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SCHENECTADY
Business owners criticize agency
Need for improvement corp. is questioned
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

   After a hectic year in which the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. fired its director and raised taxes, many downtown property owners are criticizing the agency, some questioning whether it should even exist.
   “It’s a waste of time, period. They have no business being part of downtown and costing downtown money,” said Embarek Mesbahi, who owns the vacant Jay Street storefront that once housed Cafe Dolce. “They plant a few flowers here and there, but I see no reason for all this committee.”
   He pays DSIC $521 each year in business improvement district taxes. In return, the agency sweeps in front of his property, maintains the walkways throughout the downtown, shovels snow and plants flowers.
   Interim DSIC Director Colleen Merays said those services are essential.
   “It adds a marketability to downtown as a destination,” she said. “The reality is that not all the property owners maintain their storefronts.”
   She’s hoping the Schenectady City Council will approve the 2008 DSIC budget at 7 p.m. on Nov. 13. The council members will first discuss it at their 5:30 p.m. committee meeting next Monday.
   Business owners are quietly campaigning for major changes in the agency as its budget comes up for a vote.
   Mesbahi said he could sweep and decorate outside his store just as easily as DSIC and for far less than $500.
   He’s not the only one who feels that way.
   “DSIC needs to re-evaluate themselves and the direction they want to go in,” said new DSIC board member Bob Mallozzi, who owns Villa Italia on Broadway.
   Merays said that although she hasn’t heard any complaints, she will distribute a survey next month to find out what services owners want.
   “We want to know. Are we doing the right things?” she said.
   Mallozzi wants the agency to keep planting flowers and cleaning roads, but leave the sidewalks to owners.
   “I think the number one priority of DSIC should be the beautification of Schenectady,” he said. “We get involved in marketing and promotion of businesses. I think businesses should promote themselves.”
   But a dozen other business owners said the exact opposite: DSIC should focus on marketing, not beautification.
   “We need an organization whose purpose is to promote Schenectady,” said Cathie Russell, who owns the Night Sky Cafe.
   Kathy Fitzmaurice, who owns the Katbird Shop, recently joined forces with Ambition Coffee House & Eatery owner Greg Salomon and Fountains Spatial (formerly Applied GIS) President Austin Fisher to lobby for control of the agency.
   “I would like to see some changes or see it go away,” Fitzmaurice said. “I pay $300 and I don’t really realize anything for it.”
   The business owners asked the mayor to give all downtown owners the power to vote for the DSIC board members. They are now appointed by the mayor and the Schenectady City Council.
   “It’s an appointed board. It’s not truly representative of the people downtown who are paying the fee,” Fitzmaurice said.
   She said disgruntlement crystallized into outright opposition this summer after the DSIC board did not renew the contract of popular Executive Director Robert Buccieri. The board never publicly explained its decision.
   “People always complained, but that certainly inflamed people further,” Fitzmaurice said. “Bob was visible. He came to your store and talked to you. I can’t say that about the rest of DSIC. They shouldn’t stay tucked away in a secure little office.”
   Russell said the DSIC leaders virtually ignore all businesses outside the two-block stretch of State Street and Jay Street.
   “A lot of times I’m left out, as are a lot of businesses on the perimeter,” the Union Street cafe owner said. “They’re not a source I go to for promotions and marketing because they’re focusing on Jay Street and State Street.”
   But even some of the business owners in the heart of downtown aren’t satisfied with DSIC’s services.
   Rich St. Jean, manager of the Parker Inn, said DSIC doesn’t offer anything useful to the hotel — although he added that he would support the agency anyway if smaller businesses found it helpful.
   Stephanie Albers, who owns Cripple Creek Trading Company on the Jay Street pedestrian walkway, said she too doesn’t get enough in return for her money.
   “It’s hard enough to pay the city taxes. I think the BID (business improvement district) tax is an excessive load on the property owners,” she said.
   She wants DSIC to reduce its operations so that it does not have to ask property owners for money. Roughly three-quarters of the agency’s $1 million annual budget comes from grants and other sources; the property owners pay a total of $221,000.
   Albers also questioned the need to pay for services that are provided by the city in other neighborhoods.
   “I don’t think the downtown needs its own street cleaners — the city should do that,” she said.
   Not all Jay Street business owners agreed with her.
   “They keep the pedestrian mall immaculate. I’m very pleased with that,” said David D’Amato, owner of Real Office Center Inc. “And they do some advertising. They’re working at it.”
   He also likes the downtown facade grant program, which is funded by the Metroplex Development Authority but administered by DSIC. But he isn’t happy with the tax.
   “I would hate to see it go up. It’s just another burden,” he said.
   After some thought, he added, “But I get more out of the BID than I do City Hall.”  

