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[13:53] for Monday November 21st 2022 first time
[13:58] on our agenda is presentation Miss
[14:00] Patrick yes thank you very much
[14:03] president Porterfield I'd like to
[14:05] introduce Mr Neil golub um Neil if you'd
[14:08] like to come up and stand here Marion
[14:10] that'll put you on the camera Neil's
[14:11] going to speak with us this evening
[14:12] about his concept
[14:17] he's going to speak to us about news new
[14:20] Schenectady
[14:21] take it away it's just that simple yes
[14:24] that's it
[14:25] hello hello thank you it's nice to meet
[14:27] you all I don't think I met you all
[14:28] personally but you have my personal uh
[14:31] gratitude and appreciation for letting
[14:34] me be here as many of you know I've been
[14:36] involved in this community for an awful
[14:38] lot of years back in the 80s my Jane
[14:41] before she passed she and I put together
[14:43] with the with the Anti-Defamation League
[14:46] a world of difference and no place for
[14:48] hate and these are programs that are
[14:51] available in our schools K through 12
[14:54] and they were first programs approved by
[14:57] New York state for Statewide use K-12
[15:00] and I'm happy to report that we've had a
[15:03] tremendous amount of success as a matter
[15:05] of fact so much these programs have now
[15:07] become National and probably one of the
[15:09] few that exist in this community we have
[15:12] a lot of schools there are eight schools
[15:14] that have no place for hate as part of
[15:15] their curriculum for the year and
[15:17] Schenectady unfortunately there's only
[15:19] two of them in the region there's eight
[15:21] and entire region there's close to 60
[15:24] odd schools that have put these programs
[15:26] in and they are year-long programs for
[15:28] the students and the schools to work on
[15:31] things to help improve the conditions
[15:35] that exist but I want to talk to you
[15:37] tonight about is the project that I have
[15:40] been working on for a long time as many
[15:41] of you know with Roger ho we started
[15:47] um
[15:48] the effort to bring itself back it's
[15:51] going to keep 2000 was started in about
[15:53] 1993 and we created some very good
[15:58] things with our programming and have had
[16:02] much success in doing that one of the
[16:05] things that we wanted to do was to
[16:07] change the reputation of Schenectady
[16:09] because there had been a long period
[16:11] where our reputation here and really
[16:14] going down the tubes and in 1990 our
[16:17] downtown was described as one of the
[16:19] ugliest in the state of New York and so
[16:22] we attempted to do something to change
[16:24] that in 1997 Bob Farley came to me and
[16:28] said he had an idea and we put together
[16:30] the Metroplex Development Authority
[16:33] which was a unique design which had been
[16:36] brought in from others that have been
[16:39] used in New York state we've got the
[16:40] state legislature to approve it
[16:42] including the Senate and the assembly we
[16:45] did all the lobbying work and then
[16:47] lobbied the governor had this
[16:49] legislation passed and in 1999 we got
[16:53] the Metroplex Development Authority for
[16:55] Schenectady and it has been
[16:57] schenectady's driving engine ever since
[17:00] then and frankly as I look around today
[17:02] I'm frankly amazed at the changes that
[17:06] have occurred in our community and there
[17:08] have been substantial changes and I know
[17:11] when I hear people from Albany and other
[17:13] parts of the community coming here for
[17:16] dinner or for events or activities and
[17:19] giving Schenectady lots of credit but my
[17:22] thought has always been what we have to
[17:24] do to improve our reputation and like
[17:27] we've done so many things here if I said
[17:29] to you all right now do you see the
[17:30] changes that have occurred in
[17:32] Schenectady what would you say yes and I've done this at the Chamber of
[17:37] Commerce meeting I've done it at other
[17:39] meetings over the past number of months
[17:41] I've spoken to literally a hundred
[17:43] different local political Executives and
[17:47] everybody I've talked to has been very
[17:49] positive about the concept and what I'm
[17:53] trying to do is to say that why we've
[17:56] made all these changes there's nothing
[17:58] that separates Schenectady from what it
[18:00] was we still have when we say
[18:03] Schenectady still carries with it that
[18:05] old reputation and what I'm suggesting
[18:08] we do is something very simple and let
[18:10] me give you an example of something that
[18:12] really worked I think we've all heard of
[18:14] the grocery product called tide
[18:17] we use that to clean the wash and so
[18:20] forth as we know well a number of years
[18:22] ago they designed a new tide they had a
[18:26] new formula and they didn't change their
[18:28] name they used the same name and what
[18:30] did they call themselves new tide well I
[18:33] wish you could see what happened to
[18:35] their sales numbers when they did that
