when to call the city council caucus meeting to order for october twenty sixth twenty fifteen we have no public hearings tonight so if the clerk would read the first item on the agenda number one for final consideration an ordinance abandoning abandoning and discontinuing water straight this was discussed in committee without objection on consent item number two item number two under original consideration an ordinance changing barrett stra into a two way street introduced only with a resolution calling for a public hearing on november ninth two thousand and fifteen regarding changing barrett straight into a two way street discussed in committee without objection on consent item number three without objection on consent i don't know for item number four resolution authorizing the mayor or his designated winter into an agreement with new york state department of transportation for the pavement and preservation of gilliland  avenue and broadway city of schenectady again discussed in committee without objection on consent item number five item number five a resolution endorsing a letter of support for municipal electric and gas alliance discussed in committee without objection on consent i am number six item number six a resolution requesting an increase in new york state and chips a to strengthen our paving budget discussed in committee without objection on consent i remember seven item number seven a resolution referring and amendment to the zoning ordinance regarding electric vehicle charging stations to the planning commission also discussed in committee without objection on consent and item number eight item number eight a resolution authoriz ten thirty delamont i haven't discussed in committee tonight without objection on consent i don't number twelve item number twelve a resolution authorizing the sale of eight zero five eight zero seven mason street also discussed in committee to night without objection on order for monday october twenty sixth twenty fifteen and i ask you to rise for the invocation by the reverend sarah baron of the first united methodist church please join me in the spirit of prayer to god of all creation in this time of exceptional beauty we offer you our thanks to live in upstate new york soaking in the wonder of changing leaves and crisp fall air in preparation for tonight's meeting we offer you our thanks for the opportunity to be in service together to the people of the city it is humbling to be trusted with such responsibility with awareness of the diversity of our community we offer you our thanks for the many people around us able to teach us new skills our new perspective we ask for your guidance for your help in the work before us that we might listen for understanding that we might speak with clarity and charity that we might take time to be thoughtful and reflective that our hearts might be open to new that justice and miss might be reflected in our decisions that harmony might take precedence even in the midst of disagreement and finally that there might be joy in doing work for the citizens of our city as we build together community that brings dignity to all your people on the last councilwoman porterfield to lead us in the pledge of allegiance right we have no out of order resolutions we have no public hearings so i'll move on to the approval of the minutes for october thirteenth mr ag seconded by this all in favor communications and petitions communications presented to the city council for monday october twenty sixth twenty fifth game under official from the mayor list of appointments dated october twenty sixth twenty fifteen under general there are none under petitions there are none they will move on to committee reports to have any committee reports mr president yes hello i just wanted to hello i'm not sure where that came from but hello  good evening just wanted a little update and the budget process we've been working very very hard on the budget for quite some time now and we'll we're very close to passing the budget we're waiting for one one little piece of information to make a adjustment to move forward but as it stands the council agreed this evening to use some unexpected revenue from the sale of homes on barrett street in seminary place for a small tax reduction we're very very excited about that and we were only able to do that with the past years budgets being right on track through the work of the and the council and this year's budget coming in at zero percent so it cannot come and come as commissioner digenova enough and also of course the mayor for bringing us a budget that was easy to work and for that little gift of extra revenue so that we can actually pass some savings along to our taxpayers for the first time in a number of years and i look forward with the anticipation to what we can do in two thousand and seventeen so stay tuned but we are planning on passing the budget on this friday at five thirty thank you thank you any other committee reports if not move to privilege of the floor related to the legislative agenda i only have one person signed up to speak and that's it's a public defender that's always parking their car on the street and there are a lot of parking areas public parking areas along that street so if you can and making it to eliminate all parking on that street i think that would be a better idea i'm not really sure about number five indorsing letters or municipal gas alliance i think we only right around the city where this is where you want the people to come and do their shopping and it just seems stupid to have these things there and you can't  hour clock and get back in your car and go it's so much easier no parking enforcement no tickets nobody's going to chase for tickets they want you to come and then off so it takes a court time there's been i should be better prepared for this they actually did i had a program on the fact that they were that we are losing our  we are certainly losing that here the courts here are overloaded with all kinds of misdemeanors or taking away our right to trial by jury i've spoken about this many times the courts are f the legislative agenda mr brady seconded by mr ferrari all in favor i right will now move on to privilege of the floor regarding general city business i have twenty seven people signed up to speak start with anthony  the