Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Downtown was EMPTY when the GOP held the Mayor's Office and controlled the County Leg.

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But DV, homeowners could afford their taxes, city provided more vital services, property values were higher, children weren't being gunned down in the day time, houses weren't getting damaged by poor roads, much much higher rate of occupancy of homes.

DV, the homeowners weren't losing their homes due to paying their own proeprty taxes AND taxes for millioniares.

DV, the millionairs can well afford to pay their own taxes.  So tell us why homeowners with a total household income of $30,000 should be expected to pay the taxes for the millionires?   Why DV?   Why make the poor go without medicine in order to pay taxes of the millioniares?

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Downtown was EMPTY when the GOP held the Mayor's Office and controlled the County Leg.

Yes, downtown was an empty REALITY!!! Downtown was just a reflection of what the city really was!! GE moved out and there were no more jobs. Major corporations were pulling out and opening their business in countries that had less, if not no environmental regulations, lower taxes and lower wages!! Schenectady was a 'realistic' ghost town.

The road to progress would have been rebuilding and/or repairing the infrastructure first. Keep spending at a minimum to keep taxes low and selling off the county nursing home!! Schenectady should have been rebuilt from the bottom up. Instead they offered the scum the best welfare program in the state, raised taxes and filtered the money to all of the non-profits, while the school district declined where it can't even graduate 50% of it's students!!!

Now schenectady is facing the highest taxes in the state, a declining school system, a theater that can't sustain itself, with a fat-cat  ceo eating up taxpayer's money, a new and improved dss building that can't even contain all of the welfare recipients, crime/murders accelerating, two hamilton hills, blight and vacant homes everywhere and a non profit on every street corner.

The liberal socialists, with the help of our 'daily newspaper' are painting a false picture of a false sense of economic progress!!! Nah.....I'd rather go back to the 'realistic' times and start all over again..............the right way!

Quoted from bumblethru

Yes, downtown was an empty REALITY!!! Downtown was just a reflection of what the city really was!! GE moved out and there were no more jobs. Major corporations were pulling out and opening their business in countries that had less, if not no environmental regulations, lower taxes and lower wages!! Schenectady was a 'realistic' ghost town.

The road to progress would have been rebuilding and/or repairing the infrastructure first. Keep spending at a minimum to keep taxes low and selling off the county nursing home!! Schenectady should have been rebuilt from the bottom up. Instead they offered the scum the best welfare program in the state, raised taxes and filtered the money to all of the non-profits, while the school district declined where it can't even graduate 50% of it's students!!!

Now schenectady is facing the highest taxes in the state, a declining school system, a theater that can't sustain itself, with a fat-cat  ceo eating up taxpayer's money, a new and improved dss building that can't even contain all of the welfare recipients, crime/murders accelerating, two hamilton hills, blight and vacant homes everywhere and a non profit on every street corner.

The liberal socialists, with the help of our 'daily newspaper' are painting a false picture of a false sense of economic progress!!! Nah.....I'd rather go back to the 'realistic' times and start all over again..............the right way!

Mertz -- of course you would rather have us go BACKWARDS to a time when the city and the county was in decline.  That is why you got thrown off the GOP ticket and then got defeated soundly by the intelligent and reasonable voters who are sick of your stupidity.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Mertz -- of course you would rather have us go BACKWARDS to a time when the city and the county was in decline.  That is why you got thrown off the GOP ticket and then got defeated soundly by the intelligent and reasonable voters who are sick of your stupidity.

You mean it's not in decline now?

