SCIROCCO THROWING THE CITY UNDER THE BUS?

Is Skip Scirocco throwing Saratoga Springs and the taxpayers under the bus?  The granting of a million dollar waiver of water hookup fees is and will continue to burden taxpayers with higher water and sewer bills.  Since Scirocco has been in office one of the water charges has risen from $12 to $48 and will continue to escalate until these developers who gained Sirocco’s favor pays the City the money they owe.

The matter of how Scirocco runs the waiver of fees and his lame brain excuses for doing so is now in the hands of the NY State Attorney General’s hands.  The AG’s department was in City Hall weeks ago removing all relevant materials and Scirocco was warned by the AG and in a City Hall memo not to shred or remove any documents that are the property of the City’s.  It is alleged that after this warning Sirocco’s son was seen carrying out a box of materials from his father’s office,  again this was alleged to have been seen by a City Hall employee who has reported the action.

A few Friday’s ago Commissioners Madigan & Mathiesen drove down together to Albany to be interviewed by someone in the AG’s office.  Remember that Madigan last year had said that she audited the ‘supposed’ hookup fee waivers and found nothing wrong but recently has admitted that maybe she didn’t go deep enough in her audit.  This sounds like a great Commissioner of Finance.  Hopefully sometime soon we will find out what happened and why Scirocco gave these waivers when the developers didn’t even pass the 1^st requirement of having to install 12” water mains.

The trio of Madigan, Mathiesen and Scirocco are starting to sound like a bunch of out of control puppets at Council meetings.  Obviously these three have formed an alliance to make the Mayor look bad and they give her a hard time as often as they can.  Commissioner Madigan, thank God you have Christine Gilmet-Brown in your office or you would not be half the successful Commissioner you think you are.

The reason I mention the three Commissioners forming a ban is because since early last year they have decided that 1. They do not like the Mayor and 2. They want to shift any control of the Mayor’s office into their own. 

I was at this past Tuesday’s Council meeting and what a circus it was, well the second circus after the Sustainable Saratoga clan rallied against PUD’s and the desperate need to ban plastic bags in the City.  The group is slowly becoming the minority voice of the majority and we better turn out and speak up or they will get their way on every issue they dream up.  Politicians vote on issues depending on how many people show up and exert pressure at meetings.  Anyway, the second circus was during the Mayor’s portion of the meeting.  Through a technicality 3 Housing Authority Board members seats were deemed vacant by State law because the appointing Commissioner at the time (Mayor Johnson) did not inform the appointees that they had to sign an oath of office form which next to tying your shoes is the easiest thing to do.  So, Mayor Yepsen has the right as every other previous Mayor had, to fill these positions.  Yepsen being the most transparent Mayor in Saratoga’s history now advertises commission & committee seats up for appointment and chooses the appointments from the list, which by the way any citizen of Saratoga Springs can be a part of.  Well, that did not sit right with the 3 Musketeers and they argued why they were not informed of the replacements.  Scirocco went as far as saying he hoped ‘this isn’t a power grab’ and that the Charter should be changed so that all appointments have to be passed by the Council.  Again the asinine thinking of Scirocco even when Johnson made his 11^th hour mass appointments which usually goes to the incoming Mayor, his lips were sealed as they are 99% of the time unless he in stammering at Council meetings.  He was joined at the lip (yes lip) with Scott Johnson for 6 years and as Johnson systematically never reappointed a Democrat to a seat, he filled the seats with friends and Party members and did we ever and I mean ever hear 1 word out of Sirocco’s mouth admonishing Johnson, or Madigan & Mathiesen for that matter?  At the meeting Madigan and Mathiesen uttered the words that they want to be informed on who the Mayor is going to appoint, I say why?  It seems to me that the three horseman of death want to be the ones to grab power and by banding together they feel they will become 3 larger kings of their domains.  Tuesday night’s meeting was one of the most embarrassing meetings for Scirocco, Mathiesen and Madigan that I ever witnessed and by the way the Mayor did reappoint one of the SSHA board members that were removed and he just happened to be a Republican.

A very big circus atmosphere in the old chamber Tuesday night and 3 clowns highlighted the evening.

Next up, a look at the increasing number of working supervisors Scirocco has appointed at inflated salaries and how many DPW workers these new supervisors oversee. 

SCOTT JOHNSON”S BITE IN THE ASS

It looks like former Mayor Scott Johnson’s 11^th hour mass appointments to virtually every City Board is starting to unravel.  The day is December 31, 2013 and Scott Johnson make mass appointments to upcoming vacancies on City Boards and Commissions, thereby taking away the right of the incoming Mayor, Joanne Yepsen to name her own appointments.  The only thing that Johnson didn’t know about was that an appointed person had only 30 days to sign their ‘oath of office’.  The last 3 board members appointed by Johnson to the Housing Authority BOD failed to follow the law and sign the oath and had to be removed from Housing Authority Board of Directors.  The 3 (Ken Ivins, Al Callucci and Lou Schneider could reapply along with any other citizen wishing to serve on the board and had until Friday Nov. 21^st at the close of business to turn in a resume. 

Mayor Yepsen follows not only an announcement of an appointee at a Council meeting but also has that person come to the front of those attending or viewing the meeting, introduces the appointee and has them sign the ‘oath of office’, making it a little ceremony for those that will be serving on City Boards and Commissions.  The Saratogian noted that every Commission & Board member will be reviewed to make sure every member has signed the proper legal document.  The Scott Johnson 11^th hour appointments may be a silver bullet to those appointed just because of his not wanting Yepsen to have any chance for her own appointments.  This is how he ran the Mayor’s office for 6 years and should be one reason his reign gets lost in Saratoga history.

Arthur Einig Saratoga Springs wrote a letter to the editor in the Saratogian last week outing the DPS saying “In short, they extracted $30 from my pocket and put it into theirs. They did it to at least five other people too. There were probably more extractions to others earlier and later in the day and it’s reasonable to imagine that this goes on week after week. It’s a cash cow for the city, so why should they see it as unjust or immoral?”

It started for Mr. Einig on a “bright and sunny September days, I drove my wife, my mother (who just moved here) and my sister-in-law (her first visit to Saratoga) to see and shop at our wonderful farmers’ market at High Rock. The place was packed. Parking was tighter than tight. I let them off and rolled slowly away to find a parking spot. All the spots on both sides of the street were taken, so I turned into the city parking lot by the Mouzon House.”   He goes on to say that when ready to leave he noticed a parking ticket on his windshield. Every car parked on the curve was likewise ticketed. 

 The day of his court appearance he was found guilty and paid “the unjust, unethical ticket (I call it a dirty tricket). The judge allowed me to question the ticket-writing officer, who admitted there was no “No Parking” sign in that area and that the city had no plans to put one up. She also admitted that cars were ticketed in that area often during the summer.”

After paying his ticket he had asked the clerk to have the person in charge to please call him to discuss why there isn’t a parking sign there and if they plan on putting one up and since that day in September he has heard from no one.

