read the first item item number one a local law amending chapter eighty seven article two section eighty seven dash six point one aft of the code of the city of schenectady and revising membership of the board of residency in the change we've all talked about of the public hearing on it at this point would entertain a motion to move item one to the consent agenda who by mr erickson seconded by council member king all in favor of item one appearing on the consent agenda signify by saying i any oppose item one will be on the consent agenda and number two item number two a local law amending chapter six section c six there six of the charter of the city of schenectady deleting the requirement that the city reimburse the county for unpaid county and state taxes and limiting the city's liability to the reimbursement of taxes actually collected by the city and discussed in committee ordinance amending chapter eighty seven of the city code of prescribing uniform compensation and benefits for public safety managers in discussed in the committee had a public hearing it this has been amended to include the fire chief and the assistant fire chief should we ever reach stablished that position the table reimbursement from union college for the crosswalks at the intersection of not terrace and union street entertain a motion to move this to the consent agenda moving  petition senator you farley assemblyman james the disco assembly and assemblyman george amador to amend new york state criminal procedure law c p l two point one zero its custom committee would entertain a number six and number six a resolution authorizing the city to enter into a contract with the new york state office of homeland security to secure grant funding in disgusting committee move by council resolution authorizing the city to enter into a contract with the new york state division of criminal justice is to should secure grant funding discussed in committee move second so i could buy council member erickson all in favor of item ten a period on the consent agenda signify by saying i and he oppose i am ten will appear on the consent agenda item number eleven twelve a resolution record regulating events utilizing the central park mountain bike trails would entertain a motion at this point to move this to the agenda via unanimous had several weeks maybe a few months back regarding the mountain bike trails in central park and the use by a group of individuals who planned events and hold different you know activities in the in the trail so this is i think a good solution where to to kind of accommodate some of the costs incurred with but maintain the trails and make sure that we don't have you know trees that are going to fall down and injure people so there is a minor cost associated with it this this legislation basically charges a five dollars per person registration fee for events held there it's something that the the group of individuals with the the biking association thought was a  reasonable compromise and so it's something that brings in revenue for the city covers the costs of maintaining the facility and we've also been working on making sure that we cover the insurance costs and make sure that they have the right here on the agenda tonight this is the contract with the producers from the place beyond the pines for the use of city property and this is the first component of this really donation to the city of what will be five thousand dollars is broken down in two poets of four thousand dollars for the utilization of the police station in a thousand dollars for the filming that they will do here in in that so that is the sum of the supporting paperwork is still being worked out in terms of what they're actually going to use and not use but it's exciting to have them here and know that we're all excited about it and looking forward to a successful endeavor in the award winning movie is the end product but i would this point entertain a motion now to move twelve b to the ok so procedurally then you want to limit your i will move it some will second it moved and seconded all in favor signify by saying i three will appear on the agenda tonight is what i introduced myself mark straddling the governor's regional rep for the capital district that covers the counties of saratoga schenectady rensselaer in albany and i have been meeting with that counts present mccarthy but i asked if i could come here for a minute just interviews myself make sure all the council members know who i am a state like leave a card for everybody so if there is any questions or concerns and issues coming up please don't hesitate to reach out to me and everybody have  will now call to order the schenectady city council meeting for july twenty fifth two thousand and eleven s that we all we have from god that he loves god love also his brother and his sister i ask you having the father to bless this city this county this state this country those who inhabit it those who serve on  city council and those who work for our fair city and all the people i ask you to bless them guide them protect them give them comfort and strength words needed i ask you to instill the spirit of discernment upon this coun that they may serve the people to the best of their ability for your will and for their benefit i also ask you lourdes remember those people who perished needlessly in norway and give comfort to their family members who are suffering grieving at this time  all people who are suffering universally this we ask in your holy name now and for more i meant i also want to take a moment to ask you to mark your calendars as on september eleventh this year it's the tenth anniversary of the nine eleven catastrophe and through the auspices of the acting mayor again mccarthy and i we've been working on organizing an event to invite all the area clergy and all the people and they'll be more information to be announced but it will be on that day probably in the afternoon the pending and certain aspects of everything so please mark your calendars