Quoted Text

EDITORIALS
The anti-crime program in Sch’dy that wasn’t

    Actions, of course, have consequences, but so does inaction. Sometimes what you don’t do is as important as what you do, and this may be the case in Schenectady, where a serious anti-crime initiative proposed by Assemblyman Jim Tedisco back in 2003 died on the vine because Mayor Brian Stratton — apparently for no other reason than its source — wouldn’t support it. No one can know for sure how much of a difference the multifaceted plan would have made, but it should at least have been given a chance — and should now.
    The plan was called “Safe Schenectady Safer,” and it grew out of concerns raised in a community forum on crime held by Tedisco the year before.
    It was to be a one-year demonstration program featuring such things as an advertising campaign promoting the city’s police tip line with billboards, posters on bus shelters, etc.; rewards for information leading to arrests; graffiti cleanups; a crackdown on quality-of-life crimes; and a new civilian position in the police department to keep statistics and seek grants.
    And Tedisco got Metroplex’s leader at the time, Jayme Lahut, to agree to fund it, at $90,000. The expectation was that the civilian grant writer would bring in enough federal, state and private grants to make the program self-sustaining.
    Stratton gave the plan the cold shoulder, though. He never went and asked the Metroplex board for the money. Eventually he left the plan to Metroplex, by then under the leadership of Ray Gillen, and it went nowhere.
    But all the city’s problems continue — the drugs, the violence, the graffiti, the quality-of-life crimes — and have spread and worsened in the neighborhoods.....................>>>>.......................>>>>.............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r03602&AppName=1

Wow, the third time in a week that the DG has bashed the city and / or it's leaders.  That's gotta be some kind of record?

Ya mean someone else is finally admitting that for 8 years Stratton/City Dems never had a anti-crime nor anti-gang initiative? The Gazetto is firmly in the Hull camp. Even they have had enough of they endless self promotion of failed policies.

     The City needs to get back to a cop on the beat, neighborhood policing and opening up substations on Crane and Albany Streets. The DEM unmanned camera plan is a total joke. Let Metrograft finally bring its first national retailer Downtown. They are not a slush fund for failed City DEMS.

Quoted Text

Quoted from benny salami:
The Gazetto is firmly in the Hull camp.

If, indeed, this is true, what would prompt such a move?  Consider those who are backing the Hull slate of candidates.
Who is really in control of government in Schenectady County?

Money from the Metroplex to help fund anti-crime.

Wow, and Stratton said a big whopping NO

Yep, Stratton and his dem socialists could only steal from the taxpayers and give the money to their cronies and millioniares downtown.


So HOW has metroplex made the city better?    How has all the tens of millions made Schenectady better?

NO ONE will respond to that.

Why won't the cheerleaders for stealing from taxpayers, those cheerleaders who say metroplex has helped the city., why don't they state here, explain here if and how metroplex has reduced taxes on the fincially struggling homeowners, if and how metroplex has resulted in an increase in property values, if and how the the money poured into downtown has make the city----THE CITY---THE NEIGHBORHOODS WHERE PEOPLE LIVE -- safer.  Why don't they explain here if and how people are just making choices to move into buy homes in the city AND occupy the homes, if an how the roads, the sewers, the inferastructure has improved in the neighorhoods---that 99% of the city OUTSIDE of downtown.


And remember that incredibly, overwhelmingly popular Tuesdan in the Park - WHO was it that stopped that?   That drew more people to an event in the city than ALL DOWNTOWN EVENTS combined (with the exception of the Christmas parade)

I don't think that it is in the metroplex's charter to pay and support this......no? Crime and safety is the responsibility of the those who govern the municipality and doesn't fall under the heading of Metroplex. imho

Quoted from mikechristine1

Wow, and Stratton said a big whopping NO!

Yep, Stratton and his dem socialists could only steal from the taxpayers and give the money to their cronies and millionaires downtown.

And remember that incredibly, overwhelmingly popular Tuesday in the Park - WHO was it that stopped that?   That drew more people to an event in the city than ALL DOWNTOWN EVENTS combined (with the exception of the Christmas parade)

Bravo! Stratton and his DEM rubber stamps stopped it. It drew more people then every Arts and Farts Night COMBINED! BTW, the last art night was another complete flop.

Quoted from bumblethru

I don't think that it is in the metroplex's charter to pay and support this......no? Crime and safety is the responsibility of the those who govern the municipality and doesn't fall under the heading of Metroplex. imho

You do have a point there, however, metroplex has robbed the taxpayers of money that should be used for necessary services regarding the high crime rate in the city.  

THink of it this way, was it the place of Metroplex to use the city homeowners and residents' money to give a handout to a pair of scumbag tax delinquents?   Was it the place of Metroplex take money from the financially struggling homeowners and pay of the taxes of the scumlord tax delinquents?   Was it the place of Metroplex to take the money from the financially struggling homeowners and renters (renters who pay taxes through their rent) in order to bestow a 100% profit on a couple guys who willfully and deliverately caused a million dollars in damage to a building on the national register of historic places?   Metroplex should have represented the taxapyers and taken that building by eminent domain no matter how long it took to get it from them.  But instead the dems in the city were going to take, by eminiment domain, land from an upstanding business owner who runs a good business and pays taxes, but the dems didn't want to take anything from tax delinquents, instead they reward tax delinquents.

I understand where your coming from, but the taxpayers money has been so utterly mis-used by the handouts to the millionaires, the homeowners have had their hard earned money forcibly taken from them in order to pay off the taxes of the well-heeled, millioniares and billionares downtown, and in so doing, necessary services in the city such as anti-crime (be it proactive or reactive) was not adequately funded, and now, there has been such a drastic increase in crime in the city.  There was a time when druggies used to kill each other, but now, innocent children are being killed.

Metrograft couldn't give $90,000 to fund some anti-crime initiative? It was too busy flushing $100 MILLION in sales tax revenue from oppressed County buyers down the toilet. No matter the problem-Metrograft is never the answer. It is funny for the Gazetto to bring this up now, especially when Mr. Hull also wants to tap also the taxpayer bank to fund demolition of hundreds of City eyesores-the result of DEM "renaissance".

     BT is right but the whole thing has been a disaster from the inception. When Metrograft was created the taxpayers were promised national retailers, new jobs and sales tax benefits. Well? No national anything, a few companies shuffled from in-County with big tax giveaways, while Schenectady County has the highest unemployment in the region.

I think maybe it could have been made to fit Metroplex's mission as the perception of crime and lack of desirable clientele are two things which keep business away from Schenectady.
Jim Tedisco was being thoughtful and looking for creative ways to help the people. Isn't that why we have government? If someone else being paid to look out for the people's interests had been equally thoughtful and creative it might have made such a positive difference for the city. Imagine the residents and businesses that have fled since 2003 who might still be here. Imagine the difference it would have made in the lives of those kids Judy Atchinson is trying to help. It could have saved lives.
I don't really care if a burrito shop owner gets wealthier serving temporary residents or not, except that our money could have been used for the common good instead of one man's personal endeavor.

Quoted from William Pen

If, indeed, this is true, what would prompt such a move?  Consider those who are backing the Hull slate of candidates.  Who is really in control of government in Schenectady County?

The usual array of business and media elites. The battlefield is in flux. A leading City observer put it this way; "the question is not how many are voting for Hull but how many are voting against McCarthy". Gary McCarthy has a very long track record. This record is dynamite in the hands of a well funded opponent.