The idea that the City would use this area as a money trap and was even backed up by the officer that wrote the ticket doesn’t sound like Saratoga, or does it?  Are we stooping to this level to grab money from Saratogians and visitors alike?  Where the heck are we heading?  Money traps, water hookup fees waived amounting to over 1 million dollars for special developers, City property being used by businesses for private parking.  Welcome to the new Saratoga.

CODE BLUE EXPANSION

We are taking the time to say thank you to the Salvation Army for moving our City’s Code Blue program to another level and to give a big thank you to St. Peter’s for stepping up to be the temporary host of the inaugural program last winter.  Those that use the Salvation Army facility now have a kitchen, a comfortable space for 25 needy people and even showers to use and best of all can use the facility a little longer to get a good breakfast.  However, this all could not be possible without the volunteers that sometimes work 12 hour shifts to keep the shelter running.  If you can spare some time give the Salvation Army a call and someone will put you through to the person in charge.  This is just another way that Saratogians show how we come together to support either time, food donations or donations to help those in need.

Have you heard all the talk and spin from Democrats and news media on why the Republicans kicked butt last Tuesday in the National elections?  The results stem from 2 areas, (1) the President has lost the support of most of the American people and voters, (2) Democrats, women and Hispanic voters did not back the Democratic candidates as they did in the past.  Yes, the Republicans will try again to do away with ObamaCare as most polls show from 59% to as high as 66% of Americans are opposed to the plan.  However, the Republicans must have a plan ready to implement to overhaul the Insurance industry if they are to try and torpedo Obama’s Plan.

Well it looks like the expansion of the racing season by 2 weeks won’t happen in 2015.  The Times Union reported that sources said that the red light was given so we can have our City for those 2 extra weeks in July.

In  local news it was also reported that former blogger John Tighe took a guilty plea on hacking charges, saying that he only hacked into a group’s computer files between 50 to 70 times, he only faces 1 year in County jail for this but should get more time as he probably won’t even get the 1 year.  Tighe also faces charges for allegedly having more than 400 files of child porn on his computer and if found guilty deserves the ravages of Federal prison, child porn is the worst crime a person can commit as the damage it causes the children will be with them for the rest of their lives and children should be allowed to grow up safe and enjoy their youth. 

Coming soon:  why is so much concrete sticking out into the street and an investigation starts in City Hall.

CAN SKIP FLIP A SWITCH FOR WATER?

4 months ago at a Council meeting Commissioner Scirocco said that if anyone wanted to go with him he could flip a switch and start the pumps at Bog Meadow and pump all the water we need into Loughberry Lake.  Well why haven’t you flipped that switch Skip?  The lake level is down 27” as of Friday the 10^th and I haven’t seen it this low in 50 years.  We need water and we need it now.  You can see where the minimum level should be which is the black strip above the top of the cement block.

Skip, say it isn’t true, you are failing the taxpayers at every turn.  What gives?

The biggest bane of Skip’s tenure is the Bonacio and 2 other developers “give back of almost a million dollars, $1,000,000.00, 1 million smackers.  Skip said he really didn’t know that Sonny got that much in waivers but then said that Sonny does work and/or upgrades for the City at no cost.  However, we have found out by City Hall employees that a meeting was held about giving these waivers to Bonacio, and sitting around that table was none other than Skip DPW Commissioner, Stanley Boardman, Donna Buckley (Skips right hand girl), Barbara, Sonny Bonacio and Bill Benton (Sonny is the developer and also a partner with Benton in B&B Plumbing).  Well, some insiders say that most of the work completed was in the application and needed to be done for the large projects to be given the green light.  Sonny first needed to install 12” water mains which he did not do and that is a requirement of step 1 in getting a waiver.  Bonacio has never fixed (resurfaced the Division section) of road after he tore it up for various lines as called for in the applications.  In this case the City can do the job and get paid by Bonacio so the DPW workers have jobs to do but we saw what they do with their time.

The next item from the inside is that Skip has been planning for about a year to put in a new sewer line down Pinewood Ave. (your street).  I hope this doesn’t tie in with any Bonacio deals.

Skip is now a legend with his own cartoon on the editorial page of Sunday’s Daily Gazette.  The cartoon shows a man sitting at home in his chair and saying “Scirocco says the ordinance needs updating to reduce the requirements then he says, Seems to me it needs updating to increase the FEES.  How true.  The Commissioner shouldn’t go deeper into a developers wish for large waiver fees, the City should be getting more money from them in hookup fees.

In the past Skip had 3 people who rode from parking garage to parking garage in a City truck to clean them.  Skip has reduced the staff to one female (Connie) who with no truck has to walk from parking  garage to parking garage and clean them by herself.  She starts out the day at the Spring St. garage, then walks to the Woodlawn Ave. Garage, then onto the garage behind the new Adirondack Building, the a quick walk to clean the Algonquin lot.  Now get this, she cleans all the garages and the lot with the tools Skip gives her and I’m not joking people, a BROOM & DUST PAN.

News flash - Skip and Donna Buckley (Acting Deputy Commissioner and Chauffeur), slavery was eliminated by Abraham Lincoln or haven’t you heard yet?

Marilyn Rivers has her own problems which she is letting go by the board which in effect puts all citizens in a potential large problem which I will mention later.  First of all, every City vehicle has to have markings that that vehicle is the property of the City.  DPW vehicles except 2 have the orange decal with lettering noting the words Saratoga Springs among others.  Some of the vehicles have the same logo but in blue.  Police cars are marked Saratoga Springs as are Fire Trucks.  The only two other than unmarked Police cars are the vehicles that belong to Skip and Tim Cogan.  The question Marilyn is why, oh why? 

The next item has been brought to Marilyn’s attention for months now with no action taken.  The pictures below will tell the story.  This of course is at the Marion Ave. Mobile station.  The station’s vehicles, among them quite a few U-Haul trucks & vans sit on City property and create a liability problem.  They sit along the building which is the future home of the DPW’s paint shop and if the City isn’t charging the owner for parking and hasn’t  got a certificate of insurance then you aren’t doing your job Marilyn and it may be time for you to step down.  Is this another case of a favorite son getting a break from the City?

The gas line is one of many and sits on the roadsides with no protection around them.  What if a car goes off the road and smashes into one?  If this isn't a City problem then contact the company whose has the responsibility to do so.

There is also liability problems you are failing to take action on.  There are a few large steel plates sitting on Broadway, one by Soave Faire and one down past Uncommon Grounds, plus many corner curbs where the concrete has shattered and the metal is sticking up just waiting for someone to trip, fall and get hurt real bad.

Now I said earlier that the citizens are at risk or have a problem is because every time there is a claim to be paid by the City’s Insurance company, out deductibles for the next year rises and we pay more through our taxes or the City’s surplus balance further reducing that amount.  We need Marilyn to do her job or find someone that will.

ELIMINATE WATER HOOKUP FEES FOR EVERYONE?

