so we're not going to build anything here....we're going to be the best servants and actors and actresses this country has ever seen ooooooh but we'll be so civil and urbane.....
our value will be so much more increased
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
it is a GREAT NEWS that a private company wants to locate and invest in Schenectady.
... Often times these large scale projects take years to pay off.
Bottomline - this announcements is the first in a series of POSITIVE new developments coming to Schenectady County. THE RENAISSANCE IS DEFINITELY UNDERWAY.
1. Yeah a RICH PRIVATE company that will be paid for with TAXPAYERS' MONEY!
2 Another DRASTIC REDUCTION in the city's tax base as the financially struggling homeonwers WILL be the ones paying the taxes
3. Again, YOU say it's the FIRST positive news. Obviously YOU are ADMITTING that ALL the hundreds of millions of TAXPAYERS' money was a TOTAL WASTE AND HAS RUINED THE CITY!!!!
Be sure now, DV, make sure a coward to address the falling tax base, faling home values, inncreasing taxes as a result of the ex-mayor of BS, your Savage girlfriend, McCheese, Dagger, Death Ray and the dem legislatures in the county and city.
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.
Often times these large scale projects take years to pay off.
The people of the city of Schenectady DO NOT HAVE YEARS to wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nor does the city.
Gillen needs to be FIRED NOW
Metroplex, IF it is going to exist, should be staffed EXCLUSIVELY by UNPAID VOLUNTEERS
NO MORE tax exemptions for ANY business downtown!!!! (that means remove all current exemptions AND no more new exemptions) As Proctors IS 100% a FOR PROFIT business it MUST pay it's 100% taxes. REMOVE Morris as CEO.
IMMEDIATELY reassess the whole city.
IMMEDIATELY lower the taxes for HOMEOWNERS.
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.
MC1, that is the only thing that will save us. BTW, for anyone who doesn't know already, if a studio did move here, that would not be "investing in Schenectady". I don't know who came up with that stupid phrase but it is inaccurate. If we issued bonds and they bought them, they might be considered investors, but a studio seeking tax breaks and handouts, there is no investing going on there. Of course, when people can't even recognize the parallels between this dopey venture and Detroit, even though Detroit's RENAISSANCE Center is the prototype of the CITY WITHIN A CITY concept, well then, I guess when phrases like "investing" get used to hide what is really going on, there will always be willing dupes to buy into it. Except they don't really "buy" into anything, they have no financial stake in this stuff, neither do the "investors".
Metroplex, IF it is going to exist, should be staffed EXCLUSIVELY by UNPAID VOLUNTEERS
NO MORE tax exemptions for ANY business downtown!!!! (that means remove all current exemptions AND no more new exemptions) As Proctors IS 100% a FOR PROFIT business it MUST pay it's 100% taxes. REMOVE Morris as CEO.
IMMEDIATELY reassess the whole city.
IMMEDIATELY lower the taxes for HOMEOWNERS.
These are all terrific ideas MC1 especially the volunteer board! It takes away the friends and family club out of the loop.
I'd like to see Metroplex die, but that's not going to happen. Your solution would work.
Ya think? here's the thing, they aren't going to do that, because that is why they created Metroplex, so they could give our money to select connected cronies. As long as they have enough people to ooh and ahh at the shiny buildings, this destructive force will continue to drive the city into the ground. They don't need to worry, they've already got theirs.
Ya think? here's the thing, they aren't going to do that, because that is why they created Metroplex, so they could give our money to select connected cronies. As long as they have enough people to ooh and ahh at the shiny buildings, this destructive force will continue to drive the city into the ground. They don't need to worry, they've already got theirs.
That is the BEST and most ACCURATE statement ever!!
All Gillen and his friends harp on is how 'nice' downtown looks...yet they have NO CLUE that taxpayer money paid for all of it!! And our hard earned money CONTINUES to pay for it..every single day!
This 'pretty' 2 second drive downtown does not pay property or school taxes. Well, there are PILOT agreements, but we have no idea how much (or little) they are.
