Art is how Rome kept the plebs cheering....not to mention opening the storehouses at times(stimulus).......

Hey I heard that the DSIC will be having a ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by the chamber  next wed.June 24 at 4 p.m.you can see  their beautiful new offices at 143 state street!

Mr Tomassone, Mertz and Signore can't take credit for that like they do all the other great things Metroplex has done.  Isn't Parisi's building full of Metroplex incentives?  What a crock?

Quoted from bumblethru

Hey I heard that the DSIC will be having a ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by the chamber  next wed.June 24 at 4 p.m.you can see  their beautiful new offices at 143 state street!

What a joke. I thought tell were going to buy the property? lol. Your tax dollars at sleep.

If Metroplex is so great how come we can't get the Comtroller's Office to release the results of the audit even after we have filed formal complaints with the Comptroller's Office?

Quoted from Shadow

If Metroplex is so great how come we can't get the Comtroller's Office to release the results of the audit even after we have filed formal complaints with the Comptroller's Office?

That my friend is the million dollar question!!! I think it is letter writting time again to the comptroller! What a freakin joke this government is!

Quoted Text

SCHENECTADY
Downtown improvement board shows off its new digs
DSIC happy with leased building on State Street
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    The Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. welcomed business owners to its new offi ce Wednesday, showing them a space that some had once said was extravagant and a waste of money.
    But after the DSIC board decided to lease the building at 137-143 State St., rather than buying it outright, opposition faded away. On Wednesday, no one voiced a complaint.
    Instead, they were wowed by the brightly painted walls, the display of local artwork in every room and the floor space, which seemed expansive after the awkward layout of the Center City offi ce.
    “I love it, I absolutely love it,” said board member Margaret King, who had initially fought to buy the building outright.
She said that upon reflection, leasing will work.
“Leasing has enabled us to get started down here and see if this is going to work for us,” she said, adding that she now has reservations about buying.
“There’s another half of the building, which, if we buy, it would put us into the position of being landlords. I’m not sure we want to do that,” she said.
DSIC Executive Director Jim Salengo also said leasing was probably the best choice.
    Board members who opposed the purchase warned of major repairs, and eventually the corporation negotiated a deal in which the owner made the needed renovations.
    “He did the roof repairs, installed an energy-efficient heater and cooler — we didn’t have to pay much of anything. It was minimal,” Salengo said.
    The agency did give the owner a $15,000 loan, to be paid back in rent deductions over the course of a year.
    “It just helped him get the money upfront to do the work,” Salengo said.
    For now, that means the agency is paying roughly the same rent it paid at Center City on Jay Street. The rent there was $500 a month, an unusually low figure for the current market. ..........>>>>.............>>>>........http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01301

Quoted Text

For now, that means the agency is paying roughly the same rent it paid at Center City on Jay Street.

What does ROUGHLY THE SAME rent equate to?  And what does FOR NOW mean?
If they were paying $500/month at center city...what are they paying now and why didn't they disclose that information?

Quoted from bumblethru

That my friend is the million dollar question!!! I think it is letter writting time again to the comptroller! What a freakin joke this government is!

"It's great -it's great!" exclaimed stooge Margaret aka {Peggy} King, who sits on the DSIC Bored. Only in Schenectady could she be elected dogcatcher. What Downtown business does she run? Thought she was a "Dean" at SCCC? Beyond pathetic. Who's a bigger joke her or Mr AWOL Strawberry Fields?

      DSIC is a business/taxpayer ripoff. They have done nothing but employed some unemployable hacks.
This new "HQ" sits amid empty stores on all sides. Near Gillen's Gulch. A testimony to years of KRAT rule.
    

this is a good lady and a patroon to so lay off over here she has the qualification to do the job you nut

Qualification? LOL-Again what business does she run? Right-None. Couldn't run a lemonaid stand.  She plays basketball? Anyone that supports this waste of money should be immediately booted out of office.

