After taking properties from homeowners that couldn't afford them, McCarthy now can't afford them and wants to borrow $3 million to get rid of them. He is a freakin genius.
I'm not a rocket scientist, but wouldn't it be cheaper to give them back, give them away or auction them off.
Schenectady demolition plan wanted Mayor seeks $3M in federal money to raze about 100 buildings Lauren Stanforth Updated 7:39 am, Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Mayor Gary McCarthy is trying to get a $3 million federal loan to knock down the city's worst properties.
He has asked City Council for authorization to apply for the money through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program, which would provide the funds to raze about 100 dilapidated structures, most of which are long-abandoned homes.
In 2008, then Mayor Brian U. Stratton proposed demolishing 50 of the city's worst properties under something called the 50-First Program. But the project never happened; Stratton saying the city didn't end up having the money and that the federal government would not pay for demolition.
City Development Director Richard Purga said the Section 108 Loan has always been available. But it's become possible now to apply for it because the city will receive $100,000 a year for the next eight years as part of last year's sales tax agreement with Schenectady County.
That money would be used to make the loan payment each year, along with another $56,000 that would be paid for with federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money. Purga said the city would have to seek the same reimbursement from the county after the eight-year deal is up, as the loan would take 20 years to pay back.
"Demolition is our greatest need in terms of funding," Purga said about the CDBG money, which the city currently uses for everything from paying for code enforcement officers to keeping community pools running.
The city received a total of $1.9 million in CDBG funding last year, but said it expects that number to go down 5 percent in 2013 because of federal budget cuts.
McCarthy said the loan application must be done in such a way as to include plans for rehabilitating some buildings, and acquiring other property for resale as the federal government does not loan money solely for demolition.
"We're going to go through and clean up the problem, it's just how you structure it," the mayor said.
Are they saying that the revenue we get from Metroplex which was our money in the first place will be used to pay to knock down buildings that the city took from private ownership because they didn't/couldn't pay the high taxes? It sounds like they are trying to lump in derelict buildings with buildings that should have been maintained but weren't because the city took them. BS and co. had this really stupid idea that Schenectady had "too many houses" (desirable residential areas) so he set out to try and get rid of as many as possible while going ahead with plans to use scarce industrial zoned property for - more housing! I think part of the problem was that BS was a guy with a daddy who was a big deal, and also BS looked smart, so people just assumed that he knew what he was doing. They latched on to his ideas, so they would look smart too. Now they don't want to admit how dumb they were, or in the current mayor's case, how inattentive and clueless, so they continue along the path of stupidity, looking for various excuses (it was Roger Hull's fault!) as to why their genius plans aren't working.
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) money should be used to help struggling homeowners not lose their properties.
Taking properties to go further into debt is really stupid.
Spending the block grant money on more code enforcement, causing more homeowners to fail, is shooting yourself in the foot.
Home owners who actually live in the homes should be helped with that block grant money.
People who make money renting while defaulting on taxes should be the lowest priority.
The bottom line is, spending millions to target struggling home owners to force more of them to lose their properties, that the city can't afford to maintain or even demolish, is total foolishness.
If the city can't afford to maintain or demolish the homes, how can they expect the home owners to maintain them?
The $600 a month or more property taxes could greatly improve the condition of these homes.
Foreclosure is a complete failure for the owners and the city.
Owner occupied properties should be given incentives to fix the properties, not targeted for confiscation.
I suggest owner occupied homes under let's say, $100,000 assessed value, be allowed to deduct 30% of home improvements off their property taxes.
Call it a homeowner incentive investment program.
This way if your tax bill is $3,000 and you invest $10,000 back into the otherwise failing property, the homeowner would pay no tax that year, but the value of the home would be increased at least $10,000 to $20,000. This would grow the tax base, not cripple it like the foreclosures do.
This wouldn't be welfare. It wouldn't be a giveaway, it would be a massive investment program into the city, replacing the massive debt growth method homeowners all currently enjoy.
As properties grow in value, their assessments would rise growing the tax base further.
This is basically what the Metroplex thugs do with our money for corporations.
They even give interest free loans to these welfare corporations.
Invest in the homeowners with some interest free loans for home improvements, instead of targeted enforcement aimed at taking their properties, and the foreclosures will be greatly reduced.
Gee I thought he was going to sell them and balance the City budget? ROTFLMAO!! Where's the suburban cheerleaders on this? Silence...crickets chirping. McCheese is a total joke. Bravo to the TU for staying on these idiots. McCheese has no plan other than to continue to rape the taxpayers. Same plan the DEMS have had for 37 years in Metrograftville. Had enough-YET?
I wonder what the next scheme is to waste millions. The democraps always outdo themselves when it comes to suicideing their city and county.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
I wonder what the next scheme is to waste millions. The democraps always outdo themselves when it comes to suicideing their city and county.
You don't have to wait long. Another taxpayer funded bakery this time in Scotia. How much dough have the County taxpayers given to two familias? And the best part the COUNTY TAXPAYERS on on the hook for the entire cost of the toxic cleanup of the former gas station on the closed Mikey D's site. Sale Price-the usual $1 whenever Metrograft's Death Ray is involved. The going rate for Downtown buildings post-renaissance.
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Gee I thought he was going to sell them and balance the City budget? ROTFLMAO!! Where's the suburban cheerleaders on this? Silence...crickets chirping. McCheese is a total joke. Bravo to the TU for staying on these idiots. 
