Editor’s Note: The following is a recap of news in Schenectady County from the second half of 2008. A recap of the first six months of 2008 appeared last week, Dec. 26. To view Spotlight Newspapers’ Year in Pictures 2008, click the link below
https://www.spotlightnews.com/gallery/view_all.php?category=In%20Your%20Community
July
A proposed resolution sponsored by the Schenectady County Legislature’s Republican minority would repeal the county’s sales tax on gasoline and home heating oil.
The resolution, sponsored by freshman Legislator Angelo Santabarbara, was submitted earlier in the month, but was not included in the agenda for July.
The measure would specifically mark electricity, gasoline, diesel fuel, fuel oil, natural gas and propane gas as exempt from the sales taxes collected and imposed by the county.
If passed, the resolution would require authorization by the state Legislature.
Fortitech, a global company that manufactures custom nutrient premixes, broke ground on a $4.5 million distribution center at the Schenectady County Airport in Glenville after closing on the property on Thursday, July 17.
The 20-acre site, which Fortitech purchased from the county for $1.05 million, will host a 48,000-square-foot building and will be part of the county’s new Airport Tech Park.
Fortitech spokesman Patrick Morris said he expected that construction of the center and seven truck bays would be completed by spring. Morris said the company would employ several energy cost-saving techniques.
The center will include 90 skylights, and electrical sensors will shut off lights when rooms in the new building aren’t occupied, said Morris.
When construction is complete, Morris said, the company expects to add approximately 25 jobs to the area. Those jobs will be spread out between the airport site and the Riverside Tech Park headquarters.
Severe damage to the county highway system due to a series of heavy rains and flash flooding left the county with a bill that totaled more than $3 million after the county was forced to declare a state of emergency on Wednesday, July 23.
August
Gov. David A. Paterson signed legislation Thursday, Aug. 7, to increase Schenectady Metroplex bonding authority from $50 million to $75 million.
The legislation, sponsored by Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, R-Schenectady, allows the authority to borrow more money for private investment in the county. It also prohibits elected officials and political party chairs from seeking employment with the Metroplex board.
A Boeing B-17 bomber touched down at the Empire State Aero Science Museum at the Schenectady County Airport Monday, Aug. 11.
Designed to carry 10 crew members, the plane carried four from Harrisburg, Pa., to Schenectady, where it ended its short stay at the museum Thursday, Aug. 14, when it took off to Lawrence, Mass.
Despite the severe thunderstorms that caused damage across the Capital District, Schenectady County saw no federal assistance for storm-related repairs.
`It is an extreme financial burden to the county,` said William VanHoesen, county director of emergency management. `We are in tight budgetary times, and here is this expense that we can’t get any assistance with.`
VanHoesen said every county and state must meet a damage threshold in order to qualify for federal assistance. He said while the county has reached its $460,000 threshold with more than $3 million worth of damage, the state has not yet reached its $23 million threshold, and therefore, the county will not see any relief.
September
The Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation was again awarded $200,000 from the state Main Street grant for improvements in downtown Schenectady.
The funding can be applied to residential and commercial projects on lower State Street between Erie Boulevard and Washington Avenue and South Ferry from Erie to State.
`The new grant will help us jump start efforts to revitalize lower State Street in conjunction with Metroplex,` said Jim Salengo, executive director of DSIC.
Metroplex Development Authority is considering purchasing a 260,000-square-foot facility in the Rotterdam Corporate Park for use by the Galesi Group.
The facility, also known as Building 14, is owned by the state and was formerly used as a bakery and warehouse until 1995 when the state worked to privatize public services.
According to Marc Violette, spokesman for the Dormitory Authority, the state is considering an offer by Metroplex for $1 million.
`We consider that to be a legitimate offer based on our evaluation of Building 14,` Violette said.
However, Violette said the Office of General Services is looking at the building for uses by the state. He said there is no fixed deadline for a state decision.
If purchased, Metroplex would turn the building over to the Galesi Group for leasing of the space.
October
At the Schenectady County Legislature meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 14, legislators discussed the 2009 proposed operating budget, which was passed on to them on Wednesday, Oct. 2. The proposed budget included a 12.9 percent property tax increase. Schenectady County Legislature had until Saturday, Nov. 1, to make modifications and adopt a final budget.
`The 2009 budget was the most difficult budget we’ve put together in many years,` said Kathleen Rooney, Schenectady County manager, in a written statement. `This budget reflects the fiscal dilemma facing Schenectady County and other counties across New York state.`
On Thursday, Oct. 23, Chairwoman of the Schenectady County Legislature Susan Savage, D-Niskayuna, proposed a law that would ban text messaging while driving. If passed, offenders could face fines as early as December.
`We want to put something in place before one of these communities has a fatality,` said Savage.
County lawmakers said they hope the legislation would raise awareness among drivers about the hazards of driving while text messaging.
A grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation will help six students obtain their GEDs and train to become emergency medical technicians at the Mohawk Ambulance Service in Schenectady.
The $50,000 grant was awarded to the Northeast Parent and Child Society’s YouthBuild Schenectady Program, during a ceremony at Mohawk Ambulance Service, Thursday, Sept. 11.
Students accepted into the program had to attend a group informational session, find an adult sponsor, complete an application, take a test of adult basic education and interview with staff.
