Don Rittner and I go back nearly 20 years. When I first acquired a computer with Internet access – my old Packard Bell 386 laptop from Sears – the first Internet portal I ever accessed was wnyt.com, which provided e-mail access and an early bulletin board system. Yep, you could access the ‘net for free – at a maximum of 30 minutes per day. Don Rittner was the sysop at the time.
Now let’s fast-forward. Don Rittner has written about 35 different history books, all detailed and informative and provocative and worth reading. He’s blogged for the TU for the past four years, his blog posts mix history and culture and are enthralling reading material. Our paths have crossed at several functions throughout the years, and he’s an all-around good guy.
I should also note that Don has moved heaven and earth for the City of Schenectady – he’s worked on everything from the recreation of the ship Onrust to organizing the Schenectady leg of the Fireball Run, to assisting with getting Schenectady as a shooting location for The Place Beyond the Pines. He helped with the organization of Schenectady’s 2009 bicentennial celebration, and he helped bring interest to the history and culture and uniqueness of the Electric City.
In other words, Don Rittner is an asset as Schenectady’s City Historian.
And how does the City of Schenectady repay all of Don Rittner’s hard work?
By eliminating his position with the City.
Say what?
Yep. Just days after Rittner received a commendation for his work with the Fireball Run, the City of Schenectady sliced the position of City Historian out of their operating budget. There are several different trim-points in the budget, which cut or reduced funding to various programs to offset an upcoming tax levy.
This disturbs me. Don is one of Schenectady’s most vital and effective public relations assets, and the City just cut his position like trimming a hedge? This is a guy who has brought Schenectady millions of dollars in advertising and promotion, and they’re cutting him loose like this?
As far as I’m concerned, that simply wallows in lameness.
Hey Schenectady – listen up. Give Don Rittner a call, tell him that you’ve made a mistake, and that you’re not eliminating his position with the City – and that, in fact, you’re going to increase his salary and let him dock the Onrust at Jumpin’ Jack’s. Maybe you could even rent out that old movie sign at the corner of State Street and Erie Boulevard with the words “We’re Sorry Don Rittner” on the marquee.
Anybody who knows me knows that I follow the credo of “Bloggers Support Bloggers.” So everyone should take this blog post as a statement that my long-time blogmate and good friend deserves more than just a kick out the door for all the work he has done for the City of Schenectady.
A whole lot more.
Chuck The Writer 
I lived in Schenectady for 20 years. It got harder and harder to be an advocate through countless blunders like this. Congratulations Schenectady on continuing to dig the hole deeper for yourself.
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I agree that eliminating the position of city historian stinks, but you can’t tell this story without noting that Schenectady’s facing a dire fiscal crisis. Just ask the homeowners who are drowning under their property tax burden — or those who wouldn’t dream of moving there for the same reason.
It’s not Don Rittner’s fault that Schenectady’s a mess, but it’s services like his that will be the first to go. That’s shortsighted, but hardly surprising.
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Listen,nothing surprises me in the City of Schenectady – imagine if you will a grown man running the City Building Inspectors office threatening to have an upset homeowner arrested because she had no electricity and NO ONE would help her …. thats the type of service we pay for here, so people like Don Rittner have no chance of keeping their pleasant jobs!
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Don Rittner has been one of my good friends for three years and during him is beyond stupid. He surprises the City with financial boons and cultural press bonanzas.The bottom line is he is good for the bottom line and they made a huge mistake. Don is Schenectady
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Don is a friend of mine as well, and I agree that what occurred is stupid – but he was cut from the COUNTY of Schenectady’s budget – not the City’s.
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Big mistake but they had to find some way to pay those bloated pensions that former police are collecting.
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Don’s job wasn’t patronage, was it? They could have easily done away with some higher-paid ($80,000) patronage position no one would miss. The history of the area could be a much bigger tourist draw. This is short-sighted ignorance.
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Don is also very active with rehabbing the Woodlawn Preserve, which is rare pine bush habitat. He took a few hours out of a Saturday this spring to walk me through the preserve and tell me all about it. He advocates for Schenectady in so many ways, it’s really a shame they couldn’t find a way to fund his position.
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What Barb said! UNBELIEVABLE!!!
This is like giving Santa the week of Christmas OFF!
Ya just can’t do it and of course, Schenectady HAS!
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Don Rittner is a regional treasure. It sounds like very shabby treatment by the city. One quibble with the original blog post. Jumpin’ Jacks isn’t in Schenectady. It’s on the west bank of the Mohawk, my side — Scotia. Docking the Onrust in on the west bank has been done (docked near some overrated restaurant off Freeman’s Bridge Road) but it seems to be a can of worms here, too.
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Towns are required by law to have a historian. I don’t know about cities, but it’s worth a look.
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turns out the requirement for cities, towns and villages is in the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law, Section 57.07: “1. A local historian shall be appointed, as provided in this section, for each city, town or village,…” Appointment without compensation is the norm, though cities are allowed to pay if they wish.
http://bit.ly/WOiKT1
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Sorry Don lost his job, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. However, on his blog he used to be in the habit of responding to people who left comments to their real names and refusing outright to honor their anonymity until Mike Huber told him to stop. Maybe he’s a good historian, but he was a real jerk about that.
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