{"id":8387,"date":"2007-11-01T19:56:08","date_gmt":"2007-11-02T00:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2007\/11\/01\/treats-or-tricks-for-schenectady\/"},"modified":"2015-03-30T19:17:38","modified_gmt":"2015-03-30T23:17:38","slug":"treats-or-tricks-for-schenectady","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2007\/11\/01\/treats-or-tricks-for-schenectady\/","title":{"rendered":"treats or tricks for Schenectady?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" GE<\/strong><\/em> finally has good news for Old Dorp*<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/strong>: For several decades now, a GE press conference was a scary prospect for the people and economy of Schenectady, New York — with its workforce plummeting from over 40,000 to about 3000. Yesterday, GE Energy<\/a> had a very big treat for the city that was General Electric’s birthplace and the company’s former corporate headquarters. As Newsday<\/em>.com\/AP reported in “GE to add jobs in NY as energy product sales grow<\/a>” (October 31, 2007):<\/p>\n

\n

“Changing course after years of eliminating jobs in New York, General Electric Co. announced Wednesday that the company is adding 500 new positions and investing more than $39 million in Schenectady.<\/p>\n

“GE pledged to complete the new hiring by 2011. The new jobs will be in engineering support and will pay an average of $75,000 a year.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“Helping GE to grow here, [are] $7.5 million in state and local incentives,” according to the AP report. (See also, CapitalNews9, <\/em>“GE to add 500 jobs in Schenectady<\/a>,” Oct. 31, 2007) Therefore, every local and state politician who could conceivably claim credit was on stage with GE Energy Power Generation President Steve Bolze early on Halloween 2007. Schenectady Mayor Brian U. Stratton, who is facing re-election in less than a week, said:<\/p>\n

\"\" “The most important thing is symbolically. You’re seeing a major investment and a strategic decision by GE to put this operation, which could have gone anywhere – to Atlanta, Florida, the south — and it’s coming right here.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Schenectady County Legislature Chairwoman Susan Savage (who has seen her popularity drop considerably, due to her highly-partisan, high-handed, noncollaborative form of leadership — and her relentless pursuit of sex offenders<\/a>) touted: “That’s 500 houses that will be sold, that will add to our intellectual base in the Capital Region as well, to restaurants, to businesses, to Proctor’s, to all those different components in our community, this is a big win.” In a small City where the loss of tens of thousands of solidly-middle-class blue color jobs and upper-middle-class research, professional and management jobs, dimmed the lights in every social and economic corner, gaining 500 high-end jobs is a big morale booster — a good start toward turning on the lights again in The City that Lights the World. The fact that the jobs are in the “green” renewable energy sector is also a big plus.<\/p>\n

\n

st. patrick\u2019s day
\nthe foreman hands out
\npink slips<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

no more a buddha
\nno less a buddha…
\njack-o-lantern<\/p>\n

\n

laid off \"\"
\nshe asks the mall santa to
\nbring dad a job<\/p>\n

………………………………. by ed markowski<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In commentary on our local NPR station this afternoon, “Globalization and Schenectady<\/a>” (Nov. 1, 2007), Robert Ward points out that “Those new jobs at GE are the type that represent American workers’ comparative advantage over workers elsewhere. But as Tom Friedman of the New York Times<\/em> and other observers have pointed out, our advantage in educating engineers and other high-tech workers won’t last if we don’t work harder to keep it.” (They also help prove Friedman’s point that going green is good business.) Ward concludes with words worth repeating here:<\/p>\n

\"\" “In the coming presidential campaign, we’ll hear more about globalization and very likely we’ll hear more about the potential risks than we hear about the likely rewards. During that debate, it’s worth keeping in mind the reality that globalization can be good for Schenectady, and for other cities like it around the country. But we can’t take that as a given. Globalization won’t necessarily be good for us, unless we keep our competitive edge in the type of high-skilled jobs they’re celebrating in Schenectady today.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is not a big enough treat to give us a tummy ache or threaten tooth decay. But it surely whets our appetite for more.<\/p>\n