[18:37] people heard it they respected it they
[18:40] tried it and they and they changed it
[18:42] and since then over a number of years
[18:45] the word new has disappeared because
[18:46] it's not new anymore but the fact is by
[18:49] using new they got people to hear their
[18:52] name and what I'm trying to do and I've
[18:54] looked at hundreds of names over the
[18:57] past year I've used a marketing
[18:59] consultant locally we've looked the
[19:01] names and it really came to the
[19:03] conclusion that you can't change
[19:04] Schenectady Schenectady is what it is
[19:07] and nobody's going to go for that
[19:09] however I said to myself what happens if
[19:12] we just use one simple adjective new
[19:16] Schenectady
[19:19] well for those of us who know and we
[19:21] hear the term we know what new
[19:23] Schenectady is but for those people who
[19:25] don't know what new Schenectady is
[19:28] they're going to say what do you mean
[19:29] new Schenectady and that gives us a
[19:32] chance to explain it to them there's no
[19:34] cost we don't have to get any government
[19:36] approval to do it it's a word that's
[19:39] here today and gone tomorrow if we
[19:41] should so choose but it gives us a
[19:43] chance to leverage what we've done in a
[19:47] way that people might hear that's
[19:49] Schenectady is today a different place
[19:51] and I know you're all struggling to find
[19:54] a way and certainly this community has
[19:56] many opportunities but you know what
[19:58] there are a lot of wonderful people in
[20:00] this community and we wouldn't be where
[20:02] we are today if it wasn't for the people
[20:04] here that have made such a strong effort
[20:07] to bring this community to a different
[20:09] level and I've spent the last 30 or 40
[20:12] years been working on it and I ain't
[20:14] done yet and I've done until until we
[20:17] find a way that we have some thing that
[20:20] helps us move the Schenectady reputation
[20:22] to a higher level and so I wanted to
[20:25] share with you what the thought was I
[20:27] have worked with my advertising people
[20:29] and by the way it's a very low cost
[20:31] operation I'm not asking for a dime you
[20:34] know okay but I I think we can I think
[20:36] we can pull this off my advertising guys
[20:39] come up with some Billboards that we're
[20:41] working on right now some really clever
[20:44] unique Billboards that would get the
[20:46] message across and some other methods of promotion and advertising that would
[20:52] be good for us we've talked to the
[20:53] people that discover Schenectady and
[20:55] they're anxious to work with us and I
[20:57] think most of the people that we have
[20:58] talked to kind of think it's a good idea
[21:01] so what I was hoping to get is your
[21:04] support and your agreement that you
[21:07] don't think is such a bad idea maybe
[21:08] it's a good idea and maybe we can all
[21:10] help ourselves a little bit and if we
[21:13] can get people from other communities
[21:14] saying what's new snack to go about that
[21:17] gives us a chance to deliver the message
[21:19] so that people can hear and we can be
[21:22] proud of what we've accomplished here
[21:24] and we have all accomplished a lot and
[21:28] this could not have happened without
[21:29] hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of
[21:31] people doing their thing we fortunately
[21:33] have gotten a good leader at the
[21:36] Metroplex who has been able to put lots
[21:38] of deals together and what we created by
[21:42] the way when we when we design Metroplex
[21:44] every town in the city in the county of
[21:47] Schenectady has benefited from the
[21:49] benefits that have accrued as a result
[21:51] of Metroplex
[21:52] the Metroplex has given back to the
[21:55] towns close to 90 over 90 million
[21:58] dollars in tax benefits have gone back
[22:01] to the towns
[22:03] so that the relationship in the towns
[22:05] with the city
[22:07] good very good and I'm hoping we can do
[22:11] more so I'm asking for your support
[22:16] I'll be happy to take any questions
[22:22] I've been stumped you
[22:27] so Mr Gold definitely thank you for the
[22:29] presentation just trying to wrap my head
[22:30] around to what extent so would you have
[22:33] an example of how the designation news
[22:35] connected will be applied like am I
[22:37] having trying to conceptualize it would
[22:39] it be mayor McCarthy city of New
[22:41] Schenectady or whether it be updating
[22:43] cdca
[22:46] one of the things I want this to be is
[22:48] Grassroots and you would call they said
[22:50] all of us and if we all say we live in
[22:53] new Schenectady or this is part of new
[22:56] Schenectady all we're doing is putting
[22:58] an adjective on a term that we have
[23:00] lived with I've been in the city since
[23:03] 1937 a couple years I've got a couple
[23:05] years under my belt okay but I'm still
[23:07] working for Schenectady I haven't given
[23:09] up and I still believe in this community
[23:11] before my dad passed
[23:14] he had tried to turn Schenectady around
