The "folks like me" were my family who lived downtown.
Many of us have studied enough urban planning to know that nobody involved with downtown has done so. Just today I went past those ugly apartmentson Union Street with a younger friend who had checked them out and was appalled at the price. So somebody doesn't know the market to well, if potential occupants can't afford them.
None of that stuff about downtown is anything more than wishful thinking or more like it a snow job by people with a limitless budget and absolutely no accountability. You aren't moving to the city, my friend isn't, most of my family is gone from these parts, just who are these new residents supposed to be? Even Morris took off, he should be made to give back his bogus Patroon award because it's meant for Schenectadians.
The people moving to Schenectady are doing so for handouts. We don't need planning here, the city was finished a long time ago. What we need is for those entrusted with that responsibility to do their jobs and take care of what is already here.

Quoted from Madam X

The "folks like me" were my family who lived downtown.
Many of us have studied enough urban planning to know that nobody involved with downtown has done so. Just today I went past those ugly apartmentson Union Street with a younger friend who had checked them out and was appalled at the price. So somebody doesn't know the market to well, if potential occupants can't afford them.
None of that stuff about downtown is anything more than wishful thinking or more like it a snow job by people with a limitless budget and absolutely no accountability. You aren't moving to the city, my friend isn't, most of my family is gone from these parts, just who are these new residents supposed to be? Even Morris took off, he should be made to give back his bogus Patroon award because it's meant for Schenectadians.
The people moving to Schenectady are doing so for handouts. We don't need planning here, the city was finished a long time ago. What we need is for those entrusted with that responsibility to do their jobs and take care of what is already here.

Same old negative garbage -- you must live a very sad and hopeless life.

I am glad that the Renaissance is continuing -- Schenectady is growing stronger every day.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

With rising costs of gas and other issues, the trend is shifting back towards urban cores ("downtown") -- THAT has been well documented for anyone who wishes to educate themselves on urban planning trends.

Really?    And when are YOU shifting back to the urban core?    When are YOU going to move into the urban core, "downtown."   Huh?????    Are you MAN ENOUGH to answer that?

When are YOU going to move ANYWHERE IN the city---even if just to rent   ??????  

How are the home sales IN the "urban core."   Huh?  

How are the home sales ANYWHERE IN the city going?

How are the home values in the DEM-RUN COUNTY?  

Are you MAN ENOUGH to answer these!!!!!    



TOTALLY SPEECHLESS!!!!!!!!!!    

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Same old negative garbage -- you must live a very sad and hopeless life.

I am glad that the Renaissance is continuing -- Schenectady is growing stronger every day.

    

Same old fairy tales -- you must live a very sad and hopeless life; lacking a job, lacking a spouse, lacking a normal adult life; so you turn to telling fairy tales.

Are you ready to face the FACTS, the TRUTHS, and here is yet MORE EVIDENCE.  








Are you MAN ENOUGH to address the truths?  


Are you ready to start focusing on trying to improve the city and county, state FACTS and provide EVIDENCE,  so people MIGHT actually WANT to move here, live here?



TOTALLY SPEECHLESS   Or babble babble babble

I just gave examples of people from this area who aren't moving into the "urban core" , including him, and he still can't see it. People who aren't in favor of trolleys aren't "forward thinking"? I think trolleys are not the wave of the future, but rather the past, and the fact that there are old tracks under Broadway from a bygone century tends to illustrate that.
I don't fall for the 'negative' label trick. That is a pathetic attempt at shutting down dissent though name-calling and attacking the speaker personally.
Planning - is it "planning" for some outsider living off the government to cause buildings to be demolished downtown, and then 'solve' the problem theycaused by using someone else's money to put another building there? Is it "planning" to neglect the hell out of a main road (Erie Boulevard) for decades, and then give yourself accolades to finally address it (hey! shouldn't roads be drivable?), and then use the horribly and negligently deteriorated condition of the road as an excuse to waste millions of dollars on an unnecessary, overdone "fix"? That isn't planning. Downtown was "planned" ages ago. A little maintenance is what was needed. too much "planning" whether you call it urban renewal (1960's) or revitalization (1990's) is what destroyed "urban cores" in the first place. How many times will they knock down and rebuild a train station in the same exact spot and call themselves "forward thinking"and "planners"?

Quoted from Madam X

I just gave examples of people from this area who aren't moving into the "urban core" , including him, and he still can't see it. People who aren't in favor of trolleys aren't "forward thinking"? I think trolleys are not the wave of the future, but rather the past, and the fact that there are old tracks under Broadway from a bygone century tends to illustrate that.
I don't fall for the 'negative' label trick. That is a pathetic attempt at shutting down dissent though name-calling and attacking the speaker personally.
Planning - is it "planning" for some outsider living off the government to cause buildings to be demolished downtown, and then 'solve' the problem theycaused by using someone else's money to put another building there? Is it "planning" to neglect the hell out of a main road (Erie Boulevard) for decades, and then give yourself accolades to finally address it (hey! shouldn't roads be drivable?), and then use the horribly and negligently deteriorated condition of the road as an excuse to waste millions of dollars on an unnecessary, overdone "fix"? That isn't planning. Downtown was "planned" ages ago. A little maintenance is what was needed. too much "planning" whether you call it urban renewal (1960's) or revitalization (1990's) is what destroyed "urban cores" in the first place. How many times will they knock down and rebuild a train station in the same exact spot and call themselves "forward thinking"and "planners"?

