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Library Main Branch to close for 18 months
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MobileTerminal
April 30, 2008, 2:05pm Report to Moderator
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Main branch of Schenectady library to close for 18 months
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
By Kathleen Moore (Contact)
Gazette Reporter


SCHENECTADY — The main branch of the Schenectady County library system will be closed for 18 months during an expansion project, a library trustee said.

John Karl said no one knew that the library would be closed until clerk of the works Anthony Ward took a look at the plans two weeks ago.

“He said this design would not be practical to achieve without closing the library for 18 months,” Karl said. “When he saw the plans, he said, ‘We can’t keep it open.’”

County Legislator Karen Johnson confirmed the library will have to be closed, although she declined to say how long the closure would last. That won’t be announced until the county has come up with a solution, she said.

“None of us saw this coming,” she added, “but we should have. We’re talking about HVAC, electricity. ... There will be times the building will be without electricity.”

Karl said the project simply cannot go forward with such a long closure.

“Closing the library for that period of time would be unacceptable,” he said.

But he and others seem to have reconciled themselves to the fact and are looking for ways to minimize the effects of the closure.

“The branches are not suitable to absorb much at all of our programs and services,” Karl said.

So the Friends of the Library and library staff met Tuesday night to discuss temporary library sites downtown.

“We were offered the top floor of the Carl Company building from Proctors,” Karl said.

He added that the county estimates it would cost $500,000 to make that space usable, particularly with Internet access, which is one of the library’s most popular services.

Karl said the group also discussed using the Annie Schaffer Senior Center, which has been closed for four years and might need substantial work.

“We’re trying to keep the services downtown,” he said. “A majority of the people who access our library are people who live in and around the area. Many of them come on foot. That’s a big concern — we have 1,400 people a day, what are you going to do with them?”


http://dailygazette.com/news/2008/apr/30/0430_library/
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bumblethru
April 30, 2008, 2:14pm Report to Moderator
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And can we, the taxpayers, really afford this expansion?
Quoted Text

“We were offered the top floor of the Carl Company building from Proctors,” Karl said.

He added that the county estimates it would cost $500,000 to make that space usable, particularly with Internet access, which is one of the library’s most popular services.
Are these people in their right mind here? They are spending our money like we actually 'have it'!!!


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
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Kevin March
April 30, 2008, 4:37pm Report to Moderator

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Maybe Metroplex has the money for it??


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bumblethru
April 30, 2008, 7:29pm Report to Moderator
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Metroplex's money = our taxpaid money!!!


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
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Kevin March
April 30, 2008, 9:43pm Report to Moderator

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But the problem is that the Metroplex doesn't understand that.


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SCHENECTADY
Library to shut during project Trustees: Closure will make expansion quicker, cheaper

BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    The main branch of the Schenectady County library system will be closed for 18 months during the expansion project, library trustees said Wednesday.
    In a vote April 24, the trustees agreed to shut down the bustling library because the project could be done more quickly and would cost much less with the building closed. The building could be closed as early as June, although some county legislators have discussed delaying the entire project because of its cost.
    The project would take a year longer if the library were kept open, Board of Trustees President Esther Swanker said. It would also cost an additional $1 million to $1.5 million on top of the original $7.7 million budget, she said.
“It would be much more expensive and much more time-consuming,” she said. The trustees also decided it would be too expensive to move some library resources to a temporary location that could be used by library patrons during the project. One option was to spend $500,000 turning the top floor of the Carl Company Building into a library. “That’s not a wise expenditure,” Swanker said. “We have nine branches. This is an excellent chance to put them to very good use.” But not all the trustees are happy with the decisions. Trustee John Karl said the project simply cannot go forward with such a long closure. “Closing the library for that period of time would be unacceptable,” he said. Karl said no one knew that the library would be closed until the clerk of the works, Anthony Ward, took a look at the plans two weeks ago. “He said this design would not be practical to achieve without closing the library for 18 months,” Karl said. “When he saw the plans, he said, ‘We can’t keep it open.’ ” The news came as a shock to trustees and county legislators. “None of us saw this coming,” County Legislator Karen Johnson said. “But we should have. We’re talking about HVAC, electricity … there will be times the building will be without electricity.” Legislator Vincent DiCerbo added that although he had no idea the project would require such a long closure, the work must be done. “HVAC, electricity — that absolutely has to be done. For 30 years the county skimped on maintenance,” he said. “If the library has to be closed, I don’t see we have any other choice.”
    Staffers will be able to get into the building during construction, so Swanker envisions an interlibrary loan system that would allow residents to request main branch books and receive them days later at one of the other branches. The same system could work for the main branch’s large collection of audio books, videos and DVDs. Staffers are designing the operations plan now, Swanker said.
    But Karl and others aren’t ready to give up yet.
    “The branches are not suitable to absorb much at all of our programs and services,” Karl said.
    So the Friends of the Library and library staff met Tuesday night to discuss temporary library sites downtown. County Legislator Gary Hughes, chairman of the Committee on Libraries and Education, said he’s hoping sites could provide Internet access and meeting space for the many programs the library offers each week.
    The semiannual Friends of the Library book sale may be moved to City Hall, he said. Among the other sites discussed were the Carl Company Building, which could be used at much less cost if it isn’t turned into a full-fledged library, and the Annie Schaffer Senior Center, which has been closed for four years and might need substantial work.
    Karl said “We’re trying to keep the services downtown. A majority of the people who access our library are people who live in and around the areas. Many of them come on foot. That’s a big concern — we have 1,400 people a day. What are you going to do with them?”
    Hughes later said that 10 percent of the patrons at the main branch come from the 12305 ZIP code, the immediate area of the library, while 90 percent come from areas also served by branches. The majority drive when visiting the main branch.
    Hughes wants to find downtown sites for the library’s popular lunchtime, evening and weekend programs, but emphasized that he doesn’t support opening the library during the construction.
    “I can’t emphasize strongly enough that it’s for the safety of the patrons,” he said. “This will be an active construction site. The asbestos, turning the power on and off … it really would not be a safe location.”
    The project went out to bid this week, Karl said. County officials had previously announced that construction could begin as early as June if the project gets reasonable bids.
    The price tag is expected to be $7.7 million, but the county faces a budget shortfall of at least $5 million in 2009. Legislators are seeking ways to reduce costs and increase revenues without resorting to tax increases; some have discussed delaying the start of several major construction projects, such as the library expansion, as a way to reduce costs next year. There is also talk about closing library branches and reducing nonmandated services.
    The county Legislature would provide $5.7 million toward the project, paid through bonds. The library board and Friends of the Library have raised about $2 million in private donations since the project was announced four years ago.
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EDITORIALS
Library plan: back to the drawing board

    It’s almost impossible to believe that until a few weeks ago, no one involved with the Schenectady County Library expansion project — which has been in the works for years — had the slightest inkling it would require shutting the library down for 18 months during construction. Yet that apparently is the case, and the library’s board of trustees has already agreed to the plan and is soliciting construction bids. It is such a bad idea that trustees should instead scale it back, or the county Legislature should reconsider its sizable financial commitment.
    This page has supported the ambitious expansion plan all along: The library is good enough and popular enough (attracting 1,400 visitors per day) that it merits the considerable cost of a firstclass renovation. But not if the renovation means closing for such an extended period of time.
    While the library system maintains nine satellite branches, there is no way they could come close to picking up the slack. The branches simply don’t have the books and other materials, or the room for the library’s voluminous number of programs. And while it would be possible to shuttle some of the materials back and forth from the main to the branches during a shutdown, it would be such a cumbersome and inconvenient process that a good number of library patrons would probably just say “the heck with it.” Eighteen months is a long time!
    Given the high cost of the plan — $7.7 million, of which $5.7 million would be furnished by the county — combined with the county’s current economic difficulties and the soaring cost of construction materials, it would probably make more sense to scale back. Yes, the building’s heating and air-conditioning systems need to be replaced, but does the library really need a new theater when the McChesney Room it would replace is almost as large? (Leaving the McChesney intact would also preserve the library’s nicest architectural feature.) Couldn’t the children’s section be built off the east side of the building (as originally proposed), toward the police station? That would give it more space and cause less disruption. As for the coffee bar, it may not be inappropriate, but it sure seems like a nonessential luxury.
    Because of its financial situation, the county Legislature had recently been thinking about delaying the project a year. That seems like an excellent idea now, because it would give everyone time to modify the proposal, eliminating the frills and the need for a lengthy closure.
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bumblethru
May 2, 2008, 6:49am Report to Moderator
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Well, if the library can be closed for 18 months, than perhaps it isn't needed at all.


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
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MobileTerminal
May 2, 2008, 6:56am Report to Moderator
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Quoted from bumblethru
Well, if the library can be closed for 18 months, than perhaps it isn't needed at all.


Yep, I was thinking the exact same thing.
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senders
May 2, 2008, 8:51am Report to Moderator
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dont close the library......it would just show our priorities are backward.....edumacation over money......money over edumacation.....or is it edumacation leads to money....or is it money leads to edumacation.......??????????????

ripple effects in society last for at least one generation if not more.......

".....and it will be to your children and your children's children......"


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

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bumblethru
May 2, 2008, 2:02pm Report to Moderator
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Tell me....how many libraries are in the entire county of Schenectady? And how many are actually needed? Don't get me wrong...I'm all for education. But there is no need for 'book' research anymore. There is 'google'. Not to mention the Barnes and Nobles of the world now. Libraries have computers now. Is that necessary? It may be, but tell me why!


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
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senders
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There is ALWAYS the need for book research.....stats are all changable based on which number is changed to suit the speech and the effect thereof.....so I will say this----not everyone(or even most everyone) has a computer or money to spend at barnes and noble(it cost alot to go there and bring home a book, I know I go there ALOT)......so when the media states their percentages of folks with access to computers or that actually have their own, we must think of what numbers are going where and what meaning they have......


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

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MobileTerminal
May 2, 2008, 2:47pm Report to Moderator
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I think we should put more computers into schools, that's where education is centered.  

I also think rather than putting 7.x million into a library makeover, spend that 7 million to put a computer into every students home - you'd only spend half as much.
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JoAnn
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Quoted from 147
I think we should put more computers into schools, that's where education is centered.  

I also think rather than putting 7.x million into a library makeover, spend that 7 million to put a computer into every students home - you'd only spend half as much.
Hopefully they would be able to pay for their internet hook up too. It's like giving someone a car but can't afford the gas or insurance.

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VIEWPOINT
18-month library shutdown a major disservice
BY PHIL SHEEHAN For The Sunday Gazette

    An open letter to the trustees of the Schenectady County Public Library:
    With all due respect, ladies and gentleman, have you lost your minds? You want to shut down the main branch of the library for a year and a half, and with only one month’s notice?
    Stop and think a moment, something you apparently failed to do earlier, when the current problems might have been avoided, or minimized. We are not talking about a drugstore or a gas station, whose regular customers need travel only an extra block or two for aspirin and oil. We are talking about the public library, the hub of cultural life — and for many people, social life — in the center of the city.
    You report that traffic (a mean, impersonal term for “people who want to read books or listen to music”) at the main branch is 1,400 a day. Can we afford to turn away that many people, people who are, and I’m choosing my words carefully, people who are the lifeblood of the city?
DON’T WORRY? NO, WORRY
    You may not like the metaphor, but it’s an apt one. What happens to the body when you diminish the flow of blood for a year and a half?
    Your answer, according to the article in Thursday’s Gazette, is “Don’t worry. Only 10 percent of those 1,400 come from the 12305 ZIP code.” The implication is that only 140 people a day will be shut out of the library.
    To which I reply, in the euphemism of my sainted mother, who almost always used the barnyard phrase itself, “Bushwah.”
    First of all, it’s a mistake bordering on criminality to summarily dismiss even 140 people a day. In addition to people stopping to borrow a book, that 140 will include young children learning to appreciate books and music and storytelling; it will include school-age children being tutored in difficult subjects or being helped to finish complex projects; it will include seniors who come to read the papers or to meet with friends. These are all vital functions of a center-city library.
    But 140 is a bogus statistic. Unless you have someone checking each patron’s home address — a thing that has never happened in the hundred or more times I’ve been in the main branch — you cannot know where all your visitors come from. So either you count the cards that are used that day, or you count the total number of cards you’ve issued.
    If it’s the cards used that day, you are ignoring everyone who does not use a card, or does not have a card. Those are likely to be people who live nearby, who can stop in every day, who don’t need to take materials out. Or those who — living nearby — use the library as a social center more than a cultural center.
CULTURAL MAGNET
    And please, please, do not underestimate the library’s value as a social center. It will speak very badly of you.
    If the statistic is based on the dis- tribution of all cards, it ignores two more important points:
    Those who live nearby are the ones most likely to visit the main branch.
    Those who come from farther away, who did not go to their nearby branch of the library, did so because there was something in the main branch they could not get at the local branch.
    In short, all of the 1,400 who come in on any given day are there because they want something they cannot get elsewhere. So stop with the “10 percent” bushwah.
    A final point to answer other objections: Even if every one of those 1,400 people came to the library from another county, think what that would mean. It’s 1,400 people who are visiting, using, appreciating Schenectady’s center city every day.
    You ought to be doing everything in your power to keep those 1,400, and more, coming into the city daily.
    And as long as I’m wound up, here’s another charge for you to answer.
    Neither the trustees nor, apparently, anyone else, knew until two weeks ago that this project — in the works for how long? — would require that the library be closed.
    What does it say about the wisdom, foresight and overall competence of the board that no one bothered until now to investigate that aspect of the project? To set this whole thing in motion, and never once bother to find out how much it would interfere with normal operation of the library suggests — in the most generous interpretation I can devise — that you are spectacularly naive.
    So, what basis is there for us to trust your judgment about the best way to continue this project? The president of the board says the library must be closed for 18 months. Otherwise, it will take a year longer and cost a million dollars more.
    Really? In your already-established naivete, you perhaps do not understand the numbers in a public works project. The $7.7 million cost, and the 18-month deadline, are fi gments of a combined imagination. They represent a compromise between what the planners assume it ought to cost, and what the trustees think the taxpayers will tolerate.
    One more factor: These are numbers that have yet to be reconciled with the reality of contractors’ bids, or the even more brutal reality of final bills.
DELAYS, HIGHER COST
LIKELY
    Allow me a prediction, one which I will be overjoyed to see proven wrong. The project will not be completed in 18 months, and the cost will exceed $7.7 million. The overage on both numbers will be at least 25 percent.
    Look again at one of the alternatives you considered: Spend half a million dollars to convert nearby empty space into a temporary library.
    “Not a wise expenditure,” says the board president.
    Wrong. It looks very good right now, and will look downright brilliant two years from now, when the expansion project still is not complete.
    And finally, it is disingenuous at best to use arbitrary numbers — rather than concern for the public good — to decide to close the library. As I said before, this is not a gas station or a drug store.
    It’s a center of learning, a cultural beacon, a gathering spot for a wide variety of valuable and even necessary activities. It’s a magnet for the center city area.
    You close it at our peril.
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Quoted Text
Plan to close main Schenectady library for 18 months is folly