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SCHENECTADY
Mayor rebuffs business owners Some unhappy with city’s downtown board
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

   Mayor Brian U. Stratton and some Schenectady City Council members are at odds over who should appoint members to the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation.
   Stratton said he will continue to appoint DSIC board members, refusing a request from downtown business owners who want to choose their own representatives.
   In a rare dispute between the all-Democratic council and the Democratic mayor, some council members said they want to discuss letting the business owners have a say in the appointments.
   The DSIC board decides how to spend the special tax it gathers from every downtown property owner. Currently, it uses that money primarily for street-sweeping, flower-planting and other beautification efforts. Some business owners disagree vehemently with that choice, saying they want the organization to focus on marketing and leave cleanup duties to the property owners — or just stop collecting taxes from them.
   They took their dispute to the mayor, asking him to stop appointing board members without comment from the property owners.
   He did not give them an answer until after he was re-elected last week.
   Now, he has said he will not allow them to choose their representatives.
   “The appointment process is established in the legislation that created the DSIC,” he said. “That’s the way it was put together. I support the legislation.”
   He declined to amplify on his position.
   It isn’t supported by some members of the council, who will vote on the 2008 DSIC budget at a meeting at 7 tonight. There is no vote scheduled yet on the appointments, but Stratton said he would propose names shortly.
   As business owners step up their lobbying efforts, Councilwoman Barbara Blanchard said she wants to discuss their concerns, and Councilwoman Denise Brucker said she wants to hear from them before making a decision on the appointments.
   Councilman Gary McCarthy went further, saying he’d rather just get rid of the special tax altogether — a viewpoint shared by many downtown business owners.
   He said he doesn’t know if the council can give downtown business owners the power to elect their board.
   “I’d prefer to eliminate the assessment. You don’t need another level of taxation,” he said. “People are paying high taxes now. As we come back to what I’ll call a normal community level, the need for government at that level should not be needed.”
   Brucker said the business owners should be included in a discussion on the issue.
   “There’s obviously a reason some of the members want it,” she said. “I’d like to hear their reason.”
   Some of the current board members say DSIC should focus on beautification, while some of the business owners who aren’t on the board feel the agency should throw its resources into marketing and promoting the downtown.
   Owners who run businesses outside the heart of downtown also say they are being ignored by the current board.
   “A lot of times I’m left out, as are a lot of businesses on the perimeter,” said Cathie Russell, who owns the Night Sky Cafe on Union Street. “They’re not a source I go to for promotions and marketing because they’re focusing on Jay Street and State Street.”
   Kathy Fitzmaurice, who owns the Katbird Shop on Liberty Street, added that the board members do not reflect the diverse business owners and rarely visit the outlying businesses to learn about their needs.
   “I pay $300 [per year] and I don’t really realize anything for it,” she said. “It’s an appointed board. It’s not truly representative of the people downtown who are paying the fee.”
   Even some business owners on the Jay Street pedestrian walkway are frustrated with the agency’s leadership. Ambition Coffee House & Eatery owner Greg Salomon and Fountains Spatial (formerly Applied GIS) President Austin Fisher have also lobbied the mayor to stop appointing board members without the DISC members’ comments.