[23:17] but unfortunately wasn't able to and he
[23:19] said Neil he says you you have the
[23:21] ability to be able to do it would you
[23:22] please try and work with Roger Hall at
[23:25] Union College at the time and and we did
[23:27] and I think over these years we've come
[23:29] a long way and I think it's a it's a
[23:32] Grassroots thing that we can all do that
[23:34] everybody in this room can do when we
[23:36] talk with our friends and I'm sure when
[23:38] you ask your friends if you've been to
[23:40] Schenectady what do you think they'll
[23:41] give you the same response that people
[23:43] have given me
[23:45] now we got lots of things to do here you
[23:48] know we we played a big role in the Boys
[23:50] and Girls Clubs and this past summer
[23:52] with the police chief we sent 50 kids
[23:55] from from Arbor Hill to the uh to uh
[23:58] Ginger cook for for a week you know
[24:00] there's lots of good things going on
[24:02] here good educational programs hopefully
[24:04] more of the people in the school system
[24:06] will use what we've already given them I
[24:09] underwrite a full-time group of people
[24:11] that teaches no place for hate
[24:13] a full-time organization that goes
[24:16] around to the schools promoting from
[24:18] kindergarten through high school no
[24:21] place for hate and if we could figure
[24:23] that out as a community as people as
[24:25] friends we'd be a much greater community
[24:28] and that's what I'm hoping this will
[24:30] help us do just one more step
[24:35] yep Mr Farley so uh I I want to say I
[24:39] like the idea of new Schenectady
[24:41] um because I think just adding new to it
[24:43] but then you know Schenectady to capture
[24:46] the historic relevance and then all the
[24:48] good things that have happened I think
[24:50] that um some something that we can do
[24:51] better as a city is really highlight the
[24:55] good things that are happening in the
[24:56] city I think that you know to your point
[24:58] um there was a point in time where we
[25:01] um had earned them maybe a reputation
[25:03] that that we shouldn't be proud of but
[25:05] um just really earned it by the way yeah we did I'm about accountable but
[25:09] that's that's behind us and I I give the
[25:11] mayor a lot of credit he's made a lot of
[25:13] very positive change in this unity and
[25:17] at one time I didn't support him but I
[25:19] do now and and and I think he's made a
[25:23] real effort it's a you know it's a group
[25:25] of people all trying to work together so
[25:28] that you can get your thoughts across
[25:29] you know in in business one of the
[25:32] things that I have tried to train my
[25:34] organization is you have to listen to
[25:36] other people you have to hear what they
[25:38] say and it's helpful even if you
[25:40] articulate what they said to make sure
[25:42] that you understand what they said too
[25:45] often people talk and nobody listens and
[25:47] as a result good ideas go by the board
[25:49] if Bob Farley had said had said he said
[25:52] to me that one night he said we can get
[25:55] a Public Authority but it's going to
[25:57] take you and me working together to get
[25:59] it done because it's going to be a big
[26:01] job if I had let that idea go over my
[26:04] head and didn't hear it we wouldn't be
[26:06] where we are today
[26:07] and I happen to be a pretty good
[26:09] listener and I've tried to train my
[26:11] people to be good listeners and I hope
[26:14] as as a council as a city as a county
[26:17] that if we do the same thing we can go a
[26:20] lot farther as a community of people all
[26:22] working together to figure out what our
[26:24] problems are and how do we fix them
[26:26] and I'm doing my share I guarantee it
[26:29] I'm doing my sharing I'm going to
[26:30] continue to do it I don't know how many
[26:32] more years I got around here but I'll
[26:33] continue to keep working
[26:39] my friends coming here by the way
[26:43] well thank you very much Neil everybody
[26:45] any other thing do you have a question
[26:47] nope okay thank you thank you thank you
[26:51] all right I'll give you your mic there
[26:52] thank you very much
[27:05] okay
[27:06] um we only have one member of the
[27:08] finance committee here so we're going to
[27:10] be moving all of those items to City
[27:11] development and planning
[27:13] uh so we'll move on to health and
[27:15] Recreation I'd like to open health and
[27:18] Recreation we have one item on the
[27:19] agenda and that is
[27:21] um I'm proposing that we um
[27:24] create a ceremonial resolution
[27:28] um honoring the Schenectady Belmont Pop
[27:30] Warner cheerleaders who I think all of
[27:33] you know
[27:34] are headed to the Nationals and they're
[27:37] looking to raise some money to do so I
[27:39] think they have a they have a GoFundMe
[27:41] campaign underway already so actually Mr
[27:45] Toro has actually spoken to the coach
[27:47] and we'd love to have them come next
[27:49] week and accept a resolution supporting
[27:51] them and congratulating them for all
