By prime_cutsALCO Schenectady
There was an American Locomotive plant in Schenectady, NY that went into operation in 1901. During World War II they manufactured tanks at the facility. All the overhead cranes were DC powered and there was a building that solely housed an enormous air compressor that supplied the various block long buildings.
In the 1990's, Mutual Steel occupied one of the river front buildings, when they closed the site Federal Pipe moved in, then Superior Walls, then Dimension Fabricators. One of the buildings housed boats, excavation equipment, and even a couple of girders from that World Trade Center that were slated to be used in a memorial. In the last decade the site has been home to a textile manufacturer, a rebar manufacturer, a steel structure manufacturer, a couple of steel suppliers, a construction company, and even GE Energy.
There was an article in the local paper about the Schenectady Economic Development Corp renting out the buildings for heavy industrial use. It notes the buildings would cost about $30 million to build from the ground up.
Last year a private developer bought seven of the buildings for 500 grand. They tore down the buildings last summer. They are calling it a brown field and covering the property with dirt. Two feet of it was the initial plan, although that has been increased due to recent incidents of flooding. On that brownfield cap, they want to build condos and boutique shops.
The one manufacturing building left standing is owned by a local steel fabricator. They were also renting one of the demolished buildings to pre-fabricate bridges and lock gates for the canal system. Huge projects. They missed the boat on buying the building and have scaled back operations costing 50 manufacturing jobs I heard they promised the city if they could have the building.
Realistically, I don't see how a steel company with a 5 acre outdoor yard of beams and smoke billowing from the welding machines will be allowed to exist at all next to boutique shops and designer condos. This makes for not only a loss of potential future jobs and a loss of some current jobs, but eventually, the likely loss of all the jobs at that manufacturer.
Incidentally, General Electric began hiring in Schenectady again last summer. Others can probably speak more knowledgeably about the unending struggle GE has had with labor in Schenectady. Buildings were demolished overnight to end property tax struggles with the city. Threats abound. But anyway, the city made a huge deal that GE was hiring and people were told it was going to save the city, despite the fact that many locals feel they destroyed the city by reducing the work force consistently over the years.
President Obama paid a visit and the newspapers pinned their stories of hope on one global company that had let it down so many times before. The excitement was over 350 new jobs.
The factory will develop sodium metal halide batteries to be used in GE’s hybrid trains. The company began advertising this week for skilled trades workers to support equipment installation and debug equipment. Those employees will be paid up to $22 an hour, according to classified listings. GE also is recruiting machine operators who will be paid up to $18 an hour to assist with equipment installation and operate production equipment. The third category of hourly workers will be general operators who will set up and man work stations at a rate of up to $15 an hour.
Around here, the gas station attendants start at $10 an hour. With $600 single room apartment rents and sales tax at 8 percent, around here at least, that's not riding high on the hog.
I don't know exactly why it made me so sad to see the buildings go. Many thought they were eye sores. However Schenectady isn't exactly a tourist destination. With the entire city in decline, it was a shame to see current manufacturing jobs leaving to make way for promised future shopkeeper jobs. But that wasn't all of it either. I think it was the potential I saw there. The loss of potential made me sad.
Over the years when I saw those block-long brick buildings which were impossible to heat I would dream up different jobs that could move in. I saw the potential for an indoor automotive junk yard where cars could be torn apart, and the components shelved on enormous metal racks that already lined the bays. I saw buildings being constructed inside the buildings so fifty small businesses could each have their own heated garage. I saw the bays walled off so local tradesmen could store their equipment out of the weather. I saw the manufacturing giant being pared down into smaller serviceable units where small businesses and specialty manufacturers could launch themselves. A plumbers row. A construction den. A mechanics alley.
But that dream never was for a playground, housing and a hair salon built on a mercury contaminated brown field. On the other hand, it is a nice view of the river now. A nice view that makes my chest hurt. I miss the old view.