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Mayor Brian U. Stratton and some Schenectady City Council members are at odds over who should appoint members to the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation.  Stratton said he will continue to appoint DSIC board members, refusing a request from downtown business owners who want to choose their own representatives.   In a rare dispute between the all-Democratic council and the Democratic mayor, some council members said they want to discuss letting the business owners have a say in the appointments.

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Councilman Gary McCarthy went further, saying he’d rather just get rid of the special tax altogether — a viewpoint shared by many downtown business owners.
   He said he doesn’t know if the council can give downtown business owners the power to elect their board.
   “I’d prefer to eliminate the assessment. You don’t need another level of taxation,” he said. “People are paying high taxes now. As we come back to what I’ll call a normal community level, the need for government at that level should not be needed.”

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SCHENECTADY
Stratton considers balancing DSIC board
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

   Mayor Brian U. Stratton appeased some business owners Tuesday by offering a possible compromise in the debate over who should choose the board members for the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp.
   He said that although he will not hand that power over to the DSIC property owners, he might try to balance the board by appointing small business owners or owners from the outskirts of the downtown.
   At least one business owner declared victory after hearing his comments.
   “I think that’s a very good idea,” said Cathie Russell, owner of the Night Sky Cafe on Union Street. “I think it would definitely contribute the input that’s necessary.” Russell was one of many business owners who said the DSIC board is unresponsive, ignores property owners outside the heart of the downtown, and does not offer any valuable services in exchange for its mandatory special tax.
   Several owners, including some on the Jay Street pedestrian walkway, said they wanted to either vote in a new board or dissolve the organization altogether.
   Neither action is possible without backing from the city government.
   Stratton reiterated his support for the DSIC Tuesday, saying it is valuable and should continue.
   But, he said he might be able to solve the issues owners raised without changing the agency’s governing legislation.
   “They said they wanted small business owners on the board,” Stratton said after Tuesday’s Schenectady City Council meeting. “I would give it some consideration. We’re continuing to look at possibilities, and I welcome their suggestions.”
   Stratton’s comments came a day after three City Council members said they want to discuss the property owners’ concerns before more appointments to the board are made this winter.
   They were joined Tuesday by Councilman Frank Maurizio, who said the issue could be quickly resolved with an open discussion.
   “Things have been working fairly well,” Maurizio said of the agency. “But the issues of the property owners should certainly be taken into consideration.”
   On Tuesday, the council also passed the agency’s 2008 budget, which does not increase taxes. The budget passed by a vote of 6-0; Councilwoman Margaret King abstained because she is a member of the DSIC board.
   Three people urged the council to approve the budget, including interim DSIC director Colleen Merays and board President Karen Zalewski-Wildzunas of Key Bank.
   “DSIC is a vital partner in the revitalization of downtown,” Zalewski-Wildzunas said. “It has kept the sidewalks clean, it has kept the flowers watered, it has promoted downtown.”
   Bill Kownack, the owner of Castelo’s on Nott Terrace, also spoke highly of the agency.
   “It’s a great organization. It’s been a good liaison,” he said.
   No one spoke against the budget. The more than a dozen business owners who publicly criticized the agency in the past few weeks were notable in their absence.

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Downtown retailers shouldn’t balk at fee