    The Schenectady County Legislature is now seeking bids for a major renovation and expansion of the central library. This is a major step that will impact a large segment of the city’s population and, as the project is presently structured, the near-term impact will be decidedly negative.
    Without seeking public input, and ignoring the wishes of the Friends of the Library, the Legislature is planning to close down the entire Clinton Street facility for the duration of the 18-month construction project. To those of us familiar with the planning and execution of engineering projects, this is a bizarre idea. One does not close down a vital community service for such a prolonged period just for the convenience of the construction contractor. It should be a precondition of the contract that the facility be kept open and operating with a minimum of disruption while the renovations and expansion are completed.
    Of course, there will be temporary interruptions and “work-arounds” — that is normal in any such project. But if a competent architect and a responsible contractor are chosen, these interruptions should be days or weeks in duration — not months. To propose otherwise is simply irresponsible. One has to wonder what “hidden agenda” the county Legislature is pursuing in this matter.
    Serious efforts to expand and modernize the downtown library began more than three years ago. An architectural concept that addressed the library’s needs was presented by the library trustees to the Legislature two years ago. After rejecting this plan, the legislators funded the preparation of a much more expensive plan that involves tearing down the much-used McChesney Room and relocating the library entrance. Granted that the county has responsibility for the library, it appears that they have been more concerned with exercising their authority than they have been with continuing and improving the library’s services. They seem to think that the branch libraries (there are nine) can “pick up the slack” for an 18-month period. Anyone who takes a serious look at the problem will conclude that this is not feasible. The branches are too small, too little parking and are not convenient to the downtown area where the central library draws many of its regular patrons.
    Space does not allow me to give a detailed accounting of the programs that are carried out every day at the Schenectady County Public Library. Suffice it to say, an average of 1,400 people use the Clinton Street facility every day, and more than 1 million loan items are circulated every year. The programs administered by the library staff and Friends of the Library serve people of all ages and income classes. Needless to say, those in the lowest income brackets will suffer most from the loss of free services that are now available to them at the library.
    I believe our library system is one of the bright spots in Schenectady County. I hope that the citizens of Schenectady will raise their voices to protect the central heart of this system — and I hope our county legislators will realize the folly of suspending operations at the Clinton Street facility for any prolonged period.
    EUGENE A. ROWLAND
    Niskayuna
The writer is a member of Friends of Schenectady County Public Library.
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Brad Littlefield
May 4, 2008, 7:42am Report to Moderator
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Quoted from MobileTerminal:
... I also think rather than putting 7.x million into a library makeover, spend that 7 million to put a computer into every students home - you'd only spend half as much.


MT,

Are you advocating that the government (we) pay for computers for every child in the county?  Is that what the role of our government has become?

I'm for increasing the number of computers in the schools if they are used for education and not merely for recreation.  The application of these tools must be incorporated into the curriculum.  We are certainly paying enough in school taxes that they should be attainable.

To JoAnn's valid point, if students were gifted a computer by the taxpayers, would we then be responsible for internet connectivity,
service contracts, computer peripherals, training ... ?

I suggest that
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Brad Littlefield
May 4, 2008, 7:43am Report to Moderator
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If the plans do include the construction of a performance arts studio and a cafe, they need to be revised.  As adaptly stated, the need does not exist for either with the space at Proctor's Theater and Bow Tie Cinemas located only a few short blocks away.  Once the Borders Book Store (or some other national chain) comes to downtown State Street, as so many have predicted, there will no doubt be a internet cafe with wireless broadband availability.

Finally, if we consider the lengthy project delays associated with the Big House (er, 411 State Street), Bombers, etc, the 18 month schedule will become years and the preject overruns will mount.  Recall that familiar phrase "gut rehab" offered by those who are "familiar with construction" as reasons for delays and cost increases.

The county is awash with debt and a unprecedented budget deficit predicted for 2009.  We cannot afford projects such as this at this time and in this economic climate.

The fleecing of Schenectady County taxpayers continues ...
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yarbdoc
May 4, 2008, 6:02pm Report to Moderator
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I look books. Computers will never replace books for many of us. Can you curl up with a good "computer" on a rainy afternoon? With garbage on all 78 channels on my TV except PBS and discovery on occasion, books rule. And where would you be if you didn't have any electric power , huh?  
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Brad Littlefield
May 4, 2008, 7:47pm Report to Moderator
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Quoted from yarbdoc:
... Can you curl up with a good "computer" on a rainy afternoon?


Computers give off heat.  I would elect to curl up with a computer over a book on a cold winter night.  

If we didn't have electric power, the computer wouldn't work.  But, at night you would have to read by candlelight
as Abraham Lincoln reportedly had done.
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senders
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without power there would be lots of time to read during day light hours.....no TV during the day, no computer, no movies, no radio etc etc.....however there would be considerable time put into making meals and we would all loose some weight too......


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

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Putting Y in Center City as absurd as closing library for 18 months

    Two front-page stories in the May 1 issue concerned me deeply: Schenectady County’s main library would close in June or July for at least 18 months, to allow for needed refurbishing and expansion of the facility, and the Capital District YMCA is itching to relocate the Schenectady YMCA to City Center, across from Proctors in the heart of downtown.
    The library project was launched three years ago, but amazingly, at this late date, the bidding process has not been concluded. Schenectadians remain in the dark as to which firm or firms will undertake the library project. With that question unanswered, it cannot be credibly said that the timetable for completion of the library project is settled. Nor can it be credibly claimed, by any public authority in Schenectady County or any other interest, that no accommodations can be made to ensure that different parts of the main library are worked on by the contractor(s) in ways that will allow it to continue delivering myriad services to a deeply appreciative community.
    The branch libraries are ill equipped to substitute for the main library in this regard, whether or not the county, facing budget stringencies in 2009, seeks to cope with that problem by, among things, closing library branches and reducing nonmandated services.
    The gems of public cultural and intellectual life in Schenectady County are the main library and the community college. The community at large would suffer grievously if either of them ceased functioning for any considerable time.
    From the article, it appears that the primary interests with regard to relocating the Schenectady YMCA to the City Center site are those of the Capital District YMCA, as represented by its president and CEO, J. David Brown, and the Galesi Group, which owns City Center. The article makes no reference to key questions of public policy that ought to weigh in the balance: Is it good public policy to site a large YMCA, which serves diverse program needs, among others, in the strategic middle of a downtown area whose revival is keyed to a mix of cultural, entertainment and smallscale commercial development?
    Might the public interest be better served by relocating the Schenectady Y somewhere along Erie Boulevard, to upgrade and vitalize that major artery? Or to some area of the city away from downtown, to give impetus, at last, to neighborhood development?
    ALVIN MAGID
    Niskayuna
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One thing is for sure...this democratic dictatorship that encompasses and controls the entire county does not take into account what the people have to say. Anyone who opposes their views are categorized as trouble  makers. And yet they continue to get elected. Guess ya just can't cure stupid, huh?


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
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Quoted Text
SCHENECTADY
Library plan draws fire Support group says ‘public against’ closure
BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter

    The Friends of the Schenectady County Public Library are a little less friendly these days toward the Democratic-controlled county Legislature.
    The library support group has launched an effort to prevent the county from closing the central branch of the library for the next 10-12 months as part of a $7.7 million overhaul. Earlier estimates placed the shutdown at 18 months.
    Several members of the volunteer group, which raises money for and provides free help to the library system, attended a presentation on the proposal at Monday night’s committee meeting of the Schenectady County Legislature. They were not allowed to speak; the privilege of the floor is reserved for the regular monthly meeting, to be held May 13.
    However, Friends President Bernard Allanson said after the presentation he has serious concerns about the closure, scheduled to begin this summer. The Friends are concerned about the public’s loss of programming and access to free Internet, the closure’s effect on downtown businesses and the way the Legislature pushed the project through without any public discussion.
    One volunteer at Monday night’s meeting said leadership in the county Legislature forced library trustees to accept the latest design, otherwise the county would not pay for the work.
    Eugene A. Rowland, a 30-year member of the Friends, said he believes the Legislature ignored the needs of the library and the public. “About 1,400 people use it each day and it has some services not available at other branches. To me, this is very poor planning. They are saying the easy way is to shut it down and that is how they will do it.”
    Friends’ member Fred Thompson said the group distributed 1,000 surveys to people attending its book sale Saturday at the central library. People returned 725, and 710 of the respondents said they did not want to see the library closed. Based on this response, “the public is against the closure,” Thompson said.
    Friends’ member Eleanor Rowland said four years ago the Friends and library trustees came up with a proposal to build an addition between the library and the police station. The project was less expensive and would not have resulted in the closure, she said.
    Eugene Rowland called the design a no-frills plan that did not change the present entrance of the branch and did not eliminate the McChesney Room, which serves as a public meeting room. “It was a simple design. It was functional and it would have done what we wanted to do for four to five million dollars,” he said.
    He said library trustees took the plan about two years ago to the Democrat-controlled county Legislature, but the Legislature decided to start over. It hired a new architectural firm at a cost of $455,000 for what was then supposed to be a $4.9-million project. The project was to construct an addition.
    The project grew to its present cost when a review determined that the building’s operating systems needed to be replaced, that handicapped-accessible bathrooms had to be installed and that the library grounds required extensive landscaping.
    The project underwent extensive redesigns over the next two years, the most radical occurring in 2007. That was when a committee consisting of county Legislature Chairwoman Susan Savage, D-Niskayuna, Legislator Vincent DiCerbo, DSchenectady, and County Manager Kathleen Rooney balked at the building’s exterior design and at plans to add a second entrance from the rear parking lot.
    “They came up with a plan that replaces the present entrance, eliminates the McChesney Room and adds a coffee shop that no one thinks we need,” Rowland said.
    Engberg Anderson Design Partnership of Milwaukee prepared the final design. It calls for the addition of 9,000 square feet to the first floor. While this is less than the originally proposed 15,000-square-foot expansion, the new design contains double the space for the children’s room, a small cafe, a performance center and a private reading room. It also retains the building’s architectural look through the use of brick and precast and poured concrete.
    The design will remove the protruding semicircular McChesney Room from the library’s Clinton Street side and make the entire wall flush. Library officials will rename another area the McChesney Room.
    Preservationist group Schenectady Heritage Foundation opposes the demolition of the McChesney Room. It says the library’s current configuration is historically significant architecture that should be preserved.
    Eleanor Rowland said the design change pushed up the cost. “No one wanted the new entrance, not the Friends, not the trustees,” she said.
    The closure could become an election issue if Republicans have anything to do about it. Minority Leader Robert Farley, R-Niskayuna, called the project a “case of poor planning.” He said the county “cannot close this library. I will tell you, ladies and gentlemen, your constituents will have your heads.”
    The potential political fallout of closing the central library could force Democrats to postpone the project for a year or longer, said one Democrat legislator, who did not want to be identified.
    Project manager Tony Ward said the county learned in March it would have to close the library to complete the project on time and within budget. “There isn’t an inch of this site not affected by the construction,” he said.
    The interior will be gutted and new heating, lighting, plumbing and air conditioning systems installed. The county will also have to install sprinklers, which were not required 40 years ago, to bring the building up to code. He said public safety would be jeopardized by the level of work, making even limited access impossible.
    “There would be no place to sit and the most it could accommodate was 100 people a day,” Ward said.
    Library Director Andy Kulmatiski is developing contingency plans to increase programs and services at the system’s nine branches and other sites downtown should the library close this summer.
    The current cost of the project is $3.5 million for the addition and $1.6 million for repairs to the library’s aged, mostly original electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. The architects factored in $339,000 for site work, $843,413 for new furnishings, a 10 percent inflation cost of $561,504 and $849,406 for professional fees and testing. The final price tag is $404,221 less than the initial design proposed two years ago.
    The county Legislature will provide $5.7 million toward the project, paid through bonds. The library board and Friends of the Library have raised about $2 million in private donations.
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Quoted Text
Speak out against plan to close Sch’dy library

    I’m sure this will be one of many letters protesting the imminent closure of the central library in Schenectady [May 1 Gazette].
    As a trustee of the library board and a member of the Friends of the Library board, I urge the county to rethink their decision to close the library for reconstruction for up to 18 months. The branches, while numerous, cannot absorb the services and programs provided at the downtown facility. None of the branches has adequate parking. The city branches have no room for programs and the Hamilton Hill branch is not handicap-accessible, not to mention that it is cockroach-infested. The upstairs and basement of Scotia have been declared unsafe.
    Our clientele needs the access to computers and the Internet, and to tutors who can help with GED and ESL training in a convenient location. Our legislative leaders should ask the librarians and clerks, who work with the people daily, what is essential. Schenectady can’t close for 18 months, or any similar period, the most cost-effective and efficient service in the whole county.
    I would also urge the public to take back control of this vital service and tell your legislators that they have been grossly mistaken in their underestimation of the people’s attachment to this wonderful gem of a library we have in Schenectady. The question that should be asked is why the county government took over this project and shut off important and constructive input in its development.
    JOHN KARL
    Niskayuna
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Quoted Text
SCHENECTADY
Library plan draws fire Support group says ‘public against’ closure
BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter

    
    One volunteer at Monday night’s meeting said leadership in the county Legislature forced library trustees to accept the latest design, otherwise the county would not pay for the work.
Sounds like the county legislatures are strong arming the public library just like they are strong arming the SCCC music department.