So, plummeting property property values is a sign of an improving city?
So, good, law abiding homeowners fleeing the city in droves is a sign of improvement?
So, the FACT that NO ONE is buying a house in the city is a sign of improvement?
Increased crime is a sign of improvement?
Loss of VITAL city services is a sign of improvement?
Loss of sales tax is a sign of im;porvement?
Jacking up the taxes on homeowners---so high that they lose their hoomes to tax seizure, is a sign of imporvement?
Businesses closing is a sign of imporvement?
A busiess close to Proctors that so DRASTICALLY lowers the asking prirce---obviously a desparate attempt to flee the city---is a sign of improvement?
Taxing homeowners twice for trash collection (through property TAX and through a fee) is a sign of improvement?
Making lower income people pay the taxes for millionaires is a sign of improvement?
Houses put up for sale sitting unsold after a year is a sign of improvement?
A drastic increase in vacant and derelict houses and other buildings is a sign of improvement?
The FACT that NO BUSINESS will open unless they get a huge handout from the taxpayers is a sign of improvement?
Albsolving scumlord tax delinquents from paying their taxes while also giving them a quarter of a million dollars is a sign of improvment?

Well?   Tell us DV, what businesses have made the choice to come here AND not be a burden on the taxpayers?   That is, what businesses have moved to downtown and did so without a handout, without taxing money away from struggling homeowners.?

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Mertz -- of course you would rather have us go BACKWARDS to a time when the city and the county was in decline.  That is why you got thrown off the GOP ticket and then got defeated soundly by the intelligent and reasonable voters who are sick of your stupidity.

I'm not mertzie..........but we can assume that you are referring to the intelligent and reasonable voters who voted for REVITALIZE ROTTERDAM!!!

Yup.....I would very much like the city to go backwards to the time when the city was a 'realistic, honest ghost town'. Andstart all over again.........the right way! At least then schenectadians will see the true state of affairs as opposed to the liberal smoke and mirrors!! Giving folks a false sense of economic security is shameful!

Businesses are meant to set up business in a municipality to enhance and improve the community while making a profit..........not suck the blood life from the residents!!! However, the liberal socialists have opted on the side of the blood suckers!!

Three cheers for Proctor's ---  it has been an integral part of the Renaissance of Schenectady County.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Three cheers for Proctor's ---  it has been an integral part of the Renaissance of Schenectady County.

Well, I have to give you credit for getting this one right.  If Schenectady is truly in a renaissance, then Proctors is the linchpin.  I mean really, look at all the spending that is going on all over the city.  Each business only figures out a way to get the money one time.  Proctors, on the other hand, has figured out how to take and roll this into annual stipends to their coffers, and then they not only charge the ticket price for entrance to the events they host, there's also a $6 charge (maybe it's $3 per ticket, I checked using 2 tickets) for ordering on-line, or there's a fee for ordering over the phone.  The only way you avoid these wonderful fees is to grace the Proctors staff with your presence, and then if you decide to hang around long enough, you also have to pay for parking.  

I bet once the "Renaissance" is over, they'll stop charging these additional fees... right???  Umm....   Beuhler???  Beuhler???  Beuhler???  

Was downtown really empty? I recall not a lot of stores, but where are the stores now? There's a new bank and beauty school, but we had banks and a
beauty school.

Quoted from Madam X

Was downtown really empty?

This is as accurate as the rest of his DEM manure. When the REPS ran City Hall there were 3 booming department stores Downtown, many high end clothiers, two theaters. The sidewalks were crowded with shoppers not drunks looking for a bench to crash. The Joseph Goebbels repeating the same lie about renaissance and Miracle City is hilarious. Where are the jobs Death Ray? Where are the tax cuts Judy DAG? Where is the Metrograft dividend Acting McCarthy? It's all DEM crap that should be immediately buried.

Quoted from benny salami

This is as accurate as the rest of his DEM manure. When the REPS ran City Hall there were 3 booming department stores Downtown, many high end clothiers, two theaters. The sidewalks were crowded with shoppers not drunks looking for a bench to crash. The Joseph Goebbels repeating the same lie about renaissance and Miracle City is hilarious. Where are the jobs Death Ray? Where are the tax cuts Judy DAG? Where is the Metrograft dividend Acting McCarthy? It's all DEM crap that should be immediately buried.

