Watching the council meeting.  You had to feel sorry for the Baker family.  They are obviously lower income people, purchased their home through all the hard manual labor of building it through Habitat for Humanity.  That was some just over 10 years ago.  Their house is on Irving St, a dead end street, it's the last house and borders Vale Cemetery.  THey became parishoners of St. Mary's Church just doors away from them.  Hard working people obviously.  

Mr Baker spoke at the council meeting.  Their house has been pelted with BB gun shots on numerous occasions.  He's had to pay hundreds of dollars to replace the windows.  His grandchild was too scared to be there.  Mr Baker spoke of how he has a hard time trying to sleep because he never knows when shots will be fired.  He says the punks have come as close as 10 feet from his house.

He said how when they first moved there, there would be cop cars driving through the cemetery.  Now it seems one pass per day is all the police do.  

BB guns are dangerous.  SOmeone could get seriously hurt, maybe not killed, but seriously hurt.  

Here is a hard working family, paying ever increasing taxes.  I'm sure homeowners insurance would pay the cost of the replacing windows, but you know what happens after too many claims---you are uninsurable, then what happens if you have no insurance at all when your policy gets cancelled and your house burns.  
So here they are, SUBSTANTIAL increases in their property and school taxes, AND they have to pay for their windows too.  

Why?????   Because tax dollars are going to give 100% property and school tax exemptions to the millionaires downtown in the Savage/Gillen Metroplex projects.   That's less money available for the neighborhoods.

This is Susie Savage's miracle.     What has happened to the Baker's is what DV claims is a renaissance!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Absolutely sickening. The man broke down describing how his grandchildren are afraid to visit. Arrests need to be made and an example set. This City Council meeting was packed with critics of the failed DEM machine. Finally, the sheeple are waking up.

     This is part of the Vale miracle? The rubber stamps and the pathetic Mayor sit there and say nothing-just like on every other issue.

There are still some hard working, law abiding citizens in the city that are plagued not only with high taxes, but with high  crime. And unfortunately there is no place for them to go. Unless they just 'walk away'. No one will buy their homes.

Sadly, this is merely scratching the surface for the hundreds of other homeowners who live in fear in the City. Paying thousands upon thousands in taxes every year just to have little protection for their homes and families. Why stay? "For Sale" signs litter every block.

Time to stop funding stupid non-taxed businesses and start helping the thousands of people that fund your paychecks!  

So, DV, what have YOU got to say about this situation??????  


Since YOU speak all the time about Schenectady's renaissance, how about YOU buy the Baker's house??????????    Would you do that?????????   You should be jumping at the chance to buy a house in the city and this is the perfect opportunity, a perfect house for a single person, a relatively new house, just perfect for you.

he'd prefer to own property in "another state"

I choked up watching this man break down when he said how his grand child is afraid to visit.  

Wonder if there is some way donations could be made somewhere to help them with the cost of the window replacement.  As was said earlier homeowners insurance will only tolerate so much.

Quoted from Cel

I choked up watching this man break down when he said how his grand child is afraid to visit.  

Wonder if there is some way donations could be made somewhere to help them with the cost of the window replacement.  As was said earlier homeowners insurance will only tolerate so much.

Cel, as heart felt and well intentioned this may sound, the bottom line is that the people need to MOVE OUT!! People need to stop being victims and pull themselves up by their boot straps and make the tough decisions. Whining before the city council members is a total waste of time. They already know the problems with crime and they also know that they are part of the problem.

This guy either needs to MOVE or get behind some candidate that will make change and stay were he is. This guys justified whining just fell on deaf ears. They don't give a crap. Trust me!

And this guy's story is repeated throughout the city. They need to stand together and either 'beat feet' or stay and try to change things with new elected officials.

Quoted from bumblethru

Cel, as heart felt and well intentioned this may sound, the bottom line is that the people need to MOVE OUT!! People need to stop being victims and pull themselves up by their boot straps and make the tough decisions. Whining before the city council members is a total waste of time. They already know the problems with crime and they also know that they are part of the problem.

This guy either needs to MOVE or get behind some candidate that will make change and stay were he is. This guys justified whining just fell on deaf ears. They don't give a crap. Trust me!

And this guy's story is repeated throughout the city. They need to stand together and either 'beat feet' or stay and try to change things with new elected officials.

Bumble, how can people move out?????   Who will buy the houses that people put up for sale?    Who would buy the Baker's house?   Even in an "upscale" neighborhood in the city, that former school supint - that Eric Ely's house.....it's been up for sale for 9 months an NO INTERESTED BUYERS.

Just like that fancy house in the GE Plot - no interested buyers.

DV, get a dose of reality......NO ONE!   NO ONE WANTS TO BUY A HOUSE IN SCHENECTADY.   NO ONE WANTS TO PAY THOSE HIGH TAXES.   AND NO ONE WAN TS, AND NO ONE SHOULD EVER EVER EVER EVER BE EXPECTED TO PAY THE PROPERTY AND SCHOOL TAXES FOR THE MILLIONAIRES IN THE CITY.

Open your eyes, DV....the more tax money spent on downtown, and the more homeonwers are expected to foot the bill for the millioniares, the result WILLL BE MORE PEOPLE MOVING OUT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!    EVen the renters will move out because the landlords will have to charge too high rent.

