Quoted Text

City asks for volunteer gardeners
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or moore@dailygazette.com.

    In one of the most glaringly obvious results of this year’s budget cuts, the landscaping next to the City Hall entrances has been covered with thistles.
    The spiny, leafy plants grew more than 3 feet tall, choking the hostas and hiding almost every piece of landscaping along the Liberty Street side of City Hall.
    Weeds were also left to grow in the flower beds and under the ornamental bushes, turning a manicured lawn into a weedy mess.
    After residents complained, city workers were sent to clean it up Tuesday. But there were so many weeds that workers are now scheduled to spend four days there.
    “This hasn’t been maintained appropriately in a while,” Commissioner of General Services Carl Olsen said. “This obviously needed attention, but there’s only seven people in the parks department.”
    Olsen is now in charge of the city’s grounds, after Ed Montgomery retired earlier this year and his position was not fi lled. Making matters worse, over the last several years, layoffs have decimated the grounds crew. A decade ago, there
were 21 parks workers.
    Their supervisor, William Macejka, is asking residents to volunteer on Saturday to help plant new fl owers once the beds have been cleared of weeds.
    “We’re doing the heavy lifting first,” he said.
    Olsen said the weeds were partly a result of the rainy spring.
    “This year has been very rainy, very wet, which certainly encourages the growth of grass and weeds and it reduces the time we have available to take care of it,” he said. “You can’t mow grass in the pouring rain.”
    Still, he’s making City Hall a priority.
    “This is an absolutely gorgeous building,” he said. “The grounds around it should be too.”
    That might take more money than the city has budgeted. Macejka bought flower bed centerpieces with his own money, and donated them to the city to spruce up the grounds. On Saturday, he plans to work with volunteers to lay mulch under all of the bushes and fi ll the weeded flower beds with 35 fl ats of new flowers, as well as the centerpieces.
    Macejka manages his own large garden at home, so the new job is close to his heart. When he took his first look at the City Hall landscaping, he was unimpressed..........................>>>>...................>>>>.......................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01401&AppName=1

In order to become a gardener for the city and volunteer your time you'll probably have to pay to do it like the Proctor volunteers do.

Volunteer to take care of it - AND pay for the flowers.

Maybe they'll take a lesson from FatsoMorris and charge an "administrative fee" for volunteers.

What insurance will protect someone who gets injured working on the grounds?  The city gonna cover medical bills?

Quoted from 147

Volunteer to take care of it - AND pay for the flowers.

Maybe they'll take a lesson from FatsoMorris and charge an "administrative fee" for volunteers.

What insurance will protect someone who gets injured working on the grounds?  The city gonna cover medical bills?

The lawyers are anxiously waiting with sweaty palms and drool................

Betcha AFLAC won't cover it.

lol

OUTRAGEOUS.

iF THE BLIGHT OF cITY hALL IS SO IMPORTANT...THEN LET THE EMPLOYEES DONATE THEIR TIME...

after all they put the taxpayers thru...now they want copperation and a free ride from the residents.???

how hypocritical is that......

HIRE PROFRESSIONALS TO DO THIS....   money seems to be no object when it comes to other things...

The cheerleader for raising taxes on the homeowners of course will say that people in the city should volunteer to do this.

However, it is NOT the responsibility of the homeowners to volunteer to do gardening at city hall.   Homeowners have their own lawns, yards, and gardens to take care of, many are working two jobs in order to pay the taxes of the millionaires downtown, and have little time to even paint their own houses and are now getting cited for violations.

Yes, it would be interesting to know what the issue is regarding insurance and volunteers.   We are sure the know-it-all cheerleader for the dems and increasing city taxes to fund private business downtown should be able to provide an answer to that question, yes?   How many jobs did he have with insurance companies?    Would ANYONE trust his answer anyway IF he tried to respond?   The guy that NEVER provides any EVIDENCE to support the statements he makes?

The dem leaders in the city caused this financial crisis, the homeowners pay far more taxes than they should while their home values are plummeting big time.   The dem leaders should get off their butts and do the gardening!

The dem leaders robbed the homeowners to give money to the millionaires downtown, therefore the proper thing to do would be for the city dem leaders to demand the millionaires downtown pay for the gardening around city hall!!!!


.

Quoted Text

In one of the most glaringly obvious results of this year’s budget cuts

HAHAHAHA

KM better take some journalism classes from LS  

Let the thistles do their thing.  They are actually more similar to how city employees treat the taxpayers.  They also have very pretty flowers.

OR JUST PAVE IT

hEY WHEN IT COMES TO GARDENING...ask Rotterdam's TC   ....didn't she  do the flowers at the park???  doesn't mind turning the soil...or should I say

digging up the dirt...and another thing....ask our TC about insurance and volunteers...seems  volunteer s were let go because of insurance and liability

crock of made up rules....from TC's book

LIPSTICK ON A PIG....HOG!

This is a total embarrassment for the city. McMayor is crying and whining because they had to cut the budget??? Bullcrap!!! The real problem is that Mayor Sta-sta-sta-Studder and McMayor have mis-managed the city's financing. They have over spent and under taxed the businesses via METROPLEX/GILLEN!!! They don't have one brain between the bunch of them!!!

However...there is clearly more than enough unemployed and welfare folks with more than enough time on their hands. Not to mention the ones in the 'lock up'!!!!

SHAMEFULL!!!

Hurry up, register democrat and open a community not-for-profit landscaping business and apply for tax exemptions and subsidies.  That's the recipe for success in Schenectady.

if they can just tax and spend more all problems are solved

Quoted from bumblethru

This is a total embarrassment for the city. McMayor is crying and whining because they had to cut the budget??? Bullcrap!!! The real problem is that Mayor Sta-sta-sta-Studder and McMayor have mis-managed the city's financing. They have over spent and under taxed the businesses via METROPLEX/GILLEN!!! They don't have one brain between the bunch of them!!!

However...there is clearly more than enough unemployed and welfare folks with more than enough time on their hands. Not to mention the ones in the 'lock up'!!!!

SHAMEFULL!!!

Yeah, it's a real shame that McCheese has to go to work and see such overgrown weeds. I mean, didn't they fine many a businessowner last year for the very same problem????

Slap a pair of gloves on McCheesy and have EVERY SINGLE PERSON WORKING AT CITY HALL TAKE CARE OF THIS PROBLEM TODAY! That's right, get off your taxpaying-paid for arses, stop asking for volunteers and get at least ONE job done right in this City.

Guess what, you and the City Hall staff take one day (a Saturday/Sunday when the taxpayers don't need to fund it), pull the weeds and show to the City that you have at least ONE OUNCE of integrity left. PR like that is priceless!!!!!!