city that nobody got hurt or to fire people or the victims and now while like to speak about age basically earlier this month and went to the debate between  what's happening here is just the money that the hardworking people of this city have put into the city and there needs to be fixed roads but history has to neighborhoods what's happening here is that you  run amok in a neighborhood could when people go to shake you know how to going to do it right through the neighborhood right through or through downtown come on we're going to do now people know the truth because you're lying there  trying for over one year through a follow request of getting that documentation you know i mean we need to know exactly what's going on with exactly how we're doing with affirmative action for not only course with disability but for minorities the county through the passing of late reverend adams on his position was completely eliminated from the budget i've gone through all three hundred pages of the entire budget of the county budget and it's not listed there they've got mary could us action manager listed at seventy one thousand dollars for her job and that's listed on the civil service commission that's the only thing there so we're losing not only the twenty hours that was there but that position was also doing the contracts both the federal state and county in the city contracts to make sure that the construction companies and so forth were complying and there haven't been they haven't been for the last eleven years and we've got now three point two million on the roundabout and we had the city attorney says we don't have to comply with affirmative action and he said that back in november twenty sixth of last year so i mean you know we need to take a look at where these jobs are at where they're going to come from because they're not there and you keep point well look at downtown what the reason why is because the transfer of one business from state street over to over on i mean from erie bogart over to state street said a lot less twenty new jobs how is that twenty new jobs i think twenty new jobs or you transferred seven hundred jobs over to over from rotterdam over to over here to new york over here in the city and then turn around the last twenty percent but you never take back what's been happening so we need to take a look at exemptions and all these other things so when you're looking at budgets you need to take a look at exactly who were rebelling there and just piling in the downtown or where the democrats main leadership live along eastern avenue you know that doesn't help we need to do one of you before i leave i so i'm waiting thank you we're losing a lot but we're killing it or it's ourselves the side here of globalism you know it's a big thing but globalism is not coming in here and taking away our right to trial just by  everybody who wanted to see this situation disappear could just vote for m he's sitting out in the audience is not charge you know i thought he owned the place but rockland county rockland county is spending on played out growing village foundries in  thank you mar opportunity to address the city budget but the item isn't on tonight's agenda so i am going to summarize my thoughts one taxpayers have control over this year  they vote for republican mayor taxpayers will be ninety six thousand dollars richer they cause the new mayor will not take a salary to keep the this building is decorated in the colonial williamsburg style song and yes a different matter the colored benches on the lawn of this a store building  not donated to the city the benches are on loan and will be very moved by the group who put them there when the weather turns cold from the council woman's remarks remarks one can conclude the branches are there to make a political statement the therefore there are so nothing to stop anyone from doing the same thing folks  bring to their political stuff put put them on the lawn and council will welcome dogger city ass or the democrats literature arriving at my house i want to administration invested in things not people you did not pass a resolution to support in support of raising the minimum wage the carver community center was closed under your rock which schenectady seniors do not have a senior citizen cent you had more than eleven years to give them one then conclusion you turned your backs on the poor the kids and the seniors this is not a progress good evening i would like to introduce to you why many of us will be standing before you tonight the closing of carver community center left a void in our community so in a few minutes you will be hearing the voices of community members who carry a deep passion for the legacy of carver community center carver had a modest beginning when a group of citizens interested in improving the quality of life of those living and in the community they came together and formed a lake carver community center carver quickly became an incubator giving birth to carver community health center subst this substance abuse treatment and counseling program and the foster care prevention and family support services program the remnant spirit and legacy of carver can still be seen in our community today we are a reflection of the early pioneers realizing the void that the closing of carver left in the community we launched a campaign known as miracle on craig street before coming to you today we took the initiative as a community to fundraise on our own and with grassroots efforts we have raised over twenty three thousand dollars we engage many of our local faith based organizations and we coordinated several events known as cooking for carver and the those full success of those of the ants were as a result of the commitment the drive and the investment of our community members we have recently received a letter informing us  price of the property has significantly decreased however all of the prior leads will still hold for the new owners based on our best of grassroots efforts we are in a good position to acquire the property we are asking for the support of city council in forgiven the debt owed to the city in the amount of one hundred fifty thousand dollars the purpose of why we're doing all of this we want to create a community center that will encourage community ownership and engagement we