All builders by law have to pay a $3,000.00 for water hookup fee per each new single residential unit then $2,000.00 for every additional unit.

I reported many months ago that developer Sonny Bonacio had gotten away without paying hookup fees of at least $854,000.00 that Commissioner of Public Works Skip Scirocco waived.  The Commissioner also waived fees in the amount of $35,000.00 to Gordon Companies of Albany at Seward & Morgan Streets in 2012 and Saratoga attorney James Doyle had fees of $9,000.00 waived at homes on Adams & Jackson streets.  The amount so far is $898,000.00, that’s right $2,000.00 short of $1 million dollars taken away from citizens on just these 3 projects.  While this was reported in the Times Union today, this may only be the tip of the iceberg.  Records also show that Bonacio, B&B Plumbing (owned by Bonacio and Billy Benton) and Doyle contributed money to Sirocco’s campaigns.

The reasoning Scirocco gave of waiving the fees was that DPW can subtract costs for water hookups if developers install 12” water pipes in right of ways but it is noted that none of the waivers approved by Sirocco for these projects included installation of said 12” water pipes.  Scirocco also said that he alone can grant a waiver but the city ordinance states that the Council has to approve waivers of this type.  Scirocco also stated that the developers were granted waivers because they spent money to update the water infrastructure, which William McTygue a city resident, former Director of Public Works and a candidate who ran against Sirocco in the last election makes a valid point as far as I am concerned, stating that developers shouldn’t be rewarded with waivers for improvements because in some cases they would have to make them anyways for their projects to be approved.

After the waivers were granted by Scirocco, Tim Wales the City Engineer (who reports to Scirocco) sent Bonacio a letter which informed the developer that the free connections for the Weibel Avenue and Railroad were awarded mistakenly As there is no provision in the law that the Commissioner alone can make this decision and that he (Wales) asked Bonacio to pay the fees, which he has refused to do.

Now Scirocco wants to change the law in the Charter giving him sole discretion to waive fees without Council approval.  McTygue has asked for an audit to be conducted by Commissioner of Finance Michele Madigan and also an outside audit of the waiver reductions.  Madigan said she did a limited review but now she is thinking of doing a more defined audit if necessary.  She also said “that would mean a larger scope and I would go much further back in time as well”

This story smelled funny when I reported it many months ago and it smells worse now.  It seems we have a Commissioner who doesn’t know how or doesn’t care what is in the best interest of the taxpayers.

I would suggest any developer to start your engines now and ask for a waiver before something changes.

WE HAVE ENOUGH DPW EMPLOYEES

It’s time again that the Commissioner of DPW is asking to hire more help.  There are certainly enough DPW workers to fill all the positions right now, maybe even more than we need.

Someone told me that the saw 2 DPW employees on Locust Grove Rd. in the Town of Wilton in the middle of the day with a City truck looking at 2 motor cycles, that is 2 employees that DPW doesn’t need if they have time to look around for motorcycles out of Saratoga Springs, I wonder where they went next and what jobs suffered because they obviously weren’t doing theirs.

The same person told me that she was driving down Hitchcock Rd. and saw 2 DPW employees sitting in their truck after 2pm reading a newspaper and one talking on his cell phone.  Again, we can eliminate these 2 employees because they must not have anything to do.

Have you ever followed a DPW truck around ( I know, get a life) and you drive around for an hour burning gas and the truck never stops, it just keeps driving round and round until it hits a coffee shop then stops and refuels with java then drives around again?

How about the trucks that are parked in front of private homes or out at the Wilton Mall or WalMarts?  Trucks stopping at personal residences picking up garbage?

Below is a picture of truck #210  parked during the middle of the day at the ITAM club Grand Ave.

I think what this shows is that we have more employees than we need and more working supervisors that the Commissioner promoted at higher salaries.  There seems to be more ‘working supervisors’ than employees, move some of these supervisors back to regular employees.  I think it also shows that there is no one in that department that can plan jobs for a work day and there is no supervision by the Commissioner or his Deputy.

If I were the one that Commissioner Scirocco was asking for more DPW employees, that person should be telling Scirocco ‘how many employees will you let go?  The general feeling of the City is that with all the spare time the employees have, DPW should be accomplishing quite a bit more than they are with the size of the force they have now.

The City Attorney did the sensible thing in resigning her post after the Council was pressuring the Mayor to fire her.  We had a City Attorney that was bright, easy to get along with and very capable of doing a superb job.  It’s sad that politics has to be forced into that position when she was trying to protect the Council members legally and in turn represent the legal opinions to protect the citizens.  Sarah, you will be missed, but with your legal knowledge you will have a long and prosperous career.

Here now are our City employees enjoying an afternoon at the Italian American Club.  See you there.

Ciao for now.

WATER,FIRE, EMS, NYRA, OH MY!

The “Sutherland Report” was a study conducted by the DEC which was chosen by the City Council and was compiled between 1986 and1987 regarding the condition of Loughberry Lake and its water shed which has been the principal water source for Saratoga Springs since 1870.  If you haven’t noticed, Saratoga Springs has changed quite a bit since then both in population, building growth and pollution.  As James Sutherland, who was the research scientist for the DEC and was the person who issued the report, hence “the Sutherland Report” stated, “an important study finding was that only 4% of the Loughberry Lake watershed lies within the City of Saratoga Springs; the remaining portion of the watershed is in Greenfield (33%) and Wilton (63%).  This means that the city of Saratoga Springs has no control over the land-use activities in the watershed that cause steady degradation of the lake’s water quality.  This fact alone should be cause for alarm and action.”  As Sutherland also stated “Loughberry Lake was classified as “moderately contaminated” with heavy metals.  Nuisance aquatic vegetation was a major concern to the extent that weed harvesting was initiated and continues even today.  The presence of Route 50, a major traffic thoroughfare along the lake’s southern shoreline, is always cause for concern (also accidents like the City spilling fuel in the lake not too long ago) is always cause for concern since shutdown of the city’s primary water supply is only one traffic accident away from being a reality, which would paralyze city water users.

   

 In retrospect, the 10 year lead time suggested in the report before replacement of Loughberry Lake became imperative was unrealistic.  However, the purpose of that number was to encourage the City Council to start planning the replacement of the lake as its primary source of drinking water within a reasonable time period.

    

As Mr. Sutherland also stated “Recently, I have noticed occasional articles in the Saratogian about the Loughberry Lake water supply and the Bog Meadow Brook system and realize that not too much has changed since the “Sutherland Report” was released 26 years ago.”  (One thing has changed though; our current Commissioner has made back room deals to sell our precious drinking water to developments outside the City of Saratoga Springs).

We are very fortunate to have a gentleman like Mr. Sutherland along with his experience as a neighbor and he should be a welcome source of information to the City.  I only wish past Council’s would have taken his report seriously and acted on it.

