MOVING SALE

Well friends it's time to move.  Our new blog address is
captainamerica195.blogspot.com

Keep following us and you'll get an idea of what is going on here in Saratoga.

We have for sale 4 - dented and rusted shields
                            2 - Wonder Woman outfits (I may keep those myself)
                            1 pair of the Hulks ripped David banner pants.

Until the next post.

MESSAGE FROM THE SARATOGIAN 20 YEARS AND STILL NO GO!

I have been bombarded by posters and facebook friends that have posted it for their friends and have been getting messages from Saratoga Citizen to print an editorial from the 90's that the Saratogian wrote regarding changing the form of government.  So here it is.

 The Saratogian, November 1991 Editorial "Time to Trade In Antique Form of Government"

"The faces may change from election to election, but the City Council will remain an unwieldy, five-headed monster until the form of government is changed.
Saratoga Springs is a city rich in history, but the commission form of government is a tradition whose time has come and gone.
The form has all but disappeared from city governments. Yet Saratoga Springs hangs on to the commission form, the same one in place when the city was chartered in 1915. It’s like hanging on to a Model T – and still trying to drive it.
It’s time for a trade-in.
The problem with the commission government is not its age, but its set-up.
 The City Council comprises five council members, each of whom is in charge of one of the city’s five departments. A council member cannot simply be a legislator. A council member must also be responsible for a specific department; finance, accounts, public safety or public works. The only lone ranger is the mayor, although the engineering department is under the auspices of the mayor’s office.
 The four council members who are responsible for a department get to hire their own deputy commissioner, which is a full-time administrator, to run the office. The deputy commissioner therefore serves at the whim of the one council member responsible for that department.
 No one is in charge. "Mayor" sounds important, but don’t be fooled. The Mayor of Saratoga Springs has no more power than any of the other four heads of the council monster. One head, one vote. That sounds fair, but it makes for ineffective government.
Think of your workplace with no one in charge. The supervisors are left to work things out with one another. As the "Dilbert" cartoon character has pointed out, if one department needs the cooperation of another on some matter, but the matter is not one of the other’s top 1,000 priorities, it won’t get done. At least not right away.
The only hint of accountability comes every two years at election time, when council members can take credit for what got done and blame colleagues for what got stymied.
Over the years, the volunteers and the private sector in Saratoga Springs have done more to enhance the city than has the City Council. The form of government is in part to blame.
Instead of a city run by five disparate departments, one person – be it a manager, administrator, or mayor – should be overseeing the government.
Changing the form of government should be a priority in the coming term. Mayor A.C. Dake – who is unopposed this term – has said she would pursue charter revision. She should hold fast to that commitment to bring Saratoga Springs into the 20th century, before the 21st rolls around."

SAVE OUR HERITAGE or WHAT THE HECK?

After reading an article in the Saratogian, penned by non other than embattled Historic Preservation Director Samantha Bosshart, it made me wonder what other historic beauties she left out of her article.

We’ll start our series ‘What the Heck?” looking at 2 buildings that must meet Ms. Bosshart’s strict preservation standards.

First, we will take a look at the wondrous structure at 66 Franklin St.  Notice in the picture below the wonderful lines of distinct architecture that defines the Winans-Crippen style.  The famed tilting structure was not taken of the Victorian style that defines Saratoga Springs, but the Italian style of Pisa, yes the leaning style.  This building should and will be put on the showcase of Homes tours, which take place in the City.

The next example in our series “What the Heck?”  is none other than the ‘Palacio de Riggi’ which you must call the house or face the ire of Michelle Riggi’s 30 so miniature fur balls.  As seen in the picture below this home is nestled among a8 blocks of beautiful Victorian houses with magnificent manicured lawns and plantings out of a magazine.  Then, with the blessing of the SSHRC, the Design Review Committee and the Planning board, this medieval style house complete with heated lawns so her dogs have a warm place to do their business during the winter blends well with the older homes of the area.

Well we will be back with more of the ever changing styles of Saratoga Springs and our series “What the Heck”?

MAYOR "ON THE ROCK'S"

Tuesday’s Council meeting really started when the Public Comment section began.  Before that the Mayor and Commissioner Scirocco were seen leaving the bar at the Mayor’s establishment Circus Café.  The Mayor loves being under the Big Top.

There were quite a few interesting comments, one of which has been started by Johnson.  He has ordered DPW to remove all political signs because most areas have the Vote Yes signs out and they do not quite fit in his martini glass.

The next comment voiced by Saratoga Citizen Spokesperson Pat Kane, congratulated the Mayor for finally announcing, after 3 years of citizens voicing concerns over his inability to bring a signed contract to the table on the leased National Grid property, that he has one in hand (contract).  Kane for years has pointed out that the City has been getting paid at the rate of 2002’s  monthly rental fees even since the contract expired in 2008 and the City lost approximately $300,000.00 in income if the deal had been signed 3 years ago.  He had backed up his figures in prior Council meetings with realtor estimates.