want to be a part of the ongoing revitalization efforts happening in the city of schenectady and we also want we are also in the process of solidifying partnerships with small nonprofit grassroots organizations that have had an right stephen rivera good evening members of the council and members of the community my name is steven rivera my maintenance worker for northeast parent child society as well as an independent performing artist an entrepreneur as a performing artist so i can speak from firsthand experience of the impact th community based resources has had on nurturing my town a lot of my musically inclined friends would say that home wasn't always a place of encouraging that we've often been heard the phrase that's not a career is just a hobby as an adult i now understand why that mentality has played the minds of so many parents on the of the many urban communities i've lived in when the mind is constantly being occupied by the stresses the come with struggling to pay bills feeding your family and just staying afloat it's easy to push  things that are going to guarantee financial growth so for me and many other children our nurturing came from programs within our communities unlike music programs in classes often put most public schools these programs would tell it to reflect the many cultures in our community those school programs did help me to expand my musical palette when it came time to express myself musically i needed something that mozart and beethoven just weren't able to give and i was really relatability now only did the community arts programs managed to keep my interest longer than classical music in school and introduced me to artists whose backgrounds were similar to mine expressing the same pains i've experienced but in a positive way having these examples show me three things one that music is there are putra both the listen performer so i could make a career out of this art if i worked hard enough and believed in myself and the third thing that it showed me was how important it is to have programs like this in our community to nurture the artistic side of our youth now i don't need to tell you all the negative influences that are just outside of our front doors or how easy it is for the young people to get caught up in the mix of drugs and violence you see it all the time when the news services and resources offered in a centralized location within our community will bring with it opportunity for our youth to discover alternatives to these behaviors we understand other communities involvement is crucial to its own sustainability which is why we are making every extra effort to initiate its revival we are not here to ask for handouts we're here to acts that our thirteen they utilized carver tremendously when it was open it would be as a sister where i would come home from work me and my wife both for and we didn't need the assistance in regards to her mil being cooked for our child but i would go to pick up my son and daughter and they were to help us so that we can help ourselves there are numerous other parents that are ready to step up and assist in any way possible for our children and the children of those in our community has helped our children dramatically regards for sports there for them there was a t v there set up for them with a gaming system they were tutors there for them so there was a wide array of services available for them actually when you look at those purchase please do not look at this as a duplications service as it is not cargo holds a place in our hearts and we want you to help us so that we can reroute allies that place we will take this matter and moment it if you give us that opportunity that is ours we are aware of that if we are ready willing and able to invest in it's a lot of people here but i just wanted to say that you're going to keep this open because we really need these five children  also and please if i mispronounce anyone's name don't hesitate to correct me make miles i was born and raised in the city of schenectady which many of you know you may not know that at forty one years most of that time was spent on him once in hell when i was a child on him to hell you couldn't turn a corner without there being a resource  opportunity for you to attend or go to for yourself or your peers for adults him once and hell has lost that there is not a health care center there are not numerous resources and community centers for individuals to go to when i first heard that carver closed i was immediately sad and when i first heard that there was a group of individuals working hard at purchasing the building i thought that was great by the building but it's more than that and i've watched that change i've watched it grow i watched it go from just buying a building to having a long term plan for sustainability for programs that are going to positively impact the community that needs it as was mentioned before this is not a duplication of services because you can't duplicate the need that is in hamilton hill neighborhood there are people that are living within a block radius that don't have resources they're not able to get to resources that may be available someplace else in schenectady we need the hamilton hill community to receive help in assistance from the city council we need you to please understand that the new building that opens will not be it will be carver but it won't be carver because this is moving forward this isn't looking back this is creating new opportunities and new resources in programming for the children and the adults that are in the him to hel neighborhood so think about this are you for giving good debt or are you making an investment you're making an investment you're stepping up in saying that within the city of schenectady you have not forgotten any community because when you give back it's not a hand out it's a hand up so every single child adult regardless of who they are or where they live is in need of that type of resource and hymns and hill doesn't have that right now there's not that availability for the children and the adults to maintain in their everyday life to have resources to help them in their everyday needs the carver building is the place for that is going to happen because there's a magnificent group of individuals that have a long term plan to make it a