    Regarding the Oct. 30 article, “Business owners criticize agency”: Is a nominal fee of $1.47 per day too much to pay the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. [DSIC] to clean the sidewalks, maintain the landscaping, hang Christmas decorations, plan events, keep local business owners abreast of upcoming events, recruit small businesses and facilitate the façade program?
    A dollar forty-seven per day ($537 a year) is what that unhappy property owner pays for these services. The property owner [Embarek Mesbahi] who refuses to rent out his retail space was unfortunately interviewed by a reporter who didn’t get the picture completely right. An empty store, and a perpetually negative property owner, is contrary to what the rest of the business owners on Jay Street are trying so diligently to achieve.
    Another property owner who was interviewed suggests that business owners should promote themselves. The fact is that many of the small business owners do not own multiple businesses that support an advertising budget. We have very small budgets for advertising, and therefore we depend heavily on the DSIC to send out e-mail blasts of specials and/or events we will be having. The small businesses also depend on the DSIC reduced-rate ads in the local newspapers in which we can advertise affordably.
    Should the city be responsible for cleaning the streets? Perhaps. But the fact is, they currently do not. The city’s budget can go just so far with an already high tax burden on Schenectady residents. I feel it is a fair allocation of revenue for the businesses and property owners in the DSIC area to pay for their services, rather than the entire of Schenectady to pay for the hanging of Christmas decorations, for example.
    For those who feel the DSIC only focuses on one part of their designated area, perhaps they should attend the DSIC stockholders’ meetings to discuss their concerns. Yet these meetings, despite great efforts on the DSIC’s part, have been poorly attended. If they had attended the last meeting, they would have heard how many of these concerns are being addressed. They would know that the DSIC is in favor of becoming a true business improvement district (where board members are not appointed by the mayor, for example). They would know of plans to hire a new director, and plans to restructure the DSIC in order to fill the many requirements of downtown business and property owners.
    Let this be a time for us all to support the DSIC’s evolution, not its extinction.
    JOANN SIFO
    Schenectady
The writer is proprietor of Chez Daisie Creperie.     

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Merchants aren’t getting money’s worth from city

    Re JoAnn Sifo’s Dec. 5 letter, “Downtown retailers shouldn’t balk at fee”: Mine isn’t the only empty storefront downtown.
    Does Chez Daisie Creperie owner JoAnn Sifo think that all building owners are refusing to rent out their spaces? I’ve entertained many inquiries — including hers, even though she was already committed to the space she currently occupies. If she’s suggesting that I should have offered her my space (three times the size of hers) for the same rent she’s paying, well, her judgment has been clouded by way too many handouts.
    What motivation do I have to open up a cafe/bistro in my space when so many are bankrolled to open up their operations? I operated two very successful restaurants in Boston without any handouts, but business is done differently in Schenectady.
    I need no one to sweep or shovel the sidewalk in front of my property. As far as flowers and beautification of that pedestrian walkway: Collectively, as building and business owners, we could do the job for a lot less than the $200,000-plus it costs to keep the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. bureaucracy and the waste of taxpayers’ money by purchasing a fleet of unnecessary vehicles.
    The city has washed its hands of any responsibility to do the work for which it collects some of the highest taxes in the land. My suggestion to Ms. Sifo, and the rest of the business owners downtown, is to focus on the real issues that are making downtown a ghost town. This is not negative, it’s the truth.
    I am sure all of us have great ideas. Let’s proceed with open minds and call for a meeting that will include businesses as far away as the Stockade. All of us want a success story downtown, and not just on the pedestrian walkway or State Street.
    EMBAREK MESBAHI
    Schenectady The writer owns 138-142 Jay St.     

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Group is helping promote downtown Sch’dy in many ways