The current administration didn't knock down the train station in Schenectady.  Frank Duci and the GOP majority on the City Council  back then did.  And I don't know where you get your history from -- the old train station was torn down ONCE ... the CURRENT station was built only once and wasn't torn down ... but it is inadequate and it was NOT planned by this administration (though you will probably make up some distorted pile of crap to blame it on Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Gillen).

The current administration didn't neglect Erie Blvd.  Frank Duci and Al Jurzynski and the GOP majority on the County Leg did.

You folks keep saying that money is being wasted on Erie Blvd. --- yet offer no actual proof that a penny has been wasted.   The project accomplishes a lot more than just repaving Erie Blvd, which is what you do and would consider good city planning but that is NOT good planning.   This project rebuilds the antiquated infrastructure under the road, build a new base and installs new curbing, will make the road easier for pedestrians to cross, provides parking  AND then finishes it off with new pavement and new lighting.  

Oh -- and trolleys and light rail ARE part of the future of urban planning -- so even though you claim to have studied urban planning .. my guess is that you are making that up too.

Where my family and I live has absolutely NOTHING to do with the topic -- although I will tell you that my family has lived in Rotterdam for over 100 years (one branch of the family) and another branch lived in Saratoga County for over 120 years --- and BOTH of those branches came into the City of Schenectady to operate businesses, work, were involved in various organizations within the city (with one of our family members be awarded one of the highest honors of the YWCA for her years of service to that organization),  and even managed to be founding and multi-generational supporting members of two churches in the city.

One doesn't have to live within the city limits to love Schenectady and support Schenectady -- on the other hand you and your family seem to be proof that one can live in the city and just be a constant voice of negativity .. attempting to drag the place down.

So I will remain hope-filled, confident and positive.   You and yours can wallow in your pity party.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

You folks keep saying that money is being wasted on Erie Blvd. --- yet offer no actual proof that a penny has been wasted.   The project accomplishes a lot more than just repaving Erie Blvd, which is what you do and would consider good city planning but that is NOT good planning.   This project rebuilds the antiquated infrastructure under the road, build a new base and installs new curbing, will make the road easier for pedestrians to cross, provides parking  AND then finishes it off with new pavement and new lighting.  

No proof that money has been wasted?    

Tell us DV, the millions of dollars spent on Erie Blvd, tell us what the effect has been on the tax base in the city.

Tell us DV, the millions of dollars spent on Erie Blvd, tell us what effect it has had on the home values in the city?

What effect has it had on the tax BILLS of the home owners in the city?

What effect has it had on the ability for people to successfully sell their homes at a price to pay off their mortgage on the house they are selling?  

What effect has it had on people choosing to buy a house in the city?   Tell us about the numbers of home sales in the city in recent years?

What effect has it had on the attention given to the infrastructure in the neighborhoods - you know, where the people paying the bills actually live?   Tell us what the city tells homeowners about the city trees that are ruining the sidewalks and how quickly the city responds.   Tell us about the guy on 505 Pennsylvania Ave who is experiencing damage to his car from the infrastructure where he lives--you know in a NEIGHBORHOOD outside of the dems' precious downtown.


Are you MAN ENOUGH to answer those questions AND provide EVIDENCE?

Stratton didn't neglect Erie Boulevard? Then why isn't it drivable?
The plans for the 'multi-modal' facility, now on hold, for Erie Boulevard, would be the fourth incarnation of a train station at that site.
One does have to live in the city to support it with tax dollars.
It isn't planning to redo a road. That would be 'maintenance'. Should've been done without all the extras, long ago. Necessary repairs were held up while a silly roundabout was considered and that legal "adult" business was battled with. Nothing to be proud of. The fact is, I don't blame the train station on Gillen because he is irrelevant and it is the train service which is inadequate and not the building anyway.
The money squandered by and for hacks downtown is the CAUSE of the decline in the rest of the city. Upper Union is doing better than downtown because there aren't as many hacks "planning" up here, but that could change.
How is it a neighborhood where people are taxed upwards of $8,000 bucks on their houses has sewage leaking in the street? Get ready for exploding manholes as well, people, Albany has 'em, we have the same conditions here. We need government to act on our behalf and force National Grid to replacethe aging gas lines which are all shot. No one is addressing this issue. Not the governor, and certainly not local governments. Yet we have money to payhow many levels of "planners" and "economic developers" to waste our money on remodeling jobs for a favored few.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

and BOTH of those branches came into the City of Schenectady to operate businesses, work, were involved in various organizations within the city (with one of our family members be awarded one of the highest honors of the YWCA for her years of service to that organization),  and even managed to be founding and multi-generational supporting members of two churches in the city.