real possibility they just need your help to make that happen so invest in him to him and forgive that thank you thank you that was further down on the list i am standing here as a member of the community but i think most importantly i'm standing here is a social worker from up close and middle school i think you're all aware of some of what we're dealing with at mt pleasant middle school and one of the school district is doing all that it can to how and contain and assist and educate and support a lot of what's going on as a community issue and as a result of that the community stepping out to say we are here to help meet the needs of our children i listen to the stories of what our young people do on the weekend i listen to the stories of what they do after school ladies and gentlemen it's not pretty our kids need an outlet if we don't create it if the council does now partner with us to recreate the carver center the kids will find another outlet currently what are middle aged child things to do it's not as creative as it's not healthy and they need not just the support of what the school district can do but the members of their community it's not enough for people who come at schenectady to work and say do this and that and leave they need the leadership they need the modeling of members of the community and what's going on here before you what you have an opportunity to partner with and the word is in the partner because the work is happening here we do need your financial support but what we're asking you to partner with is to save the future to make a difference with our young people recently disconnected the foundation invested a great deal of money a lot of us are seeing the need and we're finding creative ways some of you have heard of the boys  out you've heard of the working group on girls these are all individuals i'm a founder member of both and we're working on parents they are these are individuals who are finding creative ways to reach out and reach into the community we're asking that you join us  for me to just echo what evony said being that i'm from the school district as well as an administrator community centers are in neighborhoods communities all across america and we know the importance of community  centers i had the opportunity to watch the debate and one thing that i saw one thing that i heard throughout the debate was bringing the man back to schenectady in order to bring that demand back to schenectady we have to take care of our community and our youth that are going to be future adults in our communities nine benefits of community centers strengthen community image in a sense of place support economic development strengthen safety and security promote health and wellness foster human development increase cultural unity and i think you can see that unity we have now as a community protect environmental resources facilitate community problem solving and provide recreational experiences i think if we're going to bring that demand back i think we need to start within our communities and i'm proud to be a part of this community as i just sold my house in albany to move to schenectady to become more part of this community and i'm proud of that thank you participate and recreation activities such as sports and music have support groups for parents maybe have some classes that day care or some business owners will follow if you care about the residents of hamilton hill and want to stop the violence and by the it's members of the council this is one of the most diverse cities in america that's why it's disturbing that those who have access to city government to the institutions of power in this town are overwhelmingly white we can change this there is something we can do tonight that can help to bring more young people of color into the civic and cultural life of the city something that can set brown and black kids on a positive path for their future something which will one day mean that there will be even more faces of color a monday night city council meeting just like this one friends we can take away the obstacles that remain to reopen carver community center so that the young people the young people of color who live in hamilton hill can once again have a safe place to congregate why is carver important to schenectady because carver was one of the few places in the city which was run by people who looked like the people they serve this meant that young black and latino and guy anyways and other children of color were given positive role models ones that they could relate to one that they can conceivably model a model of their own lives after carver was dynamic able to react to demographic change better than the other schenectady institutions could because it worked closely with the changing population hamilton hill is the most diverse neighborhood in the entire capital region and has received an influx of immigration and recent years reopening carver will help better absorb this population and give kids from these diverse cultures a place where they can be themselves yes carver got kids off the street and helped them channel their time in more productive ways but it was only able to do that because carver was run by people who are sensitive to the cultural needs of a diverse population very young men and women of color often the first in many cases the only interaction with government and civic life they will have is through law enforcement it is imperative on us as a community that we offer options to our most vulnerable young people we must give them something better to hope for than prison for these reasons we must reopen the carver community center thank you thank you hello my name is james ask you for the right to live save our children we're tired of every time you turn on the news there's a body out like a one right there but if you look in the background these are the faces that you see in the dorms it's time for the start this is like it's not a doubt the do doesn't matter only like this if you fight for this little fight for you no matter where you go what your life will protect like  obviously allowed us to be able to play together but as we got older when you get to high school a lot of my friends either had thoughts of job or not dropping out of school some even dropped out because it was always that place where