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/  

WELL IT’S TIME FOR THE ENDORSEMENTS

Next Tuesday is Election and I hope everyone will seriously think about the 3 unopposed Commissioners running and use your right to write in a name.  Below are my picks.

Mayor – Meg Kelly – she has experience running the office, is smart and reacts great with people

Commissioner of Public Safety –  Peter Martin -  He worked out well as Supervisor and his legal background is a benefit.  Mr. Braim is a retired police officer and on a City pension, not a good mix as I think a non -police person should do the job as Commissioner with the Police & Fire Chief running their own show with the Commissioner working with them when they need anything.

City Court Judge – Francine Vero – she has the experience being on the bench and also no one knows who the heck her opponent is.

Now to write in these names :

Commissioner of Accounts – Gordon Boyd (you don’t need to be a CPA, just good)

Commissioner of Finance – Jeffery Altimeri – CPA, Former Senior Vice-President of Finance of a company doing 19 Billion dollars of business a year, yes,  $19 BILLION.  I think I would trust his financial recommendations over who we have now and he most likely wouldn’t have put the City in a 1 million dollar Budget deficit this year.   Also as John Franck said at a Council meeting  about Comm. Madigan – paraphrasing ‘she is a librarian not a finance director’.

Commissioner of Public Works – Patrick Kane – why?  He found out Skippy’s nickname - Chicken S.

County Supervisors:  Vote for 2 out of the 4 running

Matt Veitch, John Safford, Tara Gaston, Pat Freisen

This is a tough one to pick as all 4 are very good candidates and I wish we could vote for all 4.  Alas, it cannot be, so here it is.

1.    Matt Veitch – he has the experience, gets things done and works with Republicans & Democrats equally

2.    Tara Gaston – Young, great ideas and a background to get things done.

As I said they all are good candidates and good people so good luck to all 4.

CHARTER CHANGE – VOTE YES – turn your ballot over and vote YES to proposal 4.