Yeah, sure, another fairy tale?

You're parents never owned a house in the city!

By the way, happy belated 51st birthday, hope your Saturday was good

The parents must have lived here while he attended Mont Pleasant, or did he board with an aunt then as well?

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

The current administration didn't knock down the train station in Schenectady.  Frank Duci and the GOP majority on the City Council  back then did.

By the way, it was under the administration of a DEMOCRAT CITY MANAGER Erwin Shapiro

And Duci was NOT on the city council then

And the train station was NOT a city owned property either!   NY Central made the decision to get rid of it when they built a new station in Colonie

Quoted from Madam X

Stratton didn't neglect Erie Boulevard? Then why isn't it drivable?
The plans for the 'multi-modal' facility, now on hold, for Erie Boulevard, would be the fourth incarnation of a train station at that site.
One does have to live in the city to support it with tax dollars.
It isn't planning to redo a road. That would be 'maintenance'. Should've been done without all the extras, long ago. Necessary repairs were held up while a silly roundabout was considered and that legal "adult" business was battled with. Nothing to be proud of. The fact is, I don't blame the train station on Gillen because he is irrelevant and it is the train service which is inadequate and not the building anyway.
The money squandered by and for hacks downtown is the CAUSE of the decline in the rest of the city. Upper Union is doing better than downtown because there aren't as many hacks "planning" up here, but that could change.
How is it a neighborhood where people are taxed upwards of $8,000 bucks on their houses has sewage leaking in the street? Get ready for exploding manholes as well, people, Albany has 'em, we have the same conditions here. We need government to act on our behalf and force National Grid to replacethe aging gas lines which are all shot. No one is addressing this issue. Not the governor, and certainly not local governments. Yet we have money to payhow many levels of "planners" and "economic developers" to waste our money on remodeling jobs for a favored few.

You and your fellow nayboobs don't seem to know the facts or be willing to actually post them.
Stratton didn't neglect Erie Blvd -- it was his administration that got the $11 million grant to do the work that is now being done.  
Redoing the antiquated infrastructure UNDER a street is not an "extra" -- you and your nayboob friends probably have no idea what is involved in the infrastructure of a modern city -- you are used to dirt paths from when you were born in the Dark Ages.

As far as you being inconvenienced because you can't buy your sex toys and raunchy videos at that  adult store -- I am glad that the place is gone and just wish that we didn't have to let them rebuild someplace else in our community.

Under the Stratton administration, all Schenectady streets deteriorated to the point where people's cars were damaged. Erie Boulevard became almost impassable whilst the dithering dolt "planned" a grandiose money-wasting monument to himself. You can't drive on plans.
Is that what they sold at Adult World? I never went inside, and they didn't have display windows, so hmmm....

Quoted from Madam X

Under the Stratton administration, all Schenectady streets deteriorated to the point where people's cars were damaged. Erie Boulevard became almost impassable whilst the dithering dolt "planned" a grandiose money-wasting monument to himself. You can't drive on plans.
Is that what they sold at Adult World? I never went inside, and they didn't have display windows, so hmmm....

You are obviously just an uninformed person with ax to grind against Mayor Stratton and, now, Mayor McCarthy.  Mayor Stratton went to work on Day #1 to  a) get the city out of the financial hole that Mayor Jurzynski had dug it into, and b) find way  (grants, etc) to pay for the much needed street repairs.  

You seem to forget that Mayor Jurzynski was the one who DISCONTINUED the schedule of routine paving and maintenance -- which Mayor Stratton reinstated but, of course, after 8 years of Jurzynski's neglect it meant having to do a lot of catching up.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

As far as you being inconvenienced because you can't buy your sex toys and raunchy videos at that  adult store -- I am glad that the place is gone and just wish that we didn't have to let them rebuild someplace else in our community.

My response:

Who are you to say what anyone does with their free time? If it's legal, who cares? You eat too many cheeseburgers but I'm not trying to close Burger King. It is not your job to tell people what is acceptable and what is not. You have a huge problem with thinking that you know what is best for everyone (except you are not a leader, you are merely a simpleton who has a forum to say dumb things). You do not know what is best.

Secondly, if I continue to make bad business decisions my company goes under and I lose my job. It is imperative that I make the right business decisions if I want to continue to feed my family. Conversely, you can make as many terrible decisions as you want with zero repercussions. Run out of $$? No problem, we can raise taxes. A project flopped? No worries, it wasn't our money. I fire lots of people who think like you: no foresight, no "real-world" experience, and a fantasy perception of the real world. Dummies.

You have the major advantage, which is defined by my money.  I pay taxes which you waste, and you are too much of a knucklehead to realize you don't have any idea what you are doing. I already know that you don't have experience competing on my level, but to make things fair I'll ask you to list any reasons you feel that you are qualified for your current position.

People get in over their heads all of the time. You are one of them. The major problem is that you are too dull to realize that you are wrong. Please excuse yourself and let competent people take over.