metroplex.
The Oak St bridge has been out for close to TWO years.. You can bet your bottom dollar if this bridge was downtown it would already been back in service because the money would have been "found" to fix it.

I hope the voters who voted for Kosiur & Undertaker get this through thier thick skulls "everything for downtown, F&ck the rest of Schenectady"
This is the platform McCarthy and his team will run on in 2015.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

I agree with all that you said.  Just one correction: the proposed development would actually go on a currently vacant lot -- not the parking lot.  This is a good thing because I am pretty sure that will be adding assessable value to the tax rolls.

The other thing that the critics need to understand is that the only way to bring retail back downtown is to bring middle and upper income residents back into downtown.   Broadway once had single and multifamily homes on bOTH sides of the street from Crane Street down towards downtown.   Downtown used to have single and multifamily homes along Veeder Ave and Nott Terrace -- in fact several blocks of homes once stood between Liberty Street and Franklin Street from Nott Terrace down towards City Hall.   Bring residents back into downtown and soon they will be demanding -- and getting retail (food, clothes, other goods) back downtown.

And there will be demand for these residential units - once the 2nd track is completed and high speed train service begins to NYC and as transportation costs increase which will pull more people back to the urban centers.

If you think people need to live downtown, then why do you REFUSE to live downtown?    Why do you REFUSE to live ANYWHERE IN the city?   Why do you abandoned your church IN the city?   Why do you REFUSE to put your pinky to IN the city?


Downtown THRIVED when FEW people lived there, when the taxes were low  and homeowners were NOT paying for new buildings for the rich, and when homeowners were NOT paying taxes for millionaires.

Today, there is an overabundance of absolutely magnificent homes and long time existing apartments that are VACANT and NO ONE wants to move into them, NOT EVEN YOU.  

FACT is that if NO ONE wants to move into any of homes or long existing apartments -- luxury or not -- then they won't be moving into the taxpayer funded apartments either.   And the FACT is that since the homeowners WILL be paying the taxes on these new apartments, there will be even more people fleeing the city, more houses put up for sale.


DV, can you EVER respond and tell us why, with all this stuff downtown how comes the tax base of he city falls every year?    Can you answer that?

Can you EVER respond and tell us if all this downtown stuff is so wonderful, then how come property values are falling massively as proven by the city having the second highest equalization rate in the whole state of New York?    How come both home sales AND home sale prices are FALLING IN the city when either or both are rising outside of the city?  

Why do you REFUSE to ever address the FACTS that are proven by EVIDENCE that has been posted on these boards.

Where is your EVIDENCE to support ANYTHING you post?

Also, as these are all taxpayer funded projects, where is the balance sheet?  

How many apartments are rented of all the ones created/renovated at taxpayer expense?   How much is the rent?   Where is the money going that is collected in rent?  (of course, into the pockets of the wealthy owners---the city's poor make the downtown owners richer).  

The movie theater -- how many seats total of all the theaters?   Where is the day by day report to the taxpayers of how many seats are filled at each movie at each theater?

The taxpayer funded restaurants.  How many employees?   What is the pay of the employees?    What is the health plans and pension plans of the employees?   Or how much in Medicaid and other public assistance are we paying for what intelligent people know are low wage jobs downtown?

Where do the owners of the downtown businesses live?   They take the taxpayer money, are they choosing to live IN the city and pay taxes?


We will never know because the leaders will NEVER provide a report, a balance sheet, for the taxpayers that are paying for all this.

FIRST AND FOREMOST......until we know differently...........this is a PRIVATE venture!
If they want to build apt's AT THEIR OWN EXPENSE...RISKING THEIR OWN MONEY..........then so be it....Great!
Doesn't anyone think that it's about time that private businesses come to the area to develop with THEIR OWN MONEY?
If it fails in years to come....it's THEIR loss.....yes?

Until I hear FOR A FACT.....that the METROPLEX/GILLEN is doling out money to support this project....then I say GOOD LUCK TO THEM and wish them success.

this is how capitalism is 'suppose' to work.....no?

Quoted from benny salami

Of course not. It took years to rent out 2 luxury units on State so this makes no sense. Notice they are not condos because no one would pay the insane DEM confiscatory taxes. No local stores/no Downtown school/nearest grocery in Scotia. More tax support for the DEM fat cats that bought up Broadway parcels and can't move them. It will be
as successful as the vacant first floor retail across the street.

Some of those apts are FULL!
It wouldn't be my choice to live in that area......but many 'younger ones' love it!!