Quoted from Smoking Bananas

they do offer aprogram witht he schools, rachel,, perhaps you should learn more about proctors before you criticize it

Programs such as the $250 a week summer program? Programs such as theater performances at the palace where they charge tickets per student to attend?

The only 'scholarship' program offered is one to allow one classroom a 'free' school performance (which proctors should NOT be charging the school districts for..you know...arts for the masses?).

Check their website under 'education' - you'll be just as disappointed.

Quoted from rachel72

Check their website under 'education'

One would hope that smokey has already 'investigated' this issue....yes?

Quoted from bumblethru

Beerfests aren't a bad thing at all. Been to a few and they are fun. The concern is a tax supported, nonprofit, arts and educational center hosting a beerfest in the middle of an alleged business district that is nothing but BARS!!

Bizarre!!  

Exactly.     But SB aka DV don't understand that.   To him, the only way is government theaters, government restaurants, government bars/gin mills, government hair salons, government hotels, government cupcake businesses, government bakeries, government parking lots, government schools, governent pizza shops, government catering businesses, government fast food shops, government condos, government museums, government art shows, etc then that is wise use of taxpayer money.   But spending tax dollars fixing roads, sewers, watermains, providing more police protection, and making the NEIGHBORHOOIDS---WHERE THE TAXPAYERS LIVE---SAFER, well according to SB aka DV, that spending is not good, well, not until money first goes to downtown, to the millioniares, to the billioniares, to the political cronies of the dems.  AFter all those people are paid off, then if there's money left it can go to the neighborhoods to benefit the taxpayers.  However THERE NEVER NEVER NEVER is any money left.  Quite the opposite.  Those dems see that their buddies want more more money, so those dems running the city and county, their response is just to raise taxes on the homeowners even more!  

And to SB aka DV, using government funded proeprty for a drunken beer fest to make it's rich CEO even richer is very appropriate use of said government funded property.  And especially when it benefits a CEO to is stealing frm the taxpayers by illegally having STAR exemptions on two houses.  

But of course, we know the cheerleader for high taxes doesn't pay any taxes, so he has no clue what it's like for the people

There is no stopping Proctors now folks. They have the connections and folks better get used to it.

I am not DVR, btw. never meet the bloke

bars bring people, people spend money. the sales generate taxes. the money fills the coffers of towns, villages and cities and the cunty... they get a slice of the sales tax revenues.. check out the formula for metroplex's revenue stream

Quoted from Smoking Bananas

I am not DVR, btw. never meet the bloke

bars bring people, people spend money. the sales generate taxes. the money fills the coffers of towns, villages and cities and the cunty... they get a slice of the sales tax revenues.. check out the formula for metroplex's revenue stream

And WHAT are people going to spend money on?????   People buy clothes.   Where can they them downtown (except for Rudnicks, which, DOES pay taxes and didn't get taxpayer money)?    Parents need to buy school clothes for their children.  Tell us, in exchange for the tens of millions taken from the taxpyaers, WHERE can parents buy school clothes?   In downtown, WHERE will the sales taxes be generated from people spending money on school clothess, winter clothes, shoes, undergarments and outer-garments, etc/.    In downtown where can one buy DVD's, computers, Ipads and pods?   Gee, students need those things for school.   So where in downtown will the sales tax be generated for such school related purposes in exchange for people getting drunk at government funded bars?   Tell us WHERE can people buy things for their homes----such as bedding, towels, drapes, curtains blinds, dishes and china, flatware and silverware, pots and pans, glasses and crystal, furniture, outdoor patio needs, tools and hardware, pet needs, lawnmowers and snowblowers, rakes and shovels, yard waste bags, flower pots, lawn and garden needs and ornaments, etc???????

