Well 2014 is starting out with a bang. Snow and cold for a 36 hour period.
Inauguration of all elected officials were held today (Wed.)
and all went well. Congratulations to
all, especially to new Mayor Yepsen who didn’t wait 2 weeks to install Code
Blue. She took the bull by the horns and
put a plan in place, although I wish the 10 degree mark could be higher by at
least another 10. However, this should
have been done years ago as other communities around the State took the proactive
step. Unfortunately, Saratoga Springs is a reactive City and it
takes a death or a proactive politician to make things happen.
I was pleased to be wrong and see that Shauna Sutton has
left the building. I was not pleased
however, to see that John Herrick gave her a plum job in the County Clerks
I was surfing channels tonight and happened to catch the
comment period of the televised Council meeting of 12/17, you know the one
where Dave Bronner spoke about the proposed fire station (he repeated the same
4 sentences for at least 10 minutes and was never cut off by the Mayor). Then when the Commissioner of Public Safety
corrected some of his misconceptions, Bronner started yelling from his seat.
Cliff Ammon spoke as Cliff does about the 300 Save Saratoga
that met to hear some information about the Casino and how we need to keep
gambling out of Saratoga, could someone give Mr. Ammon a little history about
what made Saratoga famous in addition to it’s water? I read in the paper where Moreau would like
to have the Casino at Mt.
McGregor Saratoga ,
Glens Falls and Lake George . Moreau having a long shot at getting the
Casino would certainly send customers to Lake George in the summer (yes, Lake
George has a very long history as does Saratoga )
which would be detrimental to us. Also,
they would not have to be restrained by our downtown businesses or City Center
The information night at the City Center
This will be an interesting 3 months for this topic.
Interesting Cap,your Ms.Yepsen has done a 180 on the Casino and you are praising her for starting a code blue?? Wasn't she going to be the citys' ambassador to the Governors' Office?<><><>it turns out she was elected to protect the Dakes'gambling Empire,,,well well done cap you've helped to elect a puppet,by the way Bronner is right.
ReplyDeleteI know John Tighe........
ReplyDeleteJohn Tighe is a friend of mine......
You're no John Tighe.
By the way, 23 days in between posts, does not a blog make.
I thought you were going to fill the huge void that was left when JTs blog was pulled.
I'm glad you know Tighe. I never said nor indicated I wanted to my blog to be like his or be like him. According to many, many people he is hardly missed, but then again to each his or her own. I also have no set time period or deadlines to post. Happy New Year
DeleteCaptain
ReplyDeleteI am not agreeing with you on the casino gaming topic. Lets hope it goes far away from here.
MS Sutton had better not be seen in Saratoga during business hours.
I understand your feelings on the Casino. I worry though that it won't go away too far (it has to be the Saratoga or Capital region) and it will impact us in a negative way. I remember the citizens feeling the same way over the Racino issue, but your opinions on the gaming issue are to be respected also.
DeleteI Do not miss John Tighe either.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we will see him in an orange jumpsuit soon.
Yepsen is a total BS artist. Represent her constituents is what she said she'd do .. & now we are getting a casino expansion is fine, just not a 'Vegas style casino' PLEASE. Politics at it's worst. She should be ashamed
ReplyDeleteHave you stopped your New Years Eve celebrating yet? She is 4 days into her term and she already has a code blue system up and running perfectly, something the previous administration should have done 6 years ago. However the homeless were not in their sights. Since the election there are more & more people moving to the pro-casino side, even those who voted against gambling in the State don't want to lose big bucks to a surrounding community. We'll see how this plays out.
DeleteNever mind what Mayor Yepsen says about the casino, we have a community, and a surrounding community, that are addicted to gambling. Gambling is bad. Gambling is stripping our seniors of their social security checks. I personally know people who worked all their lives, planning dutifully for the time that they could retire. And when they retired and began receiving their pension checks, they went to the Racino and lost most or all of their lump sum payments. Then they relied on their monthly checks for what was left, and began trying to get back what they lost. It is a monster, this Racino. It has devoured many of our seniors. Just go over to the parking lot and look at the losers who enter, to gain back their losses, and the losers who exit the place. Vegas style or not, we are not doing our citizens a favor by having this monster in our midst.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting comment you wrote. You say that “gambling is bad” and all seniors go to the Racino spend all of their pension money then try and go back to get it back, you do sound really silly. Seniors like most everyone like to have hobbies and one of them is probably the Racino, Turning Stone or some of the various other Casinos. I am almost sure that 99% are not big time losers who are addicted to the sport. Since you are also in the belief that gambling is bad, I assume you mean all gambling, which along with keeping the Casino out you would also like to shut down the Harness track, Racino and the Flat track. This is very unsettling as more and more people are hearing this from the Save Saratoga group. I would like to ask you a question, did you live here when the Casino’s and Race track’s were here, or when just the two horse tracks were here, or when the two race tracks and Racino were here? If you moved here within the last 150 years there has been gambling and that did not stop you from either moving here or leaving. So, if you are under the impression that “gambling is bad” and you are not a member of Save Saratoga, you should start a group for people to move out because it looks like some form of gambling is here to stay.
Delete@8:51pm. You can't control how people spend their money. People abuse alcohol and we have no intention of closing the bars because of those who are irresponsible. Yes its sad that people are spending money they don't have on gambling and if it means that they lose their dignity or home because of it so be it. That is a consequence of destructive behavior. I don't want a casino in my town but I also don't allow the weak willed to make decisions for me or my town.
