WHEN PIGS FLY!

As the Saratogian wrote, the weather finally cooperated for a while so the Mayor could deliver her State of the City address.  The address did not contain many surprises but did give a recap of her first year in office despite all the shenanigans that Scirocco, Madigan & Methiesen pulled to make her look the fool in 2014.  The only thing these 3 did was to show how incompetent and disrespectful they how bad they looked in a public setting.  Scirocco should have been out of office 4 years ago and Madigan and Metheisen after their first term.  In Madigan’s case if not for her Deputy and the permanent staff in her Department she would not be able to add 1+1, but shame on us for reelecting them.

The investigation that is going on now at City Hall regarding the improper absolving and handling of the water hookup fees is kicking into another gear, employees are still being called out of City Hall to be interviewed (some for the second & third time)  and it looks like more individuals are involved than before.  Also, the investigation into the possible incorrect legal notice on the Collamer lot bidding process is still ongoing.  One source in City Hall has said that the investigation could be moving into other areas that may have potential problems rearing their heads soon.  The State Comptroller’s and the State Attorney General’s offices are doing the investigations.

Where oh! where is Marilyn Rivers?   Marilyn, are you still working in City Hall?  Instead of promoting yourself to Scirocco for the soon to be filled Director of Public Works you should be doing your job as Risk and Safety Manager.  The trucks that are not city vehicles are still being parked on City property (you may need one of them when moving your office out of its current location), have you checked to make sure that these vans, small trucks and box trucks are not leaking any fluids that we the taxpayers will have to pay for clean up?  Marilyn & Skip, there are also quite a few old trucks that are awaiting auction parked at the ice rink, the same question here - have you checked to make sure that any of these vehicles are not leaking any fluids that we the taxpayers will have to pay for clean up?  Will you look into this?  WHEN PIGS FLY!

Marilyn, I also think that all City vehicles are supposed to be identified with a logo that they are Saratoga Springs.  The Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner’s vehicles (no, not Donna Buckley’s) are not marked, come on get with it, please.  If this is how you operate Risk & Safety how will you do as Director of PW, or for that matter, if not you then current Commissioner mouth piece and acting Deputy Commissioner Donna Buckley?

 Marilyn, another problem you have ignored for years.  The pickup trucks that have trailers hooked up to them to pick up leaves, grass clippings etc. are over the legal weight limit for the driver not to have a CDL driver’s license and I was informed that they don’t have such silences.  Also, I was made aware that the employee who drives the large loader that removes snow etc. has no driver’s license.  What is the Risk to us and is that Safe?  Will you look into this?  WHEN PIGS FLY!
  

Commissioner Scirocco, I have noticed that there are tractor trailers that are going in empty into the compost facility and leaving fully loaded with branches, leaves etc. that we use to make our own compost, are you letting another outfit take our materials to process and make money or are you doing this so our citizens in Saratoga can get free compost this year?  Are you going to save our citizens money?  WHEN PIGS FLY!

Commissioner Scirocco, another question.  Why are there 2 City employee at the landfill Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday’s but only 1 employee on Saturday & Monday when they are the busiest days?  Nobody likes to work weekends but you should put 2 employees there on the busiest days.  Will the situation change this year?  WHEN PIGS FLY!

As I said,  as I was listening to the Mayor’s speech yesterday I felt it was sad that a person tries to do good for the City and is flanked at the Council table by those who would like to see her fail and thereby taking us down with them.  Will this year be different?  WHEN PIGS FLY!

We won’t get into Commissioner Mathiesen’s views which seem personal, regarding bar closing times, we’ll wait to see if he was wishing on a star or continues to want to deprive local businesses of making income.  Will he change his mind?  WHEN PIGS FLY!

If you missed a Council meeting or want to watch any part of it, you can catch the rerun of the meetings by departments by going to   http://saratogaspringsny.swagit.com/city-council/

Below is a picture from the Saratogian of the Commissioners listening intently to the Mayor’s speech.  Look at the captivating looks Madigan & Mathiesen have as the Mayor gives her remarks, they do look interested don’t they?  WHEN PIGS FLY!

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.

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?