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
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I hope you will all read this very candid, interesting and informative post from David Giacalone's blog regarding the closing of the Schenectady Library:

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/e.....our-central-library/
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Quoted Text
The more you think about it, the worse library plan is

    I saw the May 4 Viewpoint column, “18-month library shutdown a major disservice,” by Phil Sheehan, and I am even more dismayed than I was the other day when I first learned that the library is to be closed for 18 months.
    And then we are told that there is “no problem” in spreading around the downtown programs to the branches — ha! Then I learned that not only do we lose that lovely entrance walkway colonnade along the present children’s room and McChesney Room, we “gain” a café and a drive-through window. Most emphatically, a café is not needed. Our public library is just that — it’s definitely not supposed to be a Borders or Barnes & Noble. It doesn’t need a drivethrough window; this is a public library — it’s not supposed to be a McDonald’s — duh!
    The original plan (so many years ago) called for a modest expansion to the east. As I recall, that plan would expand the children’s program area the computer area and upgrade the utilities. This has turned into a nightmare. I guarantee it will take longer than 18 months, and there will be significant cost overrun. This is just what happens on public projects, and the pres ent economy is pushing up the price of ev erything. Schenectady County’s tax dollars are paying for this (the biggest chunk of it anyway) so I can only hope there will be significant outcry against this boondoggle Is there no one brave enough to scream “no way!”? Is there no one on the county board willing to listen?
    Am I the only one screaming in the wilderness? I don’t think so. Not only was there the piece in the May 4 Opinion sec tion, there was a letter to the editor from [Friends of the Schenectady County Public Library member] Eugene Rowland, “Plan to close main Schenectady library for months is folly”; there was the May 2 Ga zette editorial, “Library plan: back to the drawing board”; and that wonderful car toon accompanying the editorial.
    RUTH E. BERGERON
    Schenectady
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Quoted Text
Closing downtown library seems counterproductive

As a longtime resident of Schenectady County, I have often reconciled my high taxes with the benefits of our main branch library.
In the center of town, around the corner from Jay Street, it’s a great place to hang out on a bad weather day, meet a friend, take a grandchild or browse for just the right book, music or movie.
Eighteen months with no downtown library. Wasn’t the point of Metroplex to get people back into the heart of the city?
NANCY ORTNER
Scotia
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Quoted Text
Downtown library plan draws fire
$8M project calls for temporary closure of Schenectady main library


By PAUL NELSON, Staff writer
First published: Wednesday, May 7, 2008

SCHENECTADY -- Colette Sicotte says the main library in downtown Schenectady remains her family's favorite, even though they have used several other branches of the Schenectady County Public Library system.
Sicotte and her three young children will be among the 1,400 daily library patrons who will be forced to seek other options if a controversial $8 million renovation keeps the library closed for a year or more. The building, opened about 40 years ago, is at Clinton and Liberty streets, sandwiched between City Hall and police headquarters.
     
The first phase calls for replacing the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and electrical systems, as well as asbestos removal, expanding the children's section and a new cafe, meeting rooms and circulation area.
The McChesney Room would be demolished to make way for a new entry off Clinton Street. The work, set to be finished after two years, would add about 9,660 square feet of usable space to its present 26,800 square feet.
Proctors would let the library use about 8,000 square feet on nearby State Street during the closure. In addition, hours and services at the nine other smaller branches would be increased.
The prospect of temporarily shuttering the popular library has upset some in the community and prompted charges by a library board member that the group felt pressured to go along with what the county wanted or risk losing a large chunk of funding.
Board member Harold Wusterbarth voted last month to close the library during construction, but he conceded "an avalanche of protest" has caused him to change his mind.
Wusterbarth now says he believes a scaled-back plan the board and the Friends of the Schenectady Public Library supported years ago is more suitable and would keep the doors of the library open during the upgrades.
Bernard Allanson, president of the Friends of the Schenectady Public Library, said Tuesday his group had not taken a formal position on the issue, although he personally was in favor of keeping the building open. "The primary purpose is to serve the public, and we can't serve the public if we're closed," Allanson said.
Along with the board, Allanson's group has raised about $2 million to pay for the work while the remainder will come from taxpayers.
Bids on the project are due by May 16, according to Anthony Ward, the project's consultant and president of AKW Construction.
Plans now call for the library to be closed July 1, with construction on the first phase to begin July 15. Work would last anywhere between 12 and 14 months, Ward said. He noted the library would reopen during the second building phase.
Democratic Legislator Gary Hughes said the decision to close the library was largely based on recommendations from the consultant, who advised that it is the safest way to get the upgrades done in a timely and cost-effective manner.
Hughes agreed, but seemed willing to leave the door open to other options.
"I think we need to see the cost, and once we have the costs and design we can make the decision," said Hughes, who chairs the committee on education and libraries.
Despite her reservations, Sicotte says she is willing to live with the closure.
"It's tough because you want the improvements, but at the same time you have sacrifices, and if Schenectady is going to advance, I'd rather they didn't close it, but I'll take one for the team," Sicotte said Tuesday as she stood outside the library with her children. "I think this library has the most kid-friendly space."Republican Schenectady County Legislator Robert Farley is less optimistic. Farley said he believes the library would remain closed for closer to two years.
"It would deal a crippling blow to the finest library system in the United States," Farley said during Monday's County Legislature agenda meeting. "We need to come up with a better solution."
Mohammad Rahman, who owns Taj Mahal Indian restaurant on Jay Street, not far from the library, said shutting down the library during construction would hurt business.
"If they close, that means we're losing," said Rahman, adding that some of his customers lunch either before or after trips to the library.
Janet Hutchinson, owner of the Open Door Bookstore & Gift Gallery, also on Jay Street, agreed with Rahman. "People who go to the library read books, and library patrons are my customers," she said. "I have a lot of concerns about that project overall." Nelson can be reached at 454-5347 or by e-mail at pnelson@timesunion.com.

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I heard that the bids were sent out already for this job. So I guess it's a go.


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
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If the library needs all that 'flashy stuff' to attract folks then we live in a dead/dumb time......I recall being at Barnes and Noble and actually watching edumacated folks call someone they know to help them find a book.....here is an example of a conversation:

"what color is the cover?"
"what isle was it in?"
"near what?"
"was it hard cover or soft cover?"
"mom, wait, I need to get a coffee after that."

these folks are too freakin' lazy to look it up on the computers available around the store and cant find anything by author, title or subject, on their own brain power?  Plllllease.....who will hire these folks and what if they procreate?????


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

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Quoted Text
SCHENECTADY
Library plan draws fire Support group says ‘public against’ closure
BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter

    
    One volunteer at Monday night’s meeting said leadership in the county Legislature forced library trustees to accept the latest design, otherwise the county would not pay for the work.
This is the part that still bothers me the absolute most!!!!

The dictatorship does not ever take into account the opinions of the trustees of the library just like they didn't for the SCCC music dept..


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
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MobileTerminal
May 7, 2008, 7:53pm Report to Moderator
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Quoted Text
ex·tor·tion  Pronunciation[ik-stawr-shuhn] P
–noun
1.     an act or instance of extorting.
2.     Law. the crime of obtaining money or some other thing of value by the abuse of one's office or authority.
3.     oppressive or illegal exaction, as of excessive price or interest: the extortions of usurers.
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EXACTLY!!!!!!


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
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Quoted Text
Alternative to library closure must be found

    As a former member of the board of the Mohawk Library Association, I was chagrined to read your story about plans to close the Schenectady central library during renovations.
    That trustees would plan an $8 million project without making provisions for the library’s patrons represents a shocking dereliction of responsibility. And Esther Swanker’s “let-them-eat-cake” comments about having us all go to the branch libraries (as important as those neighborhood institutions are) betray an extraordinary lack of understanding.
    My family walks to the central library and, what with books, DVDs, CDs and periodicals, we check out more than 500 items per year. To think that the branches can fill this function for hundreds and hundreds of patrons like us is simply silly.
I would strongly urge the county Legislature to become forcefully involved in looking anew at the library’s plans.
FRANK DONEGAN
Schenectady
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Library’s wheels will fall off if hub closes

    The recent shocking news that the Schenectady County Central Library will be closed for 18 months is yet another example of undemocratic, non-representational thinking by the county Legislature and library board.
    At a time when downtown development is being encouraged, the public is being told it can’t use its No. 1 free resource downtown. Over 50 percent of the circulation is generated by the downtown library; of that, fully 11 percent will be totally disenfranchised as it will no longer be able to walk to the facility. It’s impossible to measure exactly how much of the hard work to improve service and expand programming will be irretrievably lost, but there is no doubt that this will be the case. It’s now too late, as things stand, to poll users to find out if alternate use proposals are viable options.
    Patrons are being told that the branch libraries will pick up the slack. The notion is as ludicrous as it is uninformed. The newer, larger, more modern branches are only available by car, while the bulk of the more accessible satellite system — the older, smaller branches already stressed to capacity — can’t handle a doubling or tripling of services, no matter how many extra hours they are open.
    The downtown library is called the main, central library for a reason; it’s the hub of the wheel; remove the hub and the spokes fall off. If some practical way can’t be found to leave the central library open for public use, the decision makers should reconsider the project to serve the public rather than taking bids on the project as it stands now.
    ALAN CATLIN
    Schenectady
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Quoted Text
Change library plan to avoid long closure

    We are dismayed to learn that the main library in Schenectady will be closed for 18 months while being renovated. This is an unacceptable decision. Library services can’t be denied to the 1,400 people who use them every day.
    The downtown library attracts many people from both within and outside the city. We use that library for materials not available at our Niskayuna branch. The fact that the downtown library attracts people to the city is one of its primary assets. We frequently combine a visit to the library with shopping at the stores on Jay Street, buying vegetables at the farmers’ market or getting a latte at Villa Italia. The financial impact of this decision on Schenectady’s economy cannot be overstated.
    We also are aware of many downtown library users who use library services within the facility but may not be actual borrowers. These people depend on that library for computer access, a location for tutoring and a place to read newspapers and other materials. They may not have transportation to one of the branch libraries — you can’t assume that they have other options for library service.
    The plans for the library should be reviewed from the perspective of maintaining downtown library services throughout the construction process. If it’s impossible for the library to remain open throughout the construction process, then another suitable temporary downtown location must be found. If this involves additional expense, then the library plans must be adjusted. For example, the cafe should be eliminated. (A cafe would compete with existing commercial establishments in the neighborhood and isn’t part of the library’s mission.) Furthermore, we aren’t convinced of the need to destroy the McChesney Room.
    It’s clear that the planning process hasn’t been as thorough as it should have been. As much as we are eager for the library to be improved, this project must be put on hold until a suitable plan for downtown library service is developed.
    DAVID AND PATRICIA GOSDA
    Niskayuna
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May 9, 2008, 7:50am Report to Moderator
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Despite the public outcry by library patrons regarding the 18 month (and likely longer) closing of the main library and concerns and objections by county taxpayers about the extent and the cost of renovations, the decision has been made by the elitists in the majority party on the Schenectady County Legislature.  The opinions of the public, who the Legislators were elected to represent, will not change the library floorplans, the cost to the taxpayers, the schedule, or the accessibility to the library during the construction.

I have received information that the request for proposals/bids are out.  So, which general contracting firm will be awarded the county contract?

Writing Letters to the Editors will have little if any impact.  Voting those who disregard the will of the people out of office is the only form of protest that will yield results.
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Put the library in Center City......THERE'S A STATEMENT FOR THE CITY AND COUNTY----education at the top....not just whimsy-schmimsy crap.......right across the street from the muddy cup and right in the middle of all the action........let the Y be at the current library location(if size fits), and if not let that be the project........


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

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UPDATE:
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/e.....our-central-library/

Quoted Text
Update & Notice (May 10, 200: County Legislature May Meeting: Members of the public will have the opportunity to speak their minds about closing the Library during its renovation on Tuesday, May 13, at 7 PM, at the County Legislature's monthly meeting (held at the County Office Building, 620 State St., 6th Floor). However the May Meeting Agenda does not contain any resolution concerning the Library expansion project, and no formal action can be taken on that topic. The agenda is quite lengthy, so there will be a long wait before the floor is opened to the public for general comments.

Compromise Plan: It appears that County leaders (e.g., Kathy Rooney the County Manager, Susan Savage, Legislative Chair, and Gary Hughes, chair of the Legislature's Library Committee) have heard the public outcry and are working on a compromise plan that would improve the way the Library's current building is used (e.g., putting public space on the 2nd floor), and replace the operating systems, without changing the current shell of the building, and in a manner that will greatly reduce the period(s) in which the building will need to be closed. I have no idea how the Legislature could be accepting bids -- or contractors crafting their bids -- on the project from contractors before the revised plan is adopted.