I have followed the need of those who wanted to swap the land on Broadway for a parcel on Union Avenue to construct an Eastside Firehouse and EMS facility for residents on the East side of the Northway.  The deal passed unanimously at the last Council meeting.  East side voices were heard for months at past Council meetings, “residents expressed urgent concern for the project, asking the City to act in their best interest.”  Laurie Wellman, who lives near Saratoga Lake, expressed concern for the desperate need for emergency services in her neighborhood.  How about this one, “How much is just one life worth?” or How long do we have to wait?  This is a good one, ‘We are residents of the City, we pay taxes to the City and we hope that our lives and property are valued by the City’.

I’m linking the 2 stories for you, especially the Lake people to think about.  Those who yelled and pleaded with the City and those homeowner group reps on or near the lake demanding the firehouse and EMS facility, which I believe are needed, are the same people who cry and yell whenever Saratoga Lake is mentioned as a water source for the City and all of its residents.  The anti lake people are led by General Wilma Koss’s militia and they could care less about the state of our drinking water.  Loughberry Lake was found to be moderately productive and contaminated 27 years ago, yet it is still in use today with no back up plan in sight and I ask the East side residents “How much is one life worth?”, How long do we have to wait for a back up plan?  We are residents of the City; we pay City taxes and hope that our lives and property are valued by the City.  We are expressing urgent concern for a water project and the lake is the best one and we are asking the City Council to act in our best interest.  Let’s hope those out near the lake will be a little more rational when the Lake comes up again in conversation as a water supply, which will happen sooner than later.

Last week, the NYRA Board of Directors voted to give NYRA CEO Chris Kay a 3% pay increase on top of his $300,000.00 salary and a $250,000.00 bonus after 1 year at the helm and the triggers that he had to meet to get the bonus looked bogus in the first place.  After hiring Kay last July, the board found out that Kay had only seen 2 live races in his life and then had to hire a V.P of racing at an unknown salary but believed to be in the neighborhood of close to $175,000.00.  The question that racing fans that keep an eye on what NYRA does are wondering why the rash of hires of V.P.’s at costly salaries?  The racing does seem to have gotten better under the V.P. of racing but the business side under Kay seems to be getting worse.  As the Saratogian reporter Paul Post reported, Kay has now added the over 6,300 season pass holders into the daily attendance number whether they are there or not.  Let’s put some pressure on our 2 local Board reps (Charles Wait and John Hendrickson) to make sure NY racing will be placed in good hands next year for whoever takes over the NYRA contract.

MARK BAKER FIRST YOU DO - THEN YOU DON’T

First Mark Baker the head of the City Center wanted the City to be Lead Agency for the Racino expansion project. The expansion project is a force of evil for Baker and the City Center Board and now he does not want the City to be Lead Agency but wants the City Center to have that designation.  I guess Baker wants to decide who does what in Saratoga.   The big piece of information Baker has not let out of the bag is ‘how many conventions and conferences Saratoga turns away every year that the City will now be able to host with the proposed Event Center.  The City is becoming home to more and more hotels and the City Center is probably near its maximum rental capacity as Baker points out in his annual reports to the Council that convention days are increasing to the limit.

Baker is one of the highest paid City employees and the next bit of news may earn him the top spot on the list.  Have you noticed that the parking garage the City Center is proposing is slated to start construction in September?  I think that since the time between now and Labor Day is so crazy in Saratoga and many of the citizens who live here are either on vacation or have rented their houses or just can’t get downtown, it is a stretch to have all the preliminary work plus the open public comment periods during this time.  However, the information spinning out of City Hall and the Convention Center is that if Baker gets the parking garage rushed through and gets started in September he gets a nice fat bonus and a raise in salary, could that be why Mayor Yepsen wants a few more Director’s on the Board?  Maybe the current Board caves in to easily.

The new racing poles downtown look good, I wish they would get rid of the ballet butts though and get the horses out but we can’t have everything.  I was walking downtown the other day with some friends and we were crossing Broadway from the Downtowner side when we noticed the grass on the corner under the sign was high up and touching the bottom of the sign.  Hey  its tourist season, tidy up Broadway.  There also have been many complaints to DPW about the state of the Woodlawn Ave. Parking garage.  The place stinks and the residents do just about everything in there except take a bath.  Skip, it should be cleaned once a week.  Get Petunia over there to clean it when her crew is done watering the flowers.

Last time we told you about Marilyn Rivers letting the Marion Ave. garage park it’s vehicles on City property and what her reasoning is in allowing this to go on.  Well after an email to her the practice is still going on, so if an accident happens over there shouldn’t Ms. Rivers be personally liable?  Also, we spoke of the eyesore that serves as a storage facility for DPW on the same lot and it is still in bad shape.  Skip, can’t you have someone with a weed whacker like Tim get out there and trim around the building and lop down the scrub trees hugging the building?

ROCK & ROLL PART II

If you go to the Marion Ave. car wash, the City owns the property on the right hand side when entering the driveway although you would never know it; there is no signage that it is private property let alone City property.  The station has so many cars and U-Haul trucks parked on this piece City property that I would say that anyone who wants to car pool, park your cars there and drive to work in 1 car.  Obviously the City has no problem with non City vehicles parking there.  What department you ask uses these buildings?  Well none other than, you guessed it, DPW.  The buildings look like they should be torn down.  Scrub trees are growing all around the buildings and the weeds are waist high.  If this belonged to a property owner they would be fined, have the eyesore taken care of and charge the work of clearing the outside junk to the owners taxes.  There are many questions citizens are asking about why the City is looking so shabby but a few are just common sense.  The shrubs were ripped out around Spit and Spat and something like a lawn was planted there.  You can tell by the roll of yellow tape that circles the area, with track season opening in less than 3 weeks wouldn’t it have been a smart move to lay sod down in that area which would have made that whole side of the park and the Italian Gardens look much nicer?  The once ‘gem’ of Saratoga (Congress Park) is loosing a little luster, bushes are overgrown, the hill on the right passing the Casino needs weed whacking, the moss needs to be scraped off the base of the fountain, if you need instruction Skip on how to slow the growth after you clean the base, let me know its easy and only takes 10 minutes. Who is running DPW?  How is the work distributed, and does anyone check to make sure the work is getting done on time?  The flower beds in the islands as you enter the City on Rt. 9 have no color but they do have ornamental grass planted in the place of flowers (no color), is Skip and his 2 Deputies color blind?

A response in the last post alluded to the fact that DPW is down on manpower and that is true, but not by many and if Skip would stop giving  supervisor upgrades out like candy we may have more workers.  We should not forget that it was Skip who also took about $90,000.00 out of the employee line to purchase new trucks.   This is bad management; not being able to plan on vehicle rotation is a case where it hurts the employee numbers as that would have been at least 2 full time positions.  The Waterfront Park was mentioned in Anon.’s response and at tonight’s Council meeting Mayor Yepsen was speaking about Waterfront Park and that finally plans will be submitted to the Council for development as the City was in jeopardy of losing grant monies as nothing was done for 6 years at the site.  I took a ride out to the Park and was surprised to see a local paving business had his equipment parked there and people told me it has been parked there for days at least.  Why?  Will it be ok for any taxpayer now to be able to park on City property over 2 or 3 nights?  It looks like Skip is setting precedent or extending favors for the Marion Ave. site and the Waterfront Park lot.