we need to remember this day and never never ever forget i was down there working every other day with the rescue workers and i don't want to forget because people died for no reason and we had people even from here come down and represent us and work down there and we also lost a couple of people of schenectady who are residing or working in the area so please make these efforts thank you for your time and your prayers and let's all work together and love one another even when we disagree have the common denominator of love that's my only son words for the big god bless thank you a call mark strive to a lead us in the pledge of allegiance out of order to annoy or no public hearings i would entertain a motion to approve the minutes from the june eleventh two thousand and eleven meeting or adopted any communications titian's communications presented to the council under official non general non and there are no petitions before the committee reports just as city development in planning committee had one item on the agenda which is the transfer from adjacent property to the adjacent property owner this is a city on vacant lot at seven sixty seven bailey street develops solid thank you mr president just oh a note for those though who are perhaps watching and listening and don't have the packet with them resolution number four of finance refers to  the city accepting reimbursement you call it for the cross work the crosswalk not terrorist union street the actual legislation also encompasses three crosswalk plans to replace so you colleges paying for four good evening mike mike and my first concern actually deals with item number one and that is the a point man to the residency for the board of residency what it says is it will consist of two members of the city council and three city residents appointed by the council president that concerns me because i believe that this really should be appointed by the entire council and to have it written into the legislation that it is appointed by one person only especially since that person is also acting mayor and it is the mayor who comes up with the waivers to give to the residency board and the potential that the city council president at any time could become acting mayor so i really believe that you should pull this from your consent agenda and reconsider red there's no rush on it you haven't had the residency board come together in years so i believe that that's something that can be pulled out now with respect to item number three again it's the wording that i'm concerned aware and that wording is that it shall be affective upon its execution by the mayor or acting mayor now the acting mayor is a temporary position and i believe that that wording should be taken oh only because it's a temporary position if we had a deputy mayor to act in in case the mayor his or herself wouldn't be able to do that that's a different story that's that's more  sure but to have an acting mayor actually written into the legislation i believe gives too much power again to the city council president who could at any time and be anyone become an acting mayor and then the last thing that i'm concerned about is actually in the package that people wouldn't wouldn't even receive and we had noted this and it has to do with the tax survey henri concerning eighteen eighteen states trade now i happen to really like this business owner and this property is a great crappy it's in would live on but it has been reduced from seven hundred thirty five thousand eight hundred dollars to one hundred fifty thousand dollars now that concerns me because a lot of residents i mean their houses are assessed at more than that and it just it just seems that i mean i hear i'm hoping that it's a title but apparently it's not by the look on everybody's faces and i think that we should all pretty much know that and why mr plane would you know away refunds and that amount of money i don't understand either so i would really like someone to explain that thank you very i too have some questions about that sir to sarah tori business i don't know who gillum o this is but i do think this is rather extraordinary and of course it was  we have no way of knowing what it is but moses i wouldn't mind seeing him again and number one the rules in force with the rules in law and still in the books i'd like a guarantee that this meet these meetings of the order going to be held in the city hall and not since it's is a public it will be a public meeting you're going to call  public meeting but it won't be a public meeting because of the nature but i'd rather it be held in city hall rather than a pub which seems to be a trend i'm seeing more and more with but i still say there are too many street sidewalks and flood and flood drains that are being dealt with in this community and that name needs to be handled and number five there is no mayor at best we have a part time acting mayor and i think it can wait i think this is getting a little too chummy it's beginning to look like a photo op session that may have already been taken place but i'm really having visions of the gatsby inauguration or coronation and everybody's becoming very social democrats around here and i  have concerns about and as far as this producer's thing this stuff's been going on a long time we had one come in and make a request for a license to use the streets at night or resolution and nothing has happened since then in the way of permission but they're out here at night at all the time they're walking the streets after midnight it's worth the life to live here and want to take a little walk around the story they don't welcome you know these outsiders coming in and taking films and you know if it's going to be the police he was doing things for this community that extended to the community college which is county not city if you could send her it's never discussed in public you is made to look like a bad guy done when there is money and we thank you so much the next thing is there's an article in the good zag that