Rally Against Closing the Library: There will be a rally and or march against closing the Library on Monday and/or Tuesday, May 12 or 13, which will originate at the Central Library -- probably around 11 Am. As soon as I have more details, I shall post them here.
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May 10, 2008, 4:06pm Report to Moderator
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Schenectady library plan altered

By TIM O'BRIEN, Staff writer
Click byline for more stories by writer.
Last updated: 5:37 p.m., Saturday, May 10, 2008

SCHENECTADY - To reduce the length of time the Schenectady Public Library's main office has to be closed, county officials are altering the plans for a renovation project.

The Schenectady school district has also agreed to open its libraries for extended hours when the main branch is shut down. Hours at other library branches will also be extended when the main library is closed.

Susan E. Savage, Schenectady County Legislature chair, said in a prepared statement contractors are being asked to respond to both the original bid specifications and two alternate bids meant to lower costs and shorten the period when the main branch will be closed.

One alternate plan focuses on replacing major systems in the building including removing asbestos, installing a new heating and air-conditioning system and general improvements to the first floor.

The second alternative focuses on using the upstairs of the facility to house library programs, eliminating the need to change the basic footprint of the building. The second-floor space is now used for administrative space and book storage.

By consolidating administrative space, additional room is freed up on the second floor for library services. Under this plan, the McChesney Room and other parts of the main floor will be upgraded rather than adding time and expense of expanding the first floor.


http://timesunion.com/AspStori.....p;newsdate=5/10/2008
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Susan E. Savage, Schenectady County Legislature chair, said in a prepared statement contractors are being asked to respond to both the original bid specifications and two alternate bids meant to lower costs and shorten the period when the main branch will be closed.


Damage control.

The public cannot ease up on its criticisms.  Those who oppose the closing of the library for 18 months (and likely longer) and the staggering cost of the unnecessary renovations need to attend the Tuesday night meeting (7 pm) of the County Legislature and let
their voices be heard.
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The criticism is working and needs to continue until we get exactly what we want, need, and paid for.


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Come on here folks, does anyone really think that Suzie is taking into consideration what the people want? When was the last time you ever heard her listen to anyone outside of the dictatorship? NEVER! What make anyone think that the library is any different?

Suzie knows that there will be an audit of the Metroplex. Suzie is also aware of the fact that it was the State Police coupled with the Feds that took down the drug ring right from under the SPD's nose.

They know that they will soon be looked at through a microscope and exposed for what the they really are. And it won't be pretty!!

Sorry people...Suzie isn't doing it for 'us'!


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
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Quoted from 78


Writing Letters to the Editors will have little if any impact.  Voting those who disregard the will of the people out of office is the only form of protest that will yield results.


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SCHENECTADY
Library construction plans change
Facility will not close July 1; county seeking new bids
TATIANA ZARNOWSKI Gazette Reporter

    The Schenectady County Public Library’s central branch will not close for expansion July 1 as originally planned. It also may not build all of what was considered much-needed space.
    Officials announced Saturday that the county will solicit additional bid requests for revised construction plans, with the hope that the alternatives will cost less than the current $7.7 million plan, tackle many of the same overdue updating priorities and close the library for considerably less than the 10 to 12 months forecast, which drew a firestorm of protest.
    “We wanted to get the information that we’re looking at some other options into the hands of the community,” said county Legislator Gary Hughes, DSchenectady, chairman of the county Legislature’s education and library committee.
    Now, construction won’t happen until the end of summer at the earliest, since officials have postponed the deadline to seek the additional bids. They had planned to review bids May 22.
    Friends of Schenectady County Public Library President Bernard Allanson said then he thought the Legislature pushed the original project through without public discussion. On Saturday, he was encouraged to hear offi cials were backing off.
    “I would say that the public has had a significant impact on the Legislature. I applaud the Legislature for listening,” he said.
    Hughes said the new plan was announced to address concerns from the public and county offi - cials themselves about closing the library for so long.
    The county Legislature is still accepting bids for the original plan, which aims to add 9,000 square feet to the fi rst floor. In addition, in the coming weeks county legislators will ask for bids for two alternate approaches.
    The main thrust is still to take care of overdue improvements to the 40-year-old building and its systems, such as heating, air-conditioning and other mechanicals, considered 75 percent of the original project. But rather than expand for the needed space, the additional bid requests emphasize updating existing space to use it more efficiently for programming, thus avoiding closing the library branch for the lengthy period of time believed necessary.
    Officials said they believe they can limit closings to a matter of weeks, which could be staggered or broken up to minimize patron disruption.
    Also on Saturday, the city school district announced it would open its libraries to the public for extended hours during any shutdown of the public library’s central branch. Library administrators had previously indicated that they were drawing up contingency plans to increase programs and services at the system’s nine branches and other sites downtown should the library close for a prolonged period due to the original construction plan.
    The first part of additional bid requests, being called Alternate A, would focus just on replacing major systems in the building — heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, removing asbestos and general upgrades to the fi rst floor. The library would be closed only a short time during this phase, officials said.
    Alternate B would reconfi gure the 22,600-square-foot second floor, which is currently used for library administration and storage. Library materials stored on the second floor can be consolidated to make way for use of this space for library services and programs, Hughes said.
    “We can have the expanded program space within the library but have it within the four walls of the building,” Hughes said.
    Library board members had previously indicated that they believed closing the main branch would be the best option for completing the project on time, within budget and safely. They cited concerns about being able to contain asbestos during removal and the need to reconstruct parking and sidewalks.
    The McChesney Room and other parts of the first floor would be upgraded under Alternate B. The previous plan would have replaced the rounded McChesney meeting space, reconfiguring the space for a cafe, performance center, a private reading room and expanded the children’s room.
    The two alternates are designed to be completed together in place of the original plan.
    “We could do a much better job of planning, and people could have access to what is obviously a very important part of the community to them,” he said.
    A public outcry ensued last month after officials announced plans to close the main library while renovations took place. Although more programs at the county library’s nine branches were promised, downtown library patrons were concerned about the closure’s impact on the community, particularly on children who use the library regularly.
    The Friends of the Schenectady County Public Library last week launched an effort to keep the county from closing the library for up to a year, noting that in addition to books, the public would be losing valuable programs and free Internet access.
    The friends group distributed 1,000 surveys to people attending its book sale last weekend at the central library. People returned 725, and 710 of the respondents said they did not want to see the library closed.
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Library plan misguided for several reasons

    Are you aware that Schenectady’s library was named by the American Institute of Architects as one of the most outstanding and significant buildings erected in New York state in the 20th century? Current expansion plans will destroy its entire facade. Demolishing the popular McChesney Room, known for its excellent acoustics, for another performance space is indefensible and wasteful.
    We don’t need a suburban-style drive-through at our very urban library. A private reading room, cafe and gallery are nice amenities, but can we afford them?
    Recently, the library used a $45,000 (Commercial Industrial Performance Program) grant from NYSERDA to upgrade energy systems, including HVAC. Yet, plans call for replacing heating, lighting and air conditioning.
    According to Friends of the Library [May 6 Gazette article], the project was “pushed through without any public discussion.” There are many unanswered questions, and a thorough, open process to plan the expansion was not followed.
    This plan is extravagant, will destroy the award-winning architecture and requires long-term closure. The county Legislature should revisit a former proposal — a simple addition toward the police station and utilizing the second floor for public areas.
Speak out at the county Legislature meeting May 13, at 7 p.m. in the County Office Building, sixth floor.
GLORIA KISHTON
Schenectady
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Libraries that stayed open during renovations

    From 1985 to 2007, as an administrator with the New York State Library, I was often in touch with staff in public libraries across upstate New York. To the best of my knowledge, though a great many libraries renovated and constructed additions during those 22 years, not one found it necessary to close for an extended period.
    On the contrary, Albany, Bethlehem, Buffalo, Canajoharie, Cobleskill and Cohoes are just the beginning of a long list of large and small libraries that — perhaps to the frustration of the contractors — managed to keep their buildings open during such work. The patrons of those libraries would not have settled for less.
    JANE SOMERS
    Delanson
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This was talked about greatly at the meeting tonight.  I was upset that I had to leave early, but I had some family business I had to take care of.  Can anybody remind me when the County meetings show on channel 16?


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As an addition to my previous comment, I say that we all take and send a small contribution to the Friends of the Library to help to pay for the update to the main library.  Especially if you're somone who uses the library frequently.  I realize how large a sum of money it can be to do the types of renovations that they're talking about, but I like the idea that I think it was Mr. Suhrada came up with tonight.  Do the work just like any of the workings stiffs in the county would have to do it.  First of all, if you're renovating in your house, you wouldn't move out for 18 months as you're redoing it.  Also, you would do one piece at a time (something that Schalmont could use a lesson at) and maybe the fact that you make one change would help to save money so that it would be easier to go about another change, i.e. changing out windows for something that holds in heat better would save money on the NiMo bill, therefore, in the future giving you more money to change the heater, then using that savings to redo floors, etc. etc. etc.


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SCHENECTADY COUNTY
Library backers urge return to 2003 plan
Supporters want to rehabilitate, expand central branch

BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter

    Supporters of the public library system want the Schenectady County Legislature to start over with plans to rehabilitate and expand the central branch.
    Almost a dozen Friends of the Schenectady Public Library and library trustees spoke Tuesday night at the Legislature’s regular meeting, urging legislators to go back to a plan library trustees drew up in 2003.
    That plan would construct a $4 million addition between the central branch and the police station on Liberty Street and repair mechanical systems within the central branch.
    County Manager Kathleen Rooney said she wants to work with community groups to reach a consensus on a new design that works for them and is cost-effective.
    John Karl, a library trustee and former president of the Friends of the Schenectady Public Library, asked legislators to re-establish a building committee of library trustees, Friends and others. The committee would develop a plan to repair library systems and provide additional space without disrupting services to the public.
    “The philosophy has been this is a county project, not a library project. That is crazy,” Karl said.
    Karl served on a committee that produced the 2003 design. Library trustees went to the Legislature for funding in 2004, the Legislature dismissed the committee in 2004, rejected the plan and hired a new architect. The architect came up with a proposal to expand the central branch by 9,000 square feet and replace 40-year-old mechanical systems. That plan includes demolition of the McChesney Room and the construction of a new entrance facing the intersection of Clinton and Liberty streets. The proposal was presented to the public, but attendance was sparse.
    County Legislator Joseph Suhrada, RRotterdam, said the project got out of hand when the Legislature got involved. “We stuck our noses and tried to take control. It was a great case of meddling,” he said. “We made a huge mistake and should admit it.”
    Officials said the work would be done in phases to prevent minimal disruption to services. So many people were shocked two weeks ago to learn that the central branch would have to close for a year, perhaps more, to complete the work.
    The Friends and others immediately launched an effort to keep the library open. They collected nearly 1,000 signatures and some county legislators said they were inundated with phone calls from people protesting the closure.
    On Saturday, county legislators announced they would seek two alternative bids to reduce costs of the $7.7 million project and reduce the amount of time the central branch would be closed. Democrats said they were reacting to the public outcry.
    “It is not to cast blame but to have a project that everyone can be happy with. We are re-evaluating it and working through it,” said County Attorney Chris Gardner.
    Alternative “A” calls for replacing major systems in the building — heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems — removing asbestos and general upgrades to the first floor. The library would be closed only a short time during this phase.
    Alternative “B” would reconfi gure the 22,600-square-foot second floor, which is currently used for library administration and storage. Library materials stored on the second floor can be consolidated to make way for use of this space for library services and programs
    Karl said the latest proposals would leave in place the existing facade along Clinton and Liberty streets, meaning the McChesney Room would not be demolished for a cafe and new entrance. “The other thing I keep hearing is they will do the minimum in maintenance and use the money elsewhere, for other projects the county has,” he said.
    Fred Thompson, a member of the Friends, said the county Legislature never discussed the alternative-bid proposals with the Friends or trustees before Saturday’s announcement, calling more of the same process that brought the project to its latest crisis.
    “It is the same problem, a lack of transparency in how this process works,” Thompson said.
    Gardner said Rooney was in constant contact with trustee President Esther Swanker. Swanker concurred.
    Karl said the constant change of plans has upset some contributors to the library’s fundraising. The library board and Friends of the Library have raised about $2 million in private donations. The county was expected to provide $5.7 million toward the project, paid through bonds, but may reconsider its investment due to financial worries.
    “I have heard the people use the word fraud. We did do our fundraising on a design to push the library to the east, toward the police station,” Karl said. When the Legislature changed the design, “we went out and started supporting the new plan but ran into resistance.”
    He said the library raised money for a proposed art gallery and sold seats for $250 in a proposed auditorium. Some of the money was matched by GE. The alternatives do not include any of these features.
    Thompson said the 2003 design called for a 12,000-square-foot addition to the east side of the building. It would be connected to the central branch through a door and have its own mechanical systems. The plan also called for repairing the central branch’s mechanical systems. The work would have had minimal impact on operations.
    Trustees and the Friends lost control of the project once it went to the county Legislature in 2004, Karl said. “They hired a new architect and came up with a new plan to change the facade to make it more in line with the Center City concept, where the entrance would face City Hall. It would get rid of the McChesney hump, which county Legislature leaders thought was ugly.”
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County Legislator Joseph Suhrada, RRotterdam, said the project got out of hand when the Legislature got involved. “We stuck our noses and tried to take control. It was a great case of meddling,” he said. “We made a huge mistake and should admit it.”
Ya just gotta love this guy for his guts!! He's about the only one left who actually speaks for the people.

Quoted Text
Trustees and the Friends lost control of the project once it went to the county Legislature in 2004, Karl said. “They hired a new architect and came up with a new plan to change the facade to make it more in line with the Center City concept, where the entrance would face City Hall. It would get rid of the McChesney hump, which county Legislature leaders thought was ugly.”
The dictatorship listens to no one!!!