EVERYBODY SING NOW ‘OLD MAN RIVER’

Commissioner Skip will soon be putting the citizens of Saratoga up Old Man River, his antics are becoming an embarrassment to those who deal with him which are few and far between because you have to go through is Deputy first – Deputy Dawg Donna Buckley.  Those who think Tim Cogan is Skip’s Deputy are sadly mistaken and those who work for DPW know it to be true.

At a previous Council meeting Commissioner Skip announced the City would be removing Elm trees on City property that looked like they were starting to show signs of disease, that’s a good thing, however, when he proclaimed that citizens had to remove these trees from their own property at their own expense (and we all know how expensive that is), Commissioner Madigan asked Skip if the City could also remove the trees for citizens.  Skip answer to that was NO, ‘everyone will have to pay for their own removal’, when pressed by Madigan & Matheisen that it would be cheaper to have 1 company remove the trees, Skip again said NO, ‘everyone will have to pay for their own removal’.

Now here’s the info that shows what Skip thinks of us, the taxpayers of Saratoga Springs.  Recently he HAD A VERY LARGE OAK TREE REMOVED FROM A PRIVATE RESIDENCE FOR FREE, THAT RESIDENCE WAS ON LOUGHBERRY LAKE RD. IN THE TOWN OF WILTON.  Yes, that’s right not City property in Saratoga but a personal residence in the town of Wilton, removed by City workers for free.  Not a smart move Skip.

The next move by Skip that will probably end up costing us money from large fines via the DEC is one that involves the City Compost site.  The yard debris & tree chips the City picks up during the year is laid out in rows then treated and turned into the compost that is sold.  The bottom (what we’ll call ‘scum’) that cannot be sold has to be disposed of according to DEC regulations.  Saratoga has a contract with Wilton to have this ‘scum’ properly disposed of at a site at Harlem’s Hollow in Wilton.  Well, to shove it in the face of the DEC, Skip has been burying this ‘scum’ on a hill at the Compost site.  Not a smart move Skip.

Skip has ordered dredging to take place at Bog Meadow which of course again is not legal.  Bog Meadow is a supplemental water source for Saratoga Springs and an inside source has told me that DEC has never given Commissioner Wonder the permission to do this.  Again, not a smart move Skip.

Skip has been hiring outside engineering firms to do some of the work our 2 City engineers can’t do because their plates are full.  Have you ever noticed that trying to see the City Engineer during some mornings or some afternoons is impossible?  Well sources tell me that our Engineer loves to play golf either in the mornings and comes in at 11 or afternoons when he leaves at 2, depending who he plays with.  When confronted about this information, Skip gave this reasoning ‘he is on flex time’.  What the heck Skip?  Flex time?  When is he making up these hours? I thought that if one had to represent the City at a meeting after hours they had to take that time off the next day, are you sure you are not confusing the time when you were Supervisor and worked for the City and left your job during working hours to attend County meetings?  You should come up with something a little better than flex hours.  Stop hiring outside help and use our well paid department heads.

This is the last one for today.  A young man went into the Commissioner’s office looking for a job and was told that he had to have a driver’s license, which he did not have.  Then the son of the little person on the flower crew who just got a job upgrade because she makes a great informant was given that same job the young man was turned down for because of not having a driver’s license.  The irony of this story is that the son of ‘petunia’ as we like to call her, has no driver’s license and this will be his 3^rd stint working for the City. 

Your decisions Skip are becoming more and more bizarre; some of these decisions could possibly lead to monetary penalties against the City and may add more fuel against you in the looming court proceedings coming up.  The time may be fast approaching for you to turn in your two way radio.  HE JUST KEEPS ON ROLLING ALONG.

THE POLITICS OF GETTING A RIDE:

In Saratoga County there are many individuals who receive cab rides courtesy of you and me the taxpayer. On the surface there is nothing wrong with that. If you really have no other means of getting to a doctor appointment than ordering a cab via MAS (Medical Answering Service) makes complete sense…until you have to deal with them.

I am not naïve. I understand that with most everything in our culture there is always some kind of politics involved. The politics involved are frustrating enough but when individuals call MAS and request the cab company they would like to have them picked up they are told they are not allowed to choose the cab company of their choice; which would be fine if that were factually correct but it isn’t.

And this is where the real games begin.

First of all, the Medical Answering Service isn’t based out of Saratoga County which it should be but it is outsourced to a place in Syracuse which is part of the problem. The number to MAS is 1-800-850-5340.

Each municipality should have their own medical answering service so the examples of incompetence I am about to give you and the waste of taxpayer dollars is minimized.

Disclaimer: The examples are actual case scenarios.

Example one: One male living in our area needed surgery and needed to go to a hospital in NYC and he ordered a cab through medical answering service. Shortly before his scheduled surgery in NYC, MAS informed him that he couldn’t take a cab to NYC ostensibly because it was a burden on taxpayers and was redirected to AMTRAK. His surgery was scheduled for 10:30am. The only morning train that leaves from Saratoga Springs Amtrak is the 9:30am and it never arrives in Saratoga until at least 10:15am. It takes over three hours by train from Saratoga to NYC.

Needless to say he missed his appointment in NYC and was subjected to taking the train down anyway and forced to spend the entire day there and came back later that evening on the AMTRAK. It doesn’t make sense.

There were individuals who called on this mans behalf and tried to explain to MAS that he was going to miss his appointment if he took the train but they didn’t care. This case is not an anomaly. This is the everyday stuff.

Another issue is that when you call MAS and request a specific cab company, they tell people they can’t do that and say that they must have what they are calling ‘group ride’ but when ask to define what a ‘group ride’ is they tell the caller something that is not factually correct. They wrongly tell people that they must share a ride with others on Medicaid that are going to the same place like Albany Med. for example. Not true. Medicaid passengers are not required to share a cab with anyone. Sometimes MAS will tell someone who requests a particular cab company that the requested company isn’t on their list which isn’t true. Most if not all cab companies take Medicaid calls. Why? Because that is where the money is. There is a substantial amount of money to be made on these Medicaid calls which is why every cab company would like their fair share of the calls.

What ends up happening is that these calls are redirected to primarily two local cab companies in Saratoga. One is Saratoga Taxi and the other is Capitaland. What is worse is that many passengers have specifically told MAS that they do want to ride with these companies and they are told that they do not have a choice. Again, these people are being lied to.

Another game that MAS plays with some of the other cab companies is this example:

MAS will call an alternative cab company and ask the owner if they will pick up a passenger in North Creek? The owner then asks if the passenger is going to Saratoga and is told no. They are going only one mile to another place in North Creek. The cab owner says no because why would the cab owner send a driver forty-five miles each way to only drive someone one mile? They wouldn’t as it’s a waste of time and money and benefits no one. Then MAS uses this against cab companies for ‘refusing a call’ and that cab company is bumped to the bottom of their list.

