WHAT IS GOING ON IN DPW AND DOES THE REST OF THE COUNCIL EVEN CARE?

DPW is in a mess and Skip is to blame for not keeping his head in the game as a Department Head should.  He was under-qualified for the job when he was first elected and if he wasn’t a guitar player and native son he wouldn’t have lasted for 1 term as the department and City are both going downhill.  The fact that he is Charlie Brown to Madigan’s Edgar McCarthy is comical and she does have her hand up where a dummy has to have it placed.

First it was Skip’s son Mark who was arrested for DWI blowing a .18 and 3 other charges.  He had his girlfriend pick him up after booking and not only was she charged with DWI but also driving under the influence with their child in the car.  She has had a past DWI so her charges constitute her arrest as a felony.

Remember all this happened in February of this year over 5 months ago.  Who else would have 4 major charges against them and still as of July 23^rd still not have the case put before a judge.

Now, another story development. Frank Brimhall a DPW employee was involved in a traffic accident while driving a City truck.  SSPD issued him a ticket and arrested him for driving with a suspended license.  This could be a potential and most likely a lawsuit against the City.

This is yet another hair brained lapse for Comm. Scirocco and the Human Resource Dept. because insiders tell me that there are many DPW workers driving around without licenses also some not having the proper class of license for driving the larger trucks and equipment.  Scirocco should be doing a license abstract periodically to make sure that his employees #1 have drivers licenses and #2 don’t have any marks that would affect the status of driving for the City.

In the Brimhall case not reporting his license suspension and continued driving should be cause for immediate termination, union or not and this Council should not give him a monetary going away package as they always seem to do.

This is another case of why this form of Government should be changed not played around with like it is being done with now.  Everyone has to vote NO on the updated Charter as it will cost us big money because of all the raises everyone gets and the funny part is that this was the reason Franck, Madigan and Scirocco gave as the biggest reason to vote against Charter change last year, funny how things change when you are on the side of making more money.   Franck, Madigan and Scirocco must go next year and we hope the opposing Party’s put up qualified candidates against them, well in Scirocco’s case a monkey could probably do a better job.

DOES OUR COUNCIL KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON?

Do our elected officials drive around Saratoga Springs? Should I provide a ‘honey do’ list?

Get the intersections in order please! We need left turn arrows at many intersections.

For example: Union Avenue at Nelson, Nelson at Union Avenue.

Many motorists still do not understand the rules of the road. The Circular, Park Place and Whitney Place is technically a four-way stop but have you ever tried taking a left from Park Place onto Circular Street? It has become a death defying experience and is nearly impossible to navigate during Racing Season.

There needs to be a left turn arrow at the Union Avenue exit 14 intersection. It’s almost impossible to take a left turn onto Henning Road and it will be IMPOSSIBLE to turn there this Racing Season because the CRESCENT AVENUE bridge is closed. These things should have been remedied several months ago at the very least.

The local roads could have been paved months ago but if things were done logically than the tradition of doing things just minutes before the Saratoga Racecourse opens would be over.  And THAT can just not happen!

SARATOGA WHAT?

Has anyone seen the latest edition of Saratoga Living Magazine? It’s trying very hard to be something that it is not. There are some quality images in the zine and a nice local feature about Garland Nelson but other than that it isn’t that good. Until recently Saratoga Living was the best magazine around here and now it clearly is not. It used to be $5 and now it’s free. WTF? The new owner, local lawyer Tony Iianello has taken a high-quality product and has single handedly destroyed it in a little over a year. He has systemically fired most of the local writers and replaced it with writers who are not local folks at all. The new editor is taking the magazine in an entirely different direction and seems to be obsessed with celebrity. Ugh. I guess it’s safe to say that Simply Saratoga and the new Upstate Magazine will be vying for the best local stories and images.  It is just mind boggling that a once highly successful magazine is falling from grace right before our very eyes.

 

Saratoga Springs certainly has more pluses than most small cities but it still has an underbelly. There was the shocking murder of a local person two days ago. The kind of stuff that plagues other larger communities are slowly creeping into the fabric of Saratoga. The crime and pandemic of drugs, the air of desperation in the homeless and soon to be homeless population. The over development of our land and the meteoric rise of the cost of living here are making its indelible mark on our dear city. The downfall of Saratoga Living Magazine is symbolic of the uptick of superficiality of the entire nation in general. We used to rise above it and now it is an increasing weight on our shoulders. A burden of sorts, a malaise that you can see in those thrill seekers on Caroline Street just past the hour of midnight. They so much want to feel like they are having a good time but they know deep down they are not. Waves of sadness flourish until the wee hours of the morning; the witching hours as I call them. It pains me just to watch so I look away. Is the end near for Saratoga?  A fading star? What will finally break our winning streak? Only time will tell.