Senator Tedisco’s Schenectady Parkland Bills Signed Into Law

Children in Mont Pleasant and Hamilton Hill will soon have a new place to safely recreate thanks to legislation passed by Senator Jim Tedisco (R,C,I,REF-Glenville) and signed into law last night by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

 That’s just one of Tedisco’s two home rule bills to benefit residents in the City of Schenectady that the Governor has signed into law.

 The first bill (S.6401A), would alienate 1.35 acres of Quackenbush Park for a new Schenectady Boys and Girls Club facility to serve children in the Mont Pleasant and Hamilton Hill neighborhoods.

 The new Boys and Girls Club facility is expected to house a teen center, technology center, DJ training and radio station booth, shared access to a commercial kitchen, gymnasium and theater. In addition, the new facility would offer a safe and educational setting for children ages 12 and under. The commercial kitchen will be used daily to provide dinner and snacks to the young people that the Club serves. In 2015, over 96,000 meals were served from the existing site.

“This new law will enable the Boys and Girls Club to provide a fun and safe place for children in Hamilton Hill and Mont Pleasant to learn and grow,” said Tedisco, who is an alumnus of the Boys and Girls Club in Rotterdam and even won the “Golden Boy of the Year Award” when he was 12 years-old.  “The Boys and Girls Club of Schenectady is a very special place that gives a helping hand to kids and sets them on the path to personal success. I’m very proud of my roots at the Boys and Girls Club and I’m honored to be able to have the opportunity to fight for them in the state Senate.”

As Chairman of the Senate’s Social Services Committee, Tedisco was instrumental in helping add $700,000 in this year’s state budget for Boys and Girls Clubs across the state.

The second Schenectady parkland alienation bill (S.6642) that the Governor signed into law would enable the City to replace a sewage pump station in the Stockade to ensure the city does not lose $3 million in federal funding, and render up to 65 percent of the city and several neighboring communities unable to have sewage service, endangering economic development in Niskayuna, Glenville, Rotterdam and Southern Saratoga County as they all rely on the effective operation of the City’s wastewater treatment plant.

 The Boys and Girls Club bill was sponsored in the Assembly by Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara (D-Rotterdam) and the Schenectady Pump Station bill by Assemblyman Phil Steck (D-Colonie).