Me, as a more conservative person,(I refuse to call myself a republican) I believe that you can accomplish those same things(generate sales tax, increase value, ect.), by lowering taxes, and offering tax incentive for things like the restoration of historical property, or facade restoration. That way we keep the money out of the hands of the bureaucrats and stop allowing them to spend the money how they see fit. Instead let the individual residents of Schenectady County spend the money how they want.
First, I applaud you for the fiscally conservative positions that you espoused in your post. I am a registered Conservative Party member w/ traditional conservative positions on both fiscal and social policy matters. I agree that a cut in property taxes and reduction in the cost of doing business and living in the area (e.g., utility costs) will promote business development and job growth that will yield increased tax revenues. Further, I object to the use of public funding (taxpayer money) to support private business in the form of grants. It is my assertion that the tax revenues should be spent (primarily) on public safety (law enforcement, 911 services, etc.) and infrastructure (road, bridges, sewers, etc.).
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But their ideology doesn't match up with what I believe republicans stand for. Mainly,,, Lower taxes, and smaller government.
I recently spoke with several of the Republicans who you identified in your post. I learned, first hand, of their concerns about the rampant spending by the county government at the expense of the resident taxpayers.
Mr. Suhrada has been consistent in his opposition to the lack of fiscal constraint demonstrated by the majority party of the County Legislature. His record shows that he has opposed several spending measures proposed by the majority party leadership. Mr. Jasenski (D) has, on the other hand, voted in complete lock step with the majority chair, Ms. Savage who IMHO exhibits no fiscal responsibility to the taxpayers.
Mr. Santabarbara has proposed as part of his platform, capping property tax increase to maximum of 3% annually, repealing the tax on home heating fuel, reducing the county tax on gasoline, etc. -- cuts that will be sustainable through reductions in spending beginning with an audit of the county Social Services budget, tightened spending controls and the elimination of patronage positions.
Cicero, I invite you (and others) to attend the Meet the Candidates forum being sponsored by the League of Women Voters this evening at 6:30 pm at the Rotterdam Branch Library on N. Westcott Road. While tonights discussion will be tailored by the questions posed by the moderator, the event may provide insight to the differences in the views of the candidates vying for District IV seats on the County Legislature.
I would further suggest that the Republicans, who are currently outnumbered 11 to 4 by the Democrats in the County Legislature can't be agents of change without being awarded a greater presence in the government body. A more balanced share of power may result in better legislation that is arrived at in bipartisan spirit.
If it would create more money brought in through taxes than the amount that is going out, I would wholly support grants of any type. I guess the true question is the old cost benefit analysis. Does / Did the county make the money back that they have given? Well, in the case of Ms. Lazzari, it was a one time thing.
If a grant benefits a business to the point where the business generates more tax revenue for the county, that must mean the business is successful healthy, and profitable. And in a capitalist system, an investor would recognize that type of business opportunity, and invest his/her own money to build a successful, healthy, profitable business. The fact is, Mrs. Lazzari's old barn isn't a profitable business venture.....She will never recover that $25K grant money. Grants are given out to business's that are not profitable in the free markets. So the government subsidizes them to keep them afloat.
http://www.dailygazette.com SCHENECTADY Metroplex looks into restoring historic Silver Diner BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter
The county’s top economic development agency is prepared to spend up to $75,000 to stabilize the historic Silver Diner on Erie Boulevard for future development. The Metroplex Development Authority on Wednesday hired Prize Construction of Niskayuna for $3,000 to examine the long-vacant diner’s structural integrity. Prize Construction will identify asbestos and other environmental issues that need to be addressed to restore the diner and present cost estimates to stabilize and renovate it, said Metroplex Chairman Ray Gillen. The report is expected in several months. If the diner can be saved, Metroplex will seek title to the property from the city and loan Prize Construction up to $75,000 to put the diner back into basic working order, Gillen said. Prize Construction would then apply for National Historic Register designation for the building, making the project eligible for tax credits and other benefits. “The talk about moving it never made any sense. We really need to decide what to do with it,” Gillen said. If the diner can’t be saved, Metroplex will seek approvals from the city to place some or all of the diner in storage, or donate all or parts of it to a museum in Rhode Island that specializes in rail car diners. Mayor Brian U. Stratton said in a news release he appreciated Metroplex’s effort to try to save the “well-known landmark.” He said the City Council and Metroplex will determine the best course of action once the study is completed. Prize Construction specializes in historic renovation with almost 20 years of experience in renovating older and historic structures. It recently worked on the Proctors restoration project as well as the renovation of the Rose Garden in Central Park, Gillen said. In addition, the company is known for its work on national historic register buildings in Fairfi eld, Conn., as well as major residential renovation projects in Manhattan and Westchester County. “Prize Construction has a track record of combining engineering knowledge of historic buildings with the skilled workers needed to successfully complete restoration projects,” Gillen said in a prepared release.
