Schenectady must fix parking problem
Neil Golub can go on and on about the New Schenectady, touting the wonderful improvements in the Electric City.
City officials can pat themselves on the back about the great businesses that have sprung up.
Yes, Schenectady is doing well, but there is one glaring, major problem — the lack of parking. Not the lack of spaces; there are hundreds of them available. But all for a price.
Until very recently, one could park for an hour free (down from two) in the many lots sprinkled around the city. And if you wanted to park closer to a business, you could pump a few quarters into the many meters found on the street.
But now? One has to download the parking app, hunt for a sign indicating what zone you’re in, and hope you can navigate a non-user-friendly system.
But wait — don’t bother trying to use it — it never works! And if you don’t have the app, you can always stand on the street searching for a green station and then trudge over to it and hope you can figure out how it works.
This situation is totally unacceptable. It is not fair to the business owners who have contributed mightily towards the resurgence Mr. Golub brags about. And it is not fair to the customers who want to experience the many new shopping and dining opportunities in Schenectady. Until this untenable situation is addressed, I would suggest toning down the self-congratulatory talk.
Christine Witkowski
Scotia
Take steps to deter holiday porch pirates
Porch pirate season is upon us again. Not that stealing packages off of porches is only happening around the holidays, but it seems to increase.
I found a package addressed to a neighbor around the corner from his house, it had been opened and dropped.
Obviously, they had not found anything they wanted in the box.
So if you’re friendly with your neighbors, it might be a good idea to have them keep an eye out for any deliveries and keep it safe until you get home.
If you have a PO box and a company won’t ship to PO boxes, the local post office has an address you can use and still pick it up there.
And some companies will also pack in plain boxes, without identifying markings, like Amazon. So watch out for each other and enjoy the holidays.
Jeannette Kenneally
Schenectady
Rules for commenting:
The Gazette will not tolerate name-calling; profanity, threats; accusations of racism, mental illness or intoxication; spreading of false or misleading information; libel or other inappropriate language in any form, and readers may not make any such comments about or directly to specific individuals.
Readers who violate the policy will be warned and then banned.
GAZETTE COVERAGE
Ensure access to everything we do, today and every day, check out our subscribe page at DailyGazette.com/SubscribeMore from The Daily Gazette:
DOWN TO BUSINESS: Stories persist about spotty broadband in New York state
Letter to the Editor: Set reasonable and safe speed limits
Waite: Mohonasen school board member provides microphone for fear-mongering
EDITORIAL: Make prescription drug prices more transparent
Letters to the Editor Wednesday, March 22 - Five, from readers in Ballston, Clifton Park, Niskayuna,...
Categories: Letters to the Editor, Opinion, Opinion
23 Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Some participants on this forum seem to confuse calls for election reform with election denial. It is within any citizen’s rights to call for the elimination of the electoral college; to petition the government to amend the Constitution by calling for presidential elections to be determined by the popular vote count.
I favor direct election of the president. I also believe campaigns should be publicly funded so candidates couldn’t be bought and controlled by large donors, even if they are disguised as PAC’s. Many candidates favor these reforms but accept the results from the current system. They do not plot to illegally stay in office or encourage violence to that end. They participate in the peaceful transfer of power without claiming fraud and calling for the suspension of the Constitution.
Election deniers claim that they were cheated out of victory within the framework of the current election system. Interestingly, they only claim fraud in elections they or their endorsed candidates lose.
This obvious example of a narcissist denying the results of an election is illustrative of my point:
The Washington Post reports: 12/4
“The White House issued a stern rebuke on Saturday after former president Donald Trump suggested suspending the Constitution in his ongoing crusade to discredit the results of the 2020 election. “Attacking the Constitution and all it stands for is anathema to the soul of our nation and should be universally condemned,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement, calling the Constitution a “sacrosanct document.”
Trump’s message on the Truth Social platform reiterated the baseless claims he has made since 2020 that the election was stolen. But he went further by suggesting that the country abandon one of its founding documents. “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” Trump wrote.”
Mr Santos I’m sure you recognize that Mr Trumps dump of nonsense yesterday was encouraged by his enabler Elon musk a billionaire who suddenly found the `evidence`in the Twitter archives of the plotting that went on only the truly gullible would rally around this con artists and support dicarding the constitution as the damsel suggests. Better yet we are promised more of a dump today I’m sure many will flush this nonsense in the same manner they flushed the Damsels failed reign! Let the raging begin!