Now comes the funny part.  The Mayor who it has been said has been tipping the rock glass a little too much lately has the symptoms to basically prove the point (cotton mouth).  When he finally could get his tongue off of his upper palate during his part of the agenda he was quick to point out that Kane’s statements over the last 3 years regarding lost revenue was Charter Change driven, he then smacked his lips and continued that this was just a game of politics. This is a funny statement from the Mayor, not just because it isn’t true but the political spin is being dished out by him.  Many people know that National Grid has been trying to get the Mayor to the table to sign a new lease for over 2 years and the Mayor and Shauna have been ignoring the Grid.  Just think how much money we could have had in our coffers (that’s ‘in the treasury’ just so a guy from Milton will understand), it probably is close to figure that Kane uses.

Now Hizz Honor, citing that all these facts are political hay really takes the cake.  This is from the man (I wish), who we will now call ‘Mayor on the Rocks’ who for a better part of 4 years (gee, that’s when Saratoga Citizen formed) promised to appoint a Charter Commission to look at ways to improve the current Charter, then spends close to $100,000 in court and attorney costs (he lost twice in court) to keep the citizen backed Charter Change off the ballot and in those 4 years said he would appoint a Commission not less than 20 times.  Fast forward to 6 weeks before the election and he proclaims that after the election he will appoint a Mayoral Commission to see if the Charter can be tweaked, now 4 weeks before the election he signs a lease agreement for 5 years after a group of citizens forced him to do so after 3 years of sitting on his throne doing nothing about it.  He has the nerve to tell people that they are playing political games when he is the Master of Games.

Oh well,  thank the stars there was a presentation by Izzo and the Director of the Rec Center as the Mayor was struggling mightily to pry that tongue off the roof of his mouth.

I also want to applaud Commissioner Mathiesen for voting his conscience and not the Party line on the water issue.

One last thing, if you are going to the ‘Party on the Roof’ on top of the new parking garage, please bring a parachute, just in case the deck starts to crack and fall, you can run like hell and jump off the side and pull the rip cord, but please, not with a 16oz. soda.

Just one more item, this blog writing is tiring work.  I can't keep it going without your support, so would you please donate to a food pantry of your choice?  That will make me happy and those that will benefit from the food.

CAN MISINFORMATION HELP OR HURT SUCCESS??

Is SUCCESS is in trouble.   Saratoga Citizen and voters are asking this question, if spreading misinformation and it back fires will SUCCESS be in trouble?  They have no facts to back up any of their claims.  In a hand out on pretty pink paper they had some information that you can get off of their website.

BEGINNING of SUCCESS STATEMENT

“Radical Change Proposed for 
Saratoga Springs Government 
Let’s not surrender control of our city government to a stranger. We don’t know either the new City Manager czar or how the City Manager form of government will really work.

Commission: VOTERS WIN

Proven. Look at how successful Saratoga Springs has become,  
Efficient government.  
Mayor and all Commissioners are elected and accountable to voters every two years.  
Direct responsibility. 
No tax increase. Large reserves. 
Strong, knowledgeable council 

City Manager: VOTERS LOSE

Unsuccessful. Used by many depressed upstate New York cities.

Bigger bureaucratic government costing more.

*Undemocratic. City Manager is unelected and unaccountable to the taxpayers. 
All city administrators are appointed by city manager. 

Council members denied contact with department heads and employees.   
*Significantly higher cost/taxes. Total cost still unknown. *Strong, knowledgeable council Weak council, completely isolated from the departments

 Commissioners are accountable to the voters every two years. Four year staggered terms mean it could take 4 years to clean house of bad council members.”  End of partial SUCCESS STATEMENT!

If Jane Weihe is one of the best SUCCESS can put forward in a debate, they have a problem.  A well respected former Mayor Ken Klotz made more sense.  Also, he agreed at times with statements made by Kane & Martin but did tell why he felt this form we have provides some of the same points.  One big agreement he had was, and you must remember that Mayor Klotz appointed a Commission that passed a tweaked Commission Charter in 2000.  He said one weakness of this government was that the tweaked Charter mandated some very important departments in the City.  A full time Human Resource position and a Director of open land a spaces to name a few that can’t even be implemented. 

Jane said that as drawn up she couldn’t live under this proposed new Charter.  Let’s hope if the new Charter passes we don’t lose Jane as a Saratogian, she’s too funny.

                                                   

KAREN KLOTZ IS KOO KOO FOR KOKOA PUFFS

Reading a letter to the editor in a local paper penned by Karen Klotz, one has to wonder at her comparisons to the current and proposed charters.  There will be a vote on either keeping the current form of government or switching to a new Professional/Council/manager form.