they could go back and there was always that want to do it they could talk to either that still had that one opportunity to reach back to and as i've got older and older i realize that a lot of programs as connected is getting shut down like the kids don't have that no more if god forbid they together i mean obviously there was at that and that's kind of the situation but at the same time i think this one hand wash the other and i think it's a great opportunity for us all the work together make the situation work and open back up c hello my name is john i and him from hill area for over thirty three years now i've been a nurse for eleven years and in my thirty three i worked with the mentally challenged individuals and you know i probably and that's where i went to the library because we couldn't get any results it was too far to walk to schenectady county down here by city hall but with carver come into place and the idea of this project coming into being put together is not only a great idea but is very breathtaking it's going to give a structured environment discipline environment more positive vironment we're trying to teach our kids that sky's the limit many of us growing up to compute the community didn't have positive role models programs or resourceful centers or individuals we could even utilize to better ourselves or to assist us with feeling little or finding ourselves within if we did have a program we joined out of ten times we were bussed there just couldn't get there or better yet we were misunderstood by the individuals that ran the programs or partaking in teaching and directing us which led us to a more rebellious way of living like there's no hope for one two three zero seven zip code kids but this program here will have familiar words voices and faces that can lead a a child or children to a path of what may change her life forever giving back this individual self worth and independence i was told once i was a positive role model to many and i try to see what they meant because all i could think was i had been there and done that trust me i was not proud of it at all i felt crappy and i'm far from innocent at that time i didn't have that individual to say what are you doing and why are you doing this luckily i corrected my direction i was headed for the life for me i didn't know why they came forth and told me how i have some form of positive impact on their lives in the decisions they were making that i thought about it is because in the end all they wanted to hear was a story or two from a familiar face one that can be trusted and they don't have to act out from watching a movie they were able or sorry watch a movie they were able to feel the pain to see intellect from the conversation from individual to understood them i want to be more children that can feel that way and learn that there is more than just the media's way or the hard way it could be certain city council as a body don't tonight so i have something prepared but as i'm sitting in this room for a lot of great energy i can't help but just i'm just move at the moment and for me i'm really excited about the  projects i see happening is connected and i think that there's been a great investment in our city and for that i'm ashamed grateful however i'm not feelin that i need to ask for a favor i think that this is an opportunity that the people here are giving you to demonstrate that you are who you say you are i think that this is an opportunity for you to demonstrate the fact that you care about all citizens of this great city i think great work has been done in schenectady and i think that carver i know that carver community center having a robust community center but you can anyone such as myself now working in human services for over ten years will tell you that are a bus community center is a large protective factor not only for the youth but for the community itself on there's also some great economic benefits to having something a more robust community center thriving such as employment on creating jobs having a place that really makes sense like not just some places says oh this is what we do look at us some place that really does it and prepares young people to go out into the world of employment with everything that they need this is not just one more box a check we're talking about lives we're taught this is a life or death situation with these recent violence and murders and tragedies in the city i mean it's clear that how tragic that was but then something that i don't think we looked at was there was no place for the community to gather and fellowship in deal with this as a community there was no place outside of the church doors which if you're not a member of their church if you don't prefer you know there's a you know are segregated with themselves there was no place that people could come in just deal with it process say grieve and come up with a strategic plan so these things don't happen again that is the tragedy on top of tragedy in this insult to injury if you will so i think what you see now and i'm running out of time just getting warmed up but i think as you see now this is a clear demonstration of the people schenectady and what we care about so  work at this nation and i am leading the efforts for mayor quite encouraged over the years we have seen a lot of things come and go in our neighborhood with little resistance and little supports and keep them here from outside entities and public figures such things as businesses churches grocery stores and people have came and went and we have watched our neighborhood decline over the decades we decided collectively that carver was not going to be just another one of those things that we were that would come and go with little resistance or little support we have a very familiar story in the neighborhood when i think i do not have to repeat here our effort to purchase reinvigorate and reopen carver can help  change the story we can begin to create a foundation of success a story line of public support a storyline of perseverance and an outcome of pride and ownership in the community at one point carver flourish expanded resources to different parts of the community resources that still exist today that we do ship was a representative well informed and fully capable of implementing and maintaining a thriving