Before the Super Bowl, you can help 'Bowl Over Polio'

Time seems to speed up around the first of the year. But, the weekend before the Super Bowl seems to drag.

We have the cure for that. The 5th annual “Bowl Over Polio” fundraiser sponsored by the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club will be held on that Sunday, January 25.

The venue will be the same, even though its name has been changed: the East Greenbush Bowling Center (formerly Spare Time), located at 570 Columbia Turnpike in East Greenbush.

The family-fun event is open to anyone in  the community for just $15, which includes either of two 2½-hour, all-you-can-bowl sessions (noon to 2:30 p.m., and 2:30 to 5 pm.) plus free rental shoes. In addition, raffles and prizes will be presented at each session.

And, because Rotary is a totally volunteer organization, all profits from the bowl-a-thon will go directly to RI’s PolioPlus initiative to end polio worldwide.

So, start enlisting family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and anyone else you’d like to help you participate in this bargain-priced, top-shelf event.

Incidentally, despite the name of this Rotary Club, it also supports student scholarships, food pantries, family aid organizations and other service entities in Troy. (And, full disclosure, I am the current club president.)

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Moody's on Troy's fiscal future: 'negative outlook'

This is distressing news.

Moody's Investors Service on Friday affirmed the City of Troy's anemic "A2" bond issuer rating and assigned a negative outlook.

Given the fact that the State of New York once again has expressed grave concern over our city's financial situation and outlook, this is another negative hit that speaks to the weakness of fiscal management in recent administrations, up to and including the present one.

For those of you not up to speed on what the Moody's report means, an investor's rating determines the grade municipalities' bonds carry. There are more than 80,000 issuers of municipal bonds in the nation, which means competition for attracting buyers is fierce. The better your rating, the better your chances of attracting bond buyers -- i.e., investors; and, the better your chances of raising the money necessary to finance major efforts at a rate of repayment that won't break the bank.

Moody's, Standard & Poor's (S&P) and Fitch are the three major rating agencies that evaluate thousands of issuers and their municipal bonds. The scale Moody's uses to rate bonds is:

• Aaa: The highest rating assigned to issuers and individual bond issues. This is the strongest category of creditworthiness.
• Aa: Implies very strong creditworthiness.
• A: Implies above average creditworthiness.
• Baa: The lowest tier of what is generally considered ‘investment grade’" bonds. This implies average creditworthiness.
• Ba: Implies below-average creditworthiness.
• B: Implies weak creditworthiness.
• Caa: Implies very weak creditworthiness.
• Ca: Implies extremely weak creditworthiness.
• C: The weakest implication of creditworthiness.

Bonds in the Aa, A, and Baa also are assigned "1," "2" or "3" designations, based on the strength of the issue within each category. So, "A1" would be the strongest group of "A" securities and "A3" would be the weakest of them.  Troy's "A2" rating means it is, at best, a fourth tier investment opportunity -- middle of the pack among a so-so letter-rating group.

Here are the salient points from the Moody's announcement, complete with the analysts' tips on how to improve the rating. You can read the complete press release the online.

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RATING RATIONALE

"The A2 issuer rating reflects the city's moderately-sized tax base with below-average wealth levels, narrow General Fund balance net of the Municipal Assistance Corporation (Troy MAC, Aa2) debt service reserve fund, trend of operating deficits, and manageable debt burden.

"The negative outlook reflects the city's narrow available fund balance, limited financial flexibility, and declining financial position, which may decline further in 2015 due to a $725,000 fund balance appropriation"

STRENGTHS

• Moderately-sized tax base

• State oversight provided by Troy Supervisory Board and MAC

CHALLENGES

• Below average wealth levels

• Declining General Fund balance

• Narrow available fund balance

WHAT COULD MAKE THE RATING GO UP (removal of negative outlook):

• Significant and sustained improvement in cash reserves and General Fund balance

• A trend of structurally balanced budgets

WHAT COULD MAKE THE RATING GO DOWN:

• Continued declines in available General Fund balance

• A trend of structurally imbalanced budgets

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So, once again we are faced with unsettling news about where our city, through its government, is headed.

