Dem power brokers shouldn’t be dealing away taxpayer money

Friday, August 2, 2013
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Dem power brokers shouldn’t be dealing away taxpayer money

“Working together works” is the rallying cry of the local Democratic machine. For those in the power structure, it does; for others, it clearly does not.

A case in point: The recent Schenectady City Council decision, orchestrated by Mayor Gary McCarthy, to give the Galesi Corp. $500,000 of taxpayer money to tear down the former Social Services building on Nott Street, fails the smell test [July 16 Gazette].

Galesi, which has done excellent work that has clearly improved the city, should never have been awarded the funds. With more competition, a grant would never have been proposed.

Besides, as only a few people in Schenectady know, Omni Development first came up with the idea of approaching the governor to help the city in the late 1990s, an idea that resulted in the creation of Metroplex and the revival of downtown. Why not include Omni and others in a bidding process to reduce costs? (By way of full disclosure, I received contributions from the heads of both corporations during my 2011 mayoral campaign.)

If things had progressed as planned in the mid-1990s, we would never have been burdened by this decision. At the time, the county had committed to sell the building to Union College for a dollar. The college, in turn, agreed to renovate the building at its expense, including its remediation (the building contained asbestos), and it suggested locating the then-proposed Schenectady High School International Baccalaureate program in the building and giving those students access to Union’s facilities. The transfer never happened. Why, I do not know.

As to whether Union was ever approached before the “sale” of the facility to Galesi, I also do not know.

What I do know is there is no justification for giving a private corporation $500,000 of public money. And what I also know is that if we had a city council with more members like Vince Riggi, more individuals independent of the political machine, more individuals whose political well-being was not tied to machine politicians like the mayor and Chris Gardner (the county attorney who runs the machine), we would not be financially burdened with indefensible decisions like this one.

If ever there was a time to rise up in opposition, to “vote the bums out,” this horrible, unjustifiable giveaway is it.



The writer founded the Alliance Party and was its unsuccessful candidate for mayor in 2011.

Voting Rights Act needs restoration by Congress

As the summer heat began to build in Washington, the Supreme Court issued a much-anticipated decision which gutted key components of the monumental Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965.


Before the ink was even dry on the decision, several states rushed to implement racially discriminatory anti-voter laws, including several states where the League of Women Voters had previously succeeded in blocking voter restrictions in the courts and state legislatures. Sadly, this is only the beginning. Without a strong Voting Rights Act, our ability to fight off anti-voter legislation and keep our elections free, fair and accessible is significantly weakened.

As we approach the 48th anniversary of this historic civil rights legislation, the Voting Rights Act remains an essential protection against the thinly veiled discrimination that still threatens Americans’ right to vote. Congress needs to move swiftly to overcome this decision and restore the effectiveness of the Voting Rights Act. The Shelby decision is a call to action for all who believe all Americans should have fair and equal access to the ballot.


Carol Furman


The writer is the Steering Committee leader for the League of Women Voters of Schenectady.

Solar power a better deal for businesses

Dave Rakvica’s July 28 letter, “Great that Stewart’s is going solar, but the math doesn’t work,” stated a bunch of numbers he did not explain. They are very critical of solar and makes solar look like a bad deal for everyone.

The numbers he used are a $1.4 million cost for a system producing 620,000 kilowatts per year, and a $40,000 savings for going solar. I don’t know where he gets his electricity, but with National Grid and most other companies, for commercial use it can run as high as 29 cents per kilowatt to as low as maybe 16 cents. (These prices are from a commercial building I owned.)

At these prices, the saving would be between 0.29 times 620,000 (equaling $179,800) and 0.16 times 620,000 (equaling $99,200). The big swing in numbers is because commercial customers pay an on-demand rate that is a lot higher than residential and varies depending on the time of day.

With these numbers, you can see that the return would be between seven to 14 years — a much more reasonable time. Even in home rates, you pay eight cents for usage and six cents for delivery and then a tax on that which brings the average up to something like 15 to 18 cents a kilowatt.

If you want to figure your saving with solar, figure the saved cost. Do this by taking your total bill and divide it by the amount of kilowatts used. This will give you the real cost of your electricity. These numbers are from my experience with solar and electric companies.

I have no contact with Stewart’s; they are the ones who know what kind of deal they got.

James Donohue


Young teens should have to set career goals

I recommend that parents and school advisers ask each teenager, at the age of 13, what job or career he or she would like when they become an adult. The reason is to assure that a maximum number of our teenagers have started or will start thinking at that age about their future into adulthood and citizenship.

Let us start, beginning at age 13, with formalizing a goal for each child to have a job or career when they become adults. The choice will be considered and reviewed by the child’s parents and school advisers, with the teenager, for practicality.

The child may ask, why pick a job or career? The response by parents (and/or advisers) should be, “when you grow up, you will need a job for food, clothes and a place to sleep!” Further response: “For higher-paying jobs, you will have money left for a new cellphone, an iPhone, a car, whatever.”