Mrs. Klotz, wife of respected past Mayor Ken Klotz has now become the bull dog face of the anti Charter Change group called SUCCESS.  If Karen had 1/3 the class of her husband she still would be a bull dog.  She takes the reins temporarily from Remiga Foy who fell ill and we all hope Foy gets better soon. 

Anyway, as I said Mrs. Klotz is the new poster face of her group and she does present a scary profile.  She believes that a strong point of the current form is that the elected officials can see first hand how their departments are run and that they can often hear from constituents.

WHAT??  If you think this a strong point of the Commission form you must be daffy.  Under the proposed form our ELECTED Mayor and 4 Council persons can see how departments are being run and will have more time to hear from constituents who hopefully won’t have to file a FOIL request for public information like our current Mayor Johnson has everyone do.  Why you can’t even go the Building Dept. to get public information because you are told they are not to talk to citizens per Johnson’s orders.  The Mayor or Council person can take the information to the City Manager and tell him or her to look in the matter and report back to them. This is easy for everyone to understand except for Karen & Jane Weihe and the faithful in SUCCESS.  Try calling the Mayor or the Commissioner of DPW and see how long it takes to get an answer.  Mayor Johnson, 23 calls, no call back.  DPW Commissioner, 29 calls, no response.  Visiting the offices are not going to get you anywhere.  Try getting past the Doberman (Shauna) and Skip’s Mexican hairless (Diane), no dice there either.  So much for access to our Commissioner’s.

Klotz’s next miss is that a citizen told her that if the change takes place we would no longer have to grovel to the Mayor and Commissioner’s during the comment period.  This is one that even Karen should understand.

There are usually about 10 people at a Council meeting unless some issue affecting a group or proposed laws being changed (old time Saratogian’s do not like change of any kind even if it helps them in the long run).  Citizens have a time limit of 15 minutes, each citizen wishing to say something to the Council has 2 minutes to say what they want.  You cannot direct your question to a specific Council person and the Council is forbidden to engage or answer your question.  You can have no impact on the agenda that night even if an item comes up for a vote that may be against public wishes.  This scenario Mrs. Klotz sees nothing wrong with and wants to keep this feature in our current form of government.

Mrs. Klotz also interjects her ideas and those of her group that are totally false and knowingly spreads this misinformation just to confuse voters.  She says ‘it’s a stretch that an appointed City Manager won’t hire an assistant City Manager” why stretch the truth Mrs. Klotz, no one has ever mentioned this except your group. She then goes on to say that the Proposed Charter says that the City Manager doesn’t even have to live in the City, the Proposed Charter says “ The Manager need not be a resident of the City or New York at the time of appointment, but may reside outside the City while in office only with the  approval of the Council.  How about if the Manager lives in Wilton?  Will that adversely affect his or her position?  We had a Commissioner that lived outside Saratoga Springs for over 30 years and never once did I hear Mrs. Klotz at a Council meeting say that wasn’t right.

Mrs. Klotz also tries to make a point that Saratoga Springs is the envy of everyone around.  Envy, I don’t know, but Saratoga Springs is a fine city to live in and changing our government structure will not make the city anything less.  The truth is that once you get an experienced Manager in position the real savings will show how many years ago we should have made this change. 

Mrs. Klotz you are right.  The voters will not be asked if they want a City Manager, they will be asked to choose a more cost savings, efficiently run government.  What we have is a 100 year old model that if replaced years ago, Saratoga Springs could be sitting on a much higher surplus than we are now.

Read the Charter; attend the informational forum on Thursday October 25^th.  Attend to get informed and make a real decision that will be best for Saratoga Springs now and in the future.

ZLOTNICK SEALS FATE

  

I had this sent to me as a response on another post for when I wrote on the goings on at City Hall, but I thought it would be better to put it as a stand alone.  Thank you for the following:

The post:

"It would seem that Ms. Zlotnick sealed her own fate with her closing testimony yesterday.  If she taped conversations between office staff knowing she was filing a suit as a whistle blower she has made it clear that she is in this for money and her statements “Friday, McCarthy cross-examined her about her concerns with Kellner-Chille’s assessment, during which she admitted, “I am not qualified to know what her assessment is supposed to be.”

“So you don’t have any qualifications but you have opinions, isn’t that what it comes down to?” he asked her.

“Am I qualified as an assessor? No,” she responded. “Can I have concerns about assessments in my neighborhood? Yes.”

Zlotnick who was supposed to be looking out for seniors who couldn’t or (didn’t) know how to grieve their assessments was a lie as she was only worried about, in her words, her neighborhood.