caught me more wrote about a lot i'm proud to see we have new owners as far as the guy these are concerned and they have changed our way of living and i think that we are all proud of where we live this is this like i said this focused on him with that he'll we have welcomed the gaieties into our neighborhood with open arms they have had language barriers they had to find happening all over new york state so we can't just say let's say him little hill is so bad unless you come to visit him because he'll you really will not know that it has changed so much the housing is a lot better i think the children are a lot of battle that the pins on perry's and that is all over not just him with the hill thank you thank you hi jack you heard i live in schenectady at the july eleventh caucus the city council mr mccarthy made a comment about his opponent in this fall's election that merits response since roger hall's dealing with a personal matter this evening he asked me to read the following statement the acting mayor president of city council chief investigator for the district attorney said in answering a question about sewer place that design of that street was driven by the prior president of union college whose name escapes me the street has now to be really redesigned and rebuilt and substantial cost to the city the statement is untrue and it is untrue on several grounds first i've never made any suggestions about the design of sewer place secondly i'm a lawyer not an engineer third as a leader i know how to delegate and i had and had to design been something for which i had responsibility which it was not i would have done delegated the design to an engineer for that i had a vision for the revitalization of seward place college park neighborhood but i had nothing to do the design of the street and fifth and very important in the light of comments regarding the project crossroads roughly five hundred thousand dollars as stated in the press i went to the college board of trustees when the project was first proposed and ha payment and several hundred thousands of dollars to the city to help pay the project mr mccarthy simply chooses to ignore what he knows to be the truth i would have thought that mr mccarthy who was sitting on the city council when union college made its payment to the city would have remembered that fact i would also i would also think if he had forgotten that mr mccarthy would put on whose chief investigators had and on the appropriate investigation therefore before making an obviously false statement i like most going to take ins would like a campaign based on facts and one's true record having been the leader of organizations for the past three decades not a career politician i am happy to run on my record it would be nice if mr mccarthy would try to do the same and not make ridiculously false statements for political purposes instead the acting mayor president of city council  investigator makes up things whenever it suits him that was mr hall statement the following words are mine the definition of investigator is one who performs a careful research or examination in order to discover the facts would like to paraphrase a quote by john adams expressed in seventeen seven the facts are stubborn things and whatever whatever may be your wishes your inclinations or the dictates of your passions facts cannot to the truth i would ask that facts not be altered and then broadcast to the unsuspecting public thank you thank you mr president city council members and ladies and gentlemen general plan and from streets connected to the july fourteenth issue of the capitol region's alternative newsweekly metro and focused on the best of the capital there were many positive things about schenectady but the most glaring of best political such simple schenectady they went on to explain how the city's population is not adequately represented in city government why is this this past saturday i walked through my neighborhood with several of my fellow democrats some of whom had been  my own fight against blight is nothing new and many politicians on the local and state level agree something should be done and our governor andrew cuomo has asked all new yorkers to come up with ideas on how to make the empire state a better place to live the most important issue is exactly right now  graffiti but why should a property owner continually have to put up with vandals that trespass why is it not the vandals being caught and made to clean it up when they trespass and vandalize isn't it enough that property owners are set with some of the highest combined local taxes in the state isn't it enough that we take care of our properties and environs around us when no one else does it's a sad commentary that the city doesn't have a comprehensive plan to focus on the worst of the worst eyesores that dot the city landscape and the problem is growing there are more vacancies than ever but ignoring the problem doesn't solve this all important quality of life issue during one of my recent visits to city hall there were two city employees who wished to remain anonymous told me how the inner workings of hall doesn't allow for the officers of development codes and zoning to include who will be taking over this or growing blight and vandalism problem even though they all agree it's a growing problem nobody has a clue see them as broker and anyone else who turns a blind eye to the obvious if you have a better idea than let's hear it for too long city residents have only been paying lip service to this very important issue the fight is on my campaign to fight the blight will continue i welcome everyone in the city to help this endeavor thank you for your time city council members and acting mayor i am here tonight to speak about this connected county sales tax and the fact that the city does not benefit by the current sales tax agreement the sales tax agreement between the city and county for a number of years has extended eleven million dollars in sales tax to be paid to the city of