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
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Open part of library during renovation
First published: Friday, May 16, 2008

One issue I have not seen addressed in the media with respect to the anticipated long term closure of the main branch of the Schenectady County Public Library is the fate of the library's employees once the library closes.
Why not keep the library open but block off the area where the renovation is taking place? Scaling back the renovations to only include expanded meeting space, upgrades to HVAC and infrastructure, and eliminating the unwanted cafe, should provide the budget with the needed flexibility for this option.
     
DAVID WILKINSON Schenectady
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I think everyone is on the same page with you Mr. Wilkinson.


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
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BTW, if you want to sign a petition to help keep the library open (or voice your opinion in either way), the store that the friends of the library has did have some sheets for people to fill out when I was there yesterday.  I don't know if they have anymore today.


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Library district would take decisionmaking off county
BY RONALD L. LAGASSE For The Sunday Gazette

    Retiring as director of the Schenectady County Public Library in 2002 after 25 years of service, I chose to refrain from making judgments on the future course of the library.
    An announcement that the central library would close for 18 months for capital improvements made me reconsider that decision. Fortunately, that is now a moot point; library officials announced May 10 that the county may scale back construction plans and the library won’t close for more than a few weeks.
    Still, anyone who has a stake in the library — and that includes virtually every household in the county — needs to be concerned about the manner in which decisions affecting the library are made.
    Since scores of library patrons have publicly opposed the plan that would have denied residents access to the county’s most important cultural and informational center for an extended period of time, there is little more for me to add.
ERODING AUTHORITY
    However, I wish to address a far more serious problem that bodes ill for the future of the county library, namely the continuing erosion of the policy-making power of the library board of trustees, which today has very little authority.
    In 2004, this board developed a very practical and cost-effective plan for renovating and expanding the central library — a plan that was summarily dismissed, even though it would have resulted in very little, if any, disruption of library services.
    Also, library patrons and citizens should be aware that New York’s education law specifically places under the authority of the local library board the complete responsibility for the community’s program of library service and the expenditure of all funds [Sections 6211-6227 of the Unconsolidated Laws and Sections 226 and 260 of the New York State Education Law]. This is not happening in our county.
    As a result of the increasing financial burdens for mandated county services, the library has seen continuing and severe budget reductions that will most likely escalate in future years.
    What’s to be done? Schenectady County should consider an alternative approach to library governance: specifically, the establishment of a library district in which the residents of the county directly elect the library trustees and vote on the level of funding for the library, both operating costs and capital improvements.
    What would be the benefits? First, the county Legislature would not need to appropriate funds for the library. Second, the citizens would determine the level of library services and funding they deem necessary to deliver these services.
    Are there successful library districts? We need only to look to Albany for an example of such a transition, specifically, the Albany Public Library, which moved from a municipal responsibility to a library district some years ago. The city of Albany assisted in this transition, because the city was finding it increasingly difficult to provide funds to maintain the level of the library’s services. Other libraries have similarly made the transition.
NEED FOR DISCUSSION
    How does the county begin such a transition? A delegation of county government representatives, library trustees, the Friends of the Library, and citizens of Schenectady County should explore and discuss this option. Not only should they meet with their counterparts in the city of Albany, they should also seek advice from the New York State Education Department’s Division of Library Development, which has assisted other public libraries in changing the governance structure.
    If steps are not taken now, decisions on library facilities and services will continue to be made at the county level, where personnel are already burdened with so many challenging issues and a financial future that will likely be dismal for the foreseeable future. Because it is not a state-required county service, the county library will most certainly suffer further cuts in order to divert funds to mandated county services.
    The losers will be the people of Schenectady County, who now take the public library services for granted.
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PUBLIC BACKS MODEST REMODELING FOR LIBRARY

Posted on: 05/19/08
Ross Marvin, Spotlight Staff
email: marvinr@spotlightnews.com

Nearly a dozen members of the Friends of the Schenectady Public Library, library trustees and members of the public spoke in front of the Schenectady County Legislature against an extended closure of the main branch of the Schenectady County Library in favor of a 2003 plan that added an addition on the eastern side of the building that preserved the library’s lauded architecture and its central programming space, the McChesney Room.

The 2003 plan would construct a $4 million addition between the central branch and the police station on Liberty Street and repair heating and ventilation systems within the building.

Public comments followed the second informational meeting on the remodeling project held this month.

On Tuesday, May 12, county officials discussed their decision earlier in the week to extend the due date for bids to be submitted on the project in an attempt to reduce costs and reduce the amount of time that the main branch would be closed during reconstruction.

Earlier this month, the county was criticized for a proposed $7.7 million project that could close the library for slightly more than a year. The proposed project would create a new entrance to the library on the corner of Clinton and Liberty streets and demolish the McChesney Room.

Several residents also complained in recent weeks that the project’s addition of a café, performance space and a new entryway was too lavish.

Legislator Joe Suhrada, R-Rotterdam, concurred.

“It’s like taking down a Norman Rockwell painting and putting up a velvet Elvis,” said Suhrada. “The process has got to go back to the stakeholders, and we have to get our big political noses out of it.”

John Karl, a library trustee and former president of Friends of the Schenectady Public Library, said he’d support a plan to extend the library to the east, a project that garnered support by the Friends, allowing them to raise nearly $2 million for the project.

Several members of the Friends said that after news of an extended closure emerged, contributors began to ask for their money back.

The 2003 proposed renovation was dismissed in 2004 by the Legislature. The Legislature then hired a new architect who designed the most recent, 9,000-square-foot expansion project.

County Manager Kathleen Rooney said the county is committed to finding a project that gets the universal support of legislators, library stakeholders and the public.

“We want to set up a process to obtain a consensus that works for the library and works for the community,” said Rooney. “If anything, this (process) has told us all how committed everyone is to the library.”

Rooney said bidders will respond to two alternate bids.

Alternate A focuses on replacing major systems in the building including heating, ventilation and air conditiong, asbestos abatement and general upgrades to the first-floor space.  Library closure during these upgrades will be very limited.

Alternate B will focus on utilizing the upstairs of the current facility to house library programs, eliminating the need to change the basic footprint of the building.

Rooney said this option could lower costs and the time involved in the renovation project.  

The second floor space, totaling 22,600 square feet, is now used for administrative space and book storage only.

By consolidating administrative space, additional room is freed up on the second floor for library services.  Under this plan, the McChesney Room and other parts of the main floor will be upgraded rather than adding the time and expense of expanding the first floor.

Earlier this month, a press release issued by the county confirmed that the hours of the libraries at Schenectady City Schools would extend during the shutdown period. State Street’s Proctors may also donate space for library programs.

While Rooney did not give a deadline for bids, she said the project will move forward expediently.


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Volunteer efforts saved day for county library

    On May 1 the Schenectady County Legislature and Library Board of Trustees announced the county library main branch expansion project. This should have been a happy day for library patrons, but the shock of the impending destruction of the McChesney Room and the 18-month closure of the library main branch shook the community. In the ensuing two weeks, over 1,200 library patrons responded to an opinion poll that has changed the direction of these plans. These citizens’ actions have kept the main branch open and saved a key element of the architecturally significant library structure from being destroyed.
    Members of the Friends wish to thank all the responders to the opinion poll and volunteers in Schenectady County who worked diligently to gather this important information. Their efforts encouraged county legislators to reconsider the design of the expansion and to work cooperatively with library trustees and Friends of the Library.
    Members of the Friends speaking at the May 13 county Legislature meeting suggested a return to a previous onestory design that could add significant space to the library without destruction and invasion of the main branch. We are hopeful that concept can be designed and constructed in the spirit of cooperation with the consensus of all stakeholders.
    “Keep your eye on the prize” — stay informed and speak out for this important enhancement to a library that many in county government describe as “the best service we provide to voters.”
    FRED THOMPSON
    ELEANOR ROWLAND
    Niskayuna
The writers are, respectively, member of the Friends of the Schenectady County Library and coordinator of Friends’ volunteers.
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Quoted Text
Library should remain open during renovation
First published: Thursday, May 22, 2008

Closing the main library in Schenectady for at least a year during its expansion project is simply unacceptable. The downtown library provides a vital community service. Does a public airport or train station close for even one day during a renovation project? No. Then neither should the library.
     
Something seems fishy about this sudden decision, seemingly out of the blue, by the library board of trustees to close the library during construction. Were they being pressured by the Schenectady County Legislature and, if so, why?
Where was the public input on this plan to close the library for more than a year?
Is this a done deal?
LINDA SPAULDING

Pattersonville
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Quoted Text
Schenectady library limits work to $1M
Main building to remain open during renovation; expansion rejected


By DAVID FILKINS, Staff writer
First published: Saturday, May 24, 2008

SCHENECTADY -- A plan to expand the main branch of the Schenectady County Library has been shelved in favor of renovating its heating, cooling and electrical systems, officials said.
     
Library trustees voted in favor of the change Thursday when, trustees said, it became clear the board and the County Legislature could not agree on how to expand. Public outcry met a plan offered by the legislature that would have required the library to close for at least a year during construction.
"We basically walked away from the elaborate plan for expansion," board of trustees President Esther Swanker said. "When you have 1,800 people signing a petition, you have to listen."
Renovations to the 40-year-old building will cost the county about $1 million and should be completed this summer with minimal closures at the main branch. Swanker said the heating, cooling and electrical systems, which have a working life of 25 to 30 years, had to be replaced.
"We would have been in danger of closing during the winter otherwise," she said. "Going forward with the old systems would have done no good."
The expansion project would have added more than 9,000 square feet to the main branch in addition to the construction of a new entrance and the systems replacement.
Aside from requiring the branch to close for at least a year, the plan also met resistance because it called for the demolition of the beloved McChesney Room. The building, opened about 40 years ago, is at Clinton and Liberty streets, sandwiched between City Hall and police headquarters.
David Filkins can be reached at 454-5456 or by e-mail at dfilkins@timesunion.com.
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And what happens now when the work comes to $1M before they're done turning 1 screw?


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Quoted Text
Trustee favors old Schenectady library plans
Committee will work through summer before presenting ideas to legislators


By PAUL NELSON, Staff writer
First published: Monday, May 26, 2008

SCHENECTADY -- The chairman of a building committee charged with tweaking plans to rehabilitate the main branch of the county library system says he favors reverting to original plans from years ago.
Library trustee Steve Fitz, who chairs that panel, said he wants to "go back to our (board of trustees') first selection and try to stay as close to that as possible."
     
That project called for preserving the McChesney Room, which was to be demolished under an $8 million renovation project that also would have shut the central branch on Clinton Street for a year or more.
Fitz also favors building a small auditorium to host events such as children's plays, and moving the children's room from the first to the second floor.
He also spoke out against the construction of a cafe and new entrance off Clinton Street to the building, which attracts 1,400 people daily.
The expanded nine-member committee -- which will now include a library employee, a member of the Friends of the Schenectady County Public Library and a county lawmaker -- will hold its first meeting next month and work throughout the summer before making its recommendations to county legislators by September, Fitz said.
Last week, Fitz and the other trustees took another significant step when they approved plans first to retool the heating, cooling and electrical systems instead of doing the renovations all at once and shutting down the downtown library. That prospect angered county lawmakers and library patrons.
Bernard Allanson, president of Friends of the Schenectady County Public Library, said the $2 million raised to defray costs of the overhaul work will not be used to cover the costs of replacing the heating and cooling systems.
The county will pick up the $1 million tab since it owns the structure.
"We are expecting that money will sit there for the expansion," Allanson said.
The revised trustee-approved plan is to now replace the old boilers and other machinery associated with the heating system before it starts to get chilly and then install a new cooling system during the winter months.
Democratic Legislator Gary Hughes said that work may cause some limited closures, if it becomes necessary to shut off the electrical system or remove the boilers from the basement of the library.
Hughes pegged the design costs to date at about $500,000. Nelson can be reached at 454-5347 or by e-mail at pnelson@timesunion.com.
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Brad Littlefield
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... "We are expecting that money will sit there for the expansion," Allanson said. ...