It is particularly disappointing because so many positive things are taking place in Troy in terms of new businesses, new development projects, new residents and a new attitude -- an upbeat vibe in spite of, rather than thanks to, our municipal government.

That lack of balance will not sustain the uptick of the city's quality of life.

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A worthwhile effort we can all support

Ronald McDonald House in Albany.

Seventy McDonald’s restaurants in the Capital Region are participating in the annual Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) of the Capital Region Inc. fundraiser called “Help With All Your Heart Campaign.”

Several Berkshire County, MA, and Southern Vermont restaurants also are involved in the sale of $1 and $5 paper hearts on which customers can write their names and post inside each restaurant. All proceeds will be donated to the local RMHC chapter. The effort will run through February 15.

Last year's drive raised $150,200, and more than over $1.3 million has been raised since the program’s inception in 2000.

"The generosity that our customers show each and every year is truly inspiring, and the tireless efforts of our crew people to shine a light on this important charity is incredibly uplifting,” said Renee Reardon, a local McDonald’s owner/pperator and President of the McDonald’s Operators of the Capital District. “We are all unified in our efforts to aid the mission of RMHC, which has been our charity of choice for over 30 years.”

The local RMHC chapter supports the Ronald McDonald House of Albany, a 16-bedroom facility on South Lake Avenue near Albany Medical Center that provides free lodging for families of seriously ill children being treated at nearby hospitals.

Additional RMHC programs include the Ronald McDonald Family Room located in the Children’s Hospital at Albany Med, which provides patient families with have a comfortable place to rest within the hospital; the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile, run in partnership with St. Peter’s Health Care Services and provides free comprehensive dental care to underserved, underinsured or uninsured children in the region, and a community partnership grant making program that supports local children’s charities which share RMHC’s vision and values.

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County's sloppiness just cost you a chunk of change

The Rensselaer County Real Property Tax Services department is spending thousands of dollars to tell property owners in the City of Troy that the department screwed up.

And, guess whose money they're spending to do it? That's right. The same people who pay to support Rensselaer County when they send in the checks for their property tax bills.

Here's what happened:

Bill Film, director of the aforementioned county entity, has sent postcards to all Troy property owners, informing them that although the amount of taxes they are being charged this year is correct the percent of change from the prior year is incorrect, and the county is the one that gave the city the wrong info to send to us.

Each postcard cost whatever it takes for the paper, the printing, the address labeling and the employee-power to handle the chore -- plus 34 cents postage per piece.

I don't know precisely how many property owners the city has, but for the sake of argument let's say it is in the 14,000 range once you back out all of the exempt parcels. Multiply that number by the items I just listed and correcting the error blew a solid $5,000.

Not a huge sum, by any stretch of the imagination, but when anyone wastes even a dollar of my money, I object. And in this instance, our money was, indeed, wasted because of the necessity of correcting an error that should have been caught in the proofreading process.

Rensselaer County, except for Frank Merola's excellent County Clerk's office, doesn't do much for its residents, especially compared to the cost of its care and feeding which is a considerable burden on all property owners. I don't think it is too much to ask to get a basic thing like a tax bill correct. Do you?

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Update: You now own a $7.2 million emergency service

UPDATE (1/9/15): After a brief, tepid discussion that lasted about as long as the Pledge of Allegiance that opened the meeting, the Council voted 7-2 Thursday night to approve the contract analyzed below.

(Originally published 1/8/15)

The City Council is expected tonight to commit Troy taxpayers to a 10-year, $7,220.000 contract.

That will come about, if it goes as expected, when they pass agenda Resolution No. 7 to authorize "the Mayor to enter into a centralized dispatch of emergency services agreement with Rensselaer County."

As I wrote last month, this is a pact Mayor Lou Rosamilia sent to the Council with no competing proposal after he and his minions worked it out with County Executive Kathy Jimino and her staff to continue the city-county  relationship. Rosamilia had briefly flirted with Albany County for the services, but inexplicably dropped that possibility in favor of sending the Council what amounts to a no-bid deal with the  County.

There is no question that having the County handle all 911 emergency dispatching calls works well. What is in question, at least to my mind, are the price and the oversight.

