I looked for the existing thread, but I couldn't find it. A Schenectady City Council committee Monday evening agreed to a proposal to cap downtown parking space rates at $2 per hour and scrapped the idea of a special event parking fee. http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw.....-22&f_publisher=
I think the council follows the mayor's lead too much, and I think his lead is not generated by what the citizens want. I don't think anyone at all who lives here had any concerns at all about parking meters downtown, yet here it is, front and center, taking up our government's time and our money.
The only thing I use down there is the post office, I'm not impressed with anything else down that way
"In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a Patriot."
"In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a Patriot."
Will it be free parking when schools have their high school graduations at proctors...or will that be a money grab? That would be insane!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
SCHENECTADY : Parking fee plans stuck in neutral Residents unhappy with increase; decision put off BY KATHLEEN MOORE GAZETTE REPORTER Parking fees in downtown Schenectady are going back to the drawing board yet again. City Council President Margaret King pulled the item from Monday’s agenda without a vote. The council also held a public hearing on the proposed 2014 budget, which got a lukewarm response. Speakers were far more passionate about the new parking fees, and King said she had heard from many residents since the proposal was announced last week. “We clearly have got a lot of input from people,” she said, adding that the council needed to “clarify” how the fees will change. The resolution would have allowed the mayor to raise on-street parking rates to as much as $1.50 per hour and $10 per special event. Many streetside parking spaces are 25 cents an hour now, but some are $1. But the special event fee might not last. Councilman Carl Erikson said it should not affect those trying to make a quick purchase at a store. “You won’t pay $10 to buy a burrito,” he said. He’s not sure how short-term parkers could avoid the flat fee. He said it might be better to instead only allow short-term parking during special events. “We need to talk to restaurant and store owners,” he said. The council will discuss it again Monday at 5:30 p.m. Residents asked the council to scrap the whole idea. Linda Kelleher said the city could not afford to buy the new parking stations, given the limits of the budget. “Is the city so flush?” she asked rhetorically. Kelleher’s husband Joseph, who is running for City Council, was not present for the budget public hearing. Only one council candidate attended the hearing as a member of the public — Mary McClaine. She told the council to cut the new parking stations, fluoride in the city’s drinking water and health insurance for council members. She also criticized Chief Michael Della Rocco for never mentioning his pending retirement when he asked the council to fund an assistant chief position last month. Instead, last month he said the position was needed because the fire department was so shorthanded that union members were handling administrative duties. Given the real situation, Mc-Claine said, the council should cut the assistant chief position. “Renegotiate it after the fire chief retires,” she said. She also criticized the police department for letting highly paid detectives work overtime for patrol officers. Not giving overtime to the newest, least-paid officers “is tantamount to abuse of the taxpayers,” she said. Chief Brian Kilcullen told the council during a budget review session that detectives working overtime patrols could be pushing up costs. But he explained the process in more detail Tuesday. The department does not simply offer overtime to officers based on their placement on a list. Instead, officers volunteer in writing every day, and the list is used only if more people volunteer than are needed that day. It is not clear why lower-paid patrol officers are not volunteering, but elected officials have speculated in the past that officers are told to “wait their turn” and allow senior officers to earn overtime shortly before retirement. Resident Gerald Plante also questioned that detectives’ use of overtime, asking whether they were trying to increase their pensions. “If it’s just to game the system, it should stop,” he said. He and resident Sharon Schmidt spoke in favor of the $22,500 expense for a dog census, citing the need to crack down on loose and unvaccinated dogs. Schmidt was also the only resident to ask the council to spend more money. “The parks budget needs to be reconsidered so they do not fall into disrepair again,” she said, adding that many neighborhood groups have been maintaining the parks since the budget was cut several years ago.
I posted the whole article because I'm just now realizing the link I posted didn't work. It looks like they may be planning to get back some of our money that was dumped into downtown, one meter at a time. That just won't work, you can see that there were too many unanswered questions for the council to make an informed vote, and anything not thought out to that degree should never have been put up for a vote, IMO. Just where are these ideas coming from?
Yes, but a bus driver and a plumber thinking they are going to get rich quick is comedy, these are elected people neglecting their duties to the residents so bad that now they have to come up with bizarre schemes to even begin to recoup some of our money that they frittered away. This ought to be proof positive to anyone that whatever hare-brained "logic" was behind some of these ideas, it did not work, because it could not work,and never will work? Anybody running for higher office at the local level should have to take an aptitude test, with a heavy dose of civics and logic. They should have to possess are rudimentary knowledge of what a mayor's function is, if they aspire to that office, also a knowledge of their particular municipality's charter. If you flunk it you can't run. Parking meters. Sheesh.
how many of you actually go downtown....??????....
The green market and Jay St are both nice to visit. It's too bad that this city seems to do everything they can to keep their own citizens from utilizing the small business.
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