ARE THESE REALLY SURPRISES?

Well, the ‘new’ Council has started its reign of terror already, normally after the election and until after the swearing in of the new Council on January 1^st not much happens in City politics.  Yes, they may finish up some small items but there aren’t many meetings left in the year so with 3 big Holidays coming up and the chance that many people won’t be paying much attention or have enough time to keep track of what is going on it is usually… ease along into the new year. 

However with this Council everything is different.  This Council likes to make major decisions when citizens are at their busiest.  The major decision this Council had to make was, will they or won’t they allow Saratoga Hospital to destroy area housing developments and several neighborhoods in giving them a green light to build an unnecessary expansion.  Well, true to their cowardly actions of the past, Monday night, calling a ‘special meeting’ they voted 4-1 approving the hospital to plow ahead to the next step, Commissioner Franck was the lone dissenter.  This Council has already made up their minds to let the hospital have its way and most know the reason why.

What is it not surprising about the ‘special meeting’ that these cowards, 2 days before Christmas is summed up by the Saratogian reporter that wrote the article “ The brief special meeting of the Saratoga Springs City Council held during the Jewish holidays and two days before Christmas drew few residents impacted by the City Council’s 4 to 1 vote last night in favor of the zoning map amendments”, then this gem spewed by our renowned City Attorney DeLeonardis.

   “City Attorney Vince DeLeonardis reading the long litany of “no negative impact” found declarations in reference to the zoning changes up for a vote before the Saratoga Spriings City Council at Monday night’s special meeting of the Saratoga Springs City Council.”  I gather DeLeonardis forgot about all the residents in the area in his decision of ‘no negative impact’.

This was truly a Christmas gift to the hospital and a payback for gifts given to those politicians running in November.

Another major (big surprise) announcement was that Robin Dalton has appointed fellow Democrat Eileen Finneran as her Deputy.  It seems Finneran needed the money and Dalton obliged.  Finneran has experience and will help the blank Dalton run the department.  There are many who believe that those running for Commissioner should announce who their Deputy will be so voters know who will be running the departments.  However that would be too good information for voters to know so why do it?

Well, it is not even New Year’s Day yet and already the Council has divided the City with major announcements made in secret, so begins 2020 and with this Council we are screwed already.

The attorney for the area residents being ‘negatively affected’ are filing a section 78 against the Council’s decision, as with any litigation it takes money to go to court and the City and the Hospital have unlimited money at their disposal.  We would like to ask you if you are so inclined to donate to the Save Morgan Street group to help with the costs involved.

  https://savemorganstreet.com/  

PRIMARY WINNER PATTY MORRISON CAUGHT IN A DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE FRACTURE.

Well, the Primary and the incumbent Commissioner Madigan lost.  Madigan will not be on the Democratic line on the ballot but instead will be down near the bottom because she received the nod from 2 endorsement Party’s.  She should step down and let the Democrats run their choice if she is really a Democrat.  The Democratic Committee should now pull their endorsement of Madigan and give it to Morrison along with a $1,000.00 donation as they did for Madigan, anything short of this is political gamesmanship and further shows that along with Committee Chairman Courtney DeLeonardis as the lead instigator is further dividing the Dems.  Also having your husband  as the City Attorney (Vincent J. DeLeonardis)

 who just received his second large raise in salary she may owe Madigan for her vote. I guess in Saratoga a Democrat is not really a Democrat unless you have a friend as leader of the Party in the City to protect a loser.  Maybe, with all the large Republican donations Madigan received there appears what was talked about months ago that Madigan, Mayor Kelly and candidate for Public Safety Robin Dalton (which will be a discussion in the future)  met with the County Republican Chairman to run as a team with promises to benefit the 3 candidates.  This could be the collusion the Democrats have been talking about.  Also watching Tuesday’s Council meeting Madigan looked like a deer in front of headlights along with Super Skippy , that is dazed and confused most likely from her stinging loss but Skip did what he does best and tried to complete a few sentences.  He stated after 23 uh’s and uhm’s that he has been in politics for a long time and has never, never seen a board get along so well together (um, it looks like he truly is in bed with Madigan).

The Democratic Party should do the right thing and support the winner of the Primary so she can carry the Democratic line to victory.

Now, moving on to another topic.  The City Hall renovations are spiraling out of control with the City’s insurance company paying much less than expected.  Madigan, in her zeal of not raising taxes over her time in office which is not a good thing and spending down the reserve fund to keep homeowners from not having a tax increase may see in the bad results of this in a large tax increase in this year’s budget or certainly next year’s no matter who win the election for that position.  Madigan has duped taxpayer’s in Saratoga for years and that should be a good reason to vote for Morrison.

THE SAME THIS TIME AROUND!