Years of neglect tarnish Silver Diner Opened in 1936, eatery on Erie Boulevard is a relic of Schenectady's golden age
By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer First published: Thursday, October 4, 2007
SCHENECTADY -- Some of the salt-and-pepper shakers are still on the tables. But everything else about the tiny art deco building on Erie Boulevard, from the water-stained pin-striped curtains to the sagging roof, shows obvious signs of wear.
The Silver Diner sits on the cusp of rubble piles generated from the demolition of the former Robinson furniture building on State Street. The city ordered an emergency demolition of Robinson last month after it was determined that the structure was unsound.
The 71-year-old diner, once comfort to the growling stomachs of countless General Electric workers, is not part of the demolition. But because the diner is so close, questions have been raised again about what to do with it.
Schenectady's economic development arm, Metroplex, announced Wednesday it will pay a Niskayuna construction firm $3,000 to determine whether the diner is salvageable.
If it is, Metroplex said it will consider a loan of up to $75,000 to help get the building back up to code. The company doing the report, Prize Construction, would then apply for National Historic Register designation to make the project eligible for tax credits and other benefits.
"Now is the time to address this, now that we're addressing the Robinson building," Metroplex Chairman Ray Gillen said.
The topic of revitalizing the diner has come up on and off for years. After a few years of closure, the city took over the building around 2000 because of delinquent taxes. Getting someone interested in purchasing it, however, has been a problem. The diner's owners bought a 1918 railroad car for $100 to create the diner, which opened on Election Day in 1936.
Gloria Kishton, chairwoman of the Schenectady Heritage Foundation, went inside the diner with an engineer about a year ago to assess its condition.
A deteriorated roof has let in water that has permanently damaged the floor. But Kishton said the basement, where a bathroom existed and some kitchen preparation was done, is stable. Also, the original booths, counter stools and some woodwork could still be saved.
"The diner seems to really touch the heartstrings of people," Kishton said. "Just because we may find economically it's a crazy thing to do, it may be somebody's dream (to redo it)."
Gillen said if Metroplex's report shows the diner is beyond repair, the city could donate it or parts of it to the American Diner Museum, a group based in Providence, R.I., that relocates and helps save diners throughout the country.
Daniel Zilka, museum acting director, wrote an architectural report on the Silver Diner for the Schenectady Museum in 2003.
Zilka at the time said the diner was salvageable, but that it either had to be relocated or covered up to stop continuing water damage. The diner's roof was never reinforced. But he said he is still confident the building can be preserved. The museum would have to find a taker for the diner in order to accept it as a donation. But finding someone would be a priority, Zilka said.
"There aren't many railroad cars left that were converted into diners," Zilka said.
The Silver Diner will always be known to me at "Ruby's" as it was named throughout most of its existence.
Despite having fond memories of eating at the diner as a child and young adult, I can't condone the investment of public money (tax revenues) to support private ventures. This is yet another example of the Metroplex Authority's lack of vision and commitment to create good paying and permanent jobs in Schenectady County. While our neighbors in surrounding counties (Albany, Saratoga, Rennsalear) benefit from the establishment of high tech and manufacturing jobs (AMD, Sematech, Albany Molecular, GE (at Rennsalear Tech Park), Schenectady's government is awarding large financial grants to support the opening of retail establishments. The jobs created by restoring the Silver Diner will be minimum wage positions, like those at the Muddy Cup, Bombers, and the Big House. This will not improve the standard of living of the residents of Schenectady County nor significantly add to the tax base.