    In response to the recent articles and letters regarding the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation (DSIC), we think it is important for people to realize the essential role that DSIC plays in the revitalization of Schenectady, not as one entity alone, but in partnership with organizations, individuals, businesses and property owners who make downtown’s revitalization as successful as it is.
    DSIC is not just about cleaning sidewalks, planting flowers, special events or business promotions. It is about our collective efforts to redevelop peoples’ relationship to the city.
    By seeking to create positive change, new uses and new reasons to come downtown, we erase negative and inaccurate perceptions of our downtown and invite others to enjoy it. Long gone are the days of dilapidated buildings and a ghost-like, run-down downtown Schenectady. Today, historic buildings once again stand proud, many with the help of the façade improvement program that the DSIC administers with grants from the Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority, as well as the Main Street Program, which establishes new commercial and residential space in downtowns.
    The streets are once again clean and inviting, making visitors want to stop to browse, get a bite to eat, shop or see a show. More importantly, because of downtown’s revitalization, once people visit, they want to return, maybe to Art Night, in which DSIC plays a role, to see a show at one of the Proctors theaters or to attend the annual Magic and Melodies Open House supported by the DSIC and Jay Street merchants. More activities are being offered every day.
    DSIC has been a major part of downtown Schenectady for the last 30 years, has evolved its role with the changing needs of downtown and will continue to partner with local agencies, government, business and property owners for years to come. DSIC is the only organization dedicated to the promotion of downtown Schenectady as a destination. The DSIC business promotion and marketing program offers restaurant, retail and service businesses a wide range of activities and ways to participate. In addition, we have partnered with the Chamber of Commerce to develop a new tourism and marketing guide. This comprehensive downtown business directory highlights cultural venues and business associations in the county, and information is cross-listed on the DSIC Web site for easy access.
    With all the new activity on the downtown streets, DSIC has devised maps that will be placed strategically in kiosks to help visitors orient themselves in our new downtown. We promote activities that draw people downtown, such as the downtown farmer’s market, Jazz on Jay, the Pottery Trail, Kids Art Fest, Community Day, Downtown Schenectady Restaurant Week and the Stockade Walkabout. In partnership with others, we have started new events, including Magic and Melodies Open House, Art Night Schenectady and Summer Night.
    We promote, and market, downtown by leading and organizing tours, updating our available property database, providing free listings for businesses in our district and showing available space to prospective new businesses. In addition, we establish downtown advertising opportunities and help existing businesses market their enterprises. To enhance and foster communication with our membership, we organize quarterly and special needs stakeholder input sessions. And, we are involved in behind-the-scenes activity that is immeasurable in the partnership to make downtown Schenectady the best it can be.
    Downtown is open for business, there is ample public parking, and we hope everyone will continue to support our businesses. Our rebirth is here and will continue, as long as we work together to rebuild downtown “block by block.”
    KAREN ZALEWSKI-WILDZUNAS
    Schenectady
The writer is board president of DSIC.

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DSIC is not just about cleaning sidewalks, planting flowers, special events or business promotions. It is about our collective efforts to redevelop peoples’ relationship to the city.

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Stratton decides against balancing downtown group
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
By Kathleen Moore (Contact)
Gazette Reporter

SCHENECTADY — Mayor Brian U. Stratton has decided not to balance the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp., despite a growing number of complaints from small business owners and owners at the outskirts of the downtown who say the economic revitalization agency is ignoring them.
Stratton had promised after his November re-election to consider balancing the DSIC board by adding more small business owners, particularly from the edge of downtown. But in his new appointments, announced this week, he chose to reappoint four existing members and get rid of none of the controversial appointees he had already made.
He reappointed board President Karen Zalewski-Wildzunas, a senior vice president at Key Bank who works in Saratoga; Richard Antokol, a State Street attorney; Janet Hutchison, owner of Open Door Bookstore; and city Councilwoman Margaret King, associate dean for student development at Schenectady County Community College.
Stratton also appointed one new member: Don Leva, who owns a small newsstand across from City Hall.
To make room for Leva, Stratton replaced Dee Earle, who was director of sales and marketing at the Holiday Inn on Nott Terrace. Earle had transferred to a Holiday Inn outside the city.
Stratton removed Leva from the board in 2005, saying he wanted to put in “my own people,” according to published reports. He has not returned a call seeking comment on the recent appointments.
One business owner who had hoped Stratton would appoint owners from the outskirts of the downtown, rather than the Jay Street-State Street hub, said she was disappointed by Stratton’s choices.
“It still doesn’t address the problem — the representation still isn’t there,” said Kathy Fitzmaurice, who owns the Katbird Shop on Liberty Street. “It’s only right — if I’m paying, I should have a say.”
But she said Leva’s appointment was a good beginning, since he is a small business owner, even though he isn’t from the outskirts.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” Fitzmaurice said. “You can’t expect to get change in a couple meetings with the mayor unless you have more clout and contribute a lot more to his campaign — and you can quote me on that.”
She said DSIC is “obviously” controlled by Stratton’s Democratic party.
“And it shouldn’t be,” she said.
Many business owners said last fall that the DSIC board is unresponsive, ignores property owners outside the heart of the downtown, and does not offer any valuable services in exchange for its mandatory special tax. But when Stratton told them he might balance the board by adding small business owners or owners from the outskirts, some owners said they would be satisfied.