community center that was an anchor for the communities well being this is the legacy that we seek to continue and it is important that we are the people to make it happen because communities like ours can only change from the inside out paired with the support of our local government and local leaders they say a society can be measured by how it treats its most vulnerable members so tonight i call the voices before me and ask that you help us to lift the burden of those who came before us and don't make their mistakes our mistakes please help us to right this wrong and provide us a genuine opportunity to gain a foothold in taking our neighborhood back by forgiving the debt that is owed to the city from the car a community center thank you for your time thank you do something put these kids so they keep out of trouble i'm tired of hearing about gun shootings and fights and drugs and we need to picks up the streets joe is too much too many kids to get hurt and everything else and it's got  before i call on the last three people the clerk has asked those of you who have written out your comments if you could put your name on them and get leave them for him as he's trying to write up the notes from this meeting that would be very helpful i'm sure as is his later days the rage at the adults wanting everything for themselves while the children are deprived and before i came over here we have a new casino for the rich and famous coming in here for the adults and they begin also today with the mayor and the who's who of the important people who now have the luxury marriott hotel going up for the rich and famous to stay out so these may be good things but for just an  know saving the community the car community center the the other thing is that i've been coming here with a comments on the police department but we have a shocker parker who is a twenty two year old black male who works for these out of nights and he was it just me so i work schedule so he could work in the park a few children during the day he walked away from an illegal search and he was a by police officers tasered pepper sprayed with a police chief look non and accuse of assaulting a police officer a huge lie at that point the mayor should immediately fire otherwise i assume that's the reason his leaving it doesn't make sense otherwise so we're good it's a good day he may be a good person otherwise but the mayor ought to get the district attorney to bring charges against those police spoke of diversity and we spoke of opportunity but can you give me an opportunity years ago to come back to i believe did you work for schenectady community college yes and i was there and i came i left for a reason that wasn't right and you get the opportunity to come back so diverse an opportunity to look at diversity saw here opportunity we all need it we know it there says a place that we all can make it happen and we'll i don't know i'm just like if we're given a chance that this here i've seen in here you know forever and i've seen you have grown and articulated and been productive citizens and i've seen you've comment because of having opportunities to the other so you know opportunity to have something to do is definitely a building block to change everything so you don't think that it's not going to be in your backyard so unfortunately i took my daughter to not go to schenectady had to go to my heart and got that she graduated early and since connect and we looked at mount pleasant as my pleasant was you know the you know that we have and if we look at how it is now we see it spreading so what are the opportunity for kids to have something and to be able to grow and pros themselves it's going to spread it's going to be in everybody's backyard and we're going to all be affected by so i mean our money's rosa thank you i don't know i don't really know you haven't signed up to speak i love you and i've seen oh it's possible to go a long way but we can make a change all together it's not going to happen one individual it's going to happen with all of us and the building itself will give everybody something because i look at the kids that i work for the system i work for the program i've been around so all right i'm going to ask a question i don't normally ask i don't have i have no one else signed up to speak is there anyone else who wants to speak if so please come come forward and tell us your name no then first of all i want to talk about the community fathers conference that took place this past friday down it's going to be county community college it was their third annual father's conference and for those of you who weren't didn't have the opportunity to attend it was really it really was outstanding it was an opportunity to see what a good community it was is brings together the community fathers brings this conference together to talk about the importance of fatherhood in the community obviously women were there as well i was there as well as well with councilwoman corrado to be able to hear the speakers to hear what's going on and to see the change that's happening from within the community so it's an outstanding conference they do it annually and beyond that community fathers continues to work consistently within the community to improve the lives of families because when you improve the life of fathers and mothers and children it's a family so you go as a family and within that you begin to improve the life of the community so it really was a great conference and well attended and you know there's some work that to beat that will be coming out of that to continue so i'd like to just congratulate walter's him can see as well as william rivers who play the intro part and revitalization and we will be honoring three organizations that have helped to revitalize the hamilton hill community better neighborhoods incorporated land trust and habitat for humanity that is our theme in there is what we're building around and what will we do it with some some of the proceeds of this annual awards dinner on november fourteenth is to support the carver excuse me the hamilton hill art center and i'm not going to call a car i'm going to call it the miracle on craig street because that's only been calling it the miracle on craig street so the proceeds from that dinner will support those two organizations and again