schenectady each year beginning in two thousand and nine this agreement has increased that amount by twenty five thousand dollars each year so in twenty eleven we can expect to receive eleven million and seventy five thousand dollars in sales tax revenues from the county however the sales tax collected in schenectady county data for which i have between two thousand four and two thousand and nine that the sales tax collected has been increased has increased from forty six million to over eighty million dollars per year this reflects a nearly seventy five percent increase in sales taxes received yet the sales tax revenue received by the city has increased by about one half of one percent seventy five percent versus zero point six eight percent to describe it a little more clearly for every dollar taken in during the year two thousand for the city received twenty three cents in two thousand and five the city received twenty six cents in two thousand and six the city received twenty one cents in two thousand and seven the city received thirteen cents in two thousand and eight twelve and a half cents and in two thousand and nine the city of schenectady received thirteen and a half cents for every dollar the county took in for sales tax the city sales tax revenue has dropped from twenty three percent in two thousand and four to thirteen percent in two thousand and nine and our property taxes have increased dramatically during that same period from the direct manipulation of assessment value increases in permit fees the water fee the sewer fee and the garbage fee which is placed only on residential property owners the city and county has touted metroplex and proctors theater  the driving forces behind the increases of sales tax revenue to the county yet city taxpayers have been denied the benefits of these increases our costs have only risen while many downtown businesses such as practiced theater an m v p have enjoyed benefits that city taxpayers foot the bill for we must look into these arrangements as being a clear form of taxpayer appearance and we must formulate a plan to eliminate any that i deemed to be beneficial to the taxpayers currently proctors theater metroplex sam m b p are of no benefit to we who pay taxes in the city of schenectady we must certainly work to change  e passing around the schedule a couple flyers about continuing programs the good news is we're feeding a thousand children a day the bad news is we're feeding a thousand children a day is that there is that level of need but there are many more young people that could buy benefit from it and so we want to offer again the invitation to spread the word there are a number of sites open throughout to the labor day we want to courage any and all to take part of their different times different sites but certainly even in the warm weather things are continuing we think are many volunteers and also the very dedicated parks for making it happen secondly i wanted to announce a stem program stem stands for science and technology in math operating next week and the following week is two one week camps is to sign for third fourth and fifth graders its enrichment program funded by the county says school district and we appreciate to partnership on this and we're especially inviting young people who are idiots and zoller to take part but if it's not full then we're glad to take some others all of the rollers fairly small so we'll fill it up as we go but i want to encourage folks to take part of that rentals in the city even higher than hamilton hill that's true probably the numbers are here but again we find somehow when you read the articles the first three this one very positive when you read the one about the hill it's very negative why again are still being singled out why is the hill the only one that the crime is being talked about i would call upon the acting mayor and members of the council to speak out about this and to underscore what has misstated that the hill is a very different place and the hill should not be singled out in this kind of reporting thank you  good evening and vince for again live on campbell avenue in the city first of all i want to commend father paul for his through maintenance work and that's that's pretty neat to say you're really given that love theme for the new meaning but i think you may have to perform an exorcism on th think there was like twelve or fourteen and i mean it's staggering in this all goes back to the reassessment that was done under mr master all who did it in house and we saved the city at that time were touting saving the city all kinds of money while did a really save the city any money that's the big question that that's to be asked because first of all public relation wise is certainly didn't help the city at all that's for sure and secondly did a really save us money i mean the looks like there's a bunch of search areas on every every agenda that there is but the two weeks ago there was there was really a lot in this one going from seven hundred fifty thousand down to one hundred fifty or something obviously there was some real problems with the assessment that was gone and now that leads to the question is where are we has a hole in the city with our assessments do we have to adjust dollar assessments because what all these reductions that means that everything's out of whack it seems like to  me so i think that maybe there has to be we did we have to ask her new assessor if a new adjustment has to be made maybe by neighborhood or by water because we're going to have an unlevel playing field again that's obvious and that's where we were white hat why we had to do the reassess for not adjusting everyone because obviously property values have been dropping they're not rising that that's a given so i think there's a lot to be considered but also all i really question about which money did the real city really save by doing that assessment reassessment and house because it doesn't seem like we saved a lot to me and we certainly cause a lot of bad