"THE PEEPER" IS RUNNING

Well, we would say its official; Dick ‘Peeper’ Wirth is running for Commissioner of Public Safety.  Tuesday night’s Council meeting was graced with his presence which indicates that when a name of a person is floating out there about running for office and they start showing up at Council meetings, they are running.

One of the most amazing things about Wirth’s appearance was when he spoke at the microphone and gave his approval regarding the cameras to be put up downtown.  The amazing part you may ask?  Wirth said more during that stretch at the microphone than he did in the 2 years he was Commissioner, he did start the head bobble but caught himself.  I didn’t even think he could string that many words together.  We also love the picture in this morning’s newspaper of Al Callucci looking longingly at Wirth up at the microphone.

There is interest in a hotel being erected at the former Weathervane fish restaurant.  Brad Birge did his routine about Planning Boards, Design Review Board etc.  I have a word of advice to the person who wants to put the hotel up, hire Bonacio Construction and you will be able to break ground this May and will have a completed Hotel by summer of 2014, end of story.

Had some friends come up from down State over the weekend and unfortunately had to park in the Woodlawn Ave. parking garage, how soon that became a slum.  We had to park on the 2^nd level which is no problem, when we noticed the elevator was out of order; we then walked down the stairs, all of them littered with cigarette butts, paper, Trojan wrappers and dirt.  The first landing we hit, we noticed that someone relieved themselves and left everything there but the toilet paper, it also looked like that corner of the wall was being used as a urinal, the same down at the next landing.  Hellooooooo, is anyone taking care of this garage???  I thought this was under the jurisdiction of DPW.  I wonder if the Commissioner or his Deputy or any Commissioner (Mayor included) or their Deputies ever park there?  Please get word to Commissioner Scirocco, he hasn’t returned 3 calls from Justice League members, so I don’t know how many people have complained.  I have an idea for the Commissioner, take some of the water we are selling Wilton, start at the top of the Parking Garage and hose the darn thing out, please.  This is a very bad impression to leave for visitors or shoppers of our once pristine City.

IT’S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR!

There is no snow but the Christmas Spirit abounds.  The Mayor appointed former long time ZBA member and past Chairman Robert Bristol to a seat on that board that opened when Mayor Johnson did not reappoint current member and last Democrat Amy Durland.  This completes his termination of the  Democrats that he has replaced in the last 5 years with either old guard Republicans like Bristol, Tom Roohan and Jumpin’ Joe Dalton, City  Republican Committee people and/or political favors he has to hand out. 

While it is the Mayor’s duty to make these Board appointments, it would only be natural for a smart overseer (?) of the City, to appoint some new young blood to these boards instead of the men who had served 20 – 30 years ago and are walking around with a little formaldehyde in their veins.   I guess when he said ‘he would be a Mayor that would work across the aisle’ at his first State of the City speech I’ll bet he was talking about bowling lanes and thought they were aisles.  It also doesn’t hurt to have a few appointees of the opposite party to get some opinions.  I am sure of all the appointments he has made, there must have been at least 3 or 4 capable Democrats who could have filled the positions.  Well, that’s politics.

Well, it’s time for Batboy and Batgirl to hand out some presents to a few of our friends.

• First we’ll send the Mayor a case of Grey Goose.  That should take him through First Night.
• We’ll send some ex lax to Shauna because she always has that constipated look on her face.  We only hope she doesn’t overdose on it, and no Shauna, you can’t take the pills with Grey Goose.
• For Mary Zlotnick we will send her stockings stuffed with all sorts of listening devices, donated by former Commissioner Dick Wirth.  Tape recorders, phone cameras, stethoscope (for hearing between walls), a lock pick set, so you can sneak in and get into locked file cases.  We’ll have Batman deliver your stockings because he wants to take you for a spin in the Batmobile.
• To Al Callucci, coming your way is a pipe, magnifying glass and a deerstalker so you can look like Sherlock Holmes when you patrol the hood at the Terrace.
• If I could ever find Tamara Valentine again, who has turned up MIA since she was knocked off the Tattlers team, I’d send over some of the Captain’s peanut butter cookies with chocolate kisses.
• To Lucian McCarty, I still say you are the best, so just tell me what you want and I’ll see if I can get it for you; it has to be legal of course.
• To Citizen Nancy, hang in there and keep exposing the truth.

Well this is the Mayor’s list, gee, I mean the short list.  We’ll have some great news to report in early 2013, but until then if we don’t write before, have a Very Merry Christmas and a Healthy 2013!

WHAT’S WRONG WITH JOHNSON & SUTTON?

What is going on with Johnson & Sutton, the dynamic Smirnoff Duo at City Hall?  The Mayor negotiates a 15 minute break for City employees to go cash their paychecks every Friday, and to top it off it is on City time, not on the employees lunch break or one of the 2 fifteen minute breaks they get M-F.  Figure the average salary, times that amount by lets say 300 employees then divide by 4 and that is a large sum of money in a year.

The Mayor and Shauna fail to do their due diligence and failed to renegotiate the National Grid contract for 5 years, the City (taxpayers) are short at least $5,000.00 per month for 5 years.  After the Mayor is embarrassed and had pressure put on him by some citizens he then sits and negotiates a contract.  The Mayor, at a Council meeting then insults the citizens of Saratoga by saying the fault lies with National Grid and he negotiated a super great deal for the City.  However, he made a deal based on current market prices and locked us in for a high number of years so we will be behind again in a few years. 