it's the key supporting the community but everyone's invited tickets are twenty five dollars margaret has made she told you so she has them so feel free to get your tickets and we certainly love you to see you come out and to support to thank you for the support that you've given in previous years and to just come out to be a part of that and lastly i'd like to talk about the merrill concrete street and to say thank you to everyone that came out tonight support this to talk about it to give your input it's so important to hear your voice and you're always welcome so come any second and fourth monday will be right here at seven o'clock i am certainly glad to be a part of the miracle on craig street when it first  initially first started i was invited to be a part of that core group and i believe in karma community center i can say that i remember when crunch the carver community center actually opened ok you do the math and so i was had the opportunity to be carver but something that would be that would meet all the needs and address the issues within the community that we had today i don't really need to go over a lot of the things that were said because the speakers were extremely articulate and bringing their point  forward i just want to those definitely say that there is a plan it isn't just you know we're not there we're coming for a handout but there's a plan in place there's been a consistent concerted effort to move forward we there's not an ass for the city money to be the first money on the table but no the community came forward and said let's fund raise first and then go to the city and to other entities to seek funding this all started at the the community level now we realize there are other institutes interested parties in the property that's that's been very clear about that the fact of the matter is we are interested as a community and not for someone to come from some place else to say here's what you need and here's what you should do but the community giving the input to what's needed in the community so we're asking for the support and of obviously i support it the community center so because it's a place where the community can come together and say what's needed often people will come to our community and say you know we need your support there's a lot of revitalization going on the deposit property uses are going up we support that community builders has plans to do something in the future and we've supported that so at this point we're saying this is what we like to do and so we need t support to do this so is as much as we can support other initiatives this initiative needs to be supported as well and we understand that it's not going to use it today or tomorrow it's not going to be completed it's a long campaign but people are in it for the long run i've seen that demonstrated i've been in meetings that less sometimes a steno level o'clock at night lot of them are there so people are really really interested in continue to work and realize that it's a long term and it started with just a few people and it has continued to grow and so it's demonstrated tonight and attributed tonight the people that community is interested and it's just not hamilton hill we heard from people from other parts of the city and the goal is to have a community center that people will want to come from other parts of the city as well and so that our diverse community as you heard spoken about can come together have a place to congregate extend has always been extremely family oriented the goal is to continue in that way and just to summarize today i spoke to two people and you know the conversation of well actually they saw the stickers and the person said well yeah my children went there and i live right around the corner from there and i'm glad this effort is going forward and another woman who is actually here tonight said yes my children went there you know they went to the library they're so there are a lot of people who utilize the carver center and we'll have a new name for it right now it's a lot of people that utilize it and out of that their families have really done well that's thank you i want to thank everyone that came down to talk about the miracle on craig street this evening i will not lie to you marian porterfield said there are twenty seven people signed up to speak and i went oh my goodness is going to be a long night but let me tell you i was happy to hear every single one of the speakers that came to the microphone everybody carried a different message a personal message the way it touched their lives  that's so important when we're standing up here sitting up here you know being public servants we need to hear from the public and we need to have people come out and tell us what is important to them so i'm very very grateful for every single person that came to the microphone this evening and i look forward to continuing the conversation going forward and just an aside i was one of the first people to make a donation  a have quite a lengthy list beyond this but i also want to get back to our resolution this evening asking for more tips funding for our paving program very recently and the governor the governor announced eight point three billion dollars being put aside to fund m t a and upgrades to m t v to n t a in a very similar space in time the comptroller stood in syracuse w mayor talking about the crumbling infrastructure of their bridges and roads this is something that can be recognized throughout upstate new york so well are our resolution is somewhat ceremonial as we ask can afford so this isn't the end of our asking but it's one step forward in trying to get more of our share here in upstate new york it would be great to have eight point three billion also earmarked for our communities as well so i think that that conversation will continue also i was extremely  to attend the firefighters appreciation sunday which starts with a mass and then goes to an a recognition breakfast i guess i would call it not necessarily awards b i never am cease to be amazed at what an incredible firefighter you know fire department we have here a busy fire department in an extremely professional and brave fire department and i'm grateful for them and and grateful that i was able to play a part as we walked out the people in st john's just heartily