Running for political office in Saratoga Springs is anything but predictable.  If you get elected to office as one of the Commissioners you could have the position for life.  This is the only City in America that has a very hard time having challengers to run for entrenched politicians.  Saratoga Springs has 3 Commissioners that have won at least 5 two year terms and I think only 1 time each candidate had an opponent. 

Again, this form of government shows why it needs changing if not only to have different people with various backgrounds run for office but also have transparency in government.

The two most non transparent offices holders are Madigan & Scirocco.  The citizens should just ask Madigan just how much this new (free) fiber optic network will cost citizens and if she says nothing then burn her to the stake.  Scirocco doesn’t tell us about any harmful water problems and just brushes them away with more chlorine to the point that our once great drinking water could only beat a fish infested swimming pool water, great going Scirocco.

The Democratic Party will be showing how pitiful they are if people come forward to primary the 3 dems running in 2019.  They are a step above the Republican Party however who has a disbarred attorney running the show and can’t get a Republican elected (Scirocco is a RINO and sides with whatever the 4 Democrats want). 

We’ll see how this is played out but don’t expect too much.

ARE WE BEING FILLED FULL OF LEAD?

When an office holder runs unopposed he or she does not have to be answerable to the citizens. 

When we stop to think are we electing Commissioners to represent us or is it ‘taxation without representation’?  If we don’t get anywhere with one Commissioner we are stuck in the mud with no other elected official able to help us.

Today I was informed by someone in City Hall that there is a hell of a story developing and once again Skippy Scirocco is in the middle of a dangerous situation that could pose a threat to city residents.  The Department of Health has found high concentrations of lead in our drinking water.  The best part is that neither Scirocco or anyone in his department will comment to anyone who calls his office and you can’t find out any information from any other department, again so much for our representative form of government.  

I spoke with many friends today that called the DPW office and our elected representative would not come to the phone.

There is also information that there are adults at Wesley that have gotten sick by Saratoga Springs drinking water but we can’t verify this yet.  The meeting between the State & Scirocco scheduled today was called off and a phone call between the two was supposed to take place instead.  

We all know that if Scirocco doesn’t have Madigan and 3 other people speaking for him he will not talk on the phone or in person so I doubt he made the phone call either.

There will be much more coming out of this and hopefully he will have to be removed from office.

STOCK UP ON BOTTLED WATER

CAN THIS BE REAL OR AM I IN A NIGHTMARE?

I watch the City Council meetings and the show the 3 amigos put on is getting funnier each meeting.  Commissioner Matheisen sits back in his chair with his fingers tapping against each other, Skip staring out to who knows where only waking up to say crazy things like ‘I think some of the homeless are serial killers and Madigan, well what can you say about her, she is just too out of it.  Anyone who attends the meetings or watches them knows the great martini Madigan wants to be Mayor and she is treating her constituents like dirt, unlike the current Mayor.

Now we have bull dog David Bonner at the mic again at every Council meeting berating the Mayor instead of Madigan, Skip and Matheisen for acting like dummies at the table.  Bronner is like the big bad wolf  but his bluster is not good enough to be believed.

Now, about Skippy.  The story is that a few times a week Skip, Deputy Dog Buckley and Madigan are at Jacob & Anthony’s imbibing in a (few?) adult beverages.  Why Madigan can’t even hide her straw that is in her carafe of the vino she drinks.

Those of you know I write about my funny little guy Skip quite a bit, there is nothing wrong with the little fella except he is way out of his league holding the position he occupies on the Council.  Skip was a very capable animal control officer, corralling doggies and getting cats out of trees, chasing skunks and even a raccoon or two.  Advice warning…. Skip, you should have stayed at the job you were born to do.

Anyone that wants to know what the DPW workers do during the day only has  to look anywhere that sells coffee, ding dongs (named after he who can’t be mentioned) and lottery tickets.  Also, stand on Broadway and you can see trucks with the same identifing number going round and round. 

Madigan again sucked up to Skip at the 5/3 Council meeting, saying that she congratulates Skip for the job well done and for returning some money back into the budget.  Well, the DPW fleet is in such disrepair it is an embarrassment, why didn’t you put some money into that part of the business Skip and why didn’t Madigan address that point when she was shining your ding dong?

A question for Skip, you always say how much infrastructure you have done, what is the % of what the DPW has done and what the outside firms you hire at big $ have done?  Please list the number and jobs so we can laugh at your explanations like we do when you try to make a point  at a meeting.  Skip, no one can understand what you are talking about.