Only if the project is dictated by those in the county legislature that control the purse strings.
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Quoted Text
SCHENECTADY COUNTY
County woes worry library staff
Union members monitor meetings

BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter

    The county’s fiscal problems have the 130 employees of the Schenectady County Public Library System worried about their jobs and the system’s future.
    Members of the system’s staff, who belong to the Civil Service Employees Association, are now attending meetings of both the county Legislature and the library Board of Trustees.
    Spokesman Ken Wagner said a representative is attending each meeting to stay informed. “We are worried about the county’s fiscal concerns and their impact on the library,” he said.
    County Legislator Gary Hughes, D-Schenectady, chairman of the county Legislature’s Library Committee, said library staff “have every right to be close to the process, just as all of our county employees have a right to all county processes.”
    He added, “There is no reason for them to be more concerned about the county budget [than] any other county employee should be.”
    County officials are anticipating a budget deficit of at least $8 million and maybe as high as $16 million as they plan for 2009. County Manager Kathleen Rooney has directed all departments to submit proposed budgets with 3 percent reductions. The county also is not filling positions and taking other actions to close the gap.
    The library system is wholly dependent on the county for funding, although it does receive some fiscal support from trustees and the Friends of the Library. The library’s budget this year is approximately $5.6 million.
    The county considers the library an essential but nonmandated service to residents. This means the county is not required to support fully the operations of the 11-branch library system. Education law says municipalities with 10,000 or more people must support a library, although the meaning of support is vague, said Carol Clingan, executive director of the Mohawk Valley Library System. Schenectady’s is the largest in the system and serves as a central library for libraries in Fulton, Montgomery, Schoharie and Schenectady counties, she said.
    “Schenectady County’s library system is unique. It is the only one in the state that has pure funding from a county. Most others get funding from other ways. Some are a combination of county funding and other sources, some are nonprofits and some have their own taxing jurisdictions,” Clingan said.
JOBS UNFILLED
    Wagner said the county has already put a fiscal squeeze on the library system. “It is ongoing, because we are not a mandated service. There is a real concern about the future of the library,” he said.
    Wagner said the county is leaving positions vacant and the library system’s proposed budget for 2009 shows little growth beyond an increase to purchase materials. “The county is looking to cut back further,” he said. “There are three librarian positions that have been unfilled for some time, and they haven’t filled the positions of student pages.”
    In addition, Wagner said, library staff members are concerned by a proposal from the library trustees to break away from the county. Trustees in May created an ad hoc governance committee to explore the creation of a library district with taxing authority. John Karl is chairing the committee and is researching the concept, which, he said, is years from becoming reality.
    Trustees established the committee following controversy over a proposal to remodel and expand the main library branch on Clinton Street. The county abruptly dropped the proposal after spending at least $500,000 on design work and upon learning the project would require closing the branch for at least a year.
    Trustees are now developing their own plan to remodel the library, which will involve minor closures.
    Wagner said the self-governance proposal especially “waves a red flag for us. We would have to see how that plays out. One would think things would be more expensive under this system.” He added staff was caught by surprise by the closure announcement.
    For instance, Clingan said, the county provides service to the system, such as snow plowing, that do not show up in the library’s overall budget. Still, she said, a library taxing jurisdiction is feasible for Schenectady County. “It is really pure democracy. They are asking the public to support the library at this level and to elect people to run it,” she said. Under this proposal, an elected board of trustees would govern the system, whereas it now serves in an advisory capacity.
    Legislator Vincent DiCerbo, DSchenectady, former chairman of the county Legislature’s Library Committee, said he is opposed to the library spinning off from the county. “That is unacceptable; it is creating another layer of government. And it is still going to cost taxpayers’ money and there is no guarantee the library will receive unlimited money by becoming independent,” he said.
    The library system is facing the same fiscal pressures as are other county departments, DiCerbo said. “Everybody has to sacrifice,” he said.
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Quoted Text
The county considers the library an essential but nonmandated service to residents. This means the county is not required to support fully the operations of the 11-branch library system. Education law says municipalities with 10,000 or more people must support a library, although the meaning of support is vague, said Carol Clingan, executive director of the Mohawk Valley Library System. Schenectady’s is the largest in the system and serves as a central library for libraries in Fulton, Montgomery, Schoharie and Schenectady counties, she said.



http://srv36.nysed.gov/libdev/stateaid/08_09/plsa.htm

http://srv36.nysed.gov/libdev/excerpts/edn273.htm#273.1


interesting----and our public school systems are shaky even with all the moolah they get.......

Quoted Text
Trustees in May created an ad hoc governance committee to explore the creation of a library district with taxing authority.


authorities pull the rug out from under the taxpayers---authorities are breeding grounds for the integrity challenged and oraganized unscrupulous folk


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

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Quoted Text
SCHENECTADY
Library aims to minimize disruption
Work to close facility for 4 days

BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter

    The central branch of the Schenectady County Public Library system will begin to get new heating and cooling systems starting the week of Sept. 15, Library Director Andy Kulmatiski said.
    During the work, scheduled to be completed in December, the central library will be closed a maximum of four days. Tentative closure dates are scheduled for the end of October and the beginning of November, Kulmatiski said. Except for these days, the library will remain accessible to patrons during most the work, he said.
    “We are looking at minimal disruption because all the work is in the basement,” Kulmatiski said. The announcement refl ects changes driven by public anger at an earlier proposal that could have closed the library for a year.
    The project’s budget is $86,000 for new boilers and chillers, $372,000 for mechanical work and $124,000 for electrical work.
    The new equipment replaces mechanical systems original to the building, built some 40 years ago. The Clinton Street building has two boilers, but only one works, Kulmatiski said. “We want to get it out and put in three boilers before winter,” he said.
    The library is using state grants to pay for most of the work.
    Kulmatiski said the rehab work addresses only the building’s physical plant and not its need for additional space. Library officials want to expand the central library because of dramatic growth in circulation, which topped more than 1 million items in 2007, and to accommodate additional programming for children and adults.
    The building has not been changed since its construction.
    Hoping to address current and future growth, the library’s board of trustees in 2003 established a committee to design an expansion. They wanted to add a new structure between the central library and Police Headquarters, saying it would cost about $5 million.
    In 2004, trustees went to the Schenectady County Legislature with the proposal for funding. The Legislature owns the building and provides more than $5 million in annual subsidies to the 10-branch system. Trustees serve in an advisory capacity.
    The Legislature dismissed the trustee design committee in 2004, rejected its plan and hired a new architect for some $500,000 to develop a different design.
    The architect came up with a proposal to expand the central branch itself by 9,000 square feet and replace the mechanical systems. The cost topped more than $7 million.
    The Legislature’s plan called for the demolition of the distinct McChesney Room and the construction of a new entrance facing the intersection of Clinton and Liberty streets.
    Architects showed their proposal to the public, but attendance at meetings was sparse.
    Earlier this summer, just before the work was set to begin, a project manager hired by the county determined the central library would have to be closed for months, perhaps a year, for the work.
    The news caused a public uproar and county officials quickly backpedaled. Legislators said they would seek alternative bids for the project with the goal of minimizing any closures. They later withdrew the option, instead agreeing with trustees to postpone any expansion plan and to proceed with just the repair work.
    Trustees then formed another design committee, which is still working on a concept. They also established an ad hoc committee to explore creating a library district with taxing authority. The district would make the library system independent of county control.
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I think that whether the work is needed or not, or if we can afford it or not, this timeframe is MUCH better than the original suggestion.


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Quoted Text
SCHENECTADY
Library readies for system upgrades
Improvements to inconvenience patrons as little as possible

BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter

That large semi trailer parked next to the central branch of the Schenectady County Public Library these days isn’t filled with contending titles for the “One County, One Book” contest.
Instead, it holds a portable boiler, ready to heat the Clinton Street building until permanent boilers come on line in late November.
    The library is replacing two boilers and its cooling equipment. The work is part of a nearly $600,000 project to upgrade mechanical systems in place since the building went up 40 years ago.
    The building has two boilers, one of which stopped working two years ago. The other boiler is being disconnected, which has left he building with no heat. Both are being dismantled and removed.
    Library Director Andy Kulmatiski said the building is getting three new boilers, costing $86,000, and new chillers and other mechanical systems, costing $372,000. All mechanical work will be done by middle of November.
    The library’s electrical systems will also be upgraded at a cost of $125,000. The work will take about four days, requiring the central branch to close during this period. State grants will pay for most of the work.
    “The earliest it will be is Dec. 15. And if worse comes to the worst, we will wait until the spring to do the work,” Kulmatiski said.
    The closure will occur perhaps during a holiday to minimize the disruption, Kulmatiski said.
    The rehab work addresses only the building’s physical plant and does not address its need for additional space. Library officials want to expand the central library because of dramatic growth in circulation, which topped more than 1 million items in 2007, and to accommodate additional programming for children and adults. The building has not been changed since its construction.
    The library’s Board of Trustees is developing plans for the expansion. It took up the work after the county Legislature earlier this year abandoned a $7 million project to expand the central branch by 9,000 square feet.
    The decision followed revelation that the work would require closure of the central branch for a year or longer. Also, many in the community objected to the Legislature’s plan to demolish the McChesney Room and to construct a new entrance facing the intersection of Clinton and Liberty streets.
    The Democrat-led Legislature spent more than $500,000 to develop the design.
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interestinq----very very interestinq......(and I'm too younq to understand this statement to it's fullest extent)..........


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

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Quoted Text
Schenectady County library trustees push expansion
Friday, May 22, 2009
By Michael Lamendola (Contact)
Gazette Reporter

SCHENECTADY — Trustees of the Schenectady County Public Library are pressing county officials to approve a plan to expand the central library on Clinton Street, a move that could result in a showdown over governance of the system.
If the county does not agree with the trustees’ proposal, trustees said they will push ahead with efforts to split from the county and form a special district with its own taxing authority. Trustees made their comments at their monthly meeting Thursday night.
Trustees are upset with the county over a lack of progress on a proposal that would add 13,000 square feet to the library for a cost estimated at between $5 million and $6 million. They sent the proposal to the county in March, hoping for a quick approval. The answer they got back was that county staff will meet with Library Director Andy Kulmatiski today to discuss whether the proposal meets the library’s needs for the next 20 years.
Trustees Thursday night said their proposal is cost-effective and adequately meets the library’s needs.
“This is more space than we previously had,” Kulmatiski said.
Trustees said today’s staff meeting is an attempt by the county to stall the project.
“This is delay and delay again. They will nitpick this until we go away. We are not going away,” said Trustee John Karl. “We’re out of it, and I am upset we have been ignored for two months. Our comments, our opinions count for nothing.”
Legislator Gary Hughes, D-Schenectady, the Legislature’s liaison with the library board, disagreed.
“I feel there has been a lot of dialogue. We are asking for specific information to see if this squares up with their long-term plans,” he said. “We don’t want to make another mistake, and we want to stay in sync with them.”
Hughes said the county has several major projects on the board it needs to accomplish and does not have the money to do the expansion.
“This entire reopening of the dialogue started with the hope we would be able to get some stimulus money, which has not happened,” Hughes said.
Karl said the county should meet with trustees “because trustees are custodians of library. The county does not realize this. They refuse to recognize us beyond social functions and rubber-stamping proposals.”
Karl said the county is asking trustees to “register every square inch of a project that will cost $5 million” when the county itself plans to bond for up to $51 million for a new nursing home for which it does not have a fully detailed architectural plan.
The library board attempted to pass a resolution asking that the county either accept or reject the trustees’ proposal, but the resolution was rejected.
The proposed expansion includes construction of a two-story addition on the two northern corners of library, near the parking lot. It includes an elevator on the eastern side of the library, which would open the branch’s upstairs to the public.
Karl said under this proposal, the library would not have to be closed while the work is under way. The new addition would be connected to the existing library’s heating, air conditioning and other systems, he said.
“It leaves room for when economic times are better to expand the library eastward toward the police station,” Karl said.
Friends of the Library and the trustees have already raised $2 in pledges for the expansion. The county could bond the remaining $3 million to $4 million, Karl said.
Also Thursday night, Karl told trustees that he reactivated the Governance Committee. The committee is looking at how to split from county control and form a special library district with its own taxing authority. The county currently provides a $5 million annual budget to the library system.
Trustees established the committee last year, following a joint decision by the county and the trustees to abandon a long-planned expansion of the main downtown branch in favor of making more than $1 million in renovations to heating and electrical systems. The renovations are nearly complete.
Karl said he shut down the committee several months ago because he didn’t want to antagonize county officials and wanted to promote communications between trustees and county legislators...........>>>>.............>>>>.............http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2009/may/22/0522_schdylibrary/
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GrahamBonnet
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Working together works. As long as you control those you work with like they are puppets. These folks are not.


"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
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I have concerns about this $3-4Million. Do we have it to spend? Needed or not, is this the right time to be spending millions on a library? Or is this money set aside/allocated for this expansion? And lastly, can the library 'survive' without an expansion at this time?

I don't know all of the facts, of course, but is this just another example of government run and dependencies for facilities? It's just another example of 'politics'. IMHO


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.”
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can anyone say----laptop or KINDLE?????? or how about digital books???? think in the future more.......netflix/library.......HEEEELLLLOOOOO!!!!!


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

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Quoted Text
“This entire reopening of the dialogue started with the hope we would be able to get some stimulus money, which has not happened,” Hughes said.
Karl said the county should meet with trustees “because trustees are custodians of library. The county does not realize this. They refuse to recognize us beyond social functions and rubber-stamping proposals.”
Karl said the county is asking trustees to “register every square inch of a project that will cost $5 million” when the county itself plans to bond for up to $51 million for a new nursing home for which it does not have a fully detailed architectural plan.


In my opinion, a library expansion in these days of electronic technology is unwarranted.  Over the next 20 years that the library plan is to address, there will be less print media as more households are wired to the internet.  There will be fewer patrons who frequent the library with the continued advances in technology.

I agree with those who commented above that the current economic conditions do not support the expenditure of $3M to $4M of public revenues.  This expansion is a priority only in the eyes of the library trustees.

I do have a question about why those who govern the City of Schenectady and Schenectady County have been
unable "to get some stimulus money".  In the most liberal state in the country and in a county and city that is controlled by the Democratic party, where is the money promised by their man in Washington? It was even reported that Stratton has had meetings in Washington with those in the administration.

By all news reports, it seems that little of the $700+ B stimulus package has been disbursed to fund public projects.  With little oversight of the expenditure of federal stimulus money, other than that by Vice President Biden who knows how every penny is being spent, is this money being used to stimulate the economy by funding public projects or finance giveaways to the connected and redistribute wealth amongst the classes?

I am opposed to the expenditure of $3M to $4M of our tax revenues to fund a library expansion.  Let us focus on job creation and infrastructure maintenance and enhancement.
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I recall that there was only one legislator who consistently voted against the library expansion with taxpayer funds, each and every time it came up for a vote. He said it was not affordable on channel 16 (before they began censoring it.) Of course if the Friends of the Library were able to raise the money through private donations then fine, in MY OPINION. Sadly, when the county stuck it's nose into the mess and proclaimed they would fund it with taxpayer money, the donations ended. When the county did that they also assumed dictatorial control over the matter including the design, which would feature the Sue Savage Cafe, at the expense of the McChesney Room, which is the acoustically superior round room next to the entrance. At on point it looked like the donors would be coming up with 6 or 7 million bucks to re-do the whole place, making it more energy efficient and all. Too bad the Democrats politicized it so much.


