City Squire.



How many decades has that place been open.  But guess you can't compete with similar businesses when you have to pay your own taxes PLUS the taxes of your politically favored and politically connected competition.  Just thank the mayor for getting rid of taxpaying businesses and causing the tax base in the city to continuously fall.

I've never been there myself, but have heard the place is a dump with bad food (good wings though) and horrible service. I guess they don't take too kindly to those who are not their regular crowd, haven't done anything to update and keep with the times and it is filthy. Again, I have never been there, so this is just hearsay. Whether it is true, or is just the public perception, it doesn't bode well for staying in business. Cleanliness and friendliness has nothing to do with tax breaks.

Restaurants are a dime a dozen now. I have found that a lot of the old time places have gotten lazy and have been relying on their reputation for 10-20 years ago to keep going, instead of being inventive with their food and stepping up their game.

Quoted from Parent

I've never been there myself, but have heard the place is a dump with bad food (good wings though) and horrible service. I guess they don't take too kindly to those who are not their regular crowd, haven't done anything to update and keep with the times and it is filthy. Again, I have never been there, so this is just hearsay. Whether it is true, or is just the public perception, it doesn't bode well for staying in business. Cleanliness and friendliness has nothing to do with tax breaks.

Restaurants are a dime a dozen now. I have found that a lot of the old time places have gotten lazy and have been relying on their reputation for 10-20 years ago to keep going, instead of being inventive with their food and stepping up their game.

To be honest I don't think I've ever heard of the place much less eaten there. If your anecdotal evidence is any indication of the quality of the food and cleanliness, then I say good riddance.

But in reality, I think all of us here have come to realize that this is just another attempt by the mc group to draw attention to themselves and their once prominent place on these forums. Thus the all caps thread titles that scream "look at us!! look at us!!!. Where they once provided valuable data and information, they now have to use these types of sophomoric antics to try to gain attention. They thought they were bullet proof and could hide their own agenda, bullying and harassment tactics  behind faux concern for the folks like you Parent and others who actually do live in the city.

I'm glad that people are beginning to see through them. That alone gives me a glimmer of hope that things might change. I'm sure they'll be jumping on these boards today, as there were a couple of things in this mornings paper that raise some concerns for all of you who do pay taxes and try to survive in Schenectady. And there will be the self promoting titles to their threads claiming concern while they sit by their pool in their cozy Rotterdam neighborhood sipping martinis and thumbing their noses at honest hard working Schenectadians.

Businesses close for any number of reasons. Of course, those who don't know anything will always try to blame it on the mayor or the city.  Businesses have closed because of family issues (death or retirement or the business was just taking too much of their time) and  the author of this thread has blamed it on the mayor and/or the city.  
As for the City Squire, I had only been there 2 maybe 3 times in past 30 years -- the last time being about 7 or 8 years ago.  IMHO  It seemed OK .. not terrific .. not bad ... just kind of "in the middle."  I know some people who loved it and went there weekly.  
Hopefully something new will fill the space soon.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Businesses close for any number of reasons.  
Hopefully something new will fill the space soon.

Business close for any number of reasons, but in Schenectady, most only open when subsidized with tax money and granted property tax exemptions.  So if the space is filled, the property will most likely have a PILOT.

We were there ONCE about 10 years ago.
wings were good but never went back.
we don't go downtown at all, for anything anyways.
there are more than enough places to go in the surrounding areas....downtown Schenectady ain't one of them.

BT, I think ten years ago it was the previous ownership. I could be mistaken.
This is the business I mentioned a while back as being up for sale. Yes, there were things wrong with the place, but the point is that a business struggling to find its feet cannot POSSIBLY compete with those it has to pay the taxes for, especially when those other businesses didn't even have to foot the bill for the lavish remodels.
Why would anyone be outraged when M/C brings up a long-time taxpaying business going under? Isn't that what this site is for?

Quoted from Madam X

BT, I think ten years ago it was the previous ownership. I could be mistaken.
This is the business I mentioned a while back as being up for sale. Yes, there were things wrong with the place, but the point is that a business struggling to find its feet cannot POSSIBLY compete with those it has to pay the taxes for, especially when those other businesses didn't even have to foot the bill for the lavish remodels.
Why would anyone be outraged when M/C brings up a long-time taxpaying business going under? Isn't that what this site is for?

