Neighborhoods' new life An influx of newcomers helps renovate derelict properties; "It's a beautiful city"
By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer First published: Sunday, September 21, 2008
Robert Rijssen had had enough of the craziness of New York City. After 9/11, he decided to move out of Queens. The native of Suriname, who had a friend in Schenectady, saw an opportunity in a city auction that began in 2002 intended to dispose of derelict and foreclosed properties.
Rijssen, 56, bought a two-family house on Hamilton Hill's Crane Street for $15,000 and renovated it into a single-family home. What others viewed as a neighborhood plagued by crime in a struggling upstate city, Rijssen saw as a place for a new life in a quiet community.
"It's a beautiful city," said Rijssen, who had worked in the food-delivery business before injuring his back in a car accident last year. "There are so many things you can achieve here if you want to."
Newcomers like Rijssen are a Schenectady official's dream -- members of the middle class who want to repopulate a city burdened with a housing glut. Since its peak in the 1950s, Schenectady's population has shrunk by 30,000. Many derelict homes were previously occupied by General Electric Co. workers whose jobs went elsewhere.
The Metroplex Development Authority, which invests millions of dollars in county sales taxes, has spurred commercial redevelopment downtown over the last five years, but the neighborhoods' revival is still stunted by the surplus of abandoned, dilapidated properties.
Before 2002, almost 100 foreclosed properties were on a city list waiting to be demolished. The auction that ended last year put almost 500 parcels, most of them homes, back on the the city tax rolls and brought in $3.2 million. The new owners were required to keep the properties for five years or pay a $10,000 fee designed to discourage landlords from reselling them without improvements.
The auctions served as investment opportunities for the Guyanese population moving from Queens to Schenectady at that time, encouraged by then-Mayor Al Jurczynski, who welcomed the migration from Queens. Guyana and Suriname border each other on the South American Caribbean coast between Venezuela and Brazil.
The auction of vacant housing made a tremendous difference, said Steven Jacobson, the city's housing rehabilitation supervisor. "People either fixed it, or we took it back in a quick and efficient manner and resold it."
While Jacobson believes many of the people, like Rijssen, have made their renovated homes permanent residences, he said he gets about five calls a week from buyers who want to be sure that the fee provision will be lifted after five years of ownership.
Meanwhile, Mayor Brian U. Stratton said the city must strengthen code enforcement on the viable properties and knock down those beyond repair.
Stratton proposed in March demolishing the 50 worst structures in the city. But that plan has stalled as Stratton looks to focus on the streets that will benefit most from demolition. "You can't just take homes down," Stratton said. "You have to take them down to the overall benefit of the neighborhood. It makes no sense to take down a derelict property if it sits among 50 other derelict properties."
Now he aims to use $200,000 the city put aside in a reserve fund this year to raze 10 houses. Since 1991, the Community Land Trust of Schenectady has helped low- and middle-income families convert two-family homes into single-family residences. The land trust once provided federal subsidies to refurbish five homes a year. Now it's down to two a year. Sometimes federal standards on lead paint and asbestos removal make a repairs too expensive, said Bev Burnett, the land trust's executive director. And for some families the energy costs on the homes, which can be up to 2,400 square feet, are prohibitive.
But population patterns can be cyclical, Burnett said. While census estimates show no growth for Schenectady from 2006 and 2007, city school district officials see lower home values attracting families to the city where student enrollment will hit more than 10,000 students this year -- the result of a gradual increase of 2,000 students since 1990.
"Everyone needs to hold their breath and sit and wait," Burnett said. "With the increase of other expenses, you'll see people moving back to the city."
Logged
Rene
September 21, 2008, 3:47pm
Guest User
Sometimes just the little things can go a very long way. If each resident went outside and picked up the litter in front of their house and perhaps 10 feet to either side it would be a huge improvement. Wash a few windows, throw a coat on paint on the front door. So what if you rent, whats a couple quarts of paint? Have some pride, ya know?
Logged