The restaurant has, for many years, been in poor condition and through neglect become an eye sore. I would suggest that the city either place it up for sale at a price that would entice a private investor or demolish it.
Z - I also have memories from that diner. But it is time for a private investor to purchase it or take it down. It really would not break my heart to see it come down.
Well, the city tried to sell it and there were no private takers. That should have been their first clue! If a private investor don't want it, then what the hell....why should the taxpayer buy it?
I say knock it down and use it for parking space.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
There is a democratic party officer, state committee memeber, and a town/city representative on the Metroplex Board of Directors. I thought Metroplex Authority was supposed to be seperate from any county politics?? Metroplex is just an extension of the county democratic party in my opinion. What a consolidation of power. I don't know how republicans plan to win any county seats. The votes the democrats can buy through the use of Metroplex is limitless.
Republicans must campaign on disolving the Metroplex.....Not on making sure that if they get elected they can now control the money.
Republicans must run on a true conservative platform.......SMALLER GOVERNMENT!
November 23, 1998 Two Men With a Plan: Revitalizing Schenectady By IVER PETERSON
The only name that used to count in Schenectady was General Electric. Now the new names to reckon with are Roger and Neil.
As in: ''Not much happened until Roger and Neil got together.'' That is what George L. Robertson, president of the Schenectady Economic Development Corporation, said.
And, ''Now Roger and Neil have stepped up to the plate, and we're beginning to hit a lot of singles, and that's what we need -- a lot of singles, instead of the home run that many of the town fathers were looking for.'' That comes from David Oliker, president and chief executive of MVP Health Plan Inc., a 300,000-member health maintenance organization with headquarters here.
Roger is Roger H. Hull, the president of Union College, and Neil is Neil M. Golub, president of Price Chopper supermarkets.
The college president and the grocery magnate have emerged as a two-man urban redevelopment team determined to revive this decaying Mohawk River factory town of 65,000.
Schenectady has been struggling since the early 1960's when General Electric began moving 30,000 jobs to other cities and countries. Mr. Hull said that when he came to Schenectady, the business community was interested in getting people to start shopping downtown again, a short-term fix he said did not address underlying economic problems.
Mr. Hull and Mr. Golub have stunned Schenectady with an ambitious plan to build an eight-screen movie theater, a 50,000-square-foot trade show center, a new hotel and a combination bus and train station to greet the high-speed trains that will arrive from New York City. They even got Gov. George E. Pataki to promise $22 million for the construction of a new state office building downtown for the Department of Transportation, which will bring an estimated 5,500 new jobs to the city.
The two men are unalike in many ways. Mr. Golub, 61, is a blunt businessman and a prominent Republican in upstate New York. Mr. Hull, 56, is a liberal on many social issues and his sentences often lapse into an academic indirection. Mr. Golub is a golfer and a philanthropist. Mr. Hull is devoted to tae kwon do and running -- he once ran up 1,575 steps to the top of the Empire State Building in the annual stair-climbing race.
The two began working together from the moment they met in 1991, when Mr. Hull arrived to head Union College.
''Our personalities may be very different,'' Mr. Hull said, ''but at the same time, we're both optimists, and we believe we can get things done.''
Mr. Golub agreed. ''Roger always has ideas,'' he said. ''He's always able to lay out the options and ask, 'Where are we going and where do we want to be in 20 years?' Roger is in a business where you've got to make things happen, and I'm in a business where you've got to make things happen.''
Mr. Golub's father, William, had also been concerned with the city's future, and left his son $1 million to use for the betterment of the city. With the money, Mr. Golub and Mr. Hull formed Schenectady 2000, a civic organization to foster improvement programs, in 1992.
They hired an urban planner to conduct a survey of the city's best features -- the riverfront, the old Stockade brownstone district, the college, the Proctor's Theater -- and devise a way to revitalize those features. Next they looked for financial and political investment that would help the city shine again.