Downtown Parking: Thank you, Christine Witkowski. Metrolplex and the City Planning Office have set us up for parking woes by waiving or reducing the parking space requirements in the City Code to please favored developers of apartment buildings. They spout “justifications” like “it will make downtown more walkable” if apartment residents have to search for parking spots. Expect lots of double parking on narrow and busy streets, and watch rent for private parking increase significantly.
Within a few days of saying we need a parking study, Planning Bd. chairman Mary Wallinger pushed through adding a 4th floor to the building at 501 State St. The parking spaces suggested for its tenants (across State St. off Clinton, behind 500 State) have so far been promised to two large medical practices and the upcoming Milan Cafe.
By the Way: It now costs $2/hr. to park on State Street, while the County gives free parking to those 100K patrons coming to see the Van Gogh exhibit, which is described in thousands of website ads as being “in Albany.”
P.S. Let’s not forget City Council’s role in the parking mess. State laws say the Council sets parking fees, but in 2013, the McCarthy Council gave all power over rates to the Mayor or his designatee, with no provisions (as others cities have) outlining the factors to be applied. The only limitation is a max. fee of $2 an hour. And, if you complain about a parking problem, you are told Metroplex is managing our lots.
Meanwhile, Passport Parking brags about how easy it is to extend your time at a downtown spot from wherever you are having lunch, etc. That stymies the rollover of spots that businesses and other customers used to count on.
City Council, take back the authority and responsibility of set parking rates and policies!
Interesting news. Snowden gets a Russian passport. During the Obama Administration, Snowden released over 7,000 top secret documents maybe more but 7,000 known. Now he has a Russian passport? Well that’s interesting. Funny this happens while two Socialist presidents were in office.
On another note the Marl-a-lago raid, The attorney’s for Trump was refused a copy of the original warrant that was not redacted. The 4th amendment regardless of who the person is allowed to see the search warrant. Why are they redacting the warrant? Was due process not followed?
NY A.G. James trying to shut down certain social media sites like Rumble, Twitter and others that go against the Socialist agenda and violate first amendment rights.
Also D.O.J. and FBI found to cover up the Hunter Biden firearm debacle. The more this goes on the more they change the story.
Once again the current administration involved with cover-up like the Socialist continue to do.
Also just in Ukraine Zelensky creates a law that if you deny the governments position on the war. The government can seize your property. They also now control the media and social media and only what the government clears is what the citizens see. The Socialist of America love this guy. The Holly-wierd, elitist and Biden administration supports this. I think I am beginning to see a trend with the socialist in charge with trampling our constitution and violating our rights. The NAZI state of the Biden’s administration with the DOJ and FBI is becoming more clear each day.
Let’s go Brandie on a more comical note Damsel Donnie called for tearing up the constitution…. rage on Brandie
F—Joe Biden, Ukraine is a democratic nation fighting a desperate war against a much larger and more powerful invader, Putin’s Russia. The very definition of treason in our Constitution is giving “aid and comfort” to an enemy during a war. Governments at war often assume extraordinary power to limit civil rights of treasonous citizens that could interfere with the war effort.
Have you seen how anti-war protesters are treated in Putin’s autocratic Russia? Do you support the aggressor in this war, Russia, which is trying to take land from a democratic nation on its border, Ukraine? Do you realize Russia aims to destroy Ukrainian sovereignty and is targeting civilians and infrastructure in an attempt to break their will to fight?
But wait! The Orange Dear Leader, to borrow from Christophe, “the damsel in distress,” likes Putin, the “savvy genius.” In fact he likes Russian autocracy so much he wants to create an American system modeled after Russia, with himself at the helm. Providence, help us.
As for the rest of your tirade, I don’t know what point you are trying to make. In fact, I don’t know what you are talking about, but then, neither do you.
You would be so much more credible if you understood the maning of the word, “Socialist”.
What’s funny is you, and your fellow yappers and ankle-biters, continually, and proudly showing everyone how ill-informed you are.