What we do know is that about nine months ago the County proposed raising its 911 dispatching fee for Troy by an astounding 75.5%, to a half-million dollars this year. Calls for Troy's ambulance, fire and police services make up about 40% of the county dispatch center's business, or about 53,600 calls a year. That should, but obviously did not, give the City some negotiating clout. It also means the County is getting away with hiking the cost to Troy taxpayers from $5.32 to $9.33 per call. I have seen no public discourse justifying such a thing.

That, I submit, is ludicrous, as is a 10-year commitment that would see the fee climb to $1,020,000 in the tenth year. You will see on the accompanying chart that you, dear taxpayers, are about to suddenly be committed to pony up a total of $1 million for the first two years of this pact, then seeing it jump significantly every year thereafter.

Putting aside the City's current financial distress, which the state is watching closely, it should be realized that there is no guarantee the service actually will warrant such annual increases. Yes, there is an opt-out clause. But, any such decision would have to result from a semiannual review of the services by an "oversight committee" consisting of the county executive (or designee);  the Troy mayor (or designee); the county public safety director and the deputy director; the Troy police chief; the Troy fire chief, and "a union member/employee of the County Bureau of Public Safety."

What that means is that on a seven-person committee the entity providing the service,  not the customer,  has a built-in majority.

Fox.

Henhouse.

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Drip, drip, drip, drip

Troy residents apparently are conserving water.

Well, that is going to cost them.

City Council on Thursday voted to approve an increase in the 2015 sewer rates all property owners pay, from $2.23 to $2.92 per 1,000 gallons. That represents 85% of the water rate, a 20% increase.

It could have been worse.

Mayor Lou Rosamilia told the Council it should set the sewer rate somewhere between 95 and 100% of the water rate rather than the current 65%. So, Council President Rodney Wiltshire formally moved a 100% increase. That was defeated by a 5-4 vote. The Council subsequently voted by the same count to defeat Ken Zalewski's motions calling for  a 95% hike, then a 90%, with an increase to 85% finally prevailing, by yet another 5-4 vote.

The necessity for a higher rate of some sort had been explained by Chris Wheland, the city's public utilities commissioner, who said 2014 consumption numbers were lower than expected, noting, “People are conserving water, which is great, but it means we’re not selling as much."

Thus, it has been decreed that lack of volume must be made up for by higher pricing. But, the rate hike may wind up encouraging people to cut back water use even further, thereby eroding any potential extra revenue from the rate hike. Wheland also predicted the need for another rate hike in the next several years.

I am reminded of a scene in the iconic novel and film "Catch 22," in which a wheeler-dealer named Milo Minderbinder is asked how he hopes to make a profit when he sells a product for less than he paid for it. His answer: "Volume."

Increased revenues, Rosamilia explained, are needed to help offset the $3.5 million cost of the long-term plan to restructure the city's antiquated sewer system. And, for the most part, the council members appear to have done their due diligence in researching the topic. I say "for the most part" because the aforementioned Councilman Zalewski, conflating water use and sewer use, shared the startling insight that water "is kind of essential. I think if I didn't drink any water for three or four days I wouldn't be here anymore." Tough to argue with that.

This is not a case of a frivolous need being satisfied, or anything close to it. It is, however, another example of the City -- administration and council -- trying to make up in one shot for the long-term mismanagement of past administrations and councils that has left the municipality in fiscal distress, something Wiltshire alluded to before the votes. There are alternatives, though. "Increment" is not a four-letter word. 

Before the vote, Councilman Jim Gordon strongly expressed the need for the city to find more "creative" ways to meet its financial obligations rather than automatically going for tax and service rate increases. I concur. Think harder. Think smarter.

FOOTNOTE: Also on Thursday, City Council approved a new contract with Rensselaer County to continue providing 911 emergency dispatch calls, but at a rate 75.5% higher than it had been paying. -- and it will get worse. If that shocks you, go here for my take on the topic.

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'Burgh under seige; where is the cavalry?

Lansingburgh is becoming the Wild Wild West, and not in any good sense.

