A few familiar names on foreclosure list Included are those who had brushes with the law and community leaders By Lauren Stanforth Published 11:23 p.m., Monday, June 4, 2012
SCHENECTADY — A convicted building contractor, a former city councilman and the president of a Hamilton Hill neighborhood association are among hundreds of property owners who are facing foreclosure under a massive court action undertaken by the city.
Schenectady has published a list on its website and also displayed it on the city's cable access channels, detailing who owns the 693 properties that the city has moved to foreclose on for unpaid taxes that started at the latest in 2009.
In past years, the city routinely foreclosed on tax-delinquent properties. But that stopped between 2004 and 2010 when the city sold its liens to American Tax Funding, giving foreclosure rights to that Florida-based company. Now that the city is once again in charge of its own collecting, Schenectady is trying rein in owners who have remained in arrears, said Mayor Gary McCarthy.
The list includes people who have had brushes with the law, as well as community leaders.
David White, who was convicted in December of failing to pay almost $82,000 to subcontractors on a home building project in Glenville, owes $30,593 for a property on Banker Avenue, an amount that includes interest and penalties. White is now serving one to three years in state prison.
Also listed is Fred Lee, who is president of the New Hamilton Hill Neighborhood Association and serves on a domestic violence panel at the YWCA. He and his wife, Darlene, a past chairwoman of the city's Republican committee, owe $41,134 on three properties, including their home on Stanley Street.
"We share the pain of a lot of the residents of the city of Schenectady on the issue of taxes," Lee said Monday, declining further comment.
Former City Councilman Peter Della Ratta, who resigned in 2006 after he admitted in court to hitting another man, owes $23,731 for a Robinson Street address. A rental property owner, Della Ratta was also reportedly behind in taxes in 2004.
An adjacent lot with ties to Liberty Dental Lab on Guilderland Avenue, which is run by Mohonasen school board member Gary Spadaro and his father, is listed as owing $20,615 in back taxes.
Landlord Andrew Wisoff, who unsuccessfully sued the city in protest of its rental certificate policies, owes about $150,000 on nine properties, according to the foreclosure list.
And the tables are turned for Optimum Realty Corp., a collection company that American Tax Funding sold Schenectady's liens to. Optimum apparently took two properties through foreclosure, one on Green Street and another on Carrie Street, and hasn't paid $59,540 in city taxes on them........................>>>>.....................>>>>........................Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/loca.....83.php#ixzz1wuiKtkRH
Logged
MobileTerminal
June 5, 2012, 4:36am
Guest User
Quoted Text
An adjacent lot with ties to Liberty Dental Lab on Guilderland Avenue, which is run by Mohonasen school board member Gary Spadaro and his father, is listed as owing $20,615 in back taxes.
I trust we will hear NOTHING from DV aka Ham, aka Glryinthhighest, aka VM, aka Scots, aka Gravel.
Why not?
Because DV under every name is MUCH TOO EMBARRASSED to ADMIT that this was totally 100% the FAULT of Stratton and the city DEM leadership. It was THE DEMS who sold houses for a dollar to this guy WHEN HE WAS ALREADY IN BANKRUPTCY !!!!!!!!!
So, now tell us how wonderful the dems are?????
Make the hard working homeowners pay their own taxes
Make the hardworking financially struggling homeowners pay the taxes of the downtown millionaires.
Make the hardworking, financially struggling, homeowners pay the costs of demolishing buildings of landlords who don't carry insurance on their buildings, because THE DEMS REFUSE TO SEIZE POPOLIZIO'S HOME,
Make the hardworking, financially struggling homeowners pay the school taxes of Philip Morris' iillegal STAR exemption
Make the hardworking, financially struggling homeowners pay the MILLION dollars in repairs to the old Hotel Foster building--damage willfully and deliberately caused by the dem buddy tax delinquent team of Alsdof-Todd who obviously did not carry insurance to cover damages AND make the homeowners pay their deliqnuent tax bill on that building as a condition for the city "buying" the property---a purchase which rewarded the pair of tax delinquents to the tune of a whopping QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS -which is MORE THAN twice what they paid for it.
And then, the dems sell houses---for just one deollar -- to this Wisoff, while he's in bankruiptcy.
What kind of leadership is this?
Is THIS what a renaissance is all about? Putting long time, hard working homeowners out on the street by taking their homes when they can't pay the taxes of the above described groups of people?
.
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
Logged