[27:53] their hard work I was a cheerleader in
[27:56] high school so I have to say an old
[27:58] cheerleaders you know we don't we don't
[28:00] give up the cheerleading so
[28:02] um that's what I would like to put
[28:04] forward so I'd like a motion for that
[28:08] and a second
[28:10] okay all in favor all right okay thank
[28:14] you very much
[28:15] um and now I'd like a motion to adjourn
[28:17] okay okay
[28:19] all in favor all right okay thank you
[28:22] very much
[28:22] I'd like to call to order student
[28:24] development planning and now we have six
[28:26] items on the agenda the first item on
[28:28] the agenda will be a reminder for the
[28:30] 2023 uh dsad budget and the public
[28:34] hearing is going to be 11 28 and I
[28:35] believe that we have someone here from
[28:37] dsic that was just language would you
[28:39] like to come up
[28:41] foreign
[28:43] [Music]
[28:49] executive director of the new downtown
[28:53] Schenectady Improvement Corporation I
[28:55] gotta keep practicing that but I mean if
[28:57] anybody's been downtown in the last 15
[28:59] years I don't think you would argue that
[29:00] yeah there was a lot of new down there
[29:03] but
[29:04] um
[29:04] I also just want to say my board
[29:06] president Heather Peterson here is an
[29:08] important members Paul Ambrose and
[29:09] Andrea cordov so thanks for being here
[29:12] uh yeah this is our uh this has been a
[29:14] super busy year at the dsac after
[29:19] we all know it's been a challenging few
[29:22] years before that but so um
[29:24] we did a lot of growth a lot of learning
[29:26] and we're really going to be going into
[29:28] 2023 with a real strong
[29:32] programs a real strong suite of programs
[29:35] and we're really excited about
[29:37] everything that we have in store so uh
[29:39] but the budget there you have in front
[29:40] of you at the end there's multiple pages
[29:42] but to the city council here tonight to
[29:46] approve the assessment portion of our
[29:48] budget which is page one but when you
[29:51] get to page three that's sort of our
[29:53] overall budget because of course we want
[29:55] to make sure that city council knows how
[29:58] the assessment fits into the overall
[30:00] budget and our other income and expenses
[30:03] so on page one is you recall
[30:05] in 2020 the city council
[30:09] approved our expansion of our district
[30:11] for the first time in our history so we
[30:14] are now in Little Italy we're all the
[30:16] way up Erie Boulevard to the circle by
[30:18] the casino and then all the way down
[30:20] Broadway to Exit 5 8 90. and at that
[30:25] time because of the expansion the extra
[30:27] work we the strategy that our board had
[30:29] put together to do some incremental
[30:31] increases in the assessment to make sure
[30:33] we had the wherewithal to do all the new
[30:36] programming the new services that we had
[30:38] to do during covid we took a break with
[30:41] that because obviously that was a
[30:43] difficult time and we had to make sure
[30:45] that we were being sensitive to the
[30:47] situation but looking forward to next
[30:49] year again we are back on that strategy
[30:53] so you're seeing our assessment for next
[30:55] year the board is approved for 355 and
[30:59] then there's the base partition
[31:01] participation fee which is the fee that
[31:04] the vast majority of the properties in
[31:06] downtown pay except for some of the
[31:08] larger ones in some
[31:10] core areas of downtown and so that will
[31:12] be at 3 44 2023
[31:17] um
[31:19] you know the second page really is for
[31:21] the board I mean it breaks it down by
[31:22] our different program areas how much of
[31:25] the assessment is going towards
[31:27] different program areas
[31:30] and then page three is the overall
[31:32] budget with
[31:34] the full overview of the income and the
[31:37] expenses and then the last two pages
[31:39] really do break down uh the remainder of
[31:43] that budget by our two main program
[31:44] areas which of course are outdoor
[31:48] cleaning and maintenance and and place
[31:51] making and improvements in downtown and
[31:54] then our marketing and promotions
[31:55] Communications that we do to bring
[31:58] people downtown and make sure everybody
[31:59] knows
[32:01] uh all the great things that are
[32:02] happening in downtown so if anybody has
[32:05] any questions
[32:17] I'd just like to say that I'm just
[32:20] always impressed and with what little
[32:23] really funding you have how much you do
[32:25] and get done and the physical labor
[32:27] that's put out there on a consistent
[32:29] basis so thank you yes everything just
[32:32] looks wonderful all the time yeah thank
[32:35] you we're very fortunate to have a
[32:37] really great strong team that really
[32:40] cares about
[32:41] downtown or what they're doing so um
[32:43] we're very lucky and very fortunate so
[32:45] thank you for recognizing that
[32:48] um How would how would you like move up
[32:49] on State Street a little towards like
[32:53] Mohawk Ambulance or you know what
