Gary McCarthy Becomes City Council President

City Councilmember Gary McCarthy, following his recent reelection, was elected President of the Schenectady City Council. McCarthy set forth a bold agenda in his swearing in remarks. Read an excerpt below:

"There are many good and great things happening in our community. Over the last five years we have seen the re-birth of our downtown. Our community investment in Proctor’s Theater has created the premier regional arts and entertainment venue. Business leaders such as Angelo Mazzone, the Mallozzi Family, Neil Golub & the Golub Corporation, David Buicko & the Galesi Corporation and most importantly GE have joined with many others who now see Schenectady as the place to do business. Something that many said would not or could not happen. This has taken time, money, people & government working together and most important putting the right people in the right place. Downtown Schenectady is a model of urban revitalization for other communities to look at and try to emulate.

"I know, as do the other leaders in this room and our community that to continue this re-birth we must expand our efforts into our neighborhoods. This will require time, money, people & government working together and most importantly….putting the right people in the right place. We all know that owner occupied housing is the key to stabilizing and revitalizing our neighborhoods. We must be able to attract young middle class families to buy homes and live in our neighborhoods. But we must be fully aware and deal with the reality that when buying a home buyers view services at the city and county level as secondary considerations. Their first consideration is the school district.

"Today, I do not consider the Schenectady City School District a full partner in the revitalization of our community. We grapple with high school graduation rates that make us feel we are competing with third world countries, problem designations of our schools that overshadow the good programs and opportunities, and no discussion of educational excellence which was the label the district carried a few decades ago.

"Putting the right people in the right place is key to making the Schenectady City School District the full partner it should be in the re-birth of our neighborhoods. We as a city must support current community efforts to put the right people in the right positions within the Schenectady City School District. This May there must be a loud and clear message that things will change with the leadership of the district. The new leadership must be ready to assume the role as a full partner in attracting families to our neighborhoods to complement our economic development efforts.

"We, as city leaders must define and implement a plan of action to allow the goals and objectives in our 2020 plan to become a reality.

"In two weeks this council will consider a plan that will shift some of the property tax burden off owner occupied one and two family homes, we must look to create financial incentives to deal with high property taxes. We will identify 200 problem properties and actively track the city’s efforts to implement corrective actions. We will look to put in place measurable performance standards for city services (this includes but is not limited to the Police Department).

"There are many challenges we will need to deal with this year. Many may be imposed on us by our friends at the state level. We must look for ways to do things better, we need to deliver services cheaper and draw on and effectively utilize our residents and employees skills & talents to their fullest.

"Mr. Mayor, my fellow council members I look forward to working with you to continue to make Schenectady a great place to live and work."