ReplyDeleteCaptain you sound like someone who works at the Racino. I know that you do not. But being the host city will make us responsible for the casino infrastructure too. Bad move regardless of the money. Let it be in Malta, they already have chips there!
ReplyDeleteYou and I are friends, but we will disagree on this one!
Thanks for being a friend and about the chips, hopefully they can make them round. That might not be a bad spot, and the infrastructure must be rather new with that plant there, I’m sure, like Albany getting a $67 million dollar gift from Cuomo for a City Center, Malta could get money to develop the business. If Saratoga doesn't get it I would like to see Mt McGregor have a good shot. I think the areas like Glens Falls and Lake George along with us would make out pretty good. Lake George might take away some of our summer trade and horse players but all are off the Northway and would be easy to get to.
ReplyDeleteThen what happens to the racino if it goes to McGregor or Malta? Oh they will fold eventually and there are hundreds more out of work.
DeleteYou are right. That's why I hope the SAVE people think through all of the ramifications before they get too carried away,
ReplyDeleteIf it goes anywhere else in the Capitol District will these "save nimbys" go to that location and present their decrees of the evils of black jack to that community as well or do they resereve their right to only be local hypocrites? This Kleptar wants to be Mayor and he's trying to set this Council up especially the new Mayor.
DeleteThis would cost the area actually thousands of jobs. Not hundreds. This is a BIG deal for our city. More unemployed, more bankrupt, more lost homes, more taxes, more crime and more homeless for the Code Blue Shelter. That's funny. These are the same arguments used by the Save nuts for their anti casino campaign.
ReplyDeleteActually,.........9:52 am
ReplyDeleteYou are ALMOST correct in what you say.
If the Casino expands, there will be more unemployed because people will lose their jobs, because they spend too much time gambling. There will be more bankruptcies, for sure. More lost homes, yes, you are correct. People who rely on the winnings, but lose their money, can't pay their bills. And you are actually very, very correct, the possibility of MORE homeless is a serious situation. Especially near a Vegas-style Casino.
Take your blinders off! 9:52 is correct. You are not. Stop wasting our time.
DeleteDo we really need more $6 hr jobs? Is that going to save Saratoga from ruin? I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteYou are probably from SAVE and if you are or are not I can respect your opinion of being anti Casino but, you have to stop with the misinformation or scare tactics. The $6.00 you mentioned is below the minimum hr. rate which is supposed to increase once a year over the next 3 years, plus most all employees at the Racino get health care. I would also like to ask you if you are upset that most of the restaurants in Saratoga employ Spanish workers and pay them peanuts. I would hope that you begin a protest of such payment measures.
DeleteThat's the big problem here now isn't it. Misinformation. Making up things like low wages to make their case seem stronger. Most jobs there pay at least $12 -!4 dollars per hour with benefits. Not great but not bad. Like it has been for a long time now, if you have a family the wife and husband have to work. The local businesses and restaurant downtown don't pay anymore and their benefit package is less. At least they are jobs. Must be these SAVE people would rather pay all the unemployed welfare benefits because that in their mind is better than a casino. How Lame.
DeleteWhy does no one complain about the flat track workers being underpaid? How many of them are making anything close to minimum wage? How many of them are even being paid on the books? On top of that, they need charities to simply provide basic necessities to the "back stretch workers". We just dumped a ton of gaming revenue into building them new housing. All this happens while their employers are jet setting from track to track and eating $600 lobster dinners at Siro's.
DeleteCaptain, do "MOST restaurants employ Spanish workers and pay them peanuts?" If these Spanish workers are American citizens, then what is wrong with that? Talk about misinformation? You contradicted your own message because the minimum wage is not peanuts, according to your own answer at 12:04 pm. Are you staying up too late and sipping your margaritas? Oyo
ReplyDeleteI have been to quite a few restaurants and have noticed that many buss people and kitchen help are Spanish, which is no big deal, take it in context. Also I said that the writer's statement of $6.00 an hour was below the min. hourly rate, so you can see the pattern of his statement, scare tactic. As of 1/1/20014 the minimum wage is $8.00 an hour and that is peanuts, if you work a 40 hour week that's $320.00, take out $50.00 for deductions which brings the net to $270.00 or $1,080.00 per month, deduct a low $50.00 per week for food which leaves you with $880.00. Gas for the car $30.00 per week leaving $760.00. Deduct $40.00 for fun money leaving $720.00 per month. Car payment & Insurance leaves? Then deduct rent which you can't even come up with. Minimum wage not peanuts you say? Most jobs at the Racino pay at least between $12 - $14.00 & ins. Casino workers would get union scale, hardly the $8.00 hr. wage. I think you are the one sipping the juice.
DeleteI have been to quite a few restaurants and have noticed that many buss people and kitchen help are Spanish, which is no big deal, take it in context. Also I said that the writer's statement of $6.00 an hour was below the min. hourly rate, so you can see the pattern of his statement, scare tactic. As of 1/1/20014 the minimum wage is $8.00 an hour and that is peanuts, if you work a 40 hour week that's $320.00, take out $50.00 for deductions which brings the net to $270.00 or $1,080.00 per month, deduct a low $50.00 per week for food which leaves you with $880.00. Gas for the car $30.00 per week leaving $760.00. Deduct $40.00 for fun money leaving $720.00 per month. Car payment & Insurance leaves? Then deduct rent which you can't even come up with. Minimum wage not peanuts you say? Most jobs at the Racino pay at least between $12 - $14.00 & ins. Casino workers would get union scale, hardly the $8.00 hr. wage. I think you are the one sipping the juice.
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