If anyone doesn’t know how to grieve their assessments it is their own stupidity and let’s not use the growing excuse prevalent in our country ‘it’s somebody else’s fault’.

With her quoted statement, Zlotnick blew up any notion she had of a civil suit against the City.  Her attorney fees are also in question.  The attorney charges upwards of $350.00 per hour and there is concern from many citizens just who is footing the tab.  You may only have to look down the hall from the Accounts department for the answer or just follow the money to understand what is going on.

It seems to many that this may have blown up 6 months too early as a story circulating around that Johnson, Sutton and their lap dog Tighe wanted to wait for next years election, but they could not contain the very public attention seeker Zlotnick."

End.

The prevailing view point among people who are following this (which is not that many) is that Franck's office will be cleared of any illegal activity and that this was a well planned scheme to get rid of a Democrat Commissioner by a current Council member 2 seats down.  Zlotnick was well placed in the office by recommendation by Shauna Sutton (one of Zlotnick’s close friends I am told) and I think the person who is paying her legal bills promised a top notch attorney and that there could be a civil suit in it for her if she 'played the public game'. I agree that the money should be followed to see who is paying Zlotnick's legal bills because that may very well be the story.  A question to ask yourself, why would an employee who was just hired, start taping conversations and filming with her cell phone at work if there wasn't a motive in the beginning?  Just follow the money.

 

AN ARTICLE THAT SPEAKS FOR ITSELF

An article written by a former employee in the Baltimore Housing and Community Development and Planning departments.

The reasons for change in Saratoga is spelled out in the last paragraph, which sadly is a side effect of the Commission form of government  and as we can plainly see, happens all to often in our City.



"The strong-mayor system, in which all key policy and management decisions flow from the mayor's authority, was eliminated from thousands of US local governments in the 20th century, beginning with the ‘good government’ reforms of the Progressive Era. However, Baltimore's government never experienced those reforms, meaning that Baltimoreans still live in a ‘boss’ system where almost all hope, credit and blame end up singularly associated with the mayor.

It is clear that developers and other interest groups perceive - probably correctly - that the best method to gain decisions in their favor is to ‘grease’ the pathway. Sometimes that grease is pure corruption. More frequently, it is some version of interest peddling that does not quite rise to the level of outright corruption. Either way, it bends governmental decisions away from the public interest and toward the private interest of those doing the greasing.

The best-managed and cleanest local governments in the United States are not strong-mayor governments; they are council-manager governments. This is the structure of almost half of the local governments in the US. There are a few varieties of this form of government, in terms of the roles of the mayor and the city council; In all of them, however, the job of the mayor is not to be the chief executive officer, with responsibility for day-to-day management and decision-making. That job is handled by a professional city manager hired by the mayor and city council. There are universities that train these managers, who would bring expertise in management/administration and an ethic of clean and efficient government.In this system, the mayor and the city council together set policy, make laws/ordinances, and establish and approve the budget. They also provide oversight of operations, holding the city manager to account. The city manager is responsible for hiring and management.

One way to think of this structure is that the mayor and the city council would be like a board of trustees, with the mayor chairing the board and the city manager as the hired CEO.

One great advantage of this system is that it insulates day-to-day management from the intrusion of politics. There would be no benefit of ‘greasing’ decisions with the mayor or with individual council members, because they would not have that sort of power. Of course, there would be a risk that this influence greasing would move over to the bureaucracy staff, but that is not how it has turned out. Experience around the country is that council-manager systems tend to be far cleaner.Such a charter-reform movement would have the goal of overcoming the cynicism that pervades conversations about Baltimore's city government and have the ideal of creating a government about which the citizens could be proud - but would still be vigilant."

HIDE AND SEEK, A SUCCESS TACTIC

The League of Woman Voters cancelled the debate between 2 members of Saratoga Citizen and 2 members of SUCCESS scheduled for 9/19 because SUCCESS could not field 2 people to debate against Saratoga Citizen.  SUCCESS had also backed out of a scheduled debate at the library scheduled for the 13^th of this month for not being able to field a person for the debate.  This would seem odd as Remiga’s group has been spreading a lot of information lately and if anyone has read the Proposed Charter knows, it is misinformation they are spreading.  The debate would bring this out into the forefront and they can’t get caught in a venue like this without facts, something they just don’t have.

If you were at the evening of discussion they held with SUCCESS members Scott Johnson, yes our own Mayor (has anyone but me noticed how blood shot his eyes look all the time)?  How can he be holding office and be a card carrying member of this group and his partner Joe Dalton, who it is said, upon arriving in Saratoga to start his job declared a statement regarding Saratoga as being a city in the sticks.  This is the same Dalton, who was making $190,000.00 in salary and $25,000.00 in other income from the Chamber plus retirement and all the other benefits.  Anyway, Remiga did have the sense to take questions from the audience, but only from SUCCESS members.  She advertised it as an open public meeting, although she never recognized many of the hands raised by Saratoga Citizen members or regular citizens who had just woken up from the Mayor’s speech.