Arsons, violent assaults, vandalized cars and properties -- including multiple attacks on the Powers Park Christmas tree ... and now damage to a popular church resulting from a burglary.

The 6^th Avenue Baptist Church, a/k/a/ the Missing Link Ministries building, is without heat and water after burglars broke in late Wednesday night and cut out an estimated 100 feet of copper pipes, a favorite among scavengers looking to sell what they have turned into pricey scrap metal.

The building is not a place that holds services on a regular basis, but it is a sanctuary of sorts for many, including those in need of food.

The same sort of burglary in a Second Street brownstone a little over a year ago resulted in flooding that destroyed the popular Daisy Baker restaurant a floor below the burgled vacant downtown office space.

The Daisy Baker disaster aside, more prosperous parts of the City of Troy generally are moving along nicely while the 'Burgh is under non-stop siege from lawless, ignorant elements that have plagued the community for nearly a year now.

The Troy Police Detective Bureau is looking into the church burglary and vandalism and is asking anyone with information to call the bureau at 270-4426.

However, once again that is after the fact. Response isn't doing any good in bringing lawlessness under control. Preemption likely would do much more good. Increased patrols by police cruisers, for example. A few foot patrols, for example. Stronger public outcry that lasts longer than a 24-hour news cycle. Neighborhood watch efforts.

Ideas, folks?

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Update: Troy dining ventures take different paths

The in-development Café Congress sweet shop.

UPDATE (1/9/15): Peck's Arcade has opened, but Cafe Congress is kaput. Go here for the latest on the latter project.

(Originally published 12/24/14)

The new year will see some more additions to the already-burgeoning Troy dining scene.

One will be the debut of Peck's Arcade, the latest creation by Vic Christopher and Heather LaVine, who already have renovated once-teetering downtown buildings to create the Charles F. Lucas Confectionery & Wine Bar and The Grocery, both within steps of Monument Square.

What once was The Clark House, at 217 Broadway, and home to The Tavern restaurant and pub is coming back to life as a restaurant under the aforementioned Peck's name it carried generations ago when it was a department store. There already have been some sneak peeks at the project when Chrisopher and LaVine operated a pop-up ramen eatery there.

Another near-completion project is Café Congress, the Sarah Fish-Josh Sheehan renovation that has been going on for much of this year.

Fish, the much-traveled chef who had operated her own Hungry Fish Café & Country Store until closing it in favor of renovating the wobbly brick structure at 336 Congress Street, has just provided this progress report:

"We've saved and reused the light fixtures, old wood found in the basement, trim from Hungry Fish, old doors, reclaimed oak and tile, newspaper from 1964. We tissue papered the ceilings, exposed original brick and hardwood floors, married two claw foot tubs into one, installed a free washer from craig's list plus a skylight and a replacement trap door.

"We put new flooring throughout, new roof, new windows, new electrical service, new heaters and eternally paint each room. We added panoramic windows to the porch and exposed an original entrance to it to make two and open up the second floor into a studio, from once a dark foyer, kitchen, living room and porch- it's all open and light comes in from the north and south.

"We salvaged shutters, windows, and bricks from the old mills along the falls and we have an 1800s bottle that fell out of the chimney. We moved in without power and installed our lights. We removed 125 years of debris, dust and layer over layer of walls, ceilings and floors.

"And, we're almost done."

Somehow I doubt it, since she just added, "I know we have at least 5,000 bottle caps to do some flooring or walls or something."

If more people had the physical energy of Christopher/LaVine and Fish/Sheehan, Troy's rensissance would be at an even higher level. Ah, to be young.

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Charter review would be the perfect time to act grown up

It has been a few years since the Troy City Charter underwent thorough scrutiny. Anyone who pays attention to governance, or the lack of it, in our fair city will recall what a political snipe-fest that venture turned into.

Last year, Mayor Lou Rosamilia suggested a review of the document that enumerates how government shall work in Troy. That went nowhere, but here it is again -- in an election year.

Given Troy's history under both Democrat and Republican administrations, my fear is that the people appointed to a charter review commission will be a politically-selected group. What they should be is pretty much apolitical -- i.e., defined as someone "not interested or involved in politics." Note that does not say "not interested in the good of the community."

