Gee Sal, I thought that the business owners had to pay a year fee/tax for these wonderful benefits being bestowed on them. I guess it's the fee you pay for the privilege of doing business in the city of schenectady. I don't know...these business owners are either just plain stupid or gluttons for punishment.
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
So then my question for my friends here to help me out with is how is this here company different then say the chamber of commerce?
Not sure if I qualify as a "friend" - but there really is only one difference. One organization is a voluntary membership, the other is dictated and forced upon you if you want your business to be located "downtown"
Just another hand in the pot......there always is with municipality building planning etc.......remember the Alaska pipeline.......or any big project in NYC......it's all fun and games with the government involved.......'free money' to all.......
...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
SCHENECTADY DSIC appointments approved Council had rejected mayor’s picks earlier this year BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or moore@dailygazette.com
Convinced that the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. is finally listening to its members, the Schenectady City Council renewed the mayor’s appointments to the DSIC board on Monday. Those renewals were rejected earlier this year in a tie vote, with council members Gary McCarthy, Joseph Allen and Barbara Blanchard voting against the appointees in hopes of “negotiating for a little more responsiveness,” as McCarthy put it. They seem to have gotten it. The DSIC board hired a new chief, whose expertise is in marketing and promoting small businesses. The board also hired a consultant to review and possibly adjust the amount of tax that each business owner pays, in response to complaints from owners who pay for services that they don’t receive because their stores are far from the heart of the downtown. In addition, the board has begun debating whether its members should have some say in selecting their representatives, rather than allowing the mayor and council to make the decision. McCarthy said he hopes those efforts will pan out. “I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” he said. “They seemed to have the best interests of downtown at heart.” The decision in April to hire marketing expert James Salengo as DSIC’s new executive director was a key change, McCarthy said. “Undertaking marketing — it goes a long way toward making people happy,” he said. “There are some levels of concern with the [tax] formula and the board [selection], but the process is in place to do it.” However, Blanchard said she wanted to hold off on the appointments until DSIC’s committee reported back with a new plan for selecting board members. She wants to implement a procedure in which business owners have a strong role in the selection process. “I don’t think it’s fair for people to pay into a corporation if they have no control over the governance of it,” she said. Mayor Brian U. Stratton has resisted business owners’ calls to change the system, saying he wants to keep the authority to make DSIC appointments. Previously, he offered a compromise in which owners could suggest nominees to him — although he would retain full power over the final choice. Business owners were not impressed. Stratton did not attend Monday’s council meeting because he is serving as a delegate at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Debate over his appointees has centered around board President Karen Zalewski-Wildzunas , a senior vice president at Key Bank who works in Saratoga. Resident Mary McClaine said Monday that Stratton could have found a qualified Schenectady business owner instead. “Why are they not being considered for appointment?” she asked during the council’s privilege of the floor session. “Ms. Zalewski-Wildzunas works in Saratoga. She is not available to have lunch in Schenectady or interact with business owners in Schenectady because she does not work in Schenectady.” But DSIC Vice President Richard Antokol rose to her defense, saying she closely supervises the offi ce staff who run the downtown facade program and meets with Salengo every week. “She’s been absolutely instrumental,” Antokol said, adding that she works at the downtown Key Bank branch “on a very frequent basis.”Reappointed were: Zalewski-Wildzunas, whose term ends on May 31; Antokol, a downtown State Street attorney whose term ends in 2010; Janet Hutchison , the owner of Open Door Bookstore, whose term ends on May 31; and city Councilwoman Margaret King, associate dean for student development at Schenectady County Community College whose term ends in 2010. King could not break the tie vote earlier this year because she is one of the appointees. The council also appointed Don Leva, who owns a newsstand across from City Hall and can serve on the board until May 31; and Bob Golder, owner of Model Trains and Parts on lower State Street, whose term will expire May 31, 2011. ROBINSON SITE In other business, the council unanimously voted to sell the vacant Robinson’s Furniture property to Metroplex Development Authority for $1. In return, the city will receive half of the net proceeds when Metroplex sells the lower State Street lot to a developer. The Robinson’s Furniture buildings were demolished last year when they began to collapse.
The entire city of Schenectady has become politically incestuous! And not for our county's good. And we can blame no one but the sheeple with their passive minds!
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
Sch’dy receives $200K state grant to renovate commercial properties The Business Review (Albany)
Print Email Reprints RSS Feeds Add to Del.icio.us Digg This Comments The Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. has received a $200,000 grant from the Main Street Program to renovate first floor commercial space on State Street and Erie Boulevard.
The Main Street Program is operated by the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal. The DSIC received $200,000 last year for renovations to businesses in the Lower Union Street and Jay Street area of downtown.
Jim Salengo, DSIC’s executive director, said the grants and projects “will help us jump start efforts to revitalize Lower State Street in conjunction with Metroplex.”
The Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority is an economic development agency that provides grants and loans.
The DSIC will be contacting property owners to help them apply for grant dollars within the new target area in the coming months. The Main Street program targets key corridors for revitalization efforts.
The Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. is an arm of the Downtown Special Assessment District. It was formed in 1977 as a parking district but in 2001 downtown business leaders worked with the city to expand its focus to include revitalizing downtown Schenectady.
Hey, I saw the DSIC actually doing something today. They had a nice pick-up truck driving around (it was in front of SCCC) watering flowers. I wonder how much is paid for this "service" that nobody else can handle.
SCHENECTADY DSIC lands Main Street grant Property owners can apply for funds for renovations BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Michael Lamendola at 395-3114 or lamend@dailygazette.com
A $200,000 grant from the NY Main Street program will help boost retail and residential development in downtown Schenectady, said local officials. The Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. landed the state grant, its third in four years. The DSIC will award up to $50,000 per building to create and renovate the first floors into commercial space and upper floors into commercial and residential space, said Colleen Merays, DSIC assistant director. Owners must match the grants. The overall grant will target commercial properties on lower State Street between Erie Boulevard and Schenectady County Community College, including South Ferry Street from Erie Boulevard to State Street. Those grants will be awarded next year, Merays said. The goal is to renovate or create six residential and three commercial units. The DSIC will reach out to property owners in the targeted area to help them apply for grants under the program, Merays said. “We are pleased our program has received three years of grants. It is a statewide program, and we got the maximum award. Our award is proof to the program’s success and to Schenectady’s success,” Merays said. In all, the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal awarded 45 grants totaling $8.6 million this year through the Main Street program. DSIC is using the $200,000 it received in 2007 from the state to help renovate or create 11 apartments at: 122-124 Jay St., 617 Union St., 619 Union St., 307 Union St., 309 Union St. and 507-509 Union St. These projects are scheduled to begin this year, Merays said. Three of the 11 apartments will be renovated. The rest will be built. “Most are unoccupied and need updates, new configurations and need to be made code-compliant. Some are former office space being converted into apartments,” she said. “It takes what was once not the most usable, affordable unit and makes it marketable again.” Under part of the Main Street program, building owners must offer the apartments at the current market rate for the next seven years. In the Capital Region, the current market rate for a one-bedroom apartment is $697 per month, excluding utilities, Merays said. Ray Gillen, chairman of the Metroplex Development Authority, said next year’s Main Street grants will open up lower State Street for development. Metroplex works closely with the DSIC and provides DSIC with an annual grant to its facade program. Metroplex has provided $1.6 million to the facade program since 2002. Merays said the Main Street program is tied closely with the DSIC facade program. Participants must match the facade grant, but more often they exceed the match. According to Metroplex, the facade program has generated some $6 million in exterior and interior building improvements downtown. The DSIC this year has awarded some $214,000 in facade grants to seven downtown businesses. The businesses will match the awards with nearly $1 million in private investment, Gillen said. “These are seven more key properties that will benefit from a major facelift that will help us continue the rapid pace of redevelopment downtown,” Gillen said. Jim Salengo, DSIC executive director, said in a news release, “Having seven more downtown Schenectady properties investing in facade improvements at the same time speaks volumes to the success of our matching grant program. It also underscores the momentum of progress that can be seen in all corners of our district.”
Last week was an eventful one for the DSIC, the business improvement district that cleans streets, plants flowers, promotes and coordinates activities and events in downtown Schenectady. First the city council, recognizing the progress the organization has made in answering some concerns of downtown business owners, approved mayoral reappointments to the board that it rejected earlier this year. Later came news that the DSIC had won a $200,000 state grant from the NY Main Street program to create or renovate residential and commercial space — its third in four years — further recognition that it is doing good work. We have been strong supporters of the DSIC since 2001, when an existing parking district was expanded to create it. That’s when it took on the duties and focus of other business improvement districts, like the ones in New York City and Albany. Those business improvement districts have been successful, and so has this one, working well with organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce and Metroplex to improve conditions downtown, to bring businesses, activities and people there. Still, there was room for improvement in the organization itself. Downtown business owners provide most of its funding, through special assessments, and they understandably want their money’s worth — as well as a say. There was concern on the part of some that the DSIC was focusing too much on beautification and not enough on promotion; and the board responded by hiring a new director whose expertise is in marketing and promoting small business. There was concern by some owners far from downtown that they weren’t getting enough services; and the board responded by hiring a consultant to review and possibly adjust their assessment. There is one remaining concern, and it is legitimate. Business owners want more authority, if not a vote, over who should be on the board, something that Mayor Brian Stratton, who now makes the appointments, has resisted. Although the city council didn’t insist on a different selection method, it is clearly open to one, and a board committee is now studying the issue and will report back with a new plan. Stratton in the past has offered a compromise in which the board would suggest nominees to him — although he would retain full power over the final choice. That seemed reasonable to us, but it wasn’t enough for business owners. Let’s see what the board comes up with. If it’s something that recognizes the city’s interests, makes the owners happy and ensures good people on the board, Stratton and the council should be prepared to change the selection system.
Well, I saw DSIC at work again tonight...or out of work, as the case may be. It was after dark tonight that I went driving up Erie Boulevard to see a DSIC truck...being loaded onto a flatbed and towed to whereever.
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