Only thing that is needed is for DV to provide proof of the statements he makes.  That's all we ask for.

However

Quoted Text

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReasonThe personal financial information of myself and members of my family is not the business
of anyone on this website.
The fact is that I do pay taxes --- income tax, property tax, sales tax, etc. End of discussion on that point.

None of the things posted by MikeChristine is true  

.


Not true?????

There is no need on record in Schenectady County with your name on it so no property tax
In fact, DV's name does not come up at all, not even as elder planning type stuff
I point out that homeowners have high income, he claims it's not true.   Gee, the lack of STAR proves that I AM telling the truth
I guess record of pension from the state of NY shoing a high income of a pensioner is untrue, also, huh.
Most of us here pay income taxes - we have a job, Having a job does not allow one to post over 3,000 messages in a short time - people can draw their own conclusions about the life of a person who spends most of the day posting mssages.
OK pay sales tax in Schenectady, a very small amount because there isn't much to buy in Schenectady.

And by the way, just to educate you.....financial information of people paid by the taxpayers is the business of each and every taxpayer in the state AND it is official PUBLIC record.  Information from public records is NOT harrassment.

Yes, I know this isn't the topic of this thread, but all that is needed is for you to address the topic instead of the same comment all the time that Schenectady is in a renaissance.  Ok, go ahead and say that Schenecxtady is in a renaissance, but provide FACTS to prove it.

Actually Mike...

I think there is a renaissance.

One that the millionaires and criminals are actively participating in.

The jobs were saved and no services were cut --- so the issue is resolved.  

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

The jobs were saved and no services were cut --- so the issue is resolved.  

And that is very good news...

We just need a way to hire (a lot) more police officers now.

Quoted from JackBauer

And that is very good news...

We just need a way to hire (a lot) more police officers now.

The Megamillions jackpot is now $168 million dollars ... that could go a long way towards hiring
police officers.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Obviously, the Schenectady Firefighters made some sort of concession to save the jobs ---  this was probably
the reason that the layoffs were proposed to begin with --- to use as a bargaining leverage.

Once again, Mayor Stratton delivers for Schenectady.

Unfortunately our mayor delivers nothing for the taxpayers, only for himself and his cronies.

But I have to say Thank You! to our firefighters. We need all of you. As a matter of fact, when we call for help our firefighters are the ONLY ONES who respond, and they are fast.

I used to have all kinds of respect for chief farstad. Our guys went down to NYC after 9/11 to help with that disaster. They have saved lives (I know this from personal experience) and they have comforted victims with no thought of how they may look sitting on the ground hugging someone. They shed tears with the rest of us. They are humans and angels of mercy.

We need our firefighters more than we need the mayor, the seven council members and most of the department heads. We need our city workforce, those who actually "work" for the city.

Please accept my heartfelt thanks for your continuing efforts to keep us safe and save our property.,

Quoted from PatZ

Unfortunately our mayor delivers nothing for the taxpayers, only for himself and his cronies.
We need our firefighters more than we need the mayor, the seven council members and most of the department heads. We need our city workforce, those who actually "work" for the city.
Please accept my heartfelt thanks for your continuing efforts to keep us safe and save our property.,

Especially himself. This is a Mayor that wasted years shilling for a pay raise-when he knew the salary when he ran. At the first Alliance Party meet up some DEM stooge jumps up to say that the Mayor deserved a big raise that his pay was too low.

     We need a Mayor that knows how to budget, that's not afraid to fire incompetents/nonresidents and stops wasting money on DSIC, Erie Boulevard circles to nowhere and pension padding.

Schenectady is facing the same problems as many - if not every - cities in the Northeastern US.  Add  to
it 12 years of rule by incompetent mayors who let the city fall much farther than many others.  
At least, the folks of the city had the great wisdom to elect Brian Stratton 7 years ago who by working
WITH the City Council, County Legislature and every other level of government has "turned the ship around"
and is heading in the right direction.

Of course, the "arm chair quarterbacks", who never had to balance a municipal budget or negotiate public
sector labor contracts or put together the partners to create economic revitalization,  have the luxury of
sitting in their lazy boys and chugging their Colt 45 and eating possum for dinner and yapping their gums
complaining about things.  They couldn't do the job but they sure can complain.

Only a complete moron would sat that the City is "moving in the right direction". After 8 years of the all DEM "working together crew", 35 years of straight DEM ruin of the City Council, the City had a $12 MILLION deficit and couldn't afford vital police and fire. Hundreds of abandoned properties, lower State/Eastern and Crane devastated,
crime and gang activity at record levels. Some record of "accomplishment"?

      The problem is that these DEMS can't balance a budget nor tell the truth. And they're are getting paid hundreds of thousands to do it. Mayor SOS, who is worst in City history, was caught red handed illegally padding a pension. Then he lied about it throwing a judge and City Council member under the bus. The problems are bigger than not laying off fire fighters this year. Mayor SOS just kicked the can down the road for the all new Mayor and 4 Council people to remedy. BTW I don't drink Colt 45-I'm a Spaten man-so get your facts straight.