This robbing of the taxpayer, HAS GOT TO STOP.

DV....people do NOT want to live in a city where they pay high taxses to pay the property and school taxes of the millionaires.  They do NOT want to live in a city of vacannt decrepit houses.  They do NOT want to live in a city with ever increasing crime.  They do NOT want to live in a city where children cannot play outside during the day.  People do NOT want to live where their they can be murdered merely by going to the corner store.   People do NOT want to live in a city with services being  cut.

A city with high taxes, a city with high crime, a city with vacant houses, a city with decreasing property values, a city too dangerous for people to walk to the corner store, a city cutting back on essential services, is NOT a city in the midst of a renaissance - that is not even a city remotely associated with a renaissance.  A city with those problems while the financially struggling people pay the taxes for the millionaires is a city on death's door....WHEN are you going to face the UNDISPUTABLE UNDENIABLE FACTS!

Now, that said, are YOU willing to buy the Bakers house so they can move someplace safe????????    Or do you believe they should continue to be forced to pay the taxees for the millionaires?????????????????????????

Boy are you right MC1. EE's home had to be rented out. No one wanted it no matter how low the price. Something about the schools?

     The good news is that the SPD has responded. 3 police cars in the vicinity tonight. It's pathetic that you have to go large on TV-18 to get any action. With the highest taxes-no one cares.

Hey.....that new Carl guy that just got elected to the city council.....his house was up for sale too. Did his sell? And where is he planning on moving to? More importantly....WHY?

No sale! Something about high taxes and horrible schools.

Quoted from benny salami

Boy are you right MC1. EE's home had to be rented out. No one wanted it no matter how low the price. Something about the schools?

     The good news is that the SPD has responded. 3 police cars in the vicinity tonight. It's pathetic that you have to go large on TV-18 to get any action. With the highest taxes-no one cares.

Gee, it had to be rented out?      DV says Schenectady is wonderful, it's in the midst of a renaissance.   I wonder how come DV didn't by Ely's house?   I wonder how come DV didn't by that house in the GE plot?

There are hundreds and hundreds of houses for sale in the city.   There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of vacant houses that aren't even up for sale (record high vacancy rate in the city since the Susie/Gillen/Stratton team took over).  

Maybe DV can enlighten us as to why he has passed up all these opporunities to live in the city he espouses so much and claims it is so wonderful     Unfortunately, we will never know why because I'm the one that challenges DV, he HATES a challenge when he knows he's 100% wrong.   He just cannot admit that he's wrong, and he would have to admit it if he responded with honesty as to why he is not buying a house in the city.

I would think the reason is obviously, taxes too high, loss of services, record high crime, etc.    

Quoted Text

SCHENECTADY
Couple’s home under siege by vandals
Pair left terrified, windows broken; police take action
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    The Bakers’ house sits enticingly at the end of a dark street, only a few feet away from the deeply forested Vale Cemetery. Across the street, there’s just a row of cars in a parking lot. Behind the house is a nice, safe expanse of empty lawn, followed by another backyard.
    Despite the isolation at the end of a dimly-lit street, the house had stood unmolested for 12 years. But this November, someone could not resist the opportunity that darkness and empty space provides.
First, they hit the siding with paintballs, showering 25 to 30 balls on the house from a hiding spot within the cemetery.
Inside the house, Vietnam War veteran Stephen Baker shuddered. It sounded like gunfire, he recalled. It was as if his house was under fi re.
“I spent a year in Vietnam. I was never this scared,” Baker said.
    Until that moment, he said, he always thought of his house as an unassailable place of safety.
    But he tried to calm down. The house was covered in paint, but there was just one hole in the siding.
    For fifteen days, nothing happened. He relaxed.
    Then on Dec. 4, they struck again. This time, they brought BB guns.
    “It was like boom, boom, boom, just like the house was being attacked,” Baker said.
    One window was shattered. He called police. The shooters fl ed.
    But they were back the next morning at 2:30 a.m. This time, they aimed for the upper-story windows, where the Bakers slept. .......................>>>>................>>>>..................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00102&AppName=1

Excerpt from the Gazette story:

Quoted Text

“The front of the house is boarded up because I didn’t want them to shoot it out,” Stephen Baker said.
    The cost is already beyond his means. Each insurance claim comes with a $500 deductible. He’s up to $3,000 now.

THIS IS A TOTAL OUTRAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   

The Bakers' expenses should be paid for by the downtown businesses since the Baker's pay the taxes on those businesses!     How about we ALL contact the news media (TV, newspaper, talk shows and try to get this suggestion publicized through the media.  What this family is going through is a DIRECT RESULT of the SUBSTANTIAL DECLINE of Schenectady since the start of the Savage/Gillen/STratton team.

THe public, particularly the homeowners in Schenectady, need to see between the lines, they need to be informed of this connection.  Sure, it's easy to see new things downtown and things it's good.  And people think it's all funded from Metroplex which most people associate with the extra percent of county sales tax.  But most people are not even aware that all this property is tax exempt and that they (the homeowners) are paying for it.  A very highly publicized piece providing the connection between the tight city budget, the elimination/reduction of essential services, the high crime, high taxes, and the exemption of the rich from paying their own taxes.