\n

*<\/strong><\/span><\/span> <\/strong>“OLD DORP”?<\/strong> We explained the Schenectady sobriquet “Old Dorp<\/em>” in a prior post<\/a>: Probably because the name Schenectady is tough on headline writers, our City is often called \u201cDorp\u201d or \u201cOld Dorp,\u201d from the Dutch word for village<\/a> or hamlet<\/a>. I just learned from Encarta<\/a><\/em>, that \u201cdorp\u201d is especially used in South Africa to refer to a village \u201cperceived as backward or unappealing.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\" Upstate Dim Sum<\/a><\/em><\/strong> (2007\/II) – A Biannual Anthology of Haiku and Senryu by the Route 9 Haiku Group<\/p>\n

\n

first light
\ndewdrops at each point
\nof the grape leaf<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

golden threads
\non the kitchen floor
\nour neighbor’s gift of corn<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

early winter –
\nforgetting my gloves
\nat the pump<\/p>\n

theatre entrance –
\na broken branch
\nreattached with string<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

………………………………………… by Hilary Tann<\/a> – from Update Dim Sum<\/em><\/a> (2007\/II)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"TannTreeG\" <\/span> You<\/strong><\/em> just got a sample (directly above) of another Schenectady treat that arrived at my home on Halloween — the newest edition of the Upstate Dim Sum<\/a><\/em><\/strong> (2007\/II) haiku anthology. Not only is its editor Schenectady resident (and f\/k\/a<\/em> Honored Guest and goombah friend) Yu Chang<\/a><\/strong>, but many of the poems inside are penned by his fellow Professor Hilary Tann<\/strong> of Union College, which is right down the road from my place, in the heart of Schenectady. Find out more about the Wales native and music composer<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span> in our “introducing Hilary Tann<\/a>” (Dec. 5, 2005)<\/p>\n

missing …
\nbright faces
\non the supermarket door<\/p>\n

summer drought
\nthe shape of the rapids
\nin the river<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

………………………………….. by Hilary Tann<\/a> – from Update Dim Sum<\/em><\/a> (2007\/II)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Little Italy<\/em>, Schenectady, NY<\/span> [<\/span>original image <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>] <\/span>\"\"<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\" <\/em><\/span>Schenectady’s Little Italy is Still a Trick, Not a Treat<\/em>:<\/strong> I sure hope nobody headed over to Schenectady’s La Piccola Italia<\/em> for Halloween 2007, dressed in Old-World costumes and hoping to meld into the ambiance of our “Italian Heritage District<\/em>.” Schenectady’s Little Italy has been promoted by the county’s Metroplex<\/a> development agency and local pols aplenty (plus one or two enterprising “businessmen”) for more than seven years. (Click for Metroplex\u2019s Little Italy General Project Plan<\/a>.) <\/span> In May 2005, I attended the official dedication of the Little Italy \u201cGateway<\/em>\u201d on N. Jay Street in Schenectady (see “all punditry is local (today anyway)<\/a>” and scroll down to “Chutzpah in Little Italy”), and wrote:<\/p>\n

My skepticism over local efforts to create a Little Italy where none was apparent was covered here at f\/k\/a<\/em> in March – “Schmittle Italy<\/a>“. Nonetheless, I wanted to see if there\u2019s been any progress \u2014 beyond the new $900,000 \u201cstreetscape<\/a>\u201d [sidwalks, bricks] and gateway monument. The politicians at the dedication thanked a lot of people and talked about our \u201ctourist attraction,\u201d but I saw nothing to brag about, even after walking both sides of the entire one-block Italian heritage district<\/em>. It still has lots of boarded up windows [with unpainted plywood] and not one building that anyone I can think of would call charming. After five years of planning and effort, Schenectady\u2019s Little Italy continues to consist of one restaurant (Cornell’s, lured there with a large development finance package), one bakery [Perreca\u2019s], and one tiny spumoni\/sandwich shop [Civitello’s].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n