The Mayor and Shauna for years spent over $100,000.00 plus City Hall employee time fighting a citizens group to change the Charter.  He said publicly 4 years ago that he would appoint a Mayoral Commission to study the issue and 4 years later, 1 week before the election, he announces that he will appoint a 15 member Commission by the end of the year.  He also has issued some directives that this Commission will discuss (he told us already), one demand they will change for him is to put the Mayor in charge of the budget, with his large donations to his outside attorney friends imagine how much more he will give them? The Mayor’s Commission will have at least a budget with a minimum of $50,000.00.  It would have been much simpler and less costly if he just appointed a Commission 4 years ago, but Herr Mayor likes to play the attorney game.  His Napoleon complex is so bad he has been making himself look foolish and smaller.  I wonder if the breakdown of his Commission will at least like former Mayor Kehen’s in who sits in the chairs?  Keehn appointed 3 Republicans, 3 Democrats and 3 Independents.  Her Commission was started a little late but at least she worked accross Party lines to come up with a document.

The Mayor and Shauna failed to renegotiate a contract for 5 years with Time Warner.  The contract had expired the first year Napoleon, I mean Johnson took office.  He knowingly did not negotiate a new contract which would have raised the amount of money Time Warner paid the City, by the way, The Mayor always says it is someone else’s fault, suck it up, you’re the Mayor and you are failing to do your job.

The Housing Authority is in his lap also.  The SSHA is supposed to come before the Council and inform them of the salary figures for the coming year.  He never asked the SSHA, as is the Mayor’s job to do so.  He keeps reappointing the same Directors to the Board and when he is responsible for not taking corrective action on the bedbug issue (he sat in his chair looking stunned) he then appoints two of the oddest people to sit on a Board, Ken Ivins and Al Callucci, WOW.  The only other person he could have appointed that would have topped these two would have been Rich Wirth.

These few examples and some clear liquid on the rocks show us why the Mayor and Shauna should hit the road.  The Republicans should strongly consider putting someone else in to run for Mayor.  We can’t afford this duo any longer.

If the Republican Committee can show us any mercy, cut the cord with these two Russian Cossack dancers.

IT’S JUST TOO MUCH JOHNSON AROUND

You would think with all that is happening in Saratoga there would be other stories to be read and concerned about besides the Saratogian and Scott Johnson.  However, these two entities leave themselves hanging out there so much, that they monopolize the news and the two are joined at the hip.

Why do I think that these two, the Saratogian and Johnson are Siamese twins, because The Saratogian is a tool of Johnson’s and Johnson is a tool of the Saratogian.

Let’s start with the Saratogian.  Over the last 20 years the newspaper has been calling for a change in the form of government, a change mind you not a revision.  In 2006  when a strong mayor form was proposed, they said not to vote for it, then again in 2012 when a manager/Council form was proposed, they again said don’t vote for it.  One may ask, what form would they back, a King Johnson form?

The Saratogian never questioned why the Mayor spent over $100,000.00 fighting against putting the Proposal on the ballot or why after 4 years and countless times the Mini-me stated he would appoint a Commission, which he should have done anyway 4 years ago but was content in spending our money.  This sound like the newspaper is playing politics and cannot offend its own advertisers, some who voiced negative comments about changing, thereby endorsing some form of change itself.  It’s no wonder it looks like they will cease to exist in a few years.  They try too hard to please a Mayor’s & big business rather than be true to reporting the news ad back their own long time call for change.  Oh well, the Mayor’s businesses do spend quite a sum on advertising.

Next we bring up the dreaded BEDBUG CAPER.  The good thing that came out of this issue was the insane salary of its Director.  However, again, Johnson appointed or re-appointed the entire HA Board.  Every year Johnson failed to have the Chairman of the Board come before his Council with the proposed salary increases, then backs away from all the problems that the Council is trying to get to the bottom of.  Now the game begins for Johnson, he doesn’t re-appoint the former Chairman and it is rumored that after begging people to take a seat on the Board with no takers, puts Ken Ivins, a former political puppet of Johnson’s and Al Callucci, [no one in the City can figure this appointment out], although Callucci and Ivins along with an out of town blogger seem to be the front men for Johnson’s odd actions by their own instability.

Does the Saratogian go after Johnson for dereliction of duty by ignoring the yearly reports from the HA along with bugging out of sight when things heat up?  That would the Publisher and Editor in a bad light with Johnson and his Deputy the infamous Hound.  So they give him a pass.

The Mayor it is rumored, told the managing editor of the Saratogian to print a piece regarding the goings on at the Housing Authority and also put a piece written by Ken Ivins to be in the paper on the same day.  Ivins mentioned that the Mayor appointed himself and Callucci to the Board to bring sanity to the Board of Directors.  That is like putting Wimpy to work at McDonalds.

Again, here is another example of the newspaper being used as a tool of Johnson’s.

In the office of the Justice League, the saying is Holy Cow, Batman, it looks like the Saratogian is playing with their Johnson (the Mayor, silly).

The next item is that an idea that was put forth 6 years ago by a previous administration of revamping the parking lot across the street from the Police Station and using it for the City and the City Center.  This proposal was shot down by big business as too costly, now the City Center proposes to do a somewhat similar plan for $9 million dollars that the Mayor said “will not cost the taxpayers a penny”.  The loss of what the City receives yearly from the City Center, who has to pay off the debt, will affect the taxpayers.  More voodoo economics by the Mayor.

Last but not the end, in Monday (26^th) edition of the Saratogian, the business reporter gives a report about one of the Mayor’s restaurants i.e. Sperry’s and their plans for New Years Eve and that they are now taking reservations.  I hope the Saratogian does an article on all of the restaurants that are taking reservations for New Year’s Eve and what special things they have planned.  However, I don’t think that Michael F. O’Sullivan (Publisher) or Barb Lombardo (Managing Editor) would give away that much free advertising.  

Now, some will say, all I do is pick on the Mayor, but we like to get you info of this kind.  We promise not to make every story about Johnson, but will add those about our potentate when necessary.