You just said "things were wrong" and then place blame clearly on inability to compete with businesses that opened
at some later date that received financial incentives. All restaurants MUST provide good food, at a reasonable price
and with good service in a clean environment...do that and they will come. Could they have used financial assistance...sure.
But that would not have fixed "things were wrong" or the points made by another poster. Just like MC Trolls, if you don't
understand it all and attempt to put things in perspective, then people will only biotch about the DEMS and the financial support!
As has been said RESTAURANTS FAIL FOR MANY REASONSt!

Shut up, "joebx". One CANNOT compete, business-wise, with others who do not pay their own way. I know what I just said, because I said it. How about adding something intelligent, instead of your tired old tactic of trying to insult the other posters?
I understand the entire issue. You understand nothing. What are you talking about, "at some later date"?
I feel bad for these people.
Why would anyone be in favor of a local business going under because they got taxed out of the running? Odd.

Quoted from bumblethru

We were there ONCE about 10 years ago.
wings were good but never went back.
we don't go downtown at all, for anything anyways.
there are more than enough places to go in the surrounding areas....downtown Schenectady ain't one of them.

The City Squire isn't in Downtown.  It is in the Upper Union Street shopping district.

Being pleasant to your customers and general cleaning are not affected by tax breaks. They weren't taxed out of running. They had bad customer service skills and a filthy establishment.

The tax breaks may play a role in other's closing, it does not appear, from word on the street, that this is the case in this closure.

Quoted from Parent

Being pleasant to your customers and general cleaning are not affected by tax breaks. They weren't taxed out of running. They had bad customer service skills and a filthy establishment.
The tax breaks may play a role in other's closing, it does not appear, from word on the street, that this is the case in this closure.

Careful Parent...you should not post logic and reason and information that may contradict the almighty MC and Madame Xlax...
be careful or the Madame will tell you to SHUT UP because she hates being shown as wrong...stupidly wrong and immature...she can't handle it!

Quoted from Parent

Being pleasant to your customers and general cleaning are not affected by tax breaks. They weren't taxed out of running. They had bad customer service skills and a filthy establishment.

The tax breaks may play a role in other's closing, it does not appear, from word on the street, that this is the case in this closure.

No way of knowing if that is the reason.  Nobody knows what their margins would be if given thousands in tax exemptions.  Thousands of dollars could be used for sanitation staffing and cleaning supplies.  Customer service may have been poor, I've never been there.  It would be interesting to see the sanitation budgets of the downtown exempt establishments compared to those that pay full.  I'm willing to bet the exempt businesses contract their cleaning out while the others are cleaned by owner operator.

Quoted from CICERO

No way of knowing if that is the reason.  Nobody knows what their margins would be if given thousands in tax exemptions.  Thousands of dollars could be used for sanitation staffing and cleaning supplies.  Customer service may have been poor, I've never been there.  It would be interesting to see the sanitation budgets of the downtown exempt establishments compared to those that pay full.  I'm willing to bet the exempt businesses contract their cleaning out while the others are cleaned by owner operator.

Why would margins be impacted?  That makes no sense.
Supplement to pay for services, expansion, renovations, etc., I can see and that
would not have as big an impact on profits...but if service/food was just so-so, no amount of
free money would help that.

Quoted from joebxr

Why would margins be impacted?  That makes no sense.
Supplement to pay for services, expansion, renovations, etc., I can see and that
would not have as big an impact on profits...but if service/food was just so-so, no amount of
free money would help that.

Let's assume business A and business B offer the same good or service and have the exact same operational costs, except property tax.  Business A has to pay $10k in property tax, and business B pays zero in property tax.  Let's say the market rate for said good or service is $1.  If their sales are exactly the same at the end of the year, business A will have $10k less than business B.  Business B will have the money they save in taxes to reinvest into their business, maybe increasing their sanitation budget.  

I agree that poor service isn't helped by more money.  But it certainly has an affect on the appearance of the establishment.  Especially when their competitor is getting tax breaks, giving them more money that can be used to maintain their establishment.