Quoted Text

Green activists press Stratton
Conservation league sends

By BRIAN NEARING, Staff writer
First published: Thursday, September 4, 2008
'act now' message; mayor points to city's efforts

     
SCHENECTADY -- A New York City-based environmental group that helped re-elect Mayor Brian U. Stratton last year wants voters to urge the mayor to commit to fighting climate change.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the New York League of Conservation Voters was careful in describing its motivation behind a glossy, four-color flier mailed to 10,000 households last week that urged Stratton to "act now" on the league's six-point package.

Stratton said he was "puzzled" by the flier, which he called "a little unfair, giving the impression to the uninformed that I have been sitting around on my thumbs doing nothing."

The mayor pointed to city efforts to build environmentally friendly low-income housing, conduct an energy audit to identify conservation measures, and use methane energy from the sewage plant to help power the facility.

The city also has built a new green-certified fleet garage, replaced traffic signals with energy-efficient light-emitting diodes and added insulation to its buildings. Stratton said the changes have reduced the city's carbon footprint by 4 percent since he took office, which is more than halfway to a 7 percent goal by 2012.

League spokesman Dan Hendrick said his group had a good relationship with Stratton and praised his efforts so far. He said the league turned to a public campaign only to "energize" voters behind a comprehensive climate-change package.

The league wants commitments to an all-hybrid city fleet by 2012, use of clean fuel in all city buildings, creation of city "green building standards," a citywide tree planting campaign, and more emphasis on attracting green industries and new development near mass transit lines.

When Stratton successfully ran for re-election in 2007, he was one of only three local officials statewide who got campaign backing from the league, which was rebuilding political clout after years of flagging influence.

After the campaign, Stratton estimated the league's campaign mailings and telephone banks were probably worth $50,000 to his campaign.

"I was dumbfounded that they would promote me as the champion of green energy and on the other hand seem to send a message that I have not done anything," Stratton said.

"The city's efforts have been spread around, and we would like them to package it into one theme," countered Hendrick. "We want to make sure the city stays on the right track."

A return postcard included with the flier used the phrase directed at Stratton that "it's time for Schenectady to develop a plan."

Hendrick said the league so far has received about 100 return postcards and will submit them to Stratton.

Nearing can be reached at 454-5094 or by e-mail at bnearing@timesunion.com.

Quoted Text

Dimension Fabricators to add 14K square feet to Sch'dy facility
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
By Michael Lamendola (Contact)
Gazette Reporter

SCHENECTADY — Dimension Fabricators will construct a 14,000-square-foot addition to its facility on Maxon Road Extension, eventually adding four jobs to its 40-person staff, officials announced Wednesday.

Dimension will also purchase manufacturing equipment, overhead cranes and add 300 feet of new rail as part of its investment. Construction will start in November.

The city of Schenectady Industrial Development Agency on Wednesday granted tax breaks to the company to help lower its overall costs, said Ray Gillen, chairman of the Metroplex Development Authority. Metroplex administers the city and county IDAs.

Dimension will receive an exemption on sales tax for construction materials and supplies and an exemption from the mortgage recording tax.

The company is financing the $1.5 million project through private means, Gillen said. “It’s a good little company,” he said.

Quoted Text

SCHENECTADY COUNTY
Funds to keep kids out of trouble
County expanding effort to fight youth crime, truancy
structured free-time activities.”
BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Michael Lamendola at 395-3114 or lamend@dailygazette.com.

    Schenectady County is expanding a program to crack down on truancy and crime among at-risk youths, officials announced.
    The Schenectady County Department of Probation will use federal Weed and Seed funds to operate the youth crime reduction program three nights a week, targeting 30 teenagers. It will run the program for 12 weeks at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Schenectady’s Steinmetz satellite office.
    The Weed and Seed money, totaling $10,000, will pay overtime for juvenile probation officers to provide the one-hour training and to conduct truancy checks.
    This is the first time county probation has offered the program at night. It has run a similar program during the day for the past year within city schools, said Deputy Director of Probation Joseph Mancini.
    “We hope to remove the criminal element and replace it with something positive,” Mancini told Schenectady County legislators Tuesday night. The Legislature is expected to vote to accept the Weed and Seed money at its regular meeting Tuesday.
    “It is a model program that teaches moral reasoning, social skills and anger management,” Mancini said.
    Officials at Mont Pleasant School, where the program is already in place, have seen a marked behavioral difference in children there, Mancini said. Children are mandated to attend as part of their probation. “We will track the kids and see how they do,” he said.
    The county probation department decided to offer the program at night because the time is more convenient for children to attend, Mancini said. “It’s tough to get a kid to come in three times a week. Here, we have a captive audience,” he said.
    The Weed and Seed money will also allow probation officers to ensure that students attend school as part of their probation.
    Mancini said the county probation department supervises 98 youths who live within the Weed and Seed target area, primarily the Hamilton Hill and Vale neighborhoods.
    “Many youths lack opportunities to participate in youth development activities either due to the lack of knowledge, resources or adult supervision,” Mancini said. “This program will seek to address that risk factor as well as provide youths with opportunities to give back to the community and participate in free time activities.

Quoted Text

TrustCo moving Central Avenue branch
Tuesday, September 2, 2008

ALBANY — At a time when financial institutions are increasingly turning to “unbanked” consumers for growth, TrustCo Bank Corp is opening shop at a busy intersection just outside the city’s Arbor Hill neighborhood.

TrustCo next month plans to relocate a branch at 163 Central Ave. in Albany and open it in the wedge-shaped building at the corner of Henry Johnson Boulevard and Central. The opening will come about 30 months after a car crashed into the Flatiron-style building’s vacant storefront, killing its driver and concluding an early morning police chase.

Banners announcing the new branch were recently hung outside the building, but TrustCo Vice President and Treasurer Kevin Timmons said the bank does not plan to use it to specifically target consumers who lack savings or checking accounts.

“We just want to have a fair shot at getting new customers,” said Timmons.

Attempting to tap into the nation’s unbanked demographic, the KeyBank in 2007 announced a check cashing service for consumers without bank accounts. The Cleveland-based bank rolled out its low-fee check cashing service called KeyBank Plus in seven metropolitan regions, including at 20 offices around Albany.

SEFCU has also courted the city’s unbanked by opening in 2004 a branch on Clinton Avenue, providing Arbor Hill with its first new financial institution in recent memory.

Quoted Text

‘No-show’ Brucker shouldn’t be on council

Schenectady City Councilwoman Denise Brucker has done it again. She skipped a city council meeting on Aug. 11, making it four out of 12 council meetings she has missed in the last six months.
I was told that Ms. Brucker was initially appointed to a vacant council seat because “she had experience.” Therefore, she was well aware of the duties and responsibilities of an office holder. Absenteeism isn’t one of them. Time is needed to serve as a council member. Over the past six months, Ms. Brucker has demonstrated that she is unable to fulfill her council duties.
A former councilman resigned his offi ce because he physically assaulted a fellow citizen. Ms. Brucker’s “no-show” status is a financial assault on the city’s treasury. Payment for no work is unacceptable.
Ms. Brucker’s resignation is in order and her fellow council members should ask for it. Their silence would mean complicity.
MARY MCCLAINE
Schenectady
The writer ran unsuccessfully for a city council seat in 2005.