Well some news on a Saturday, the League of Woman Voter’s has announced that a debate on October 25^th from 7:30 – 9:30 will take place at the Saratoga Springs High School Auditorium.  Those in the debate for the group against Charter Change (SARATOGIANS UNITED TO CONTINUE THE CHARTER ESSENTIAL TO SUSTAIN OUR SUCCESS), again they can’t remember their name so they use SUCCESS, will be Ken Klotz & Jane Weihe and representing Saratoga Citizen (Saratoga Citizen) will be Pat Kane & Batavia City Manager Jason Molino.  Pass the word around.

This event will go on said a spokesperson from the League, no matter if SUCCESS is there or not.  Captain America feels that former Mayor Karen err I mean Ken Klotz or Jane Weihe will pass on the spotlight.  Expect some red faces when they can't come up with anything but 'look at wherre we are now'.  Pass on the information, you will want the truth and this will be the place to get it.

JOHNSON DOES IT AGAIN, BUT IS IT A SURPRISE?

Well, it has been done.  Mayor Johnson, who has been saying for 4 years that he was going to appoint a Charter Commission to make the current Charter much better, announced he has done just that.  What I can’t wait for now is to see the cast of characters he appoints.  One thing for sure, it will be Johnson supporters, SUCCESS members (guess who?) and the good old boys network.  This last grasp for power by the Mayor, Shauna and it appears the Republican Party shows how they operate and how they feel about the citizenry.

Now, do you think this was done by the Mayor to confuse voters with only less than 6 weeks before the election?  Granted, he CANNOT change the fact that the Proposed Change has to be voted on in November.  Do you think the Mayor is smart enough to propose this Commission after saying he was going to 4 years ago?  Some say no, I feel this smells a little of Shauna Sutton yanking Johnson’s (better not said).  Like Charlie McCarthy to Edgar Bergen, so to is Scott Johnson on Shauna Sutton's lap.

When the Mayor joined SUCCESS, he made it perfectly clear to citizens he was opposed to Charter Change.  Instead of being a Mayor and staying neutral he has again joined with a small group led by Remiga Foy who, at her party last week with Johnson and Joe Dalton, (we call him the $225,000.00 man because of his salary amount at the Chamber before he retired), had admitted that professionalism is the best solution when dealing with groups like government, school districts etc.  Her example was that citizen’s elect a School Board and the School Board then interviews and appoints a Superintendent to administer the District.  This does sound like blueprint of a Mayor/Council/City Manager form of government, doesn’t it?

One thing stands out as explained to me by a friend who visited both a SUCCESS meeting and a Saratoga Citizen meeting.  She said at the SUCCESS meeting it was attended by the same old guard of Saratoga Springs and she did say OLD GUARD.  She then said she was impressed that the Saratoga Citizen group consisted of every age group, young and old and ages in between and had more information and that they allowed attendees to freely ask any questions they had a concern about.  It was said that at the talk SUCCESS held at the Principessa Elena last week with SUCCESS members Mayor Johnson and Joe Dalton that after their talk, questions were taken from the audience but sadly Remiga would never take a question from any Saratoga Citizen member in the audience.  This is the Mayor’s idea of hearing from everyone,

Mayor Johnson has said we have a great economy here, and he is right, we also have a beautiful City.  However, look at what happened when we lost Racino money, it cost Saratoga Springs dearly, we had to slash services in a hurry.  What if the State's takeover of the race tracks doesn't work and it starts to hurt the racing industry, we will suffer immensely, what planning is being done just in case this might happen???  We cannot have knee jerk reactions to problems like we do now.  We need to get out of 1918 and get into 2012, things have changed in almost 100 years, everything that is but how our City Hall operates.  Captain America says to know what the difference between the two choices that will be on the ballot in November and vote for what you think will be better for the whole City.  Remember though, the Mayor's Commission will not be on the ballot.  The Mayor does not want you to consider change, show him we are not as dumb as he thinks we are.

MARY HAS A LITTLE LAMB

Well kiddies, it looks like Mary Zlotnick will be drawing her complaint out for a time while making the City spend more of our money.  Let me know if you think Mary is being self serving in her fight for her good name.  First, she goes to the police last year and after an examination of her complaint the police find nothinf wrong in the Accounts Dept.  Then by having lunch almost every day with HR Joe, this move creates an immediate conflict of interest for her.  Then after removing office materials from the department offices, it looks like she discussed the files with her HR lunch friend and the newspapers.  My sources that are in the proceedings tell me Mary sunk herself during not only early testimony but also when she was on the stand.  This has all the signs of a shaft that Zlotnick is trying to give John Franck and staff, when she has no idea how assessments work in the City,

Speaking of Zlotnick, she was given a reference by her good friend, none other than Deputy Mayor Shauna Sutton.  This in itself should explain why there is turmoil in the department.  It appears Sutton doesn’t do anything unless she wants to drag someone down.   The Mayor has had a far away look in his eyes for a while, I hope this doesn’t mean he’s off the Pepsi and is moving up into adult beverages.