Governor Pataki helped their cause by creating a new Metroplex Development Authority, which will receive $50 million in bonds to spend in the city and the county. The bonds are to be paid off by raising the county sales tax .05 percent, making the total tax 7.5 percent.
That the revival of downtown has been spearheaded by a college president and a supermarket president stands in sharp contrast to the way things used to work around here.
''This was a company town -- G.E. ran the town,'' said Mr. Robertson, the head of the economic development corporation. ''Even in the 1970's, every not-for-profit board had a G.E. executive on it, and before anything was decided, everybody turned their eyes down to the end of the table to see what G.E. wanted to do.''
Now General Electric is mostly gone and Schenectady has the hollowed-out feeling that characterizes several other old industrial centers here in the Mohawk Valley. And any thought of trying to arrest the decline was stalled by the vain hope that General Electric would bring jobs back, Mr. Robertson said.
''The county government sat there for 20 years while this city went downhill and they didn't do a thing,'' Mr. Golub said. ''There was no plan, there was nothing.'' The County Manager, Robert McEvoy, declined to be interviewed and the chairman of the County Legislature, Francis H. Potter, did not return three phone calls to his office requesting an interview.
''County government views itself as being a higher level of government, and they feel they should be the ones calling the shots,'' said Albert P. Jurczynski, the mayor of Schenectady. ''Considering what has been happening to the city of Schenectady, and how little anyone was doing about it until Roger and Neil came along, I disagree. I think we should all be marching to the steps of Roger and Neil.''
How far Schenectady has to march is apparent in how far it has fallen. After World War II and into the 1950's, General Electric had 35,000 employees in the city and county -- one of every two working people. Today, General Electric's downtown turbine works employs about 6,000, and another round of departures, this time for Atlanta, was announced last spring. Behind the employment vacuum, Schenectady's urban woes come flooding in.
''We had the second highest violent crime rate in 1996 in the state of New York,'' said Robert T. Farley, a member of the County Legislature and one of Mr. Hull's and Mr. Golub's supporters. ''Our county budget is $185 million, and if you include nursing homes, social spending takes $150 million of it, and 80 percent of that goes to the city.'' Despite areas of affluence in nearby suburban towns like Scotia and Niskayuna, property values in Schenectady County have declined 35 percent in the last five years, Mr. Farley said.
Mr. Hull recognizes that helping Schenectady also helps Union College. ''Clearly, it is in the college's interest to have the city revitalized,'' he said, ''But the fact is that we have seven applicants for every slot, and although 60 percent of the students who turn us down turn us down because of the city, we could still survive very well the way things are.''
Mr. Hull and Mr. Golub acknowledge that Schenectady has a long way to go before it even approaches its past prosperity. The stock market's recent ups and downs have made the kind of private investment needed to go with the public money harder to raise. And they worry that suburban members of the Metroplex board might have different ideas about ways to spend the $50 million in bonds.
But Mr. Golub said he believed a majority of the board would vote for his and Mr. Hull's vision of the city, and that he was no longer going to worry about opponents. ''We are going to drag them kicking and screaming into the 21st century,'' he said.
But Mr. Golub said he believed a majority of the board would vote for his and Mr. Hull's vision of the city, and that he was no longer going to worry about opponents. ''We are going to drag them kicking and screaming into the 21st century,'' he said.
Okay Neil, no one was 'kicking and screaming' the first few years of this grand plan of the Metroplex. In fact we all bellied up to the bar and thought that perhaps it just may be a great idea. In fact, the name Neil Golub was a great selling point back then. We all figured that if Neil is supporting it, it must be a sound plan. But 9 years later, we certainly are 'kicking and screaming'. This grand plan of the Metroplex, had NOT provided good, stable, paying jobs and the city of Schenectady, except for the two blocks on State Street is worse off now than it was before the inception of the Metroplex. And sure the surrounding towns have benefited by monies coming back into these municipalities, but the tax increases have far surpassed the gain from Metroplex.