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KeyBank, and key executive, committed to downtown Sch’dy

    I would like to clarify a number of comments made in your coverage (Feb. 12 article, “Council rejects Stratton’s appointees — Complaints about picks for DSIC board spark dispute,” and Feb. 15 article, “Downtown board carries on — Members to stay until replaced”) of Mayor Brian Stratton’s appointments to the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. (DSIC).
    First, Karen Zalewski-Wildzunas is a senior vice president at KeyBank, whose office may be in Saratoga, but who is very knowledgeable about small business in downtown Schenectady. As a KeyBank Business Banking team leader, Karen works with numerous companies in a wide range of industries here. As head of KeyBank’s Capital Region Key4Women initiative, which helps women business owners obtain access to capital, networking, education and mentoring, she works on a regular basis with women-owned businesses in downtown Schenectady and oversees a team of bankers located downtown. As such, she has a better understanding of the challenges of small businesses here than many individual small business owners, who are focused on their own companies and do not always have an opportunity to consider the bigger picture.
    In fact, Karen, who has lived in Schenectady for 20 years and continues to live here, has never had her main Key-Bank office here. Before moving to Saratoga, she was headquartered in Albany, but her connections to, and knowledge of, downtown Schenectady were not in question.
    Karen has brought enormous professionalism to the DSIC. Most notably, she helped the organization move from a paper accounting system to a computerized one with audited financial statements. This enabled the DSIC to become a 501(3)c (to have nonprofi t status), which made it eligible for additional funding sources, including federal government grants. Let’s stop playing politics with the DSIC and start recognizing the good this organization — and its leaders — are doing for downtown.
    On another matter mentioned in your article, KeyBank has no plans to close the downtown Schenectady branch. We are currently looking to move the 436 State Street. branch to another downtown location because we sold our parking lot to support downtown redevelopment efforts, and a branch without adjacent parking is difficult for our clients. Key’s commitment to downtown Schenectady has never been stronger.
    WILLIAM B. FAUBION
    Scotia
The writer is vice president of KeyBank N.A. and past chairman of the Chamber of Schenectady County.

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Downtown Schenectady group names new director
Monday, April 14, 2008
By Michael Lamendola (Contact)
Gazette Reporter

SCHENECTADY — The Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. hired a new executive director today to further promote the resurgent business district, officials said.
James Salengo will join the organization May 5, becoming its third executive director since 2000. He is director of communications for the Downtown Albany Business Improvement District.
DSIC President Karen Zalewski-Wildzunas said Salengo will promote downtown as a premier location for commerce, recreation and living.
“The revitalization of downtown Schenectady is off and running, but we’re not done yet,” she said.
Salengo was selected from among 42 candidates who applied for the position and will earn $55,000 to $75,000, said DSIC Vice President Richard Antokol.
“He was the only candidate with executive experience in a business improvement district,” Antokol said.
Salengo also brings expertise in other key areas on which the DSIC wants its new executive director to focus, he said. The DSIC board sought a candidate with skills in budget development and finance; business development, retention and recruitment; marketing and publications; fundraising and grant writing; and volunteer recruitment and development.
“We are looking at the long-term task of running downtown as a going concern. That is a different set of skills, and Jim brings those skills,” Antokol said. “We have an enormous opportunity right now because much of the reconstruction downtown has been completed and we are now pivoting from how to jump start, restart, reinvigorate a downtown, which was the task for the last five to seven years, to how do you run a downtown."
With the Albany BID since 2003, Salengo helped created the marketing campaign “Downtown Albany: Worth Discovering Since 1609,” according to a DSIC news release. The American Marketing Association awarded its Mark of Excellence Award to the campaign in 2005.
Salengo moved to the Capital Region in 1990 and lived for five years in Schenectady.
“I have watched the remarkable transformation of downtown Schenectady over the last several years with pride and admiration,” he said.
Prior to joining the Albany BID, he worked 13 1/2 years for WMHT, serving as its main on-air spokesman and as director of television programming.
The DSIC receives funding through the Downtown Schenectady Assessment District and the Metroplex Development Authority. The district collects approximately $230,000 annually from 600 downtown property owners. Metroplex Development provides it with a $150,000 operating grant, plus between $200,000 and $300,000 per year for facade grants. The organization also raises $40,000 through events.
The DSIC uses the assessment money to clean and beautify sidewalks, promote downtown businesses and other activities.

