A lack of any Christmas/holiday lighted decorations on downtown Schenectady streets during recent times left the strip with an empty look. Each December, I'd write an item complaining how the birthplace of General Electric -- a city once known for "Lighting the World" -- was the only Capital Region municipality without a holiday appearance. Much smaller towns and villages hung lights on power poles, but Schenectady stayed dark. Finally, there are lighted wreaths along the State Street Proctors block and streets around City Hall. A glaring omission is the lower State Street gateway to Schenectady, where the streetscape is bereft of decorations. The entrance for many from adjacent Saratoga and Montgomery counties should have a festive welcome instead of the "who cares" setting. Vito Scolamiero, longtime owner of Mr. James Beauty Salon on lower State Street, says the lack of decorations amounts to neglect. He said the recent demolition of Robinson Furniture, which occupied three store fronts, leaves the area looking like the victim of World War III. Adding to his frustration, after many years, the annual Christmas parade route over lower State Street has been switched to Erie Boulevard.
I agree that Schenectady should be brighter and better lit. However, it would just be an added cost to the tax payers. Somehow, someway, the city would find a way to make the businesses and residence pay a pretty penny for this increase in illumination. Perhaps if the city council learned how to manage the taxpayers money better, these little luxuries would be available to them. The city council is so hell bent on the damn metroplex, the one block of state street, creating unnecessary positions and giving out raises that there is no money left. They are dimwits for sure!
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
I dont have to worry about the unidentified muggers on the city streets-----we have the government to fill that roll no matter what 'rich suburb' we live in.....
...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
Get the lights back on Schenectady City Councilman Joe Allen is tired of being kept in the dark. During recent meetings, he's complained about too many defective street lights. "Street lighting is supposed to help people see where they're going and to help prevent crime," Allen said. "Often neither mission is accomplished." The city pays in excess of $1 million annually for street lighting. "We're wasting much of this because it costs the same amount for the lights whether they're on or off," he said. During recent years, I've written about both wholesale inoperative street lights and the insufficient lumen power of most fixtures. Just last week, a half-dozen lights were burned out on the Proctors block. There is insufficient lighting in that area to begin with, so defective equipment makes the situation even worse. Also last week, nine lights were not functioning along a quarter-mile stretch of Altamont Avenue, Rotterdam's major business district. Often lights blink throughout the night. Allen said he's called the power company to report outages, but response times rank between poor to none.
Lack of lights in Schenectady draws protest By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer Tuesday, April 1, 2008
SCHENECTADY -- There are apparently dark corners in the city that once lit the world.
A non-profit organization representing Hamilton Hill residents plans a protest Thursday night to decry -- and draw attention to -- burned-out street lights throughout the neighborhood, an area that has been a focal point of street crime of decades. ``You feel like you're held hostage and no one should feel that way,'' said Rosetta Secor, a Paige Street resident who said the darkness encourages gang and drug activity. Secor said she's afraid to walk to the corner store at night. People get mugged and then can't identify the perpetrators in the darkness, she said. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), Schenectady chapter, is organizing neighbors to walk with flashlights and candles starting at Mumford and Van Voast streets at 8 p.m. Thursday. The organization is holding the march to bring attention to an issue they say city officials have ignored. Harold Miller, organizer for Schenectady's ACORN chapter, said he sent letters about the problem to the city's supervisor of signal control, John Coluccio, and Mayor Brian U. Stratton's office, and has received no response. But Schenectady Director of Operations Sharon Jordan said it's not the city's job to replace street lights, it's National Grid's job. The poles are owned by National Grid and take complaints about lights directly. ``What has to happen is if you see a light out you have to know the pole number and the street and you can call it in and it will be fixed,'' Jordan said. However, she said will take complaints from residents and call them in to National Grid. National Grid spokesman Patrick Stella said it takes typically two to five days to replace a light bulb after a complaint comes in. However, it would take longer if the pole is malfunctioning. Miller said residents have been confused about how to report bulbs out because they believed they should contact the city's Bureau of Signal Control. Many of those calls have not been returned, Miller said. Coluccio couldn't be reached for comment by the Times Union Tuesday. The Thursday protest is targeting dark areas at Paige and Van Voast streets, Schenectady Street near Strong Street, and Steuben Street between Duane and Lincoln avenues. ACORN said it also wants additional lighting in those areas. Stella said the city would have to formally request more lights from National Grid.
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