Opinion: Still being deceived by Metroplex - Still no Big House - Still no audit results

Found this interesting opinion piece over at Schenectadytoday.com

Opinion: Still being deceived by Metroplex - Still no Big House - Still no audit results
September 8, 2008 11:27 am – 11:27 am
Regarding an earlier story here (Metroplex and the Big House Blunder - Deceit and Dining Out) we’ve decided it’s time for an update.


In a statement by Ray Gillen on May 1, 2008 to the Daily Gazette, the Chairman of the Schenectady Metroplex Development Agency said:

One bright note amid the disappointing news is the response from other business owners. Retailers — not restaurateurs — are eager to move into the building, according to Gillen.

“We’ve had tremendous interest from other retailers,” said Gillen, who thinks a retail establishment would be far better for downtown than yet another restaurant.

“We love restaurants, but we need other kinds of retailers. We want to diversify the retail mix,” he said.

… The response has been promising. One prospective tenant even brought in a construction crew last weekend to determine how much it would cost to install the counters and other furniture needed for his store, Gillen said. He added that Waite has set a reasonable rate — $12 to $15 per square foot — and has finished the interiorwork.

Now, six months later, there’s still newspaper covering the windows and there’s no signs of activity on the media forgotten project that has cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars

The Financial Report of Metroplex, for December 31, 2006 and 2005 indicate that through December 31, 2006, the Authority had approved $350,000 in grants, a loan of $1,100,000 at 0% interest and “related expense” of $100,000 for the project. The loan is repayable over a 15-year period (25-year amortization) due in monthly installments of $3,667, matures 15 years from completion of the project, with a ballon payment for the remaining balance.

Stephen Waite and Ray Gillen have missed countless “grand opening” anticipated dates for 411 State Street - and it appears that we’ll be closing out the year without so much as a peep from local media about this fleecing of taxpayer monies. The last report by major media in this area was from Greg Floyd on WRGB on April 25th - not a followup peep from that network either. When I contacted Floyd I was told it wasn’t “newsworthy right now”. The Gazette has refused to address this issue, in fact no major media outlet is touching this political hot bed.

The taxpayers of Schenectady have been deceived - our tax dollars have been used to finance a project that has no indications of making any progress - and when contacted for a comment, nobody at Metroplex would respond, nor apparently provide any tours of the “nearly completed” building (as Gillen/Waite describe it).

The Audit of Metroplex was supposed to have been completed, and results released. That has not happened yet - according to the New York State Comptroller’s Website even though it was announced on April 3, 2008.

The comptroller plans to examine Metroplex’s operations from Jan. 1, 2006, to Dec. 31, 2007. The period covers some of Metroplex’s major investments when it distributed millions in loans and grants toward the construction of the Hampton Inn and the Bowtie Cinema, as well as provided grants to the Downtown Schenectady Improvement District and the Upper Union Street Business Improvement District.
Spokesman Bill Reynolds of the State Comptroller’s Office said the audit could take several months.

No audit results. No “Big House” opening. Why is there no transparency in this progress? Why is there no media outrage? Where’s the general public knocking on the doors of their county legislators and state representatives?