How one can look at the past and current Council meetings and honestly say they don’t want a professional in the building has to be blind and deaf.

We even have an acidic blogger, whose motto is,’if we find a story with no merit, we’ll make one up.

Below are two pictures below, and I would like you to give a response:  Can you tell, of the two which one is the blogger and which one is learning to read a newspaper? Hint - it makes sense whe the blog and blogger are bananas. 

IT HAPPENED ONE EVENING

  

I have received some inquiries from various posters to blogs if I would post their responses that another blogger will not post, my answer sad to say is no. 

While some bloggers might be vile and offensive they do have a right to spew.  If they do not show your post, know that you probably either, hit a nerve, proved him wrong or just plain embarrassed him.

The only complaint I’ll post is against Captain America but I will not, if the language is vulgar.

Well, I attended the info session that was hosted by Remiga Foy’s group   Saratogians United to Continue the Charter Essential to Sustain.  Mayor Scott Johnson and Joe Dalton spoke about the benefits of the Commission form of government and how well it worked with the Chamber in bringing Saratoga back from the brink of disaster.
The discussion was what one would think it to be (talking to the choir), with about 35 people in attendance which included a number from Saratoga Citizen.  What was typical of Remiga though was when questions were taken from the floor.  Remiga who also served as moderator would not allow any questions from the Saratoga Citizen group in attendance.
This is the way Saratogians United to Continue the Charter Essential to Sustain and Remiga will be conducting her future ‘informational hearings’.  If I were you don’t bother to attend, just figure everything is wrong.

IS PROFESSIONALISM NEEDED FOR CITY GOVERNMENT?

  

If you attend the meeting and debate tonight that is being sponsored by Remiga Foy’s group SUCCESS here are some facts you may want to keep in mind or ask if you get a chance.

I would say that Joe Dalton being the PROFESSIONAL he is did a good job over the years transforming Saratoga to what it is today.  The question is did he do this alone? No.  Without the support of the businesses that were still here and a great citizen volunteer base along with a part time government it wouldn’t have been done.

The word Professional accounts for a great part in the City’s success.  I wonder how much better (not that Saratoga Springs isn’t a beautiful City) the City would be?  Paying a professional to do such a great job was key to the City’s evolvement.   Let’s look at some comparable salaries in chambers throughout the State and we find our Chamber  President, was and the new one may be the highest paid in New York State and maybe around the country.

Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce

2008 -  Joseph Dalton - $194,767 – plus $4,502.00 other income from Chamber

2009 – Joseph Dalton - $199,716.00 - plus $29,891.00 other income from Chamber

2010 – Joseph Dalton – $123,889.00 – plus $47,256.00 in other compensation from Chamber

            Todd Shimkus - $70,006.00 – plus $19,241.00 in other income from Chamber

The Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce only serves a few communities in the County.

The Southern Saratoga County Chamber,

 who has its own high paid President serves- Ballston Lake, Ballston Spa, Burnt Hills, Charlton, Clifton Park, 

Crescent, Halfmoon, Jonesville, Malta, Mechanicville, Rexford, Round Lake, Stillwater, Vischer Ferry and Waterford

The Manhattan Chamber of Commerce

2008 – Dennis Paget - $121,798.00 – no other income from Chamber

2009 – Nancy Poelger - $118,750.00 – Plus $6,250.00 in other income from Chamber

2010 - Nancy Poelger - $118,750.00 – Plus $6,250.00 in other income from Chamber

The Greater New York Chamber of Commerce

2008 - Mark Jaffe - $135,000.00 – plus - $7,000.00 in other income from Chamber

2009 – Mark Jaffe - $115,063 – plus no other income from Chamber

2010 – N/A

When a professional is involved in business, whether in a non profit, business or government it should run efficiently, streamlined and the Director should do his/her job as directed by the board, in the case of government the heads of the City would be the elected Mayor and Council.  Leaving an organization or government with part time unqualified people in charge is bound to have an affect on its performance especially with the ever changing tax laws and burdens placed on business and the ever increasing State and Federal mandates placed on City governments.  The point boils down to this, do we need professional management to deal with the ever changing times or do we leave it to unqualified leaders who “can be replaced every 2 years, if they don’t do the job”).  It seems to me that we can go for a long time replacing no nothings every 2 years.  Why we may even nee Remiga to run again as everyone in Saratoga would have taken their turn.