So, in exchange for tens, hundreds of millions spent on downtown, in return for 100% (and higher) exemptions on the millionaires paying taxes, you think a few pennies  are going to save the city?????/    ROFL

Oh, so you read some metroplex propaganda and believe it's true?    Now, learn the truth---the things that plex, the city and county won't tell you.   You see, plex, the city and county have increased taxes on the homeonwers----making them pay not only their own proeprty and school taxes, but those dems are making the homeowners pay for the taxes of all those milliioniares downtown.  Because the people in Schenectady have less money because of paying the high taxes, they will spend less and less and less on big ticket items.   People who live outside the county do NOT and I repeat do NOT generate sales taxes on big ticket items even if they make purchases within the county.  Now, example.  Taxpayers were robbed of their money to build a new place for Marcella's appliances.  Homeowners in the city have had their taxes raised in order to pay the taxes of the new Marcella's location.  Most homeonwers in the city don't have the money to buy appliances at Marcellas, or anywhere for that matter.   Nothing against Marcellas, but if an Albany county resident went to get a couple beers at the government gin mills downtown, or attended the government beerfest, and suppose that Albany county person then went to Marcellas to buy all new appliances, top of the line.  That will NOT generate any sales tax for Schenectady--- NONE whatsoever.   The tax money will go to Albany county, where the person lives.

Now then, as city residents are paying inreasing taxes for the tax exemptions for millionaires, like I said they have less money for shopping.  They have less money to fix up their houses, that increases neighborhood blight.  And that reduces property values.  And people put their houses up for sale to flee the city.   And many just leave, the numbers of abandoned houses is increasing big time.  The numbers of tax delinquent properties is growing big time.   And when people abandon their houses, they don't pay the property taxes.   The city still needs the revenue so it increases the taxes on the remaning homeowners, which just means the homeonwers have even less money to spend.   And increasing taxes just results in fewer and fewer people wanting to buy a house in the city.  

And because people don't have money to spend, they don't make purchases which means sales tax isn't collected.   And like I said the sales tax from collected on big ticket items when made by those outside the county, that money does NOT come to Schenectady county.

So, the spending by plex, city, and county, the taking of hundreds of millions of tax dollars is NOT going to result in sales taxes anywhere near enough to make up for the money taken from the taxpayers.  

Quoted from Smoking Bananas

I am not DVR, btw. never meet the bloke

bars bring people, people spend money. the sales generate taxes. the money fills the coffers of towns, villages and cities and the county... they get a slice of the sales tax revenues.. check out the formula for metroplex's revenue stream

Agree....BUT.... who is actually benefiting here? Clearly not the over taxed residents of the city. They 'still' have the highest taxes in the state and close to the top in the country. This is doing nothing but putting a band-aid over a hemorrhaging artery. The only folks benefiting from this $$$ are the 'select few contractors' who are making a killing off the taxpayers through grants, loans and a tax exempt status, while the 'few' working residents pick up the tab.

And let's not start on the plex. When was the last time the 'taxpayers' say the bid packages for these developments? Do some investigating and see who is low bidder and who actually gets awarded the bid.

I think we can all agree that schenectady now has TWO hamilton hills. The original hamilton hill that received a grant to clean it up but never did........and now mt.pleasant. There are more gangs, more vacant houses, more homes for sale, more blight, higher taxes and an antiquated infrastructure since the plex started its 'miracle'.

So let's not think that when a tax supported, non-profit, with a ceo that makes SIX figures and doesn't even live in the city, while collecting a star exemption on rental property is not a travesty and a slap in the face for the taxpayers.

imho

Well, I actually went to the beerfest. This post of mine has nothing to do with whether or not Proctor's should get tax money, but is just my review of the event in case someone decides to go to it in the future. First off it's hard to have a poor time at a beerfest and this was no exception. At the same time this one wasn't run very well. Proctors gave out 15 tickets for entry and for each ticket you got about a 2 oz sample. Many simialar events also do this now, with one big difference. At every other beerfest I have been to no one collects the tickets, it's all just for image sake, people are given the responsibiliy to police themselves. At proctor's event many of the people giving out the beer didn't work for the breweries but were Proctor's volunteers. This stunk because they actually collected tickets, and if you choose a horrible beer that you would normally just dump out, you had to hand in a precious ticket for it. It also stunk because the voluteers knew nothing about the beers they were serving? You would ask them a question and they would literally read the box, or keg label.  As for providing money to other local business, when the beerfest got out between 8:30 and 9, everyone went to the local bars. My friends and I went to Bombers and then got a cab, if it wasn't for the beerfest we probably would have gone elsewhere.

