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SCHENECTADY
Official: Free rent would foster growth
Councilwoman aims to get business into empty space
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or moore@dailygazette.com.

    City Councilwoman Barbara Blanchard is campaigning for a new way to spark neighborhood redevelopment.
    Considering that Schenectady has little money and can’t afford to increase its paving budget, hire more police officers or rebuild more of the city’s crumbling infrastructure, Blanchard wants the city to use the one asset it has in abundance: vacant buildings.
    She’s starting with the city’s vacant Bureau of Services offi ce on Crane Street. The city is selling the building, but Blanchard wants to use it to get a new business in the neighborhood.
    She wants to offer the building, rent-free, for up to two years while a business gets started. Then the business owner would buy the building or begin paying rent.
    The city would have the maintain the building.
    “But it wouldn’t be a huge cost,” Blanchard said, adding, “I mean, what are we going to get for that building if we sell it? I think it could be more valuable to us if we kept it.”
    Metroplex Development Chairman Ray Gillen, the city’s economic development guru, said other cities have used free-rent programs to build business districts.
    “Many economic development groups do it this way,” he said.
    Metroplex has instead focused on getting buildings back onto the tax roll. If the city owns the building, the renter doesn’t pay property taxes.
    “Our approach has been to privatize it, put it on the tax roll,” Gillen said. “But I sometimes think maybe we should have kept the movie theater, collected rent on it.”
    He warned that the council must be selective if it chooses to offer buildings to entrepreneurs.
    “It depends on the type of business,” he said, explaining that the business must draw in customers. Offices generally don’t bring people to the business district, and without increased foot traffic, the rest of the district won’t benefit from the new business.
    “The more foot traffic you have through a district, the better it is,” Gillen said. .....................>>>>............................>>>>.....................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01300&AppName=1

SOOOO if someone opens a business they would pay no rent, no taxes and we would pay for maintanance.

The vacant buildings in Sch'dy are an asset lol.

The building should be put up for sale, just like all the other vacants, and whoever buys it should have to pay taxes just like everyone else in the city, well except for the metroplex mafia.

What planet is Gillen on???? He has an entire Downtown off the tax rolls and the only establishments bringing in foot traffic are the dozen gin mills...

Now you want to bring businesses in all of Schenectady tax free. Why don't we just call the City for what it is....Land of the Lost. Lost taxes, lost homeowners, lost neighborhoods and millions of 'lost' taxpayer money thanks to Metroplex.

Sorry Mr. Gillen, I don't buy your spin. Go try it on the few remaining City leaders that keep wearing their blinders.

So this is Ba-Ba's cure for Crane St?????

Give the farm away? Why didn't they offer this option to Marcella's before they DID give the farm away to him?

They take the most successful business on Crane Street, relocate them at taxpayer's expense....then create a tax exemption for them!!
And NOW they want to offer 'rent free' buildings for businesses?

Where do they even get their logic from?

so we have empty buildings....what kind of business would set up to make profit when the cost of groceries is going up up up and t-shir stores
dont take food stamps.....who will shop there, what can they afford etc etc........

NYS needs to get off the peoples' backs........we have no breathing room....oh,,the state will toss some f'en bone only to have it devoured by the dogs
in about 30seconds only to pull the thighbone from another taxpayer to toss it to another dog....let's it hear it for the government and their ability
to keep controlled chaos called civilized......

If these economically challenged politicians were serious about attracting people and businesses back to Schenectady they would lower taxes, cut spending, reduce crime, and find a way to improve the school system so that more than 50% graduate and actually learn something so they can go out and get a job.

"Our approach has been to privatize it-put it back on the tax rolls" stated Death Ray. WTF? Like Key Hall? Like 440 State? Like Muddy Cup? How about the old Goldstocks/SACC-TV? Like the old Trustco on Erie?

     These idiots are totally clueless. They have driven into a fiscal ditch and lack the sense to get out. When in a hole-stop digging. NO ONE WANTS CITY PROPERTY. The DEM morons have destroyed resale values with their off the chart taxes and wasteful spending. Death Ray must be fired. Metrograft has to be dissolved with the funding going straight to the localities. They are devoid of any ideas. The taxpayers have had enough of these half baked redevelopment "plans".

Would you want these people as YOUR landlords?

I can't believe they're actually gonna consider becoming property managers / real estate companies / slumlords.

Give me a break.

Quoted from 147

Would you want these people as YOUR landlords?

I can't believe they're actually gonna consider becoming property managers / real estate companies / slumlords.

Give me a break.

do they become the default caretakers at the taxpayers expense????? they have yet to show an 'out' from the blackhole...called
NYS TAXES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they fear the only alternative exit.....Wisconsin

This has got to the the most idiotic idea ever to come from Death Ray and Ba-Ba.

     It's communism-pure and simple. The taxes in the City are high enough without maintaining more property for dead beats. The entire miracle 2 blocks are mooches-now add more on Crane St? Sell it to a nonprofit for $1 like you always do.

it's very easy to make the populace obtunded.....just say you'll do it for them because it's just that much of a headache and then tell them to vote for you

Have no idea what link you're directing us to - but did you notice, all the Gazette articles say "Subscription" - the only other one to say that is "NewsDay".

Only the Gazette still charges for news.  Here's an idea - you want today's news TODAY? Pay for it.  After 24 hours, open it to everyone free.

http://www.troyrecord.com/articles/2010/10/07/news/doc4cad55e23b762162801969.txt

any number of them

I don't know here guys...

Two options here:

1)  The facility sits empty, probably forever.
2)  A short incentive to get someone to locate there driving traffic and commerce into the area.  

Let's face it - no one is moving business into that area except a diner, which I'd be dumbfounded if it actually survived even 2 years...

Granted there are better ways to do it perhaps - like making sure the person leasing the space pays for upkeep and insurance on the facility.