SCHENECTADY — Officials at a drug counseling center on a key downtown corner want to add a group home to its building, dashing the hopes of economic developers who wanted to relocate the center.

Metroplex Development Authority officials have shown to buyers the New Choices Recovery Center, at the corner of Erie Boulevard and State Street. But the center didn’t accept any purchase offers.

Now, they’ve accepted a different proposal: the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse will renovate the entire five-story building in exchange for a group home on the upper floors.

Director Stuart Rosenblatt announced the project at Monday’s City Council meeting, during a public hearing on zoning limitations for halfway houses.

He said he was afraid the definition for halfway houses was written so vaguely that it might apply to his proposed group home.

Corporation Counsel John Polster said afterward that he believed the definition would not apply to the center, since it does not intend to solely take in prisoners to rehabilitate them before release.

http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2013/may/14/0514_group/

So those are all the people hanging out on that corner smoking cigs, best of luck to them.

Quoted from Henry

So those are all the people hanging out on that corner smoking cigs, best of luck to them.

Currently. they're only there during the day.

Only SOME of them will be ex-prisoners from NYC. Real good planning, planners. Spend a gazillion dollars for a fancy gateway to GE, and then have a (sort of) halfway house on a prominent corner. Morons of the first order.

is this a joke?

Thus apparently metroplex was going to try to "evict" this organization from it's own property.  Well, try to use OUR tax dollars to try to get them to sell.  HA, they hadn't accepted any offers. Plex' apparent buyers didn't want to pay what McCheese and his crony assessor claim it's worth?

So instead of DEATH Ray spending OUR money on this, the OASAS is going to spend OUR money to do something.

Either way, it's the money that belongs to the TAXPAYERS (cheerleader is excluded from that category).

Hey, if it gets any bigger, they can move the addicts into the vacant Trustco building the County bought years ago.

...too soon?

the METROPLEX/GILLEN will give them and offer they CAN'T refuse.....that's the way it's done!

AND....they will end up on broadway by the overflowing DSS building.....or by the porn shop.

However............i have talked to folks that have family and/or friends who have been incarcerated for drugs and they ALL say that SCUMnectady is not the place to return to......DRUGS ARE RAMPANT in the city!!!! The drug business is the only sucessful, viable business making $$$$.

Quoted from Madam X

Only SOME of them will be ex-prisoners from NYC. Real good planning, planners. Spend a gazillion dollars for a fancy gateway to GE, and then have a (sort of) halfway house on a prominent corner. Morons of the first order.

The gateway to Schenectady! Great job Death Ray, McCheese and Karen Johnson! The busiest corner Downtown-empty buildings on 3 sides, vacant State Theatre, Olenders two buildings-parking lot on the fourth. No retail in sight except Ajello's lousy cigars. Maybe they can relocate the DEM taxpayer sinkhole Gillette House to one of the corners? Bring back the Silver Diner another Death Ray Special.

Quoted from benny salami

The gateway to Schenectady! Great job Death Ray, McCheese and Karen Johnson! The busiest corner Downtown-empty buildings on 3 sides, vacant State Theatre, Olenders two buildings-parking lot on the fourth. No retail in sight except Ajello's lousy cigars. Maybe they can relocate the DEM taxpayer sinkhole Gillette House to one of the corners? Bring back the Silver Diner another Death Ray Special.

Proof positive that all the Plex and Schenectady officials can 'develop' is...nothing. Only entities coming into the City have state and federal handouts involved.

I thought the Plex took the YMCA off lower state and wouldn't re-locate the homeless in the million dollar Center City for fear the downtown would have an 'element'. So instead, let's have five floors of it on the 19 million dollar Erie Bld corner.

Seriously, did Gillen get dropped a lot as a child??? There is no method to this madness!!

That's actually a nice building on the upper floors, too. What a waste. Of course, if these "planners" find a nice building, they have to knock it down so they get all the credit for fixing up empty lots they created.
These people have no business pretending to be urban planners. They have other jobs they are neglecting, and if they don't have other jobs to do they are completely expendable as who needs unqualified planners doing the bad job you would expect from self-interested amateurs with an agenda?

Quoted from Madam X

That's actually a nice building on the upper floors, too. What a waste. Of course, if these "planners" find a nice building, they have to knock it down so they get all the credit for fixing up empty lots they created.
These people have no business pretending to be urban planners. They have other jobs they are neglecting, and if they don't have other jobs to do they are completely expendable as who needs unqualified planners doing the bad job you would expect from self-interested amateurs with an agenda?

And here's the problem when you have no idea what you're doing and are given a $100 million account. The result is a loss of millions of taxpayers dollars, money given to businesses which are friends and family of a certain political party and a City left in financial ruins.

Thank you Mr. Gillen, your inexperience has decimated us.....

Quoted from mmontone1

is this a joke?

No it's Schenectady. No retail but great governmental gin mills and socialist bakeries! 108 years of a mattress store is long enough.

Is there a group home for rabid, druggie he/she nayboob monkeys?   Here is a picture of the Cowardly Cuckoo trying to steal items to sell for monkey chow.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.....qauGi0TeSFakeW2Px508