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Salengo moved to the Capital Region in 1990 and lived for five years in Schenectady.

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Tuesday, July 15, 2008 - 2:21 PM EDT
Schenectady downtown business group will hold annual meeting July 16
The Business Review (Albany)

The Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. will hold its annual meeting July 16 at Proctors in Schenectady.

About 150 business owners, elected officials and property owners are expected to attend the meeting, which will be held from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. at the Wright Family Atrium & GE Theatre at Proctors.

Presenters at the meeting include Jim Salengo, executive director of the DSIC, Mayor Brian Stratton, Karen Zalewski-Wildzunas, board president, and Margaret King, president of the City Council and board secretary.

Registration and refreshments will be provided from 7:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. by Aperitivo Bistro and the Muddy Cup Coffee House.

For more information contact Salengo at 518-377-9430 or jim@downtownschenectady.com.

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Downtown Schenectady group to do more marketing
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
By Kathleen Moore (Contact)
Gazette Reporter

SCHENECTADY — The street-sweeping and flower-planting will stay, but the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corp. will also throw itself into promoting its businesses after a year of controversy in which many business owners said they get nothing from the agency that taxes them.

“My background is in marketing, so I’m really coming into this wanting to do that side of it,” said new Executive Director James Salengo after Wednesday’s annual meeting. “So I agree. We can do a better job and we will do a better job.”

Roughly a third of the agency’s members gathered early this morning for the annual meeting, at which Salengo said DSIC serves a “vital role” in the downtown.

He emphasized the positive: an increase in visitors parking in daytime lots downtown, repeat business from college students after a free event this spring and a successful restaurant week promotion in which nearly half the diners were new customers.

“We are building momentum,” he said.

The agency also picked up 960 cubic yards of litter (the equivalent of 30 full Dumpsters) last year, a tribute to the amount of work needed to keep the downtown looking clean.

But Salengo acknowledged his members are not all satisfied with his agency, particularly with the way DSIC leaders are chosen and the special assessment tax.

He said the agency will at least discuss changes in response to both criticisms.

“There seems to have been some good progress made on looking at the assessment [tax],” he said. “The decision has been made that it’s important to look at it.”

The agency will hire an independent consultant to offer options on new formulas for spreading out the tax burden. But Salengo noted that most critics of the tax don’t want a new formula — they simply say they aren’t getting enough in return for their money.

Part of the answer, he said, is to do more to market the businesses. He’s trying to add businesses to existing programs as a package deal — dinner and a show after a trolley tour, for example — and create new promotions that could draw customers to the area.

He warned that big events, like the SummerNight program that will be held Friday, are too expensive to put on regularly.

“Events are great, but we don’t have the staff or resources to be a full event organizer,” he said. “I’m brainstorming.”

As for the smoldering issue of leadership, nothing has been resolved. The City Council split, 3-3, over who should be appointed to the board. Many business owners still feel they should have a say in that decision, but the mayor still insists he should keep that power.

S