See how this game is played?

The system is broken and is in need of fixing and in the meantime our tax money is being wasted.  Where are our elected officials on this issue?

NO MORE KIM KARDASHIAN BUTTS IN OUR SHOPPING DISTRICT

Please, I am asking for help, call City Hall and as one of the posters Dave Morris swears to, ask for Skip and tell him personally (lol) that we want the horses back in our shopping district and not the ‘ballet slippers’ that look like Kim Kardashian’s butt.  It was most embarrassing last year as Saratoga Race Course celebrated 150 years of horse racing in Saratoga and mysteriously the horses were put in a barn in favor of the slippers.

One of the reasons why the City catered to Ms. Riggi it was rumored was because it was an election year and in order to open up the purse strings to Skip & Shauna and the Republican Party she wanted them to play ball.  Well not this year, we want our horses back.  Remember the slogan ‘Health, History & Horses’, no where in there does it say statues of Kim’s butt.  Act now before it’s too late.
This is Ms. Riggi's latest ballet creation.  Help!!

TIPS FOR SKIP

Tip #1

The American flag colors are RED, WHITE and BLUE.  While it’s nice to have the flowers planted at the end of Union Avenue your planting directions are a little askew.  The colors are, starting with the outside ring and working into the center BLUE, RED, and WHITE.   Switch the flowers so they either start inside out as red, white & blue or outside in as red, white & blue.  The only other thing I can figure is that you are honoring another country.

Tip #2

This advice would be like the decision to you made to save money and buy regular pick-up trucks rather than 4 wheel drive pick-ups for plowing snow.

You can save money by not replacing the brown (dying) bushes in our ‘crown jewel’ Congress Park by doing these two steps.

1. Purchase cases of glue in spray cans and spray all the bushes so the needles don’t fall of the branches.

2. Purchase several cases of evergreen color spray paint and spray the dead branches.

IS SCIROCCO TAKING THE CITY DOWN?

Is Commissioner Scirocco taking the City down with him?  Listening to him at the Council meeting last night, one would think we had a 5^th grader sitting on the Council.  He just couldn’t get it through his head that the DEC cannot issue titles like lead agency.  He was repeatedly told by the City Attorney about this fact and she even read the part of State law that deals with the Racino issue.  Another item his brain couldn’t grasp was that the law also states that any ancillary buildings even if they have no gaming in them (like Vapors) is still under the State Law passed in 2001 in that the City does not have to be consulted as long as the Racino follows all the regulations that the State mandates.  It must be tough for him to try and keep up with what goes on in Saratoga.  We have to remember that when Scirocco was Supervisor he was against the Racino locating in Saratoga and he seems to have carried a lot of hate with him over the years and is bringing it out again.

A funny statement he made was that ‘no one from the Racino ever called him, ever’.  The Mayor then said that she has called them many times and has set up meetings with them and even to discuss items relating to the expansion and was always put through to someone to talk to.  She did give some important advice to Scirocco, “call them”.  I doubt that will ever happen, have you ever tried to speak with Mr. Scirocco?  Call him at City Hall and leave a message to call you back?  Try to email him seeking a short answer regarding any matter, good luck.  Many people I know have left 10 to 15 phone messages and at least as many emails with not so much as a peep back from him.  I think the reason these people called and emailed so much was to see how many times it would take to get a response but good old Commissioner Scirocco broke them down and they gave up.

The most disgusting tribute to the Scirocco era is how bad the entrances to the City and the downtown flowers look.  THERE ARE NO FLOWERS except the ones in front of stores that they themselves planted; there are however, many, many weeds in the flower beds around the trees on Broadway.  Maybe he is going for the natural look this year.

The entrances themselves are another matter, heading North on Rt. 9 past the Honda dealership the islands are mowed like a golf course and flowers are planted and look very nice.  The State takes care of these islands and you can tell where the City takes over, the islands grass looks like it was mowed to sell hay, again the flower beds are weeds with no flowers (they should be in the ground by now).  He certainly shows how visitors what to look forward to when they enter the City.

Moving on to our “gem” in the City, Congress Park.  Take a walk around our gem and visit Spit and Spat, the evergreen shrubs are half dead (the brown color looks great, just kidding) and weeds seem to be the flower of choice.  The shrubs throughout the park have a big problem, half of them are dead, now I can’t blame this on Scirocco but replacement should have started in early spring.  The hill across from the Casino looks like a hay field, the weeds must be 5’ high and the message board at the end of Union Ave. is full of prize winning weeds.  NYRA has already planted the islands they maintain on Union Ave. and the grass is well manicured, however, like everything else, the islands down Union Ave. that the City maintains have no flowers and the lawns look like hell.

Scirocco has destroyed in a few years what it took quite a while to do, namely make Broadway look clean and crisp.  When you spend over $22,000.00 on flowers and by June 3^rd the City still looks dirty and full of weeds it’s no wonder why Scirocco can’t grasp what a 5^th grader should know.

Now, on to some important matters.  The Commissioner still has not answered the question posed to him by many people and that is did he forgive the payment of water hookups at the Bonacio project on Weibel Ave. to the tune of $880,000.00?  Did he forgive the water hookups to the attorney who built 3 new homes on Jefferson St.?  This attorney has land next to these houses and it is said intends to build 8 more homes.  The Commissioner put a new water main on Gridley Avenue, was it for this attorney? Will these water hookups be forgiven also?  Will you answer these questions at a Council meeting Commissioner and offer proof of payment if made?

There has also been a problem at the landfill with the methane gas for years and the State hounded Commissioner for years to install a gas flaring system to safely get rid of the underground buildup which is at dangerous levels.  The State was very upset with Scirocco that for 3 years after the City said in writing that they would take the necessary steps to get the flare system installed it still was not acted on.  The grant section of the State was ready to take back some of the $500,000.00 in grant money the City received but the City started to act and the State decided not to request any monies to be paid back  hence the motion by Scirocco at tonight’s Council meeting to have the Council pass action to fund the program.

Another feather in Scirocco’s cap,  DPS as most everyone knows is remodeling the offices and other areas of the department.  It seems like there have been change orders like there are on any project, but in this case Tim Wales the City Engineer has cried to Scirocco that there is no one acting as clerk of the works and looking to keep check on the project and want Commissioner Scirocco to hire an outside firm to act as the overseer.  Now, the City employees a City Engineer who is paid over $101,000.00 plus benefits and an Asst. City Engineer who is paid over $95,000.00 plus benefits.   The question I have is why can’t one of these two do the job or the Building Inspector for that matter since this is an in house project?  I guess Scirocco is like former Mayor Johnson in these matters, it is better to spend 3 times as much on outside help than use our own employees who God forbid would have to work a little.

How much more can we take of incompetent leadership?  Oh yeah, you elected him to do just this.