applauded our firefighters and it gave me goosebumps it was just a really special moment and i'm happy that they had it and and i was able to share in it girls inc unveiled a new ramp entrance to their building last week and now this convenient easy access for all because there are several different community groups that use  that entrance after the ceremony for the new entrants the mayor stayed in read a book to the girls in the reading program and i just want to share with you that they asked many thought provoking question was what the mayor's favorite shape is and i've learned that it's a rectangle so there you go learn new things every day the live in schenectady announcement we have a group of private business owners that are  investing one point five million dollars into phase one of building ten homes in our barrett street and seminary place location that i referenced earlier the revenue from that sale will allow us to pass a small state savings forward to our tax payers phase two will add another fifteen homes a one phase one is completed very very grateful for that effort certainly a clear indication of how business is committed to moving the city forward along with the os and i think it's just a total win win there and also a little over a week ago metroplex announced that they were go going to acquire eight thirty nine eastern ave a very prominent structure on eastern ave as you go down it used to be a bar years ago used to walk by a good elementary school but we have a developer that's going to purchase that building and create  market market rate apartments so also really good news for that corridor that's improving day by day and will continue to stretch out from the down towns and into our neighborhoods and just last y i've been walking around the city a lot lately and couple of things first of all run into numerous people and there was another person here tonight who have moved from other communities and purchased homes in the city of schenectady and it makes my day to hear those stories it it does my heart good to know that people want to invest in the community that i love and people are doing so and they're excited about it  we were also just recently near the corner of not and van curler where the millets development group is now improving another home i think this is their fourth home that they've taken and it's just looking absolutely beautiful and the neighbors couldn't be happier and you know it took a once blighted home that was covered in overgross you could barely see the house and the refreshing it to a beautiful beautiful home and something to certainly be excited and happy about and lastly the marriott groundbreaking i know that there was some reference to you know it being this passionate tell but we need to look beyond that because what it's really doing is raising our property tax base for all of us it's stabilizing our city's finances and raising our tax base that we can in turn offer tax relief have a healthier budget have more discretionary funds to assist in projects like community centers and things of that so it's not all about one type of thing it takes a variety of development friday a forward movement and a variety of funding to better our city an incremental basis so i think that's all i have on my list thank you very much thank you anyone else to thank everyone specifically who came down to talk about carver we continue to monitor the case of the pending in bankruptcy court in the financing that was in place and structuring the issues being resolved in bankruptcy court are still what i will call somewhat complex and beyond the ability of just the city to deal with it in a manner that would resolve all the issues i'm hopeful that as that proceeds we will be able to get site control for the facility in a manner that will allow the money that has been raised and people are continuing to commit to the miracle on craig street will be able to use for programs going forward to move have to be useful for pain for past mistakes in so i look forward to working with the group  continuing the discussions as we take what is an unfortunate situation that we do turn it into what will look back in say it really was a miracle and craig street so  thank everyone for their commitment your interest in just your dedication to working forward as a partner in the entire undertaking this saturday's following put  the notice for the time for trick or treating from four to eight p m four o'clock at lowe's for some of the younger trick or treaters to get out and then for the older ones we like things to wrap up around eight o'clock and when courage homeowners and people are passing out tricks and treats to turn their porch lights off at eight o'clock so that will kind of shut that down and would also encourage people to check out the city web site for some of the safety tips that are provided by the fire department looking also to encourage people to use flashlights or battery operated candles and stay away from actually live candles just because of the potential for a fire hazard that sarah last council meeting before election day in want to thank all the good people in the community to really a great experience to have the opportunity campaign in schenectady get to meet the diverse individuals a lot of ideas a lot of excitement an energy exists in this committee or in this community and i thank everyone for the opportunity to have been mayor over the last four years and again look forward to the opportunity working going forward and there was a council in the community as a whole thank you madam president thank you i'd also like to thank everybody for coming down tonight i think your comments we heard jeff and i can just say that you know we will do what do everything we can to stay on top of the situation and see where we can go with that also i wanted to comment on the river the groundbreaking today for the hotel down at the the harbor getting a chance to get on that site and realize how a lot large it is and the potential for development revenue all of that it was just really really exciting  and lastly i just want to out two things i want to just remind any of you who did have written comments if you could please leave them that will help the clerk out a lot and also that friday the finance committee will convene at five thirty