[32:57] it I think it would be a similar process
[32:59] to what we did back in 2019 where
[33:03] we
[33:04] you know we did the research we looked
[33:07] at the different properties we looked at
[33:08] the impact would be we estimated what
[33:10] the increase in expenses would be for
[33:13] bringing the services up there and then
[33:15] we presented it to the council and then
[33:17] we um
[33:19] yeah
[33:30] 28 to 20 yep okay great Happy
[33:33] Thanksgiving everybody and
[33:36] um also be sure to come down on the
[33:38] small business Saturday on the 26th and
[33:40] Shop small because we've got some green
[33:42] and there's going to be a great video we
[33:43] put together highlighting a lot of the
[33:45] downtown businesses that'll be coming
[33:47] out on social media in the next few days
[33:49] thank you thank you
[33:52] foreign
[33:57] on the agenda is the Upper Union Street
[34:00] business district
[34:01] and the public hearing will also be on
[34:03] the 28th summer
[34:08] hello everybody my name is Antonia
[34:10] Nelson I'm the treasurer of the
[34:12] operating industry bid we had a good
[34:15] year last this year uh we're rounding
[34:18] out the year with the tree lighting
[34:20] ceremony that we're doing a little bit
[34:22] bigger than we have in the past next
[34:25] year we're going to keep the budget the
[34:28] same but we're going to focus on street
[34:30] beautification and improving we have so
[34:33] many banners that we bought this year
[34:36] that are going to be up in a week or so
[34:38] and we're gonna improve with hanging
[34:42] baskets
[34:43] urns flowers maybe some we're looking
[34:46] for some street art things like that
[34:49] that's how
[34:53] um and that's pretty much it
[34:55] does anyone have any questions for me
[34:57] questions Mr Toro I will say coming down
[35:00] Union Street today and the circle by the
[35:04] McDonald's and that's just beautifully
[35:06] decorated it's just it's just a point
[35:08] little section of Upper Union Street
[35:10] that just makes you feel like homey and
[35:12] Welcome to our city so it always looks
[35:15] very nice thank you we're gonna try it
[35:17] for next year to get some more
[35:18] decorations
[35:20] um we're going in the right direction
[35:23] thank you thank you thanks for coming
[35:26] thank you
[35:29] all right guys number three the public
[35:31] hearing uh for this was held on 11 14
[35:34] um for the purchase of
[35:37] um 0.15 acre paper Street behind 588
[35:41] Broadway
[35:42] Mr Mayor
[35:43] yes Madam president at this point asking
[35:46] the council's approval to allow me to
[35:49] enter into a contract to sell that to uh
[35:52] the adjacent property owner
[35:55] which is locating a business on Broadway
[36:02] any questions
[36:05] Miss Patrick so FW Webb that is already
[36:08] confirmed that they're they're coming
[36:10] and locating their business yes
[36:15] I did have the public Hearing in there
[36:17] as you recall there was one business
[36:20] owner who had some concerns regarding
[36:22] that so I just want to remind everyone
[36:23] yes
[36:24] um they thought that it was going to
[36:26] impact their business
[36:27] because they were then not just them but
[36:29] the smaller businesses that um
[36:32] or in the city and and provide the same
[36:35] type of service oh sorry that's right
[36:37] maybe you weren't there
[36:38] well in reviewing that the uh again the
[36:42] company has a presence in the Capital
[36:44] District in fact in the Northeast
[36:47] uh and where I believe the question was
[36:50] whether we were providing some incentive
[36:53] to locate this company here and we're
[36:56] not we're actually selling this piece of
[36:59] property at a premium over what we would
[37:01] normally get and all the property of the
[37:05] city is very valuable but this dead end
[37:07] street
[37:08] is uh
[37:11] my classified as slightly less valuable
[37:14] that they've been more than willing to
[37:15] pay this and they'll give them some
[37:17] parking and they will also Consolidated
[37:21] into the other lot so that going forward
[37:25] it'll be more simplistic for people
[37:27] wanting to do anything with the real
[37:29] estate there
[37:30] well I think people are going to be glad
[37:32] to hear they're not getting some
[37:33] incentive I don't know if Mr Birch I
[37:35] believe it was Kraft
[37:38] mentioned that but he did mention that
[37:40] he thought that it would impact some of
[37:41] the smaller businesses when he came to
[37:43] speak at the um at the council meeting
[37:45] last week
[37:47] they run a great business there we want
[37:49] to promote them and it's just good to
[37:51] have so much interest in this connected
[37:55] any further discussion
[37:57] if not I'll entertain a motion I'll move
[37:59] it
[38:01] um the other second all in favor
[38:04] aye
[38:05] okay the next item for discussion is the
[38:08] medical debt relief relief
[38:11] Mr Farland
[38:13] so thank you madam president so this is
[38:16] just um this uh idea if you will is is