Who is this Robert Davis guy and is he a real person from Saratoga or a comedian from Albany?

CHAPTER 3

I know Chapter 3 comes on the heels of Chapter 2 but Chapter 3 kind of finishes off SAVE. Tonight’s Council meeting may have finished off the SAVE groups plot to stymie the Casino & Raceway’s plans to expand.  Speaker after speaker played the same tune as in previous Council meetings (they don’t want the Racino to expand, period).  However, much to the chagrin of the SAVE group, the City’s  outside legal expert in  SEQRA cases  told the Council and those in attendance and online during a Q & A that any lawsuit to become lead agency would fail and cost the City a lot of money for basically nothing.  He stated that the City filed an Article 78 in a similar case in 2006 and lost and he also commented that the laws have gotten tougher against Cities in these cases.

Also our esteemed DPW Commissioner asked Skip Carlson ‘how much time does a customer stay and play the slots’?  This is another gem from the lips of the Commissioner.

I know it’s never over until the fat lady sings but I thought I did hear Robert Davis singing ‘We All Live in a Yellow Submarine’, as he left the building. 

CHAPTER 2

Well, Chapter 2 regarding the Casino/Raceway scuffle has gone to the proponents of an expansion at their property.  Round 1 went to SAVE Saratoga with a no vote from the Council as far as a casino coming to Saratoga.  I still think that Saratoga will get a casino because if one is located in E. Greenbush or Albany it will be a set back for businesses and dining establishments in and around our City and I don’t just mean Broadway.

The article hit the newspaper last Friday morning regarding the City’s status in what involvement they have in the project, Saratoga Springs was listed as an involved agency, meaning they had discretionary approval of the plans and now is a City which has none because any changes goes through the  State’s Office of General Services..  The demand from the Mayor a week earlier of ‘they (Racino) HAVE to go through the City’s Land Use Boards to I hope they will go through the Land Use Boards, sorry Mayor, I don’t think they will play ball with you on this one since you shafted them on the issue already.

I feel we need another convention center and it will fit in nicely with what we have now instead of chasing business to Albany as Mark Baker has done in the past when his City Center is booked.

It is interesting reading the comments that are written by citizens at the bottom of the article printed on the free online version of the Saratogian.  It seems the SAVE group sometimes referred by commentators as Saratogian’s Against Virtually Everything have become quite loud and nasty in their posts.  Water is an issue at the Racino with them now tapping into the County water supply, so the Councils past actions have hurt the City in this respect also. 

Talking about City water, DPW is installing 2 new water lines on Gridley & Crescent.  The project is $90,000.00 just for parts alone; labor cost information is being withheld according to sources.  These 2 water lines benefit the flat track and the City is picking up the tab.  By the way, the track gets plenty of water now but 2 years of a chlorine problem where the track had to shut down 80% of water usage for days is the reason Skip is installing the lines which is supposed to solve the City’s chlorine problem to water that goes into the track.

THOUGHTS & THINGS

It is my understanding that all City vehicles have to be marked with either City emblem with Saratoga Springs somewhere on the side of the vehicle, or like the Police & Fire cars & trucks the City name spelled out with the exception of Police undercover vehicles.  You may ask yourself, why does the Commissioner of Public Works and his Deputy ride around with the City of Saratoga Springs vehicles with no designation that they are Saratoga city vehicles?  Many people I know see the Deputy at the Mall, Targets, Walmart and they say at clubs during working hours.  If a vehicle is owned by the City then they should be marked as such, unless Skip & Tim are using their own vehicles.

It is now known that both Andrew Jarosh and Ken Ivins will be vying for the County Treasurer’s job which pays around $99,000.00 per year in salary alone.  Saratoga County's cities and towns will be endorsing one of these 2 sometime in the near future.  I predict that Jarosh will get the City of Saratoga’s nod and Ivins will pick up the bulk of the other committees endorsements with John Herrick’s backing. Herrick is not fond of Saratoga Springs candidates as we found out during last year’s election when the County Republican Committee gave hardly any money to boost the chances of Republican candidates.

Ivins has the experience of being the City’s Finance Commissioner and did a good job while in office and should be the front runner.

Jarosh, although young has the benefit of his wife being the Deputy Commissioner of Ivins and now a high level employee of Sonny Bonacio, so money will not be a problem for him.

It will be interesting to see if a primary will be held in September between these 2 or if Ivins is the endorsed candidate will Jarosh accept the position of Chairman of Saratoga Springs Republican Committee?

Is there any truth in the story I heard regarding a pass to not pay for water hookups that a local developer received from the DPW Commissioner to the tune of close to $1 million dollars?  If this is true that means the taxpayers of Saratoga Springs will have to pick up the tab.

We will be checking this out to see if it is indeed true and if it is we will try to FTM.

RIP VAN WINKLE (SCIROCCO) WOKE UP

I attended the Council meeting on Tues. April 1^st and as I sat there and watched the SAVE group who were happy in one sense but nervous in another.  The were thanking the Council for changing their minds from a year ago when they voted yes to expanded gaming by a 5-0 margin to changing their minds in March not to allow the expansion of table games.  However, they were a little nervous as was Commissioner Scirocco because the vote they took in March was non binding as they wanted to see what the RFA required and also see what negotiations could be achieved with Saratoga Casino & Raceway.

The issue looks moot for Saratoga getting a casino anyway because of the Albany proposal.  That proposal blows Saratoga out of the water and will truly become a destination venue which looks like it will even cut into the track season with the plans that the Albany casino has.

SAVE, now wants to go after the Saratoga Casino & Raceway to not be able to expand at all.  Get this through your heads SAVE, the City cannot make the Thoroughbred track, Harness track or Racino do anything or make them jump through any hoops to build or not build.  The City does not own the property, the State governs what can or cannot be built there.  The convention center and hotel will get under way very soon and has the go ahead to do so.

Now here is the comical part of the meeting.  If you remember at the State of the City address, Mayor Yepsen appointed a local Racing Committee made up of racing people from the Thoroughbred, Harness and businesses dealing with both industries to monitor the effect on developments that will keep our City officials up to date on any positive or negative trends that start to happen.  She introduced the Committee members who are outstanding in their own fields and they stood to a round of applause.  Last night when Mayor Yepsen announced that this Committee would look at a proposal for a casino to be placed somewhere close by and what it may mean for our economy, our sleepy Commissioner asked who appointed this committee?  Why is this Racing Committee just for Saratoga Springs, we already have a NYS Racing Committee?  When was this Committee appointed?  Obviously Scirocco fell asleep during the Christmas Holiday’s and woke up on April Fool’s Day. 

Speaking about Rip Van Scirocco, is everyone happy with how clean downtown has looked the past few years?  I have received some comments from friends that the streets never looked as dirty as they have been in the last few years.  I think either Rip or his outside Deputy needs to stay on top of this and they may even have to check with the inside Deputy, Donna Buckley to make things work.