"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
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Quoted from GrahamBonnet
When the county did that they also assumed dictatorial control over the matter including the design, which would feature the Sue Savage Cafe, at the expense of the McChesney Room,
What is the government in competition with the private sector now? aka Barnes and Noble?



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
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LibertyNJustice
May 23, 2009, 11:16am Report to Moderator
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Quoted Text
I recall that there was only one legislator who consistently voted against the library expansion with taxpayer funds, each and every time it came up for a vote. He said it was not affordable on channel 16 (before they began censoring it.)


And, which Legislator was that?  Is he still conservative in his views?
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benny salami
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Only one legislator was against this ripoff? Thank You Joe Suhrada. Where the other 3 Reps? I know-don't ask. What is never remembered is how the KRATS wasted over ONE MILLION taxpayer dollars on architectural plans for this unneeded addition. And you wonder why your County property taxes went up 10% last year and the KRATS want to raise them another 18% this year. No amount is enough for these hogs.

  The last thing we need is yet another taxing/bonding authority which will be controlled by KRAT puppets. There is absolutely no reason for any addition that will be for private offices. Use the $2 Million in donations to upgrade the boiler system.
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senders
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the 'cave wall writings' are changing.....future folks future........

BTW to 'check out' a book via kindle/library one must use BIOS fingerprint entry......there will be no more books burnings, just book deletions......

the future......


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

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Salvatore
May 23, 2009, 2:51pm Report to Moderator
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SURHADRA IS SO EXTREME HE IS EVEN AGAINST THE LIBRARY AND THE KIDS READING
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bumblethru
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Quoted from 191
SURHADRA IS SO EXTREME HE IS EVEN AGAINST THE LIBRARY AND THE KIDS READING
I wonder where Ang stands on this library issue ...... sal?



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
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senders
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Sal will be left on the toilet without walls or doors........


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

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County, library trustees need to work together

    Slightly over a year ago, an ambitious but flawed library expansion plan blew up on Schenectady County legislators when the public realized it would involve closing the main branch for 18 months. The expansion, 10 years in the planning, was sent back to the drawing board, while a much-less-ambitious but sorely needed overhaul of the 40-year-old building’s heating and electrical systems was allowed to proceed.
    Much has happened, both to the county and the country, since then, and it now appears that county leaders — who are preoccupied with the idea of getting a new nursing home built — are in no rush to revisit library expansion. That’s too bad, because it still needs it, and library trustees have a plan. It would not only be 40 percent larger than the one county leaders were ready to go ahead with last year, but a couple million dollars cheaper. ..............>>>>..............>>>>..............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01103
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benny salami
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OMG! Here's what should happen. Anyone that is for a separate taxing authority for the library spenders should be thrown out of office. The library director should be fired. Find a fiscal conservative. Joe Suhrada for new library director-I bet he could find millions in pork.

     The Gazetto will not stop ginning up non-existent support for this. The current downtown branch is more than adequate. Use the private donations to replace the boiler. End of story.

     Stop coming to the ripped off, oppressed County taxpayers for yet another unnecessary Downtown construction project. The Gazetto should start looking into Metrograft, including the total empty Clinton's Ditch "mall" or the Robinson's fiasco.
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Quoted Text
Library plan needs joint effort
Sunday, July 5, 2009
By Michael Lamendola (Contact)
Gazette Reporter

SCHENECTADY — Trustees of the Schenectady County Public Library have closed the book, at least until September, on plans to split from county control.
They will use the time to work with county legislators and county staff to refine a concept design that calls for adding 13,000 square feet to the library for a cost estimated at between $5 million and $6 million.
Trustees say they have commitments totaling $2 million toward the capital project and need county financial assistance to complete the work. They said the central library on Clinton Street, built 40 years ago, is too small to handle community needs, such as providing access to computers and free Internet and offering meeting space.
Trustees govern the 11-branch library system, but the county owns it and provides it with an annual budget of $7 million.
In September, the county is expected to provide details on how to accomplish the proposed expansion, both logistically and financially, with as little interruption in service as possible, said county Legislator Gary Hughes, D-Schenectady, liaison to the library board.
“It is a very complicated process to expand a library. We have agreed we need to do the project. Now we are doing careful planning that makes it financially feasible, that satisfies donors who donated to the capital campaign and that makes sense from a programmatic point of view,” Hughes said.
Esther Swanker, president of the library board, said trustees “are not unhappy with the results. We will be moving forward.”
Steve Fitz, chairman of the library board’s Building Committee, said the county “promised to work with us, and it is my feeling they have the same desires we have.”
Fitz said the library building board and the county Legislature will meet before September or in September to find out “what we will do.”
projects in works
Trustees Fitz and Hughes stressed that the county has several significant capital projects in the works, including construction of a new nursing home, and that it needs to prioritize projects.
Said Fitz, “We don’t want to wait, but we don’t know what will happen with the county getting federal stimulus money.” The county is seeking stimulus money to pay for some of its capital projects.
In the meantime, Hughes said, the county and library will work together to make improvements to the central library. These include installing handicapped accessible rest rooms, completing electrical upgrades, possibly doing sidewalk work, placing planters outside and upgrading energy systems to make them more efficient.
John Karl, chairman of the library board’s Governance Committee, said he will not reconvene his committee until September. The committee is investigating the process to create a separate library district with taxing authority. Under this concept, the public would vote annually on the library’s budget.
“We want to see what happens with this expansion plan, and we do not want to do some conflicting actions if we can help it. The most important thing is this expansion,” Karl said. “The county does not want to talk to us about expansion if we are talking about dissolution.”...........>>>>............>>>>...............http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2009/jul/05/0705_librarysplit/
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They had better want to know what happens as technology changes,,,,,kindle, internet, i-phones etc etc......


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

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Quoted Text
SCHENECTADY COUNTY
Officials agree to expand library

BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter

    County officials and Schenectady County Public Library trustees have agreed to expand the central library on Clinton Street by using the building’s second floor for services.
    The proposal, which will be ironed out during a Jan. 6 meeting at the central library, relies on using a combination of state grants and county money to achieve the long-sought expansion, said library Director Andy Kulmatiski.
    Schenectady County Legislator Gary Hughes, chairman of the county Legislature’s library committee, said: “Our work group has agreed that it is necessary to do some expansion at the library to expand the children’s area and increase computer space.”
    Kulmatiski said he is hoping to land a $309,000 state grant for the project, which the county would match. The combined $618,000 would be used to make bathrooms in the central library handicapped accessible and to install an elevator. The elevator would allow people with disabilities and others to access the second floor, now used for storage and staff offi ces.
    Once the work is completed, the library would expand its children’s area on the first floor and add more computers for public use and meeting rooms on the second floor, Kulmatiski said.
    “This would alleviate all the problems,” he said. “Everyone agrees there is great space available on second floor.” ...........................>>>>..................>>>>................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01100&AppName=1
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FactOrFiction
December 9, 2009, 8:48am Report to Moderator
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You would never know that the nation is headed for a double dip recession and, perhaps, depression.  Unemployment remains at 10%.  The debt is soaring.  Unemployment benefits have been extended to 72 weeks.  And the stimulus package is not showing results.  New York State has a $4B deficit for the remainder of 2009.

Yet, those in county government, who used stimulus money to hold down tax increases, continue to spend like we're in good times.
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bumblethru
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Funny, but it is a backwards way of governing....'the more ya spend, the better chances of getting re-elected'. The sheople buy into it every time.

Backwards and fiscally irresponsible.....but it gets these clowns re-elected over and over!


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
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Shadow
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When the money is finally gone and the depression, high interest rates and taxes, inflation, and excessive unemployment due to uncontrolled debt and wasteful spending there are going to be an awful lot of whining about what went wrong. Best advice is pay down your debt, save money, and become as self sufficient as possible. A day of reckoning is coming if we don't change our present course.
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benny salami
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What's wrong with these people? The County has a record deficit-The State is billions in the red and headed for bankruptcy. The current facility is big enough-if you want to enlarge it- first close all underused City Branches.

    $615.000 for bathrooms and an elevator? This is not a community center. How much more for private office space? Instead of cuts like they insist on wasting more. More computers? A reading room for kids that never read? Too many fossils running things on the stunad library bored. Coming next/SHEEPLE ALERT: Separate library taxing district for more nit wit schemes.

     Here's want they should do replace the boiler and NOTHING ELSE. By the way what happened to the asbestos problem Savage said must be addressed last year?
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Quoted Text
EDITORIALS What about addition in library plan?

    As with many things involving decision-making, where one stands on the issue of building an addition to the Schenectady County Public Library’s main branch depends on where you sit. Does the library need an addition? Yes, say library representatives. Maybe, say representatives from the county, which would have to pay for one.
    Although all sides appear to be getting along better than they were a year and a half ago, after a previously approved expansion plan was scrapped at the last minute (when everyone was surprised to learn it would require closing the library for a year or more), that little matter of the addition still has not been settled.
    When the cost of the long-awaited library renovation grew from $5 million to $7.7 million four years ago, we asked: Why not just go upstairs to the second floor, which has plenty of underused space? We said that would be cheaper and look better than the tacked-on, one-story addition proposed. But the library trustees at the time dismissed any public use of that space, especially for children’s programs. Mothers with carriages would never use an elevator, they said. .................>>>>....................>>>>.....................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00901&AppName=1
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SCHENECTADY COUNTY
Smaller library project OK’d 6,000 square feet to be added for more than $1.5M

BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

The Schenectady County Legislature announced Friday that it has agreed to a much smaller expansion of the county library downtown than legislators had originally planned. The smaller project is very similar to the original plan developed by the Friends of the Library, and rejected by the Legislature, two years ago. The plan calls for a 6,000-square-foot expansion on the far side of the library, replacing a parking area near the police station. Patrons will see a much larger children’s area, more space for computer terminals and upgraded bathrooms.
    “I am delighted. Enthusiastic. Euphoric,” said library board of trustees President Esther Swanker. “It’s taken us awhile but we finally got there.”
    The county will begin looking for architects soon, she said. Work could begin this year.
    Swanker acknowledged that the final plan has “some similarities” to the original one developed by the Friends of the Library. But library users will not get the performance center and gallery space that were originally proposed. Nor will the McChesney Room be demolished to make space for a new entrance, as the Legislature called for in its 9,000-square-foot plan.
    Legislator Karen Johnson, D-Schenectady, said the new plan has just what users need.
    “By working together, we have identified the areas that are most important to the immediate and future needs of our residents,” she said.
    Legislator Gary Hughes, R-Schenectady and chairman of the education and libraries committee, said the county had to develop some plan to improve the 40-year-old building.
    “These renovations are necessary to ensure that this building will continue to meet the needs of our children and the residents of our community,” he said.
    The plan will cost more than $1.5 million, but the total amount is not known, Swanker said. ..............>>>>.............................>>>>.............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00100&AppName=1
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Quoted Text
Library plans call for new children's room

First published in print: Sunday, April 25, 2010

SCHENECTADY -- The children's room at the main branch of the Schenectady County public library would double in size to about 6,000 square feet and be relocated to the area closest to police headquarters under plans for major upgrades and a much-anticipated expansion, according to Library Director Andy Kulmatiski.

But, he said, before that change takes place, work to retool the electrical and fire alarm systems and asbestos removal will take place over the next two months at the Clinton Street library.
Once that happens, visitors, and especially those using their laptops, will notice a few dozen more electrical outlets on the building's main level. Additionally, all the electrical panels and the nearly half-century-old fire alarm system will be replaced, Kulmatiski said. The asbestos remediation will entail ripping out the old floor tiles, removing the material, and installing new tiles. Asbestos also will be removed from pipes in the basement and top floor.

And since contractors will work at night, the public area won't feel much disruption at all, he added.

Some of the other improvements to the library include adding another elevator, and making all the rest rooms handicapped-accessible, as the law requires.

The projects, some of which carry six-figure price tags, will be paid for through a combination of state construction funds and money raised through fund-raisers and matching funds from the county, Kulmatiski said.


Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspS.....Page=1#ixzz0m7CtJHCD
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SCHENECTADY
Library expansion is on track Long-sought project features contemporary design, glass sides

BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter

    Ten years and several setbacks later, the Board of Trustees of the Schenectady County Public Library is realizing its dream of expanding the central branch on Clinton Street.
    Construction on a 6,700-square-foot addition is expected to begin before January and be completed in about a year, said trustee President Ester Swanker.
    The two-story addition has an estimated cost of $2.6 million, said library Director Andy Kulmatiski. Bids will go out in September and be opened in October, giving library officials a truer picture of the cost, he said.
    The work will involve a minimal disruption of services at the central library, basically just knocking out a wall to connect the two structures, Kulmatiski said.
    The addition will be built on countyowned land containing library staff parking, east of the central library and stretching toward the Schenectady Police Department headquarters.
    The library board, which administers the county library system, has raised approximately $2.5 million in donations and through grants for the construction. The county, which owns and operates the library system, will contribute $1.5 million toward the project.
    The county has already spent approximately $2.2 million to upgrade the central library’s original operating systems. Further work includes installing handicappedaccessible bathrooms and an elevator. The central library was built more than 40 years ago and has not been physically changed since.
    Local architectural fi rm Re4orm Architecture designed the contemporary structure. The front will feature a two-story-tall wall of clear glass, the sides of opaque glass supported by pre-cast concrete buttresses. A two-story “monolith,” using bricks taken from the original library when the structures are connected, will front the structure.
    “I am exhilarated about it,” Swanker said. “I love the wall.”
    Kulmatiski said the addition will not clash with the central library’s “iconic” design. “It’s mainly glass. It uses clear, energy-effi cient glass along the front and energy-effi cient, opaque glass along the sides that diffuses the light,” he said.
    Swanker said the addition “meets all of our needs. Our circulation has increased signifi cantly [topping 1 million in 2007] and we are getting more usage not only of the whole library but of the computer section.”
    The addition’s first floor will house the children’s section; the second floor will have meeting rooms. Library offi cials will use the former children’s room space in the central library, some 3,000 square feet, to expand collections of new and popular books.
    “We’re doubling our children’s space. We have a great need for that,” Kulmatiski said. Swanker said the current children’s room is used as a pass-through section to other parts of the library.
    “It is difficult for librarians or any staff to do programming over there and it has a lot of cubby holes for children to hide,” she said. “It is not an ideal situation. We want to make ours [children’s room] the best possible.”
    Schenectady County Legislator Gary Hughes, D-Schenectady, said library trustees led the design process. “The county sat down with the trustees’ building committee and worked out the library’s programmatic needs and what they would need to add,” he said. ......................>>>>........................>>>>....................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00101&AppName=1
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Wow! What a total eyesore. This almost makes Center City look good. Another example of a bad idea that won't go away. Good to know that the County has a extra $1.5 MILLION to waste. Completely unnecessary and a total waste of tax money.