will but anyhow i want to ask father paul i got some errands i got a little bad leg going on so i have some errands at my house and evening my name is mary maclean i live in the city at the last council meeting members voted to change chapter eighty seven of the city code in order to establish uniform employment benefits to the police department assistant chiefs the change would also apply to future fire system chiefs one can assume that change was made in order to save money for the taxpayers and that's a good thing six weeks ago i too made a proposal at this podium that would save money for the taxpayers i proposed that the city stop paying medical coverage for part time elected officials most citizens did not know that we pay their medical coverage they now will do because i have been talking it up for the past five weeks since i made the proposal the issue has yet to appear on the committee meeting agenda our council members are considered part timer and presented it was pain medical coverage for part time elected officials is an item that can be eliminated from the city budget taxpayers should not have to pay this added the expense for our representatives they are paid a salary for their service i am not advocating a salary increase for them but it would be more economical for the city to pay a higher salary than to pay both a salary and monthly medical insurance for every member who wants the coverage in the past some members did not like it did not take the coverage because they were insured in their public employee jobs this year there are at least five candidates running for city council who work in the private sector more than likely they would welcome medical coverage paid for by taxpayers i know for fact some people in the private sector run for office in order to receive medical benefits the practice along with any payouts it will save the city a lot of money and the new policy should pass this year so it will be in place before the newly elected officials take their oath of office on january the first thank you examples that could have been the headline on the gazette article on june eighteenth two thousand and eleven when talking about hamilton hill the article on the other instead presented a negative slant and its hard line especially compared to the other three articles about bellevue woodlawn parkway and today's article they want on hamilton hill focused on the problems instead of the strengths there was no mention which was a playground put in with the help of residents and community organizations was there's no mention of habitat for humanity in all the houses that were built there there's no mention of a community empowerment partnership or group of individuals and organizations working to strengthen community on a regular basis there's no mention of the block a these are small maybe small things in some people's minds but it shows the efforts being made by the neighborhood i did some research after reading that article and as we all know and this this came from the department of justice california state university at bakersfield and it starts by saying public knowledge of crime and justice is a wildly derived from the media and this paper examined the media consumption of fear punitive attitudes and also perceived police effectiveness if the reporter had taken the time to interview a cross section of the community and perhaps some community leaders if the reporter had taken the time to make sure that the positive stories  total and equal coverage is given a consistent basis this would help overcome some of the negative serial types about the hamilton hill neighborhood some of the possible possible solutions that i thought of and researched and looked at was that i crime statistics are to be stated in any article then they should be stated for all neighborhoods just not a specific neighborhood and something similar to this happened in los angeles and so what the what somebody did there was actually some young people is that they started a community newspaper to change that negative perception so they'd be that something that we should look at or start we did have a community use paper to start it up again in addition to that i will encourage my colleagues from other organizations to submit to the give that every positive event that takes place in hamilton hill and see and ask and hope that we can get as much coverage about these events as about the negative things that happened because as the previous stated speakers have stated help happening in hampton hill and will continue to work towards that and make sure that happens thank you after probably five or six decades of being in remission for at least hibernating the anti defamation league has to w r g b channel six for five years how they their management can enter into anything agreement with you along that line but if they also opening a genocide watch at this new academy because they say and i was listening to their radio program on the internet the other evening is that they are looking for eighty possible signs of new genocide sites so c b s is very busy with this and i just want you to know it may be worth nothing but i am noting it connect and i don't know who is going to be persecuting prosecuting or whatever whom and where this is going to lea k but i do know that they personally have denigrated many and so i think i'm not going to say very much more on that other than th where individuals are coming to the city with a lawsuit and claiming that their assessments are incorrect so we threw it in executive session we have a discussion we have some experts give value to the homes or the properties and we kind of come up to a conclusion of what is the real value and so all the ones that are coming through are lawsuits that are brought up against us or potential lawsuits i guess and so  we're we're settling them as opposed to going to court to resolve them and the one individual that that we're talking about they had a significant reduction i'm not sure since it was an executive