Quoted Text

     
SCHENECTADY
Downtown business owners take a stand
DSIC members push for say in board appointees
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or moore@dailygazette.com.

    The Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. is trying yet again to find a more democratic way to appoint its board members.
    Mayor Brian U. Stratton appoints the board, with the approval of the City Council. Many business owners argued for a direct vote last year, but Stratton turned them down.
    That didn’t put an end to the debate — it just moved the venue. For the last year, business owners have been arguing the topic and planning a new strategy during DSIC committee meetings, and this month they got the perfect opportunity to implement their plans.
    The DSIC president, Karen Zalewski-Wildzunas, resigned from the agency and became a business owner in downtown Albany. She had been the prime example for the business owners’ complaints about the mayoral appointment process, because she worked in Saratoga rather than Schenectady.
    She was employed by Key Bank, which has a downtown branch, but that did not assuage their complaints. They argued that an employee for a large business could not properly represent the many small downtown businesses that struggle to break even.
    Now that she has left the DSIC, she must be replaced. And that’s where the business owners hope to change the status quo.
    The DSIC advisory committee is creating a nomination process, by which any DSIC member could propose names for the board. Executive Director James Salengo envisions a democratic process in which nominated owners write letters or otherwise present their qualifications, and are then vetted by the advisory board just as political parties vet their party nominations.
    The final slate would be offered to the mayor, who could choose from that list or appoint anyone else. DSIC has no authority to force the mayor to choose from its list, but owners are hoping he will.
    “If he could choose someone from the list, it would definitely satisfy me,” said Allan Anderson, who owns Media Well Done on Jay Street. He noted that some of the mayor’s appointees don’t attend board meetings and seem uninvolved.
    “The smaller the organization, the more you need that leadership. We’ve all seen a lot of political appointees that are no-shows,” he said. “Someone who will work to get nominated — that’s what we really need.”
    Salengo said the process would help mend fences with those on the outskirts of the downtown — particularly those on Union Street, Erie Boulevard and lower State Street — who have complained that they are forgotten by the DSIC board.
    “This way everybody has at least the opportunity to make a suggestion,” Salengo said. “It’s just a good idea to have some input. I think it would help the mayor as well if he knew there were names that had some thought behind them, that had been vetted through the process.”
    The issue will be discussed at the annual DSIC meeting on July 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the GE Theater.
    At that meeting, the board will also announce its new executive board, including the new president. The board votes prior to the meeting.
    Salengo hopes a list of appointee nominations will be completed by the end of the summer. Including Zalewski-Wildzunas, there are two vacancies on the board that must be filled. ...............>>>>............>>>>..........http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01000

Finally! Another victory. Peggy King should resign next!

     What a complete farce having a "Downtown Business" organization run by Karen ZA-WA who worked in Saratoga. Then she buys a business in Albany and does not move it here? Son of Sam needs to end his death grip on this group. His cronies Death Ray and Peggy King have destroyed this organization.

     3 resignations from this Bored? This should only happen to the pathetic City School Bored but you can't drag those idiots out. Let this group be run independently of City Hall or disband it and stop taxing people with no representation.

Sounds like Zalengo is about to be job hunting since he questioned the infallibility of the democrat party choices. So WHAT if they don't own businesses or aren't even employed in Schenectady? They support the democrats so in their mind it is good enough for them to be on the business person's board!!! that way they can do what they are told!  

Right and nothing new! The former "director" was canned for speaking the truth. You must keep the charade going. Pretrend idiots with no business or planning expertise are "doing a great job!" Jump up and down like a babboon. The more lies the better-keep the charade going.

     Take another look at lower State St, {especially Gillen's gulch} where he was putting a "retail mecca". By the way when is Death Ray going to start his new retail center were the old DSS was on Nott St? lol. But Mr. Salami it was printed in the Gazetto so it must be true?

    Note to the Media: the next DSIC meeting will be a hot one! The downtown sheeple {merchants} are sick and tired of paying these idiotic DSIC fees on top of record City taxes. The fur will fly!