      I can't wait for Richard Eats opinion on this horrible Martian design. But Esther and the Gazetto editors say "It's good!" After 10 years this is the best they come up with? If the idiots at Friends of the Library want to build this modern eyesore-let them do it solely with private contributions. Build! Who cares about paying for it? Build! Coming next! A separate library taxing district. "It's good?"
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Quoted Text
Decade-old library plan worth a second look

Re Aug. 27 editorial, “Take new library design to return desk”: You probably recall that I was the Schenectady County Public Library director, retiring in 2002. Relative to the library expansion project, the planning goes back almost 10 years. One of the plans which really impressed me was the one that I believe was prepared by Architecture Plus, a firm located in Troy. It developed a schematic that very effectively and aesthetically connected the addition to the existing building. This might be an opportune moment for the community to revisit that plan.

RON LAGASSE
Schenectady

http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00505&AppName=1
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Is there ANY future view......E-Readers/internet etc......1.5M? Really? so we can all E-read together?..........how nice......waste......this is a very short
lived view......


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

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A better way with library design

    Last week we panned the design for the Schenectady County Public Library expansion. Today we criticize the process, which seems not unrelated to the bad result.
    This isn’t some ordinary private construction project we’re talking about, but a very important public building in a very visible location: right across the street from two classical and beautiful buildings: the post office and City Hall. Yes, it’s also adjacent to an ugly modern building, the police station, but that doesn’t justify an addition that disregards the design elements and materials of the existing library.
    Modern architects talk about wanting additions to older buildings to stand by themselves, to be “of their own time,” but why, when the usual outcome, as in this case, is a hodgepodge lacking in symmetry and unity?
    But while the library is a public building, the design process was anything but open, with the county choosing an architect (the same fi rm that did a similar out-of-place design with the new Center City) late in the game (just a few months ago). .........................>>>>...............>>>>..................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00702&AppName=1
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Expansion breaks ground
Marv Cermak

It took about a dozen years to get going, but last week the Schenectady County Legislature was finally able to schedule a ground-breaking ceremony for the downtown library expansion.
Public sector ribbon-cutting is scheduled so the politicians can take bows and crow about something they could not have done without with your tax dollars. They are not timid or shy about this sort of thing.
Many politicians were present. Hey, wait a minute! Everywhere you looked there were only Democrats. Ah, shucks! The Dems, in control of the Legislature, somehow forgot to put the Republicans on the invitation list.
Assemblyman Jim Tedisco was the only Republican on the grounds. Come to find out he wasn't supposed to be there. By chance he came upon a library trustee who mentioned the event. The trustee said Tedisco could come but would not be allowed to speak.
GOP State Sen. Hugh Farley was also persona non grata. He was a bit put out because he landed a $367,000 state grant for the project. He also has chaired the Senate library subcommittee for 35 years.
It wasn't a snub, but instead just an oversight, I told Farley, tongue in cheek. "Oversight my foot,'' he retorted. "The Democrats don't invite the Republicans to anything that should be non-partisan. Just shows how small they really are.''


Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/defa.....72.php#ixzz1MbcdUgul
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Kevin March
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WORKING TOGETHER WORKS!


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rachel72
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Hope this turns out better than the $600,000 Trustco Bank purchase (now empty and no taxes being collected for years) and the Gillette House Welcoming Center (over $200K spent in environmental clean-up and renovations only to be sold for less than $50K to a private investor).
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Hope this turns out better than the $600,000 Trustco Bank purchase (now empty and no taxes being collected for years) and the Gillette House Welcoming Center (over $200K spent in environmental clean-up and renovations only to be sold for less than $50K to a private investor).
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benny salami
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Quoted from rachel72
Hope this turns out better than the $600,000 Trustco Bank purchase (now empty and no taxes being collected for years) and the Gillette House Welcoming Center (over $200K spent in environmental clean-up and renovations only to be sold for less than $50K to a private investor).


Millions for a small extension mainly for private office space. Architects have all panned the horrible design. Of course, a larger kiddie reading room where bums can sprawl out. We got this scaled down but this County can't afford any additional spending. This includes the Savage County Home that needs to be immediately trashed.
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Smoking Bananas
May 17, 2011, 9:40am Report to Moderator

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boy, u guys are really stretching it... have u ever been to a library before?


I love a good joke, that is why I come here.

Remember: B. slimey equals propaganda  


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DemocraticVoiceOfReason
May 17, 2011, 2:37pm Report to Moderator

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Quoted from Smoking Bananas
boy, u guys are really stretching it... have u ever been to a library before?


they would have to crawl out from under their rocks to go to a library .. and worse .. they might actually be exposed to facts and the TRUTH if they read a library book


George Amedore & Christian Klueg for NYS Senate 2016
Pete Vroman for State Assembly 2016[/size][/color]

"For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground."
Lyndon Baines Johnson
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benny salami
May 17, 2011, 7:35pm Report to Moderator
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You should spring for a dictionary and at least spell check. Again it's all about increasing public payrolls not improving the library. It's for the administrators.
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Tommy
May 18, 2011, 12:30am Report to Moderator

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How very "Schenectady" of them.

As per usual, Schenectady is putting whipped cream, and a cherry, on the top of a turd, and patting themselves on the back over their "achievement".

Wanna improve the library? CLEAN THE DAMNED BATHROOMS!!!
I'm not talking about the filth that happens in the course of one day either.
It makes the worst, most scummy bar that you could ever think of, at 4AM, look like a sterile operating environment.
Seriously, I've seen cleaner Port O'Johns at a biker rally.

I once used an old maintenance supervisor's trick, and left a wad of paper (with the date on it) on the floor, to see how long it would remain there.
EIGHT days later, it was still there, and probably longer, because I didn't come back to check, and I wasn't about to try to unfold my now urine soaked paper mache project.

Not in a million years, would ever I let a child use that bathroom unattended, as the last two times I used it, some guy would wander in, check his eyebrows in the mirror, and glance over to see if I was "interested".

Ya know what's fun too?
Using the computers with graffiti carved into the monitors, while listening to some welfare mom that has to YELL into her cell phone for 20 minutes, because she has one baby running around the room screaming, and banging things with her toy, while another, an infant, is crying for 20 minutes, and boat day childrens being ignored, becose she be rocking "MySpace" yo, while she shares a set of ear buds with her home girl, listening to Pee Doody's new joint.

UH HUH, DATS WHAT ICE TALKIN' BOUT!

Once upon a time, the Schenectady library was my solace. A fascinating place containing vast amounts of knowledge that you could surf long before the internet existed.
Every newspaper for the last 150 years, on microfilm, was worth the visit alone.

Currently, if I really want to read a book, I go online, and they deliver it to the Woodlawn branch, or I just buy it.







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CICERO
May 18, 2011, 6:09am Report to Moderator

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Quoted from Tommy
How very "Schenectady" of them.

As per usual, Schenectady is putting whipped cream, and a cherry, on the top of a turd, and patting themselves on the back over their "achievement".

Wanna improve the library? CLEAN THE DAMNED BATHROOMS!!!
I'm not talking about the filth that happens in the course of one day either.
It makes the worst, most scummy bar that you could ever think of, at 4AM, look like a sterile operating environment.
Seriously, I've seen cleaner Port O'Johns at a biker rally.

I once used an old maintenance supervisor's trick, and left a wad of paper (with the date on it) on the floor, to see how long it would remain there.
EIGHT days later, it was still there, and probably longer, because I didn't come back to check, and I wasn't about to try to unfold my now urine soaked paper mache project.

Not in a million years, would ever I let a child use that bathroom unattended, as the last two times I used it, some guy would wander in, check his eyebrows in the mirror, and glance over to see if I was "interested".

Ya know what's fun too?
Using the computers with graffiti carved into the monitors, while listening to some welfare mom that has to YELL into her cell phone for 20 minutes, because she has one baby running around the room screaming, and banging things with her toy, while another, an infant, is crying for 20 minutes, and boat day childrens being ignored, becose she be rocking "MySpace" yo, while she shares a set of ear buds with her home girl, listening to Pee Doody's new joint.

UH HUH, DATS WHAT ICE TALKIN' BOUT!

Once upon a time, the Schenectady library was my solace. A fascinating place containing vast amounts of knowledge that you could surf long before the internet existed.
Every newspaper for the last 150 years, on microfilm, was worth the visit alone.

Currently, if I really want to read a book, I go online, and they deliver it to the Woodlawn branch, or I just buy it.


AWSOME!!! - A+


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bumblethru
May 18, 2011, 2:44pm Report to Moderator
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Quoted from Tommy
How very "Schenectady" of them.

As per usual, Schenectady is putting whipped cream, and a cherry, on the top of a turd, and patting themselves on the back over their "achievement".

Wanna improve the library? CLEAN THE DAMNED BATHROOMS!!!
I'm not talking about the filth that happens in the course of one day either.
It makes the worst, most scummy bar that you could ever think of, at 4AM, look like a sterile operating environment.
Seriously, I've seen cleaner Port O'Johns at a biker rally.

I once used an old maintenance supervisor's trick, and left a wad of paper (with the date on it) on the floor, to see how long it would remain there.
EIGHT days later, it was still there, and probably longer, because I didn't come back to check, and I wasn't about to try to unfold my now urine soaked paper mache project.

Not in a million years, would ever I let a child use that bathroom unattended, as the last two times I used it, some guy would wander in, check his eyebrows in the mirror, and glance over to see if I was "interested".

Ya know what's fun too?
Using the computers with graffiti carved into the monitors, while listening to some welfare mom that has to YELL into her cell phone for 20 minutes, because she has one baby running around the room screaming, and banging things with her toy, while another, an infant, is crying for 20 minutes, and boat day childrens being ignored, becose she be rocking "MySpace" yo, while she shares a set of ear buds with her home girl, listening to Pee Doody's new joint.

UH HUH, DATS WHAT ICE TALKIN' BOUT!

Once upon a time, the Schenectady library was my solace. A fascinating place containing vast amounts of knowledge that you could surf long before the internet existed.
Every newspaper for the last 150 years, on microfilm, was worth the visit alone.

Currently, if I really want to read a book, I go online, and they deliver it to the Woodlawn branch, or I just buy it.


BRAVO Tommy!!! Can't AXE for more!


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
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Tommy
May 18, 2011, 3:51pm Report to Moderator

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Quoted from bumblethru


BRAVO Tommy!!! Can't AXE for more!


I heard that the makers of AXETM Body Spray, are about to release a new product, more taylored to the black demographic.

They's gonna call it ASKTM Body Spray.


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senders
May 19, 2011, 5:28pm Report to Moderator
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does everyone have their e-readers in place to receive their library borrowed books.......

what a waste of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

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bumblethru
May 19, 2011, 8:04pm Report to Moderator
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Quoted from senders
does everyone have their e-readers in place to receive their library borrowed books.......

what a waste of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$


Guess schenectady really has their finger on the pulse of the future.......NOT!!!!!


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
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senders
May 22, 2011, 5:49pm Report to Moderator
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It will be a 'daycare'/community center......let the local businesses buy plaques like they do for baseball....dont need taxpayer funds....


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

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Admin
February 14, 2012, 6:28am Report to Moderator
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Quoted Text
Construction zone: Schenectady County library expansion headed for spring completion
The Business Review by Michael DeMasi, Reporter
Date: Monday, February 13, 2012, 7:22am EST - Last Modified: Monday, February 13, 2012, 8:45am EST

The latest investment in downtown Schenectady, New York — an expansion of the public library headquarters — has been a long time coming.
Library supporters and local officials started talking about the need to expand and renovate the main branch more than a decade ago.
A master plan unveiled in late 1999 envisioned $8.3 million in improvements to the 1970s-era building.
Fast forward through many debates — and two recessions later — and a scaled-down version of the project is on its way to being finished.
Completion is expected in late spring..........................>>>>........................>>>>............http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/morning_call/2012/02/construction-zone-schenectady-county.html
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MobileTerminal
February 14, 2012, 6:40am Report to Moderator
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And in 5 years we can do it all over again.  Thank you taxpayers.
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bumblethru
February 14, 2012, 8:45am Report to Moderator
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Hey, I'm all for libraries and expansions!! Education is one of the key building blocks of our society.

I just take issue with spending millions of taxpayer's money on a project, when the entire area is crumbling under crime and failed infrastructure and high taxes. When residents are leaving the area in record numbers only to be replaced with drug dealers/addicts, welfare and section 8 recipients. When even the best of homes are not attracting home buyers. When a school system can't even graduate more then 50% of it's students who can read and write. When pitbull have become the pet of choice with nowhere to house the strays.

...............just saying.................


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
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Patches
February 14, 2012, 9:00am Report to Moderator
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AGREE BB
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senders
February 14, 2012, 5:15pm Report to Moderator
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yup....we'll do it again just for posterity......it's a podium puck feel good....


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

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