The mantra for the City should be "A place where people USED TO live" when it was a decent place. When neighborhoods were safe, when the people worked hard instead of taking advantage of free flowing social services, when you walk around MP without being afraid, when you could drive through the Hill without instinctively locking your car doors and when you could buy a house in the City without becoming bankrupt paying yearly property taxes.

The downtown "renaissance" has done nothing to either increase the value of City homes or lessen their taxes. In order to have a renaissance, the ENTIRE CITY should be flourishing, not simply a few businesses. The City might look pretty for the 1.6 seconds you drive the downtown strip, but in the rest of the City, the view is not as nice and the reality is extremely bleak.  

I remember those days as I lived near where the old varnish works used to be. There were more people around then and less crime and it was a city to be proud of unlike what the city has become today.

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(Although as stated earlier, I do like some of the improvements made downtown - they are just being done at a massive expense to the taxpayers...  And all that investment is not driving more and more companies to move into the area on their own.)

As the City of Schenectady property taxes continue to climb, property values are in freefall and the residential vacancy rate
is rendering some blocks in the city as ghost towns.  Crime is rampant, even in the "Miracle Mile".  Cornell's Restaurant, which
is located only a few blocks from the Schenectady Police Department, has been robbed (in day time) three times in recent
months.

I understand that the Metroplex projects are supported by sales tax, not property tax.  But, in my opinion, the experiment
has failed miserably.  The promised creation of permanent and good paying jobs and the increase in the tax base that will
bring property tax relief have not materialized.  And, don't give me Savage's and Gillen's tired statement about the thousands
of jobs created.  It's all bunk.  The Comptroller's report concluded as much.  Moving a company from one town in the county
into the city doesn't constitute job creation.

Ask the average county resident how often they have attended an event at Proctors.  For that matter, ask those in line at
DSS how the Metroplex improvements have benefitted them.

The decisions and actions of the Metroplex board have further enriched a few connected developers who in turn make
considerable contributions to the reigning political party.  

It is time that the media pull back the curtain and reveal the Wizard of Oz.

Quoted from 713

As the City of Schenectady property taxes continue to climb, property values are in freefall and the residential vacancy rate
is rendering some blocks in the city as ghost towns.  Crime is rampant, even in the "Miracle Mile".  Cornell's Restaurant, which
is located only a few blocks from the Schenectady Police Department, has been robbed (in day time) three times in recent
months.

I understand that the Metroplex projects are supported by sales tax, not property tax.  But, in my opinion, the experiment
has failed miserably.  The promised creation of permanent and good paying jobs and the increase in the tax base that will
bring property tax relief have not materialized.  And, don't give me Savage's and Gillen's tired statement about the thousands
of jobs created.  It's all bunk.  The Comptroller's report concluded as much.  Moving a company from one town in the county
into the city doesn't constitute job creation.

Ask the average county resident how often they have attended an event at Proctors.  For that matter, ask those in line at
DSS how the Metroplex improvements have benefitted them.

The decisions and actions of the Metroplex board have further enriched a few connected developers who in turn make
considerable contributions to the reigning political party.  

It is time that the media pull back the curtain and reveal the Wizard of Oz.

Quoted from 713

It is time that the media pull back the curtain and reveal the Wizard of Oz.

the DG is the cheerleaders and media support for the present 'wizards of oz'. But you can rest assure that IF the opposition gets elected to the majority.....the DG will print everything and anything they can get their hands on....with distortions and spin for all!! IMHO of course.

Cicero put it best GILLENGRAD-a two block Potemkin village populated by nonexistent art lovers. There is no Metrograft dividend for raped City residents. Revenues in free fall as DEM spending explodes.

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the DG is the cheerleaders and media support for the present 'wizards of oz'. But you can rest assure that IF the opposition gets elected to the majority.....the DG will print everything and anything they can get their hands on....with distortions and spin for all!! IMHO of course.

With Lauren Stanforth and Paul Nelson of the Times Union, it is clear to me that the DG is not the premier newspaper
when it comes to investigative reporting or coverage of Schenectady County local stories.  

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Quoted from Abe:
The decisions and actions of the Metroplex board have further enriched a few connected developers who in turn make
considerable contributions to the reigning political party.  

View the $500 and higher contributions to the Schenectdady County Democratic Committee made between 1/1/2010 and 12/25/2010 at the link below.

http://www.elections.state.ny......&CATEGORY_IN=ALL

One of the supporters, HB Diamond Development LLC of 376 Broadway in Schenectady contributed at least $9500 in 2010.  Not knowing anything about this company, I wanted to determine their association with local government.  A Google search returned the link below.  It appears that HB Diamond Development LLC is somehow associated with Highbridge Development as both names are linked to the Clinton Square Project.

http://www.cityofschenectady.com/pdf/IDA/COSIDA%2011-20-09%20(2).pdf

HB is Highbridge - just a different corporation within the same family

these businesses will continue to pump money into the liberal socialists coffers. The assume that without them, their day in the sun is over!!