In Schenectady, the mayor is supposed to serve the people. But when the mayor also sits on the board of Metroplex, the county’s powerful development authority, it raises serious questions about fairness and accountability. Here are five reasons why this arrangement is a conflict of interest.

In Schenectady, property taxes keep climbing. City Hall is cutting overtime, reducing services, and even slashing youth programs. Families are asked to pay more and get less. Meanwhile, Union College continues to grow, taking more property off the tax rolls while contributing only a fraction of what is fair.

Union, like other large nonprofits, does not pay property taxes on its campus buildings. Instead, it makes voluntary PILOT payments, which means Payment in Lieu of Taxes. The idea is that when an institution removes property from the tax rolls, it pays something back to the city to offset the loss. In practice, these payments do not come close to what the city loses in revenue.

Schenectady families are being asked to pay more and accept less. City Hall is cutting overtime for workers, scaling back youth programs, raising fees and fines, and preparing residents for another round of property tax increases. Yet at the very same time, Metroplex continues to collect millions of dollars every year, not through local votes but by statutory authority.

Orlondo Otis Hundley

Metroplex is the Schenectady County Metroplex Development Authority, a public agency created in 1998 to promote economic development. It raises revenue through a dedicated half-percent county sales tax, generating millions of dollars each year. Instead of going to city or town budgets, that money is controlled by Metroplex and directed into development projects, subsidies, and infrastructure aimed at attracting businesses and investment.

Mootooveren was one of the loudest voices against Good Cause Eviction, a law that would have given renters basic security. It would not have frozen rents or stopped landlords from making a fair return, but it would have prevented sudden, unjust evictions and rent spikes that push families out of their homes. With Schenectady rents rising faster than wages, defeating that protection left thousands of people vulnerable.

On October 20th, a massive internet outage rippled across the globe after Amazon Web Services (AWS) suffered a failure in its U.S. data centers. Apps like Snapchat, Venmo, and even government services went dark for hours. The cause was traced back to a DNS error, a small glitch in the “address book” of the internet that had big consequences.

Mayor Gary McCarthy has called for automated speed cameras to be installed beyond just school zones in Schenectady. The stated goal is to reduce speeding across the city and address the gap in municipal revenue caused by missing or declining sources of income.

New York’s next race for governor brings together two candidates who both want to shake things up, but in very different ways. Antonio Delgado and Larry Sharpe each represent a challenge to the status quo, one from inside the system and the other from far outside it.

After a summer of striking visuals and artistic collaborations, Sister Mary Margaret is ready to release her debut album Proud Mary, a project that blurs the boundaries between classical discipline, experimental sound, and raw self-exploration.

Come join us for an unforgettable evening of live music, food, refreshments, and community at the Boho & Brass Warehouse, located at 140 Erie Blvd, Schenectady, New York.

We’ll be showcasing incredible performers from across the Capital Region and across all genres, bringing together sounds and styles for a showcase unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. As the music fills the warehouse, take the opportunity to connect with friends, meet new people, and browse through antique and vintage treasures spread throughout the space.

From 2015 to 2025, a quiet but powerful cultural shift has been reshaping local economies across the United States, nowhere more clearly than in Upstate New York. In cities like Schenectady, Troy, Buffalo, and Kingston, artists, musicians, performers, and independent creators have fought to reclaim the value of their work. They dismantled exploitative systems and built new models rooted in direct relationships with their communities. What began as a rebellion against corporate record labels, gallery gatekeepers, and ticketing monopolies blossomed into a grassroots economy defined by community, autonomy, and creative control.

By bypassing traditional middlemen and turning to locally run marketplaces and independent platforms, creators built revenue streams that supported both artistic freedom and local reinvestment. The dream was not just to escape corporate oversight. It was to forge cities and towns where creativity itself served as infrastructure.

Local Businesses Deserve Support

Downtown Schenectady already has a number of successful and beloved locally owned coffee shops. Arthur’s, Moon and River Cafe, Graham’s, Bud’s, Take Two, and Storied Coffee all serve the community within walking distance of the proposed development site. A new Starbucks with a drive thru would place unfair pressure on these businesses, pulling customers away from entrepreneurs who have invested in Schenectady’s revival.

“It would be so much better to support local businesses,” said Tara, a nearby resident. “We have wonderful coffee shops downtown. I’d rather see less car traffic, more pedestrians, and fewer chain establishments.”

Tree equity is the principle that all people regardless of income or race deserve access to the benefits that trees provide. These benefits include cleaner air, cooler temperatures, higher property values, and improved health. Across the country, tree canopy maps consistently show that Black, Latino, and low-income neighborhoods have fewer trees than wealthier areas.

This disparity is not accidental. It is the result of decades of policy choices, environmental racism, and unequal investment. Tree equity is not just about planting saplings. It is about restoring justice and creating long-term systems of care.

Acclaimed vocalist and composer Chloe Louise Brisson will bring her soulful blend of jazz, folk, blues, and Americana to two Capital Region stages this August. She performs at The Moon and River Café in Schenectady on August 29 and at Bye I Brewing in Cohoes on August 30 for the Starlight in Cohoes event.

Meanwhile, neighborhoods in Schenectady like Hamilton Hill, Mont Pleasant, and Bellevue were left behind. As property values fell and landlords stopped investing in upkeep, public resources followed the people who had left. Schools became overcrowded and underfunded. Public transportation deteriorated. The once-thriving city became a symbol of what many officials came to call “urban decline,” though much of it was the result of policy-driven displacement.

It’s important to remember that white flight was not just about race. It was about opportunity being unequally distributed, and entire communities being systematically written off. Today, these effects remain deeply visible. Niskayuna has one of the highest-performing school districts in the state. Bethlehem ranks high in median income and quality of life. Meanwhile, Schenectady continues to struggle with concentrated poverty, aging infrastructure, and a lack of investment in working-class neighborhoods.

The classroom of the future will not be phone-free. It will be tech-integrated. It will require digital fluency, critical thinking, media literacy, and ethical online behavior. These are not optional skills. They are essential to participating in the world students will graduate into.

By removing phones instead of rethinking how to use them, we are choosing short-term control over long-term preparation. While other countries are building digital citizens, we are building fear of the digital world itself.

Imagine a modern trolley system that connects downtown Schenectady with Mont Pleasant, Uptown, Scotia, Hamilton Hill, Niskayuna, Bellevue, and Rotterdam. Imagine workers getting to their jobs without paying for parking. Students commuting safely to school. Seniors riding to Central Park or the farmers market. Small businesses finally seeing steady, predictable foot traffic. Not as a luxury but as a lifeline.

A new Starbucks with a drive thru has been quietly approved for Erie Boulevard, one of Schenectady’s busiest streets, without input from residents or local businesses. Despite being denied twice in previous years, developers returned in 2025 with a new legal argument, claiming the city's zoning laws were vague. The Board of Zoning Appeals accepted this interpretation in May, with support from Metroplex officials. No members of the public were present to oppose the project.

The fact that unelected business leaders can work in concert with city officials and power brokers from the county to totally bury the fact that—with close to $500 million spent on downtown Schenectady—the so-called revitalization effort has so viciously failed the people of Schenectady that have been here…