Maybe you and Mr. Gillen should.

Ever hear of never building on shifting sand?

You need a solid base (meaning neighborhoods and schools) if you want an economically unsound Downtown to thrive. Right now, there is an Downtown not paying taxes - not contributing to the taxbase thus CREATING a tax burden - and neighborhoods in decline.

Metroplex took all their eggs, put them in a Downtown basket and now all the eggs are rotten. They are no good to anyone. If Metroplex slowly brought in businesses WITHOUT decades of tax exemptions, maybe the City could have thrived...but they didn't, they failed and they should be audited.

i c.. and u got your economic development degree where?

parisis closed because the owner was on apprarently doing illegal substances, rumor has it...

fireside closed because it was corrupt.. failed to pay taxes for years and the corruption finally caught up with owners

cornells struggled the moment it moved to jay street -- at the behest of mayor al and geo robertson. who promised to help but never did

so basically, your examples are not at all related to metroplex or downtown.

Quoted from Smoking Bananas

i c.. and u got your economic development degree where?

I guess we can  take that as  ..... 'smokey doesn't get it'.

Just get's his/her facts from the gazette.

i will take my "facts" over yours any day, regardless of their source.

Having lived and worked in the Glens Falls area in the 1980's and having family connections to that area, I am well aware of the the comeback that Glens Falls has made.    The comeback was fueled by a number of factors renewed interest in the area after the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, the influx of New York City area folks (retirees, people looking for vacation homes and people looking for places to invest upstate) and don't discount the HUGE impact that forward-thinking politicians like Joe Bruno and Gerald Solomon had on the area.

Having seen where Glens Falls was in the late 1970's and then mid 1980's and now --- I would say tha Schenectady is walking down a similar  path of Renaissance.

Quoted from Smoking Bananas

parisis closed because the owner was on apprarently doing illegal substances, rumor has it...

fireside closed because it was corrupt.. failed to pay taxes for years and the corruption finally caught up with owners

cornells struggled the moment it moved to jay street -- at the behest of mayor al and geo robertson. who promised to help but never did

so basically, your examples are not at all related to metroplex or downtown.

Those are your examples SB, not mine. Marcella's & Transfinders stayed for HUGE property and school taxbreaks - as well they received grants and oodles of Plex money. Paul Mitchell doesn't need a break - he's loaded, Bombers same story. Villa Italia new building thanks to over $350K Plex money and a meager PILOT payment.

Parker Inn, Cornells went bankrupt even with millions given by Metroplex. The imaging company left after getting $100Ks in Plex money (they are off to another County). Trustco Bank bought for millions and sitting vacant. Off the plex rolls are Olenders gone, Chez Daisy gone ....

My point is that it takes TIME to bring in businesses, that is the right way to do it. Metroplex bribed companies to come in without thought to long-term ramifications.

a loan or incentives from Metroplex or any other economic development entity is NOT a bribe ...  be careful using words like bribe  ..   you know  .. to avoid the legal hassles of a lawsuit charging you with defamation

Give me a break DV, no company would ever have ventured Downtown without a Plex greased-palm handout or tax-evasion scheme.

Feel better?

BTW, the defunct, bankrupt Parker Inns $100 campaign donation to McCarthy - that's really a slap in the face to the taxpayers which bankrolled this location.

Quoted from rachel72

Give me a break DV, no company would ever have ventured Downtown without a Plex greased-palm handout or tax-evasion scheme.

Just ask these businesses, who are supposedly doing great, to relinquish their tax exempt status and see exactly how long they will stay?  

chez daisy never took a dime from metroplex

transfinder and marcella took breaks to stay here. true. they also considered leaving the area. so the breaks enticed them to stay, other wise marcella with its sales tax revenues, gone. transfinder with is 100 -plus people, gone, i think people here would have been upset if no one tried to keep them here.

and yes, that is part of the game,,, shopping for the best deal. corporate welfare at its best.

paul mitchell does not own the school here, it is owned by a local guy and his brother. itis a franchise and is the first paul mitchell opened upstate.

they picked this site because of the incentives -- they could have gone ANYWHERE but came here. yes they got a pilot. andmore power to them for getting it.. that is how the game works

in a few years, they will pay full value, then your entire argument becomes meaningless

correction chez dasiy took a 5k grant from metroplex, which was paid back. there is a new coffee shop there now. she left to pursue her catering business..

Transfinders doesn't even have 50 people on staff.

Businesses should be making profits themselves, not profiting off the government.

Marcellas, Villa Italia, Parker Inn, Proctors, Chez Daisy, Bombers should NOT be created with Metroplex (the taxpayer) money. A business should be independent of constant government breaks. Clinton's Ditch $30k+ 'forgiven' Metroplex loan - a crime.

Incentive is luring a business to an area which is improving i.e. stable homeowners, good neighborhoods, a booming school district, etc. Metroplex went WAY off the deep end by giving millions in grants, millions in property and school tax breaks to businesses which

(a) don't need the handout
(b) could not make it independently (Parker Inn, Cornells)

Keeping businesses in the City is one thing, but buying them to stay is another.

Metroplex offers incentives ... and they are NOT bribes since  "Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or other person in charge of a public or legal duty".

And there is no evidence that Metroplex used its funds to " influence the actions of an official or other person in charge of a public or legal duty".

So again -- be careful what accusations you make -- because they could land you in court.

why do u criticize something that is perfectly legal? DVR is correct... they are not bribes, they are incentives. don;t like them, change the system.