Ask this question tonight if you dare and see what the response is.

CHARTER DEBATES A GOOD THING

It’s finally good to read that Remiga Foy has woken up and is starting to talk about the change in the form of government.  As I read in the paper, Saratoga Citizen has had 61 meetings to explain and discuss and held informational sessions and had debates on the pros and cons of each form.  One question you may want to ask her is why wait until the 11^th hour before holding her meetings.  I feel it is because she thinks she can cause confusion in the last 6 weeks and that will help her in her quest to keep the status quo with as little debate as possible, thus having citizens keep wondering what is going on.

While as I said in earlier posts regarding my feelings on changing the Charter, I have not been associated with any one group but have some friends in each one.  One of the interesting facts between the two groups that were mentioned to me by my friends is that Saratoga Citizen has a mix of young, middle age and senior members while at the first SUCCESS meeting it was mostly all older citizens made up of the hard core Saratoga ‘natives’ Remiga leads on almost every issue.

It seems that younger voting adults as well as middle aged (up to late 60’s) make up the core of those wanting the change, there are a large group of newer seniors late 60’s and above that also seem to think we need to streamline government to save money and open government to the people.  All citizens agree however that Saratoga is a great City and a nice place to live.

Another slant on this issue is that Mayor Johnson and Joe Dalton are the 1^st guest speakers at Remiga’s first open meeting.  Finally, the Mayor has shown why he spent so much of the citizens money to stop the proposal from being on the ballot, it looks like Remiga had his number and ear early on and some say SUCCESS didn’t have the money to sue so the Mayor took up the mantle with financing their cause of stopping the issue from ever reaching the voting public.

However, we should look forward to these debates as educational and informative so they will help citizens make a sound decision in November.  I only hope that at the debates attendees will have the chance to stand and ask questions instead of filling out cards so some moderator can choose which ones to ask.  Many good questions are not asked if a moderator or screener feels the question should be bypassed.  If the group or sponsor of the debate is worried about time, start an hour earlier.  Questions and answers can be put in a word program after they are answered and projected on a screen if someone comes in late.

On September 19^th there will be a debate at the Saratoga Springs High School sponsored by the League of Woman Voters and the debate will be between 2 persons against change and 2 persons for change.

ATTEND THE DEBATES WITH AN OPEN MIND NO MATTER WHAT SIDE YOU ARE ON.

WHAT’S NEW PUSSYCAT II

Some interesting news the Justice League has heard from a Republican plant in City Hall (yes, we also have those).  What is going on in City Hall recently sounds like a good old soap opera.

 Oh! what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practice to deceive!

By: Sir Walter Scott

Well, the news goes like this.  The reason behind the executive session the other day was to get rid of the HR person that Pinnacle designated to City Hall.  It seems that none other than Mary Zlotnick (you all remember her?) was dating the HR fellow that worked in City Hall.  I guess we could call Mary a working girl, but there is nothing good that comes out of ‘pillow talk’, and this is probably the main reason of Ms. Zlotnick’s insubordination (could be because she wouldn’t stop the affair) and subsequent  termination and the following reason Mary ‘came clean’. The Mayor tried his best to keep the Company that works 3 days a week for a price of over $1,400.00 per day and it was pointed out by the Council that the budget line for the job would run out at the end of September.

Now remember, at the Council embattled Commissioner Franck made an argument and his motion was passed to give notice to terminate the Pinnacle contract.  The decision to get rid of the HR person and his company was done because of a possible lawsuit down the road for the City and Ms. Zlotnick.

This will be a series worth watching and the players seem to be changing every day.

More about the plant in City Hall.  It is a Variegated Ivy, so if you are standing by one do not talk, and if it’s red as a lobster, it’s Mayor Johnson.

WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT?

The answer is so simple I shouldn’t even ask the question.  However, I can’t help myself when it’s about someone who is such a schmuck. 

When is a person not a citizen of Saratoga?  Answer- When he doesn’t live in Saratoga.

At the City Council meeting tonight we witnessed again, a person who plops himself in the front row so he can tape the meetings and also be the first one in line to make comments or statements to the Council regarding City business.

HEY TIGS, YOU DON’T LIVE IN SARATOGA SPRINGS.  He has castigated the Veitch family because several of the clan works for the City.  It is hilarious because he admitted at the meeting tonight that 1. His father was Fire Chief, 2. His uncle was Police Chief, 3. Another uncle was a Captain on the force and 4. He worked for the City (his supervisor of his told me that he was about to get fired because he couldn’t even back up a truck, so he got ‘hurt’ in the nick of time to collect permanent disability).  He and his family have been sucking from the tit of the City and its citizens and he criticizes the Veitch clan with hateful spew.  Naughty fruitcake.