Wallace's and Barney's closed in the  1970's when the gOP ran the Mayor's office and the Council ..  Carl's closed during a Republican mayorship in the 1990's

The downward spiral of Schenectady's downtown began  50 to 60 years ago ---- as ALCO closed, GE cut 90% of its work force and  the  businesses followed the  population growth to the suburbs.

At least under Democratic leadership during the past 8 years -- downtown and the county has stopped the decline and begun turning things in the right direction.       No one in their right mind would say that the work is done ...   we are still in the  early stages  ---  it took   50 years to slide  DOWN the hill ....     It has only been the last 8 years that we have begun climbing BACK UP THE HILL ----

oh -- and  Susan Savage ... Brian Stratton  .. Judy Dagostino .. Ray Gillen  ... and MANY others have played a crucial  (albeit imperfect) role in starting us back up the hill.

Too bad the taxpayers of Schenectady were forced to live in crime ridden neighborhoods with terrible roads and infrastructure while the Dems only concentrated on a 2 block area around proctors. Too bad the taxpayer paid for many businesses through tax burdens that have either left the city or gone bankrupt due to lack of business. It's true that the decline of a once great city started with the ALCO closing and GE downsizing to a few thousand workers but the methods being used by the current administration has proved to be inadequate. A new direction is needed to stop the exodus from the city. The administration should try getting rid of crime, improve the horrible school district, and fix the infrastructure because people will not move back into the city because it has a nice theater.

The REAL reason why downtown went belly up, was because GE closed up shop putting most schenectadians out of work!! Add the fact that 'inside malls' were becoming the new rage AND the economy in the 70's was as bad if not worse then it is today!!! THAT IS THE REAL REASON!!! It would be silly to think that a local political party was solely the culprit. It was the 'real' economic environment that cause downtown to become a 'realistic ghost town'! It is what it is!

However, in the present time, the liberal democons/metroplex ARE solely responsible for using taxpayer's money, for the last decade, to prop up a 2 block section of the city with smoke and mirrors. There are few if any 'real new jobs'. They have all been either relocated from one end of the county to the other, at taxpayer's expense, or lured to the area with a little to zero tax contribution. The movie theater is empty most of the time. The bars are busy when college is in session and Jay street businesses are barely hanging on as are most of the other businesses down town. Crime is increasing daily and the residents can no long afford their homes with taxes and fees being the highest in the state.

Now that is what  you got from the liberal democons/metroplex that has governed schenectady for a decade!!

Again.........it is a false sense of economic security!!

I seldom go downtown anymore. When I do, I go to the library, The Open Door, and perhaps CVS. Once in a while the Pizza King. Three of those places
were there in the seventies. That's my point. Where do you shop downtown, anyone? I mean, anywhere that hasn't been there all along? I know a lot
of businesses closed then, but I remember going downtown more often to more places back then. Where do people go now?

Quoted from bumblethru

The REAL reason why downtown went belly up, was because GE closed up shop putting most schenectadians out of work!! Add the fact that 'inside malls' were becoming the new rage AND the economy in the 70's was as bad if not worse then it is today!!! THAT IS THE REAL REASON!!! It would be silly to think that a local political party was solely the culprit. It was the 'real' economic environment that cause downtown to become a 'realistic ghost town'! It is what it is!

However, in the present time, the liberal democons/metroplex ARE solely responsible for using taxpayer's money, for the last decade, to prop up a 2 block section of the city with smoke and mirrors. There are few if any 'real new jobs'. They have all been either relocated from one end of the county to the other, at taxpayer's expense, or lured to the area with a little to zero tax contribution. The movie theater is empty most of the time. The bars are busy when college is in session and Jay street businesses are barely hanging on as are most of the other businesses down town. Crime is increasing daily and the residents can no long afford their homes with taxes and fees being the highest in the state.

Now that is what  you got from the liberal democons/metroplex that has governed schenectady for a decade!!

Again.........it is a false sense of economic security!!

You are a hypocrite -- you say it is wrong to solely blame the GOP when they were in power -- but blast  the Democrats for the past 8 years ..   this why your arguments have no credibility with  REASONABLE and THINKING  people.