session how property so that if the person was to vacate the building it would be very difficult to sell so a lot of those factors come into place we talked to a lot of different experts and try to come to a realization i think based on all the information that was provided it's a fair settlement for the city and i think for the property owners well so that but it does bring up some question appreciate your questioning it  of we have had across the country an unprecedented situation where property values went up and then property values are going back down and that's where a lot of this trouble comes in for us as taxpayers and so  there's there's hopefully things we can do on a kind of across the city level that would kind of re equalize because of all our bellies go up and all of ours come down it makes it difficult if certain people are coming in and getting them lowered through  know lawsuits or some like that so hopefully there's things that we can do within the next year or so to balance that out comments and hamilton hill i tend to agree with the speakers that came up i've had the opportunity to walk through hampton  surprisingly i walk through in years we do to a bunch of really nice people it was a pleasant neighborhood to walk through and so i think some of the stigma that maybe existed and maybe truth in the past i think is changing and the hill is a lovely place to walk through and so i didn't join the walks i thank you and i agree with you guys in terms of that they did maybe is hurtful when someone is kind of trashing your neighborhood and then i agree with you and  the private sector i'm not sure if that's true but i think i'm one of the few and i don't accept the health insurance in the city so i'm not sure if you're talking about me concerning working in the private sector taking on health insurance but i could say that i do not accept the city health insurance so thank you thank you mr president two things one the summer night of that couple weeks ago was a spectacular evening and the number of people that were downtown who not all of them lived in the city were happy to be there happy to walk into the merchants and love the fireworks show lots of young people dancing when the band was playing with a terrific night and with a very nice evening to showcase the city and the second thing kind related attended over the weekend with just a reunion of people who came together forty years ago and phonetically a part of the program and many of them left the city and thirty eight years ago and hadn't been back until this reunion and their comments to me about what they saw in the city and they drove through it all most of them stayed in the hotels in the downtown area they were all thrilled with what they saw they walked the streets downtown they were the really nice thing gratifying for maya and to hear people who left connected here seventy three when things were not all that rosy and came back and saw the city they really were impressed with so i think  lot of people get credit for that but i wanted to share that with those of us who live here and maybe don't always appreciate what we have and wonderful city thank you thank you the other  watches these meetings and that joel agree coming back good it's got a sense of humor and it was making fun of both of us and in the think looks forward to making a full recovery will be back here some point in time so when everybody keep him in their thoughts and prayers in the sales tax agreement sometimes people do overly simplistic analysis and they forget that during the early years of the sales tax agreement the city of schenectady was entitle to roughly five and a half million dollars a year we got eleven million dollars a year that is going is the overall growth has increased and depending on how you do the analysis we might be entitled to a little over eleven million we might be entitled to a little under eleven million and then the current agreement i think is fair because the county provides subsidy for our hazmat program they purchase those services there's also give us some police grants so there's other contributions above the eleven million dollars that the county makes to the city that makes that argument with the sales tax really kind  misleading assumption or argument that we are being short changed is we see continued growth those lines clearly will cross in yes that we will be entitle to more in the eleven million and change that we get now but at this point will represent that it's safe fair deal to the city of schenectady and it again is one that his service well in the past where we have gotten again a larger amount than we were entitled to and now we're the point where we're breaking even given a little bit put down and we look forward to those the negotiations next year with the county to position the can for future years and that in the discussion came up again about seward place i did have a luncheon once upon a time with the former president of the union college asked that individual to consider using stamped mcadam for the surface there he did not want to do that talked about the aesthetic value of using the granite pavers which are really a fair weather design talk to any individual that drives a snow plow and looks good in the summer which is the dead of winter when those things deviate a little bit you're grown a ten ton plow across it to it's the snow blade that either pops the paper upwards sends a big jolt back through the suspension system of the which jolts the driver and has potential damaging effects again on the suspension system the plow can we all know what the simple solution is for those revenue streams there is that for union re evaluate their position in contribution toward this community in the in the we will continue discussions there and look to have an end result that will be more pleasing to all of us as we progress into the future but with that would entertain a motion to adjourn move by mr della sala cycling mr erickson all in favor signify by saying i any opposed