The TAXPAYERS money built downtown, the TAXPAYERS money continues to fund downtown and that's not economic development, that's simply an illusion.
In order for the nayboobs (or as I now think of them I.D.A's) to understand this, they would have to be able to think beyond black & white, 1+1=2, etc. So I know this is a stretch since they act like a bunch of people who haven't progressed much past 1st grade social and thinking skills. Spending money, no matter what the combination of funding sources, to build a house, a business (in this case a film studio) or even a non-profit or cultural building IS an investment. There are benefits derived during the construction phase and, also, once it is completed. Even if there is some Metroplex and/or state assistance, the film company would also INVESTING money into the project. And, you notice that these nayboobs don't seem to be upset that our state tax dollars helped finance the Luther Forest/Global Foundries project to the tune of well over a billion dollars? Why? Because they only want to trash talk about Democrats in Schenectady County.
George Amedore & Christian Klueg for NYS Senate 2016 Pete Vroman for State Assembly 2016[/size][/color]
"For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground." Lyndon Baines Johnson
In order for the nayboobs (or as I now think of them I.D.A's) to understand this, they would have to be able to think beyond black & white, 1+1=2, etc. So I know this is a stretch since they act like a bunch of people who haven't progressed much past 1st grade social and thinking skills. Spending money, no matter what the combination of funding sources, to build a house, a business (in this case a film studio) or even a non-profit or cultural building IS an investment. There are benefits derived during the construction phase and, also, once it is completed. Even if there is some Metroplex and/or state assistance, the film company would also INVESTING money into the project. And, you notice that these nayboobs don't seem to be upset that our state tax dollars helped finance the Luther Forest/Global Foundries project to the tune of well over a billion dollars? Why? Because they only want to trash talk about Democrats in Schenectady County.
DV, do you have the GUTS to respond???? Or are you just a BIG COWARD.
While I (personally) wasn't in favor of the government money for Global, the FACT is that it is producing good paying jobs, and the homeowners ARE seeing a return on their dollars, their homes are selling like hotcakes, and their homes are increasing in value and more homes are being built EXCLUSIVELY with private money! Their tax base is INCREASING. AND the homeowners pay FAR LESS taxes than in Schenecady for MUCH GREATER house! I won't say everything is rosy, but it is very very good
Now please explain for us, DV, what are the homeowners in Schenectady getting????? Well?????
In return for this "investment" as you call it, what is Schenectady getting? Do YOU have the GUTS to answer that???????
Tell us about the impact on the tax base. Tell us the impact on property values Tell us the impact on home sales Tell us the impact on home sale prices Tell us the impact on the condition of roads Tell us the impact on ESSENTIAL services in the city Tell us about the impact on people buying homes in the city Tell us about the impact on about the willingness city homeowners to remain living in the city Tell us about the impact on the tax BILLS. Tell us about the average long time taxpaying homeowners who are losing their homes in return for their "investment" of tax dollars in downtown. Tell us about the impact on the numbers of tax foreclosures Tell us about the impact on the number of homes sitting vacant after seizure Tell us about the impact of blight in the city
Well? A response or are you too much of a coward to respond.
The investment has PROVEN to be a GUARANTEED FAILURE for everyone except the dems and their rich political cronies. Might it pay of 30 years from now? Perhaps, however, as YOU are NOT a taxpayer, you do NOT experience loss of equity, you do NOT experience having to make choices of paying taxes or replacing the roof, you do NOT experience being unable to get a loan to fix a house because you have no equity in your home, you have not experienced being way underwater on your mortgage (not from the recent real estate crisis but from the decisions of the local dems you cheer for). Couples can't wait 30 years to see their home values rise in order choose to start a family and have equity to help fund their children's college expenses.
Your lack of listing positives for the average homeowner/taxpayer/residents in the city shows your can't provide a teeny weeny shred of evidence to support your statement that it is an investment with a positive return.
.
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.