[38:20] you know kind of bringing to the council
[38:23] and its infancy
[38:25] um intentionally because I think that at
[38:26] this point we can you know I'm welcoming
[38:29] people to be thought Partners on how we
[38:31] can do this
[38:33] um this happened in Toledo Ohio and
[38:34] there's another version of this
[38:37] um in uh Chicago I believe
[38:39] um where they were able to leverage
[38:44] um 1.6 million dollars this was 800 from
[38:47] the city
[38:49] um and 800 from the county and they were
[38:52] able to leverage that uh money into what
[38:55] looks like it's going to be about 250
[38:57] million dollars uh to pay off um some
[39:01] medical debt for the citizens residents
[39:02] that live there so I was you know
[39:04] thinking that not only uh really
[39:06] impressed but you know the ability to
[39:09] leverage the funds so that magnitude
[39:12] we're also think about you know
[39:14] what that does for our new Schenectady
[39:18] as we're talking about giving people an
[39:20] opportunity to kind of free themselves
[39:21] up for some debt and they can you know
[39:23] put them in a better position to buy
[39:25] some of those very valuable Parcels of
[39:28] land that the mayor is talking about
[39:30] um I think that this would be you know
[39:32] something that is really worth some
[39:33] investigation there as opposed to the
[39:35] council is even something that would
[39:37] work for us
[39:40] questions
[39:42] thank you
[39:43] um how did they do that is there like an
[39:45] article or somewhere we can read about
[39:47] it or were you presented a little
[39:49] further I mean yeah definitely you know again like I said
[39:52] this is really the beginning stage but I
[39:54] will definitely sure I'll share the
[39:55] article that I read that kind of piqued
[39:56] my interest with the entire Council yeah
[39:58] I would like to do that so I'll make
[40:00] sure I do that
[40:01] um and again that's all you know
[40:04] we could copy and paste you know what's
[40:07] done there you know um I think but you
[40:10] know
[40:10] my initial thought isn't to just do that
[40:13] I think we can kind of take what's
[40:14] worked take what works and then kind of
[40:16] open this up to our larger Community
[40:18] discussion and get input from different
[40:20] stakeholders and you know some people
[40:22] areas of expertise in this to really see
[40:24] if we can leverage that
[40:26] um you know I was thinking about you
[40:27] know all the kind of connective tissue
[40:29] if you will no pun intended around like
[40:31] how how its medical debt is not just
[40:34] impacting people's ability to you know
[40:36] for to move upward economically but
[40:39] really think about even like the health
[40:40] concerns you know like so when people
[40:42] are having you know you know one of the main reasons people don't go to the
[40:47] doctor is when they have some willing
[40:48] medical bills over their head and it's
[40:50] like what that does is that makes us a
[40:52] sicker Community overall because then
[40:53] people go to the doctor when they have
[40:55] to right so it kind of can
[40:57] um you know definitely impact up at
[40:59] one's a bitterly ability to access good
[41:01] medical care as well so it's a lot of
[41:03] different you know kind of positive
[41:05] byproducts as looking at something like
[41:07] this but uh could do for the community
[41:09] so and I'm super excited doctor but you
[41:12] know the way that we can you know
[41:14] leverage such a small amount of money
[41:17] um and to make sure that we can impact
[41:19] so many people like I'm really excited
[41:20] about that I don't know any other parts
[41:22] we can get that type of Leverage out so far in terms of the you know
[41:28] what what's the audience you're talking
[41:30] about is there a specific well let's
[41:33] talk about that so yes on Ohio what they
[41:35] did is um they used four times the
[41:37] federal uh income for property because
[41:42] we all know that that is you know very
[41:45] dated and not uh update updated metric
[41:48] to use so they did four times and I was
[41:51] looking at just kind of like our members
[41:53] locally and if we just use their
[41:54] threshold then I mean we're talking like
[41:56] for families it'll be like 53 of the
[41:59] families that live in 12305
[42:02] um uh 57 on the families that live in uh
[42:06] one two three or four and one two three
[42:09] or eight is 56 actually so like there's
[42:11] definitely you know obviously people in
[42:14] our community that could really benefit
[42:16] for something like this
[42:17] um again I think the part now is once we
[42:20] all get a little bit more information
[42:22] about this and start to look you know
[42:24] Auburn you know our level of expertise
[42:26] to the table and I think it's something
[42:28] that collecting we can do as a counselor
[42:30] to see if this makes sense and I believe
[42:33] it does and you know you know so I
[42:35] really welcome you guys thought Partners
[42:37] on this
[42:39] okay I did a little research on prepping