I hear that every weekend in Mount Pleasant and Hamilton Hill, they hold a crack-fest and a ho-fest.  It sounds like a wonderful time with wonderful people.  It's a very benevolent festival, with a lot of consideration given toward the needy, I hear that if you have no money, some vendors will trade crack for other services.  You can't say that about "beerfest"

metroplex does not bill taxpayers. nope,never. they collect money from sales tax receipts.

tell me, sir, where is a downtown in the area where I can buy some clothes for my kid, and I will go ther. As far as I know, downtowns, with some exceptions, are devoid of businesses. sad fact of life. stores moved to the burbs.

i do not think anyone downtown has a 100 percent exception on taxes.. by this I mean, they still pay but it is in the form of a PILOT>  

also, once again, I must return to this point === downtown was pratcially dead 5 years ago, filled with boarded up buildings and deteriorated stores.. oh sure, there was orion and the other head shop, but basically there was nothing else. so, once again, i say downtown is better off today than it was 5 years ago.

perhaps you should look at the sales tax receipts for the county -- they are increasing per quarter... why is that?

Quoted from Smoking Bananas

metroplex does not bill taxpayers. nope,never. they collect money from sales tax receipts.

tell me, sir, where is a downtown in the area where I can buy some clothes for my kid, and I will go ther. As far as I know, downtowns, with some exceptions, are devoid of businesses. sad fact of life. stores moved to the burbs.

i do not think anyone downtown has a 100 percent exception on taxes.. by this I mean, they still pay but it is in the form of a PILOT>  

also, once again, I must return to this point === downtown was pratcially dead 5 years ago, filled with boarded up buildings and deteriorated stores.. oh sure, there was orion and the other head shop, but basically there was nothing else. so, once again, i say downtown is better off today than it was 5 years ago.

perhaps you should look at the sales tax receipts for the county -- they are increasing per quarter... why is that?

Point taken........BUT..........outside of down town is NOT better off today. In fact the living conditions have rapidly deteriorated. I'm sure we can all agree with that....no?

So residents don't really give a hoot if downtown 'looks' better or not...when their taxes are unsustainable, gangs, drug dealers, housing values that were deteriorating 'before' the recession,  worrying if their grass is over 3" high etc. The truth of the matter is........the metroplex has done NOTHING to help the residents of the city. ...... as promised.

And again........the bidding process!!! Check it out....k?

the slide of the neighborhoods has been going on for DECADES -- do u think it happened overnight? I dare say, the slide began in the 1970s when GE cut thousands of jobs and thousands of people left for greener pastures..

You're right SB, when the GE jobs left, there was a slow deterioration of the City. Working families began to leave for jobs elsewhere thus the downfall of the City neighborhoods.

BUT, there is one HUGE factor you keep failing to realize, Metroplex was given $100 million of our taxpayers dollars to alleviate this. Metroplex was going to bring JOBS, not build a Taj Mahal for DSS. Metroplex was going to HELP THE TAX BASE.

You are conveniently forgetting that $100 million has been wasted because there are no jobs and no money for the City property tax base (or for the City schools for that matter) from the Downtown businesses. The 'leaders' are perpetuating a cycle of unemployment, neighborhood neglect and homeowner bankruptcy.  

u r wrong, Rachel. sorry, there has been an improvement, and economic revitalization takes more than a few years to take effect.

maybe Benny can reflect onthe subject with his usual wisdom

It's been over a decade and not one new nanotech, large retail or industry (Beech Nut) has been courted to the City.

A pathetic waste of millions.