David I totally agree with you regarding the debacle that is our city council. The inept council filled with members that are not looking out for the citizens of Schenectady. The city council needs an overhaul and elect qualified canidates that have relative experience to help the city. I walk the city often and see the parking issues constantly not to mention if there is a show at Proctors it’s a poop show for navigation. The metroplex and planning for the high rise apartments was not very well thought out. The people moving in will have to have transportation as the inner city of Schenectady has no grocery stores. The city of Schenectady has put the cart before the horse and these new apartments going up will be in the end for low income housing. I have nothing against low income housing but it seems interesting that there was just a town hall on the subject. I am going to go out on a limb and say the new apartments will be just that.
L-G-B, As dysfunctional as our current Council may seem, to me (a lifelong Democrat), it was worse when Mayor McCarthy had a solid bobbing-head majority that asked no questions, did not seek public input, and just said yes to whatever the Mayor wanted.
Mr. Brandon 🤡 digging real deep in that bag of republican go to …Edward Snowden ! A blast from the past ! Are you going to Bring back Benghazi now …or maybe Hillary’s emails? Hilarious !……I was hoping you would take the day off today. You really are worn down …resy up the rest of the day
Mr Varoma at least lets go brandy is entertaining in his fake outrageI was laughing for a good two minutes after reading his brain dump. It was just like watching Fox ‘not news’ for an hour. Lets go Brandy its another swing and a miss!
So, after 48 hours of yet another in a long series of rightwing hyperventilating about the “Next Great Owning the Libs” extravaganza, wherein Elmo Musk and his Hunter Thompson wannabee cohort promise this will be the stone that takes down the Democratic Goliath, the release of all those juicy bits amounts to efforts to prevent Twitter from releasing embarrassing pictures of the President’s son. The smell of scandal…seems so far away now.
Talk about a non-starter. Wilted like the Hostas along my driveway.
What’s next Repubs? Seems like you have a perfect record now of failing. Or have we missed a win somewhere?
It’s been a less than glorious weekend for the damsel Donnie minions but at least Let’s go brandie gave it a try guess little Stevie and BM Decided not to embarass themselves any furthe today Musks motivations are questionable at best and why are they so hot to see those hunter Biden pics? Let’s go Brandie!
The NY Post has already published the HB pictures of him drugged out, in a bathtub in his underwear. Briefs or boxers maybe could be reveled on twitter. The naked ones if I did twitter would probably pass on anyway. Getting pretty desperate to own the libs are we? As for the gun and tax charges as EXPLAINED many times on here it is in the hands of a Trump appointed prosecutor in Maryland.
To the question from ChuckD “You would be so much more credible if you understood the meaning of the word, “Socialist”.
“The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.” Wayne Dyer
When will they ever learn how they sound to and informed and objective American? From ABC news:
“Republican Rep. Dave Joyce said Sunday that he didn’t want to be drawn into commenting on Donald Trump’s recent call to suspend the Constitution over baseless claims of 2020 election fraud. “I will support whoever the Republican nominee is,” Joyce said.
“That’s a remarkable statement,” Stephanopoulos said. “You just said you’d support a candidate who’s come out for suspending the Constitution. You can’t come out against someone who’s for suspending the Constitution?” Stephanopoulos pushed back once again.
“He says a lot of things that, but that doesn’t mean that it’s ever going to happen. So you got to accept fact from fantasy — and fantasy is that we’re going to suspend the Constitution and go backwards,” Joyce said.”
So he says Trump lives in a Fantasyland and still should be President !….The Republicans are so gutless. I’m sure BM 🤡 and LGB 🤡 and Steve 🤡 will say oh he was only kidding or it was a joke like when Trump told people to swallow bleach and stick a blue light in them ….It’s so absurd
Stephanopoulos did a great interview with this creep George did not let him skate on the issue of abandoning the United States constitution and Joyce looked like a deer in the headlights loser -he knew he was caught in his treasonous statement. Amazing spineless wonder
I love how all of you blind mice clowns always quote ultra liberal news, and people like Stephanopoulos who happen to be Obamas mouthpiece. I would say you’re all a joke, but nothing about what’s going on in America is funny.
BM dude it was a interview for the ages guy couldn’t have looked more the fool if he had a script I’m sure it will be repeated elsewhere that numbskull is gonnabe a star!
I guess from your viewpoint everything wlse is “ultra liberal”.
It’s kinda presumptuous to assume you represent anything near the center, especially when you grow more unpopular each week and all the rightwing terrorists are keeping you company.
“nothing about what’s going on in America is funny”
You are, but only in a pathetically so way.
Your a nasty man.