[42:42] for tonight and I saw that the New York
[42:43] Health Foundation
[42:46] um I think some of the statistics maybe
[42:48] came from that that
[42:49] um the 41 of your perhaps so I noticed I
[42:53] wasn't sure if um perhaps I noticed that
[42:55] the New York State Assembly and the New
[42:57] York State Senate sent legislation to
[42:59] Governor vocal which hasn't been signed
[43:00] yet to help alleviate medical debt
[43:05] um there were two specific areas
[43:07] relating to hospitalization I think
[43:10] so I would be interested in learning
[43:12] more about that I tried to access uh
[43:15] there's there's a lot of data by County
[43:19] um but I couldn't uh I have to go back
[43:22] and try to figure that out I wasn't able
[43:23] to find Schenectady County actually on
[43:25] the list of
[43:28] the entire country by the way is is on
[43:31] this interactive map to see what the
[43:34] percentage was in Schenectady County of
[43:36] people that actually have medical debt
[43:39] but all that information is out there I
[43:42] think that I mean I want to learn more I
[43:44] think that you know obviously there's
[43:46] opportunity for people to
[43:49] Medicaid you know perhaps helps with a
[43:52] lot of this
[43:53] especially for lower income individuals
[43:56] but I need to learn more as well yeah no no we often I think so
[44:02] um there's a there's there's a there's a
[44:05] pretty pretty clear need
[44:07] um but again I think that you know um
[44:10] there's some you know some a memo that
[44:12] was released by The Biden Administration
[44:14] that kind of that that spoke to this as
[44:16] well so I think it would be wise for us
[44:19] to look at you know what's existing or
[44:21] what's likely to come you know even
[44:22] though these bills haven't been signed
[44:24] yet legislation haven't been signed yet
[44:25] you know to kind of look up what's
[44:26] likely to come and you know we can you
[44:29] know use that as you know
[44:31] because again I don't want to just copy
[44:33] and paste you know something from
[44:34] something else I want to be kind of
[44:35] really see how responsive we can be to
[44:37] our community and I was thinking about
[44:39] even um
[44:40] I don't know
[44:43] how many of us have been to the
[44:45] emergency room here in Schenectady as
[44:47] you know in a recent time um and you
[44:49] know unfortunately I mean you have but
[44:52] not unfortunately fortunately we have a
[44:53] team of dedicated medical professionals
[44:55] that are doing the best that they can
[44:58] um but there's also a really really long
[45:01] wait time and this is the emergency room
[45:03] right and you know and I would assume
[45:06] but after you start listening to work
[45:07] because I know that there's there's
[45:08] staff shortages and things of that
[45:09] nature but it's also
[45:11] people you know the emergency room has
[45:13] to treat you right there's a different
[45:15] level of uh obligation when someone
[45:18] comes to emergency as if they go to a
[45:20] different you know a medical facility so
[45:23] what ends up happening is that
[45:26] you have people that might be there
[45:27] might not even be seeking that that
[45:29] might be the appropriate level of care
[45:31] that they need in the moment but
[45:34] if you have people that are waiting to
[45:36] get back to the doctor or waiting to go
[45:38] to the doctor just you know because
[45:39] they're concerned about how this medical
[45:41] bill is going to impact their family
[45:44] then you get a whole bunch of really sick people who missed out on
[45:48] some some preventative care that
[45:50] probably could have helped and then so
[45:52] it not only does it make a secret as a
[45:54] community but then it messes with our
[45:55] access as a city to uh like those
[45:58] Emergency Medical Services and I know
[45:59] the mayor had uh speaking not too long
[46:02] ago about like the different things that
[46:04] are you know different type of
[46:05] innovations that we're trying to use to
[46:07] make sure that uh yeah yeah so so again
[46:10] so I think it watch highlights I think
[46:12] that it's a it's a conversation worth
[46:14] having I think it's a project that we
[46:15] all can kind of wrap our head around and
[46:16] see if we can produce something that
[46:18] improves
[46:22] yes and I think when we're considering
[46:24] that we also have to consider there are
[46:26] some programs in place currently with
[46:28] medical providers that if someone can't
[46:30] pay the bill
[46:31] um you know so we should just look at
[46:32] all aspects of it if we're going to be
[46:35] considering how we could also
[46:36] participate and assist in them so yeah
[46:39] and I did look
[46:41] you know which I would say very limited
[46:43] research if you will around like some of
[46:44] the existing programs and what I think
[46:46] is unique about this is that this um is looking to
[46:51] um completely alleviate that that
[46:54] medical bill is that you know I think
[46:55] that there's programs that exist that