Human nature being what it is, it may be difficult to find people with no political leanings, but  difficulty is no excuse for giving in to partisan interests -- to the detriment of the city's reputation in the Capital Region, which for years has been one of a hotbed of foolish bickering and unproductive in-fighting.

With some effort, it should not be difficult in a city of some 50,000 residents to find a representative group who bring a solid mix of experience in leadership, business experience, planning and community service, as well as some demonstrated intelligence, to such a delicate and far-reaching chore -- one that will guide the City no matter which political party is in power.

A good place not to begin is with the voter registration roles to see what parties potential commission members favor. Political skirmishes are fleeting things. A charter is an enduring document that affects businesses, municipal services and residents alike.

Many onlookers will be looking intensely at who the powers-that-be come up with. I, for one, fervently hope it will not be a repeat of the embarrassing 2008 situation. That was when then-Mayor Harry Tutunjian, a Republican, and the Democrat-controlled City Council appointed dueling commissions because they couldn't agree on the best path to serve the city. It was a ridiculous display of amateurism that took a ruling by the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court to decide that a mayoral commission takes precedence.

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• The City Charter as it currently stands can be accessed by clicking here.

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Cannon Building sale will erase a bit more of Horowitz

Cannon Building shown at right.

The very presence of Sandy Horowitz has been a plague on Troy for the past decade. Now, we may be seeing another bit of it chipped away.

The Rosenblum Cos. of Albany is in the process of buying Horowitz's five-story Cannon Building, which faces Monument Square, in a $2.2 million deal yet to be finalized, according to today's Times Union. Several other of his former local holdings have been purchased.

Once the deal is complete, several things will occur:

(1.) A developer with a solid track record will own a piece of downtown Troy.

(2.) A structure that is on the National Register of Historic Places will have a better chance of continuing to be in existence.

(3.) The city will be one step closer to no longer having to endure a Horowitz presence.

As I wrote in a Times Union column a few years ago, maybe it was all those dazzling movie set lights. The ones that got in Horowitz's eyes as far back as 1973 when he was a lowly assistant editor and bit-part actor (as "Bob the Henchman") on the set of "The Clones." Or in 1987 when he was producer of "Twisted Nightmare," starring such motion picture luminaries as Rhonda Gray, Cleve Hall and Brad Bartrum.

Whatever it was, it caused Horowitz to squint his eyes and focus on making Troy's redevelopment the smash hit production he never achieved in the movies. That seemed possible when he hit town on a well-publicized buying spree in 2003, buoyed by some fawning local media types who endlessly referred to him as a "Hollywood producer," and even a "Hollywood mogul," despite his resume of mediocrity.

Upgrading buildings and creating a smart mix of the right shops and residences seemed to make more sense than continuing a peripheral show biz career that resulted in such movie greats as "Merlin: The True Story of Magic," "Demon Wind," "The Carradines Together" and "A Hell Black Night."

Horowitz bought up the Hendrik Hudson Hotel, the Cannon Building, the Keenan Building and a couple of brownstones. "I was like a kid in the candy store," he said at the time. However, in very short order that candy store caused a lot of people to feel sick to their stomachs.

In 2004, not long after he made his big initial splash, the Troy water department turned off the connections to several of his buildings. The problem: He had quickly run up a hefty $15,000 in unpaid water taxes and the city was fed up with his stalling. And so it all began.

The financially overextended Horowitz, now living quietly out of the spotlight in Montana while his lawyers help him work through bankruptcy court deals in California and elsewhere, quickly showed himself to be a deadbeat, running up bills that he wouldn't, or couldn't, pay -- taxes, service bills, management services and the like.

Others were left to pick up the pieces, many people never got the money owed to them, and meaningful investment in, and redevelopment of, many prime properties in the city was blocked for years.

I hold the fervent hope that 2015 is the year Troy finally gets rid of every vestige of the Horowitz years. And, I just as fervently hope the local media and our local government have learned a lesson and will use it to examine the backgrounds, motives and actions of people taking on major redevelopment projects.

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