In closing, I would like to ask Commissioner Scirocco to apply for the license to apply the copper sulfate to the ponds in Congress Park this year before you drift off again.  You forgot last year and the ponds looked like swamps which were quite embarrassing when showing a beautiful park to out of town visitors.  Get with it 

THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS?

A few years ago Commissioner Franck wanted to look into an earlier closing time for downtown bars except during our ‘season’ from Memorial Day through Labor Day.  Needless to say the rest of the majority Council at the time brushed his idea aside.

Public Safety Commissioner Chris Mathiesen ran on a platform with one of the planks being rolling back the closing time of bars because of serious late night problems.  He was intent on doing something about the problems and police overtime especially that which is focused on Caroline Street.  However, again he met with resistance, this time from the Board of Supervisors whose job it is to approve any earlier closing time for the County as a whole not just 1 town or 1 City. Because of Commissioner Mathiesen’s diligence, Washington and Warren Counties looked at what the cutback in hours would mean for them and the 2 Boards of Supervisor’s did establish earlier closing times.  I think it is time again for Saratoga County to listen to our Commissioner because it is a real problem downtown and not just blow him off because he is from the minority Party.

This brings me to another big problem.  I was at the Council meeting Tuesday night and heard Tom McTygue ask Commissioner Mathiesen what the cost to the City was when SPAC hosts the Phish concerts.  Normally there are 2 per year but in 2014 there will be 3.  Phish fans destroy the State Park rendering it a filthy mess taking Park staff 2 days to clean up.  I also put Dave Matthews in this category but at a slightly lower level of destruction because of their fan draw.  Saratoga pays our Police to handle the crowds and parking, we pay Saratoga County Sheriffs double pay to do the same and we also pay off duty State Troopers double pay and pay for their hotel rooms while they are working here, this year it will be a two night hotel stay.  Saratoga Hospital is also over flowing with legal aged and underage kids who are so drunk that some have almost died from alcohol poisoning drug use.  These fans remind me of the Deadheads who followed the Grateful Dead from venue to venue.  I am glad they love the music but they add nothing to our community for these 2 or 3 night concerts.  They camp out at State Parks or anywhere they can without being roused by the Police or go back home, only to come back the next day.  They do not frequent our hotels or restaurants nor do they shop downtown.  The little we do make is the small amount of sales tax from Burger King or McDonalds and the like, if you want to find out where they spend their money on food, visit the park the day after a concert and you will get an idea.

My question is first of all, why do we use Saratoga Police?  I thought Routes 9 & 50 were State roads, why our ambulances, shouldn’t SPAC have their own?  If they do use Saratoga’s Police and Ambulance shouldn’t SPAC reimburse Saratoga for each call?  SPAC should pick up the tab for the pay and hotel rooms for the State Police, after all it is in a State Park and the Park has its own Police force, why should we pay?  It’s about time we demand SPAC pay its share to Saratoga Springs, with the possibility of no Casino, we will need every penny we can get from wherever we get it from.  I hope the Commissioner provides us with the information he promised us he would and Commissioner, I applaud you for walking downtown to see first hand the late night problems and hope you take a drive on Rt. 50 about 6 the night of one of these concerts and a walk in the State Park the day after to see the problems and junk left by these concert attendees.

THE END OF THE LINE

These have been slow times but I have a bit of information from an inside Republican source.  David Harper, the City Republican Party Chairman will serve his last day this coming Thursday.  He is upset that he has gotten word he will not be considered to replace District Attorney Jim Murphy.  Murphy’s replacement looks like it will be Karen Heggen, First Assistant District Attorney.  It seems that the game of musical chairs between Judge Scarano, Jim Murphy and a DA replacement have been in place for a few years.  The source also indicated that as a segue to the DA’s chair Harper accepted the Chairman’s position; (don’t trust John Herrick).  It was also relayed that the City Republican Committee has asked Executive Committee member Andrew Jarosh to take the reigns and that he is deciding if he can fit the position into his schedule.

BUT I SAID YES LAST YEAR.

In a 5-0 vote the City Council Tuesday night voted against the State gambling law, leaving the door open for the State to still have Saratoga Springs as #1 on their list to put in a Saratoga style Casino after the bidder for a casino builds community relations.  I’m sure the Destination Saratoga group will bring to Albany past Mayors, Commissioners, Supervisors and current business owners who would like to see a Saratoga style casino placed here, to pressure them as well.

This vote holds no water with many as last year the council (except for Yepsen, who was not Mayor) voted 5-0 in favor of expanded gambling in Saratoga Springs and if Destination Saratoga does indeed go to Albany for talks, I am sure they will bring a copy of that resolution with them.  The leader of the no vote was none other than Commissioner Skip Scirocco, who if you remember pulled a circus act against having the Racino in Saratoga when he was a County Supervisor which contributed to his ouster from County politics.  Commissioner Scirocco will soon have his own problems when a story of epic proportions comes to light in the very near future, which may contribute to his ouster from City politics, but that will be played out another day.

Regarding the casino, Mayor Yepsen has called this the issue of the decade.  While I agree, there could be a part (b) that will be an issue of the decade and that is what will happen to Saratoga Springs if a casino is placed as far as 25-35 miles away?  We would be crazy to think that we could keep our same status as the destination city of NY.  A speaker at tonight’s meeting said that NYRA already owes the State $17 million dollars that it can’t pay  and without casino money the thoroughbred industry can’t even turn a profit.  The Governor wants NYRA to make money without the casino money and if it can’t, then our flat track will follow the trend of lower attendance and handle that has happened over the last few years and then we ask what then Commissioners?   We have 2 new hotels going up now and 1 on the board (I think) and that doesn’t count the numerous hotels built in the last 6 years.  The City will have more non occupied hotel rooms as it has empty condos.   Saratoga Springs lost its City in the Country charm years ago and our officials can’t accept this, we are becoming an over built city with no controlled growth (something I don’t think we ever had).  We need to do something to bring more people to Saratoga and the flowers on Broadway aren’t going to do it.

 PS:  Remember 43% also have a voice and can tilt an election.

THE TALE OF BABY FACE TIGHE

It had to happen.  The blogger who hated everyone and everything except Scott Johnson & Shauna Sutton has gotten himself in a pickle.  This is the blogger that spent every day for 3 years in the Mayor’s office getting material for his written attacks on other people, what do they think of him now?  The Past Mayor & Deputy certainly knew how dirty he played and what sickening attacks on the people he wrote about without any evidence, but hey, that’s how they wanted to play.

John the blogger is now an accused child pornographer and child porn promoter who is out on bail, some of his ardent followers say that he is being set up, State Troopers say Baby Face could face more charges, his attorney said “John certainly took on a lot of very powerful people in Albany and Saratoga counties … I don’t want to speculate on anybody’s involvement in what led to the charges.”  There will be a lot more happening in this case, we may still have the Russian connection he always talked about making an appearance.

The only thing I can say at this time is that there is a supply of soap- on- a- rope at the dollar store and Baby Face should stock up now because Mamma, he may be up the river.