The school follows with a school curriculum that is compatible, as reasonable as possible, to the goal set by the child. At least once a year, parents and school advisers will review with the child whether they still have the same job goal. At age 18 or 19, the now-organized “student” graduates from high school and advances — whether to an immediate job, a job requiring additional training, or one requiring study in college.

The extent of achievement of worthy goals by our youth determines the future of America.

Healthy teenagers who refuse to set worthy goals and/or study within America’s school system should be separated from regular schools and disciplined accordingly.

Gerald R. Bosley


Western Gateway Bridge workers doing a good job

I travel through the construction on Western Gateway Bridge between Schenectady and Scotia daily.

I must admit that I dread the inconvenience, backups, the unhappy drivers trying to squeeze into a single lane and, generally, the thought that the bridge was defective.

It is still an ongoing, long-term project, but the switch to the other side of the bridge came this week. In the middle of it all, the bridge workers seem unaffected by the many difficult challenges they face daily, are very organized and have truly kept the project moving right along.


Patti Ellis


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August 2, 2013
6:25 a.m.
Phils2008 says...

Carol, your opinion is very similar to when you Liberal Democrats shout "we support the troops". You really don't, but you like to hear yourselves say it. Free, Fair and accessible? The only part Democrats care about is accessible. You're absolutely fine with inconveniencing, blocking and losing votes from the military, but you're outraged if illegal immigrants can't vote in US elections. Free? Not sure how you make that argument. You have no issue with illegals being given a drivers license. In fact you demand it, but ask that a voter ID card be issued and you're apoplectic. The cost of either is negligible. Fair? If these illegals all voted Republican and they demanded no voter ID, I think your head would explode. Accessible? The only places I've ever seen that had access issues were where you had your Black Panthers stationed to intimate the un-indoctrinated. Sorry Carol, but your phoney liberal concern for voters is as phoney as your support for our troops.

August 2, 2013
7 a.m.
wmarincic says...

Carol Furman is that like the New Black Panther Party standing outside of a Philly polling place in full uniform with a baseball bat? You fail to mention all of the voter intimidation during the Obama election. Liberalism is transparent to anyone with a brain. The problems with socialism (liberalism) is you eventually run out of other peoples money (Margaret Thatcher)

August 2, 2013
8:54 a.m.
justapto says...

Mr. Roger Hull; you still have many, many supporters and friends.
Please stay involved and active. It was a sorry state of affairs when this current regime stole the election by unethical use of influence, power and antics.
'Won't get fooled agin" in the immortal words of George Bush.
Open the invitation for supporters and watch your headquarters get flooded this time.

August 2, 2013
8:57 a.m.
albright1 says...

James Donahue

I think you have a slight reading comprehension issue. The David Rakvica letter used the numbers from the original article, which were provided by Stewarts. So you can not dispute Mr. Rakvica's position.

As is always the case with solar power installations, they are completely not cost effective until we the taxpayer pays for almost half of the project. Even then, the payback period is well beyond the useful life of the equipment.

We do not have the money at either the state level or federal level to continue throwing it away on this crap.

August 3, 2013
3:19 a.m.
janesjoys says...

wmarincic and phils2008- it would be really interesting to hear what you guys think for once instead of what you believe that the the letter writers think. Have no worries, though. If the red states succeed, we will soon revert to the Founder's idea of equality. Oh, I know we have those pesky amendments, but a totally red government will soon repeal those along with any other laws that advance true equality for all.

August 3, 2013
7:51 a.m.
Phils2008 says...

janesjoys, what are these "racially discriminatory anti-voter laws"? It would be interesting to hear you explain that in a "factual" context rather then your usual imaginary diatribe. Is it generally accepted that illegals will vote 80% democrat? Yes I believe that's the number getting bantered about. You and the rest of your liberal comrades can pretend you have some altruistic motivation but the "fact" is, the DNC and its minions of puppet heads have a more sinister motive. I respond to what a letter writer writes. What they write is what they think. It is a challenge given liberals penchant for irrational thought that undermines the very existence of this once great country.

August 3, 2013
1:38 p.m.
janesjoys says...

I guess you learn something everyday. Didn't realize illegal immigrants could vote, democratic or republican!!!! Check out the Texas voter laws being passed that reduce the number of poling places in one district so that 50,000 hispanic and black voters have one poling place and the whites now have only one place as well, for 5,000 or so voters. Not much discrimination there. And that is just one small example. Try researching what is happening in this country. What you seem to call altruistic, I call just plain fair and equal. Just what is our sinister liberal motive???

August 3, 2013
2:55 p.m.
Phils2008 says...

janesjoys, I tried to confirm it but could not find anything verifying your claimed numbers. Is Texas reducing the number of polling places? Yes, that much I did confirm. Does that mean discrimination? According to a liberal,yes. You of course wont address any of the reasons why they are doing it. Reasons such as cost, and low voter turnout. Liberals are more concerned with keeping the number of polling places as high as possible. That provides them much more opportunity for fraud. You do what liberals do, just throw unsubstantiated numbers out there and claim it as some sort of evidence. You didn't know illegals could vote! Are you an ostrich? Is there a sand pile all around you? LMAO. I suppose you didn't know dead people could vote either!

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