After months of looking near and far for a new chief of the Scotia Village Fire Department, village officials were told that the position will have to be awarded to a current village firefighter. The Schenectady County Civil Service Commission ruled that the village must choose a new chief from within the department. According to village officials, the commission’s decision was based on the fact that there are a number of candidates within the department who are qualified to fill former Chief Richard Kasko’s position.
That ruling was good news to Ken Almy, president of the Scotia Permanent Fireman’s Association.
`We are confident that one of the people chosen from the department will be able to do the job,` said Almy.
November
The leaves are brown and there’s a chill in the air, but on Sundays in the Electric City, farm-fresh goods will be available year-round at the Schenectady Greenmarket, which will be held inside Proctors.
The idea for the Schenectady Greenmarket, which kicked off Sunday, Nov. 2, started when Richard Shave, who is on the board of the Troy Farmers’ Market, contacted Schenectady City Council member Barbara Blanchard because he thought there was a need for one in Schenectady.
`I got really, really jealous of the Troy market. I wanted it in my city,` said Shave, who is chairman of the Schenectady Greenmarket.
The winter market, which opened Sunday, Nov. 2, will take place every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. through April 26, inside the Proctors arcade.
The summer market will take place outside Proctors beginning Sunday, May 3, through Oct. 25. For information, visit www.schenectadygreenmarket.org or call Barbara Blanchard at 375-1956.
`We’re Schenectady. We make things happen. We’re very proud of ourselves,` said Shave.
The 21st Congressional District will continue to be represented by Democrats, a more than five-decade tradition, with Paul Tonko’s Election Day victory. Tonko defeated Republican Jim Buhrmaster by a large margin, garnering 149,377 votes versus Buhrmaster’s 89,502. Phil Steck, who challenged Tonko in the Democratic primary, earned 7,214 votes on the Independence Party line.
Tonko will fill the seat to be vacated by Democrat Michael McNulty, who has held the position for 20 years and will be retiring in January.
Tonko ran on the Democratic and Working Families lines, with Buhrmaster on the GOP and Conservative lines in the district that contains all of Albany, Montgomery, Schenectady and Schoharie counties, as well as parts of Fulton, Rensselaer and Saratoga counties.
Republican George Amedore defeated Democrat Mark Blanchfield for state Assembly in the 105th District, keeping his seat for his first full term. The district represents Schenectady and Montgomery counties. Unofficial results show Amedore won with 62 percent of the vote, garnering 27,326 votes versus 16,686 for Blanchfield. The district had previously been a Democratic stronghold.
`I feel extremely blessed and honored to have the overwhelming support of the entire Assembly district, and the size of the victory and the mandate that the electorate has put into this race ` especially in the amount of voters that turned out this past election. It speaks volumes for our democracy. Again, I am honored and privileged to be serving all of the people of the 105th Assembly district and I look forward to continuing to do so in this next full term,` said Amedore.
December
The Glen Sanders Mansion, one of the most visible Scotia landmarks and the first thing drivers see when they approach the village from Schenectady, will undergo a $1 million renovation to be completed by spring. The historic building and restaurant, which has been owned and operated by area businessman Angelo Mazzone for the past 20 years, will see a number of upgrades in the coming year, resulting from a business plan created in conjunction with Union College business students.
The Schenectady City Council narrowly approved a new sales tax agreement with the county at the city’s Monday, Dec. 1, meeting, with proponents saying it provides some economic stability for the city and opponents warning that it could prevent the chance for growth.
The agreement, which the council passed in a 4-to-3 vote, is effective immediately and replaces one written a decade ago that expired on Nov. 30. In it, the city gives up the right to collect any additional sales tax revenues if the county takes in more than $83.5 million. County officials do not expect to meet that threshold this year. The new agreement provides the city of Schenectady with a set $11 million each year, as well as $25,000 in sales tax revenues each year for the next four years. That amount is in addition to what the city receives from Metroplex, 30 percent of which is distributed to the towns, which are guaranteed a set $772,064 each year under the agreement.
Under the previous agreement, the towns shared $7.772 million and Schenectady Metroplex received 70 percent of one-half of the sales tax while the other 30 percent went to the towns. After these payments were made, the county collected a tax for itself with a threshold of up to $83.5 million. If the tax exceeded that threshold, the excess would have been distributed to the city, county and towns.
News reports from across the country are saying the same thing: More people than ever this year went to food banks and soup kitchens to help feed themselves and their families this month, especially on Thanksgiving. The news was similar in Schenectady County.
`It’s pretty much across the board. It’s what I think you would expect in this type of economy,` said Mark Quandt, director of the Regional Food Bank.
`We’ve never seen anything quite like this. It’s a combination of the economy struggling and prices increasing dramatically for basic necessities like fuel and food, and that’s really put a tremendous strain on a lot of people,` said Quandt.
Quandt said that the Regional Food Pantry, which provides food to other organizations such as soup kitchens, had a hard time keeping up with the increased demand.
The Scotia-Glenville high school gym was not squeaking with the sounds of basketball shoes, but was instead being used as a temporary shelter after more than 35,000 Schenectady County residents lost power in an overnight ice storm on Thursday and Friday, Dec. 11 and 12.
While many Scotia-Glenville residents did not lose power, they provided relief to harder-hit neighbors like Niskayuna and Rotterdam.
About 30 people spent the night at the high school on Friday, according to Siobhan Kent, communications associate for New York’s Northeastern division of the Red Cross. Kent said the school was a safe central location that still had the lights on and was able to provide a warm place for people, particularly the elderly and those with young children.“