[46:57] are operating on a sliding scale but if
[46:58] you're able to consolidate and you know
[47:02] um from that secondary medical marketing
[47:04] you're kind of consolidating that debt
[47:06] then your ability to leverage it and you
[47:09] know your money is what makes you know
[47:11] such a huge difference but no and I
[47:12] think
[47:13] to your point we really want to consider
[47:15] all things that are existing right now
[47:17] that are helping people because there
[47:18] are things that are helping people I
[47:20] think it's just a matter of scaling and
[47:22] you know it's just a really good
[47:23] opportunity for us to even indeed that
[47:26] much more impactful
[47:28] so what would you like uh so I think so
[47:31] all right so again I'll I'll mail I'll
[47:34] email everyone
[47:35] um kind of the research that I've been
[47:37] doing the Articles I've been looking at
[47:39] and then you know I'm thinking I'm gonna
[47:41] maybe we can um bring it back in a
[47:43] couple weeks and
[47:45] we can talk a little bit more about it
[47:47] as it starts to take a little shape
[47:48] because I think we're in a really good
[47:49] position I've reached out to um Ohio and
[47:53] they um are you know more than willing
[47:55] to kind of help Partners and let us know
[47:58] about what worked for them and then what
[48:00] day and I think we're in a good position
[48:01] to kind of you know they can shorten our
[48:04] learning curve if we will you know kind
[48:05] of using what works with them and what
[48:08] didn't and then we can kind of Identify
[48:10] some of those pitfalls that we won't
[48:11] have to experience so
[48:13] um so I think a couple weeks bringing it
[48:14] back once we have some more of those
[48:16] conversations and I welcome all my
[48:18] fellow council members into again the
[48:20] ballpark designer we could probably have
[48:21] a more defined conversation
[48:24] um so are you just talking about
[48:25] Citywide or so we're just talking about
[48:27] residents of the city well right now
[48:29] right here I'm talking University City
[48:31] because that's you know it's a city
[48:32] council but I have reached out to a bomb
[48:35] um some of the members of accounting
[48:37] Legend they're interested as well to see
[48:38] if it's in that makes sense I'm
[48:40] welcoming
[48:41] as many Community Partners as we
[48:44] possibly can I don't want them to become
[48:46] one of those things where if it's
[48:47] everything it's nothing right for so
[48:48] many you know but I wanted to be
[48:50] manageable but I really uh welcome you
[48:53] know people's air expertise and passion
[48:55] around the subjects I think that it
[48:58] clearly is a really issue for our city
[49:00] okay we'll look forward to hearing some
[49:02] of the information for you
[49:04] okay
[49:05] um the next item on the agenda is the
[49:07] amended MOA with Metroplex
[49:10] for the Reconstruction of South Church
[49:11] Street
[49:12] McCarthy
[49:14] thank you madam president uh Council had
[49:17] authorized the city to enter into an
[49:19] agreement with Metroplex to
[49:21] manage and coordinate the development of
[49:25] what's generally referred to as South
[49:27] Church Street some of that was uh city
[49:30] property in the streets some of it was
[49:33] adjacent property owned by private
[49:35] entities some of this County property
[49:39] the project has been completed I think
[49:42] people have gone down there see how much
[49:44] better it looks parking's been approved
[49:47] lighting's been improved it was one of
[49:48] the reasons that we were able to attract
[49:52] Van Gogh coming into the Armory was just
[49:56] having those improvements there
[49:59] unfortunately the costs were a little
[50:02] bit higher than what the original
[50:03] estimates were we found an underground
[50:06] tank some of the lighting things that
[50:09] were a little more complicated so that
[50:11] the original agreement doesn't have a
[50:14] dollar amount that allows me to now
[50:16] assign the final contract with Metroplex
[50:18] The increased cost is about 154
[50:23] 000.
[50:25] it's uh unfortunate but it's money
[50:28] that's been well spent and again is
[50:32] generating a level of activity at that
[50:34] end of the street that end of State
[50:36] Street where we just hadn't seen it so
[50:39] just continuing to build out downtown
[50:41] and would ask the council's favorable
[50:44] consideration to allow me to or to
[50:48] modify that dollar amount and allow me
[50:50] to enter into the Metroplex
[50:53] let's repeat the amount that's increased
[50:55] by uh it's roughly 154 thousand dollars
[51:00] okay
[51:02] any other questions
[51:05] I'll leave it a second okay the money is
[51:07] in the paving budget the money's already
[51:10] there okay well that's always good a
[51:14] second all those in favor
[51:15] aye aye thank you thank you okay our
[51:19] final final uh agenda item is the sale
[51:21] of two three four Dwayne Avenue and for
[51:24] this property sale we will need to go to
[51:26] Executive session