Another smiling matter, all this nonsense about the hospital deal.  Madigan, Skip and Matheisen are going against the will of the residents of that area. Skippy said ‘we should get the home owners together with the hospital and maybe something can be worked out’, SKIP get this through your head, at every meeting the home owners do not want to talk to the hospital, they do not want the mammoth building with all the black top parking spaces, they do not want their property values to plunge, what in the heck don’t you get? You are blank but can’t Madigan sit you on her lap and explain it to you?  Although she doesn’t get it .   Madigan says we have so much of a fund balance then why doesn’t she talk to her fellow Council members and purchase the houses now at the current market values then let Sonny build away?  Talk about conflict of interest, Bonacio was a member of the Comp Committee and he stands to gain the big bucks for building the facility.  This could be another reason why the Skipster forgave the 1 million dollars in fees Bonacio owed the City in water hookup fees and the 3 amigos voted in favor in changing that part of the Charter in eliminating said fees.  Do you see a pattern?  Follow the money friends, follow the money.  More on Skippy & the other 2 amigos later, for now sit back and relax, watch a rerun of a Council and laugh your head off.

THE DUMB BUNNIES

Some think I haven’t written because I am licking my wounds over the last election, nothing could be further from the truth.  After the election “You Asked For IT You Got IT” said it all.  It’s not that I don’t see what is going on here in Saratoga, it’s just I don’t care anymore.

Saratoga Springs has one of the lowest voter turnouts in the State.  Most of the so called” Native Saratogians” could care less about what is happening in their own City.  Let’s look at a few items.

The biggest political beach ball since the Casino is the City Center parking puke of a garage.  Now we won’t say who has her head up the wazoo of Mark Baker but I’ll give you a clue, she sits to the right of the Mayor.

This woman should have a blood alcohol test before entering the Council Chambers.  She not only looks buzzed at the table but totally disregards citizen rights.  I watched in horror yes horror, oh, the humanity, the meeting on 3/15  as the public hearing for the lease took place.  I even had to go back and watch the dialogue of the hearing again, Madigan had berated a citizen because she (the citizen) wanted to talk about finances and here was where the fun began for everybody except the lady at the mic.  Madigan went off yelling her that she was not to speak of finances (this was part of the lease) and Madigan also screamed ‘it is my public hearing and I’ll run it my way’, clearly she hasn’t seen the light of day between the vino and the wazoos, but it was doubly disgusting that an elected official would treat a citizen in such a way, she is publicly, an embarrassment as representative of the City.  Many of Madigan’s friends and owners of Broadway businesses paraded to the Mic decrying the benefits of a multi-use concept.  Ms. Sellers would be likely to say, ‘burn the non-conformers and all non-Native Saratogians’. 

We must look at the view of the DBA (Downtown Business Assoc.) and Chamber of Commerce as one of chicken crap.  These entities do not want anyone shopping off Broadway, period, whether it helps the economy, creates jobs or any businesses benefitting due to off Broadway business.  The DBA & Chamber should give free memberships to those businesses off Broadway or the City should take away their higher tax rate.  Today, it looks like the vote for the City Center to get its way may be a reality (thanks to wobbly Madigan & the wide eyed Scirocco, everyone is saying that Matheisen is the wild card and is still evaluating which I sincerely hope he is doing.  Commissioner, it is not a law that you have to vote with Madigan & Scirocco, keep an open mind and make the right decision to go into the RFP’s a little more (selfish me).  Also worth noting, Madigan’s appointment to the High Rock Park Technical Review Committee was none other than Larry Novick (a Bonaccio front man, Scirocco’s pick, Rod Sutton and Tom Roohan from the City Center plus the other picks.  Novick, Sutton and Roohan have nothing in common, right?  

You know you are in trouble as a citizen when a majority (hopefully not) would settle for $50,000.00 per year when with a multi-use garage you could have a business 1^st floor that could generate about $2 million dollars a year, create new jobs and tie Broadway into the High Rock area, now that is great leadership from a Council, again check the blood alcohol level.

The Skipster, what to say about him?  The citizens should chip in and purchase a new pair of glasses for him, it looks like he can’t read or see what goes on around him.  If you were at or watched the Council meeting from March 1^st Mark Lawton (a man who knows and can interpret the Charter) informed Skip that he was not following the Charter because he should be presenting his water & sewer plan at budget time instead of in March.  Scirocco admitted he didn’t know this and then corrected himself with a shaky excuse.  This is scary because by not knowing your Constitution (Charter) you are bound to fail.  

Wait, according to Skip, if you go against the Charter just change it to suit your needs.  Point in case, Donna Buckley, Deputy Commissioner and puppet master of Skip hires a Director of Public Works then fires him when a Veitch family member wants the job, only he can’t pass the exam.  So what does Donna & Skip do?  Why create a new position of Business Manager.  Who was taking care of business for the Department all these years?  Now that we have a Business Manager the department’s employees whose duties are going to this new position should have their salaries reduced.  Skip, you’re a nice guy I guess but you are way out of your league in your position as Commissioner as you were as Animal Control Officer (PC for Dog Catcher).

This is what happens when apathy sets in at election time.  Most people don’t care enough about what goes on in their City but boy can they complain about everything and a case of electing the good old boy’s choices (yes it still runs rampant in Saratoga, although the old guard are dropping away quietly)