Saratoga politics, does anybody really care? The primary pitted a newcomer with good ideas
to put in place against someone that campaigned from the Council table at
meetings, saying things about his opponent while she couldn’t respond in kind
at the meeting (this tactic by the Commissioner of PS is most likely illegal),
but that doesn’t stop some on this Council.
The citizens of Saratoga have really no clue on what is happening to our
City. How many citizens go to
meetings? How many take the time to watch
on line? How many watch on local
TV? How many go to the site http://saratogaspringsny.swagit.com/city-council/
and watch the whole meeting or any part you want? If you did, you would see a show worth
sitting down with a bowl of popcorn and wouldn’t be able to stop laughing until
after the meeting when you then become disgusted that those were the people
voted in office to serve we the people.
People complain that Mayor Yepsen hasn’t gotten much done
but she has and she would get more done if the 3 amigos would stop disagreeing
with her just because of some idiotic personal thought placed in their
heads. Matheisen is just plain mean, the
paper said Burger called to congratulate him on his primary win and his reply to
that gesture was that “Miss Burger was not a good fit for the job.., this,
after saying, “he would now reach out to Burger’s supporters, in keeping with
Democratic Party values”. I guess that
is the response one gives when you have access to as much laughing gas you
want. Madigan is mean and is losing touch with
reality and Skip, and well he is just Skip, looking like a deer in the
headlights at every meeting.
One area that the City is losing income is the DPW used to
have its own crew that would pour sidewalks in designated areas, the City would
get grant money every year for doing this thereby making money doing the
concrete work. As it stands now, Commissioner Scirocco hires out a firm to do
the sidewalks not only giving up income to pay employees but to outsource work,
he just doesn’t get it. Look for
yourself from past Council meetings how many times Scirocco hires outside
engineers to perform jobs when the City pays big money for 2 City Engineers, I
don’t think he gets it. Skip also has
his street ripped up new water & sewer lines run and then newly paved. I asked a few neighbors if they had water or
sewer problems and they said no, so what’s up Skip?
On the water front, the Bonacio water hookup fee forgiveness
(over 1 million dollars) that we the citizens have to pay for as the Skipper
changed the law so no fee is required so the cost falls on our backs, he just
changed the Charter with the help of Madigan & Matheisen.
When the citizens were raising concerns that Bonacio was not
going to pay that 1 million dollar fee, in a back room meeting attended by, Bonacio,
Scirocco, Billy Benton, Donna Buckley, Sam Boardman & Barbara
Putnam it was decided that the City would not put pressure on Scirocco to pay
it back, it looks like Skip had Sam Boardman sign a letter stating that Bonacio
did not have to pay the City the 1 million. Only Skip or Tim Wales could sign a
letter of this type and only after Council approval which Skip never brought
the ‘deal’ before the Council. The
excuse from Scirocco that over ½ million dollars of improvements were done by
Bonacio for the forgiveness of payment is bull skip. These improvements were items that Bonacio
HAD to do to get the permission to build.
The latest (2 weeks ago) the public received information
from an Albany law firm that is being retained by some local developers because
the Commissioner of Public Works has been charging certain developers a water
hookup fee after he had the Charter changed not to charge these fees. I
would like to know, was the law changed to protect 1 developer and not
everyone? Also doesn’t Finance
Commissioner Madigan have the responsibility to know if money is coming in for
water hookup fees and inform Skip that he is breaking the law according to the
Charter or is she allowing this and not performing her duties? People, this is another potential lawsuit in
the making, one which if the attorney is correct will result in the taxpayers
paying out yet another bumbling by Madigan, Matheisen & Scirocco.
Why so many DPW workers working in Congress Park? The last time I counted 5 people & 3
cleaners, this is a complete waste of man power.
Hey, good news. It
looks like the Hospital has taken a beautiful chunk of green space from the
green belt on Myrtle Ave. for an Administration Bldg. This West side property had one of the
prettiest views around. Where are the
bleeding hearts that are trying to stop Saratoga National from building on
their own land? Could this be a case of
double standard, Save the Greens or whatever you call yourselves? On this topic, why does the eastern side of
the Northway need a fire house and ambulance station on property in the green
belt? We have a fire Dept. that can answer
calls already. I don’t want my taxes
going to pay for a minimum of 4 firemen (12 because you need 3 shifts) and
ambulance people, let the Lake people pay for their own. Wilma Koss and Nancy ‘Pitbull’ Goldberg will
be glad to start a campaign for you to do so.
Lastly, why does it
take Matheisen 15 minutes to give a comeback after a person says something in
the Public comment period? Why not be
like Skip and mumble out a few words and forget what you’re talking about?