Quoted from benny salami

Only a complete moron would sat that the City is "moving in the right direction". After 8 years of the all DEM "working together crew", 35 years of straight DEM ruin of the City Council, the City had a $12 MILLION deficit and couldn't afford vital police and fire. Hundreds of abandoned properties, lower State/Eastern and Crane devastated,
crime and gang activity at record levels. Some record of "accomplishment"?

      The problem is that these DEMS can't balance a budget nor tell the truth. And they're are getting paid hundreds of thousands to do it. Mayor SOS, who is worst in City history, was caught red handed illegally padding a pension. Then he lied about it throwing a judge and City Council member under the bus. The problems are bigger than not laying off fire fighters this year. Mayor SOS just kicked the can down the road for the all new Mayor and 4 Council people to remedy. BTW I don't drink Colt 45-I'm a Spaten man-so get your facts straight.

You are entitled to your opinion - I am entitled to mine.  And I believe that the city and the county ...
as well as the town (Rotterdam) are heading in the right direction.    If you don't agree - that is your
right - but I still believe you are wrong.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

You are entitled to your opinion - I am entitled to mine.  And I believe that the city and the county ...
as well as the town (Rotterdam) are heading in the right direction.    If you don't agree - that is your
right - but I still believe you are wrong.

For the most part though DVOR - everyone else here can backup their opinions with data...

Such as tax increase data, or the difference in houses on the market and those sold every month.

And the escalating crime that seems to be going on downtown.....

Benny can't believe you would buy Villa Italia pastries today with all you say about them. Why not go to Civitellos who got no tax benefits?

Quoted from JackBauer

For the most part though DVOR - everyone else here can backup their opinions with data...

Such as tax increase data, or the difference in houses on the market and those sold every month.

And the escalating crime that seems to be going on downtown.....

The FBI data that I cited a few months back showed that certain "violent crimes" were down in
Schenectady over the past decade and "property crimes" were up.

As for my perception that the city is moving forward, I base it on my personal experience .... 10 years ago
there were many vacant store fronts and underutilized buildings downtown.   Progress is being made ..
slowly ... but it is certainly a better downtown than it was a decade ago.    
When certain folks who post here go on rants about how bad Proctors is ... and claim "no one" goes there ..
that is an obvious misrepresentation of the facts.    And I have NEVER said that I support  the property tax
exemptions  -- in fact I have quite clearly stated that they should only be used rarely and only as LAST
RESORT if the business being wooed is really worth bringing in.   Having said that,  I still believe that most of the projects generated by Metroplex have a positive influence on economic revitalization  --- oh, and I
have ALWAYS believed and stated that the disbursal of Metroplex tax-funded monies should be made by
the ELECTED  County Legislature rather than an unelected board    --- the same goes for tax dollars being
spent by Charter Schools.    Quite simply put --  if our tax dollars are funding it ... we should be able to
vote for the board that controls the entity.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

- in fact I have quite clearly stated that they should only be used rarely and only as LAST
RESORT if the business being wooed is really worth bringing in.   Having said that,  I still believe that most of the projects generated by Metroplex have a positive influence on economic revitalization  --- .

"Rare"    I never found the word "rare" in ANY dictionary to be defined as "every."    I can't understand how people think that giving out a 100% tax exemption to EVERY Metroplex project made under the Savage/Gillen/Stratton leeadership is defined as "rare"

"Last resort"     That could the case if a lower/middle income business wants to open, a small mom and pop operation, but I guess some people think that TOTALLY EXEMPTING MILLIONAIRES from paying ANY property and school taxes, thus FORCING the financially struggling homeowners to pick, up the tab is defined as "last resort"   After all, millionaires just simply cannot afford those high property taxes, but the average family of $30,000 does indeed have the financial wherewithal to pay their own taxes AND the taxes on the millonaires properties too.  And, if the families in Schenectady can't make their payments,  I wonder if Savage/Gillen/Stratton/McCarthy will come to their rescue

"Positive influence"      Record high taxes (one of the highest in the whole U.S.), substantially increased crime, a whopping 25% of existing houses vacant, people fleeing the city, very dismal education system, and the spending of millions for which few if any jobs are good paying (and the people in the FEW well paying jobs wouldn't dream of moving to the city.      Is this what positive influence is?

And I absolutely agree with not allowing property tax exemptions to all businesses. Unfortunately, the ENTIRE downtown area (as beautiful as it may look), is practically 100% tax exempt. That is not the way to properly 'entice' businesses to come to the City. Marcella's is the biggest scam as they were paying taxes up the hill on Broadway and now nothing in a new $2 million dollar building down the road.

The major problem is that our county taxes via Metroplex gave money to these downtown businesses and now the City homeowners has to pay AGAIN for their upkeep and other city services (plowing, sidewalks, lighting, police, etc) because of the enormous tax exemptions.

Downtown businesses should not be CREATING a tax burden for homeowners, they should be ALLEVIATING it. Metroplex has made a mess by allowing their buddies to keep opening restaurant upon restaurant, bar upon bar instead of finding decent retail investors to fill space. There are not enough jobs created from waitressing to consider these businesses a good investment for the City.

Therefore, the nepotism and corruption which is bankrupting the City has to stop. Metroplex should be abolished or have an elected board. The City can't keep firefighters and other valuable services if they are sinking money into a money pit of tax exempt businesses downtown.