So what has Schenectady gained from the Metroplex? The ENTIRE city of Schenectady is ravaged with crime. Now spilling over into the surrounding towns. The ENTIRE city of Schenectady is ravaged with vacant buildings and ones in need of desperate repair. The ENTIRE city of Schenectady is 60% on public assistance.
What has the two blocks of State Street gained from the Metroplex? There is a movie theater, There is the Hampton Inn. There is Proctors. There are few bars and resturants, some of which our tax dollars funded, which have since gone belly up.
Come on there Mr. Golub, is this what your parents ment when they left $1million to help the city come back? I am surprised that Mr. Golub, CEO, has not moved some of his operation downtown. He would clearly reap all of the benefits that he, who is on the Metroplex board, could obtain.
Hmmmmm........time will tell!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
In fact, the name Neil Golub was a great selling point back then.
The name Neil Golub doesn't command the respect of the public that it did. Once revered for his philanthropy and appreciated for the employment that Golub Corporation provided to residents of the Capital District region, he has become a politician in recent years, despite not being elected to public office. He seems to have fallen out of touch with the public, who unlike himself, is struggling financially because of high taxes that result from reckless and irresponsible county government spending, particularly that of the Metroplex Authority.
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But Mr. Golub said he believed a majority of the board would vote for his and Mr. Hull's vision of the city, and that he was no longer going to worry about opponents.
The vision of the City of Schenectady is acceptable only if you focus through blinders on the few blocks in each direction from Proctor's Theater. This has been accomplished, however, at the detriment of the remainder of the city in which crime is rampant, commercial buildings sit vacant and neighborhoods are deteriorating.
It is time for the dissolution of the Metroplex Development Authority to be debated. The organization has become a political tool of the party in power. There is no oversight or accountability to the taxpaying public. The massive expenditure of tax revenues needs to be invested in enhanced public safety and infrastructure, not for the creation of minimum wage service industry and retail jobs.
Metroplex has lost sight of everything except the 2 block area near Proctors. Too much money is being spent for too little return on that money invested. The whole city needs to be revitalized and as you said Zim, infrastructure and safety should be addressed now and Metroplex has outlived it's usefulness and needs to be dissolved now.
Over the years, since its closing in 2000, there has been a whole menu of options for the Silver Diner, the historic Pullman car diner that has been a landmark on Erie Boulevard in Schenectady since the mid-1930s. But none has ever happened and there it sits, empty and deteriorating. While most Schenectady residents would like to see the diner saved and reused in some fashion, the questions have always been who, how and how much? Metroplex, spurred by a major Erie Boulevard reconstruction project that is now being designed and will begin soon, has come up with a good way to find out. Metroplex will spend $3,000 to hire the Niskayuna firm Prize Construction, which has a background in historic renovation, to study the diner and see if, in fact, it can be saved. If the answer is yes (the diner is in very rough shape inside due to a leaky roof), and the cost is not exorbitant, Metroplex is prepared to lend Prize up to $75,000 to stabilize it and put it back into basic working order. The company would then seek National Historic Register designation for the property (as it has done successfully for others), which would qualify it for tax credits and other benefits, helping defray the cost of renovation and making it more attractive to a potential buyer. If the diner can’t be saved, Metroplex would then look to store all or part of it with the city, or give it to The American Diner Museum in Rhode Island. This last idea was one of those earlier options that went nowhere. Others included reopening it as a diner, moving it to the Schenectady Museum and using it as a coffee shop there, operating it as a model train shop, and demolishing it to make room for parking (an all-too-familiar theme in this and other older cities). The fact that the president of Prize Construction, Ed Zemeck, is a fan of old railroad diners — he has had his eye on this one for the last three years and was the only bidder when the city put it on the auction block (before ultimately removing it) — is an indication that this is a good-faith effort on Metroplex’s part. If anyone is going to find the diner salvageable, it is Zemeck. Zemeck says he is prepared to put in sweat equity, and even to use the place as an office until a buyer can be found. But his strong preference is to see it remain where it is, looking the way it always has, and used again as a diner — a vibrant part of Schenectady life. So would we. But first, the study.
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