In order for the nayboobs (or as I now think of them I.D.A's) to understand this, they would have to be able to think beyond black & white, 1+1=2, etc. So I know this is a stretch since they act like a bunch of people who haven't progressed much past 1st grade social and thinking skills. Spending money, no matter what the combination of funding sources, to build a house, a business (in this case a film studio) or even a non-profit or cultural building IS an investment. There are benefits derived during the construction phase and, also, once it is completed. Even if there is some Metroplex and/or state assistance, the film company would also INVESTING money into the project. And, you notice that these nayboobs don't seem to be upset that our state tax dollars helped finance the Luther Forest/Global Foundries project to the tune of well over a billion dollars? Why? Because they only want to trash talk about Democrats in Schenectady County.
I for one am not praising the global foundries investment. I don't care if it democrat or republican "investing". An investment requires risk, the government has NO BUSINESS risking taxpayer money investing it on private business. When the investment doesn't give a return or is a loss, the taxpayer had the burden of all the risk. Taxpayer money is not not venture capital. Metroplex is not Bershire Hathaway.
And the worst of it is, they are investing borrowed money that our kids and grand kids bare the risk on. It's dirty, it should be criminal.
I for one am not praising the global foundries investment. I don't care if it democrat or republican "investing". An investment requires risk, the government has NO BUSINESS risking taxpayer money investing it on private business. When the investment doesn't give a return or is a loss, the taxpayer had the burden of all the risk. Taxpayer money is not not venture capital. Metroplex is not Bershire Hathaway.
And the worst of it is, they are investing borrowed money that our kids and grand kids bare the risk on. It's dirty, it should be criminal.
You have summed it up very well. People who do not pay taxes don't understand.
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.
Well, first, I stand by my statement about investing, what it is, and what it isn't. Second, you don't know what I think about Global Foundries, because I haven't said. Third, show me the returns, please, and explain to me where Jason Cuthbert, a man with a job, was wrong, so wrong he had to be escorted from the workplace by police. It's nice, isn't it, all you have to do is throw out a few phrases like "investment" instead of "crony capitalism", and the gullible or those who have a finger in the pie somewhere, will repeat it for you, until the lie becomes accepted fact. Why is it I have never, ever, seen any real numbers on our returns from our "investment" in the Proctor's scam? I know some numbers, from one small, real business that stayed open after a Proctor's event, so from that, I could extrapolate what "profit" the city made, but then I would have to factor in the cost to taxpayers of keeping the place going, Proctor's, I mean. Remember, these businesses don't make all their money from nights when their is a show at Proctor's. I could go into more detail, but my point is, real investments produce tangible benefits. Bernie Madoff's investors didn't demand to see real figures on paper, either.
I for one am not praising the global foundries investment. I don't care if it democrat or republican "investing". An investment requires risk, the government has NO BUSINESS risking taxpayer money investing it on private business. When the investment doesn't give a return or is a loss, the taxpayer had the burden of all the risk. Taxpayer money is not not venture capital. Metroplex is not Bershire Hathaway.
And the worst of it is, they are investing borrowed money that our kids and grand kids bare the risk on. It's dirty, it should be criminal.
Additionally, the grants, zero interest loans and pilot tax exemptions, do nothing to rebuild the massive amounts of revenue taken from the tax base funded by the homeowners.
Once the tax exemptions expire some businesses choose to leave and go elsewhere for the free corporate welfare ride.
Obviously DVORs problem is he thinks 1+1=2 is faulty logic.
It's all about overspending, over-taxation, taking 500 or more homes per year to beautify a couple blocks where no one lives, and employees are from outside the city.
All corporate welfare businesses should have mandatory requirements that a percentage of the construction and operating salaries must be paid to Schenectady resident employees, equal to the amount of the grants, loans and tax exemption savings. This would ensure that Schenectady tax money stays in Schenectady.
Is it too much to ask Metroplex and the IDA to stop funneling tens of millions a year outside of Schenectady?
Then any additional spending or customers the business attracts to Schenectady would actually be providing a 1+1=2 return on the tax funds invested.
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