Also some information that came out of the meeting was the fact that John Franck and his office except for Mary Zlotnick had done nothing wrong in the ‘Assessment Saga’.  Also the problem here is that the Human Resource fellow that works for the City and gets paid over $1,400.00 a week for 3 work days per week may have leaked confidential information out and Zlotnick may have been the recipient.  The Council over Mayor Johnson’s protests (it would seem that he may be getting some kickback money, although the only proof is that even after discussing the topic last week with the rest of the Council, pleaded amnesia about what went on in the meeting.  Franck alluded to the fact that he heard Johnson snoring).

It looks like Zlotnick might find herself in a lawsuit brought by the City for leaking confidential information (a pattern that she cannot learn from).  I don’t think that anything went Johnson’s way.  Johnson at one point accused the Council of being political, can you imagine that?  He even trapped himself when Pat Kane from Saratoga Citizen made reference that Deputy Mayor Shauna ‘Tuna’ Sutton has been keeping the ballot wording buried under a stack of papers.  The Mayor jumped right on Kane saying his department has nothing to do with the matter.  Later in the meeting it was pointed out that the City Attorney was working on the draft (the City Attorneys work under Johnson’s Department) and he started to stutter a string of excuses.

The Mayor did make one great point; he suggested that a professional was needed in the HR department “because it is very important to have a professional”.  I guess he thinks we don’t need a professional working for the Council to streamline and run a more efficient government, to that point he would like to keep the amateurs running the City. 

The Mayor also announced tonight that he finalized the Lillian's parking lot deal after 5 years with Sonny Bonaccio.  The City recieved $750,000.00 which is 1/2 the price they could have gotten.  The other reason this sounds crazy is that the plans of what Bonacio is going to build on the lot were approved years ago, long before he paid for the lot (can you say Johnson & Bonacio in the same breath?)

Johnson may be nearing an impeachment as he has clearly put himself and his interests ahead of the City’s.

Well, time to go out and fight crime, I think I will go down to Malta and see who’s causing trouble there.

MAYOR'S JOHNSON & SUTTON SINK SARATOGA

Since as far back as your Captain can remember I have never seen the Mayor’s office taken down to the low level Mayor Johnson and Shauna Sutton have taken it to.  Under their stewardship they really have sent the office into the slime at the bottom of Saratoga Lake.  Let’s look at the Recreation Center debacle and the firing of a building inspector because he wouldn’t do as commanded by the dynamic duo and sign off a part of the job when it was unsafe and illegal.  The two then hired an engineer from Albany to inspect and sign off for them and she walked away and went back to Albany without putting an initial on the paper.  They also opened the facility without a certificate of Occupancy.  Next when the two put their heads together to plan the project, they left out parking spaces and showers for those using the building.

The next item that citizens of the City paid dearly for was the Mayor’s intentional delays and court battles with the citizens group Saratoga Citizen.  Scott spent nearly $80,000.00 of our money playing one-upmanship with costly court and appeal delays.  He lost every point in court and in the State Appellate Court.  So much for his prowess as a great litigator, (in his humble opinion), and taking the advice of the great West Side Dive Bombers, Elliott Massie and Remiga ‘who needs ya’ Foy.  Ok, I couldn’t resist a swing at Ms. Foy but she makes herself such a great target.

This just scratches the surface.  Next, The Mayor and his Deputy, give free reign to Sonny Bonacio to reshape the landscape of Saratoga Springs.  If you check the records you will see that Sonny get’s his projects through the various Boards faster than a speeding bullet.  One thing I’ll never understand is why doesn’t the City’s boards make Sonny put a Victorian look to his condo buildings?  I thought we wanted to project a certain look of a past era.

The Lillian’s parking lot was sold to Sonny for about ½ its worth by the Mayor and the sale price was used in 4 budgets and the City hasn’t received a penny yet.  Beware when the Mayor says ‘it will be taken care of within the month’ (remember the statements regarding the Waterfront Park).

The new parking garage which was recently built has its own prints by the dynamic duo on it.  The Mayor contracted out much of the work that the DPW could have done for more than ¾ in savings (hooking water lines etc.), but 2 engineer’s were hired to see that the jobs were carried out by another firm, probably with ties that can go back to the Mayor and Shauna.  Again, when the Mayor and Shauna couldn’t force the building inspector to put his ok on part of a job that was unsafe, you guessed right fired, gone, thrown out.  We now have no building inspector.  It is being said at City Hall that Scott Johnson is studying to become a building inspector, but as Mary Zlotnik has proved most employees don’t know the whole story.

These are just a few tidbits that the Captain has now, but we will be exposing more costly follies and possible actions that have put the City and its citizens in financial peril.  Until next time, superhero’s.

EDUCATE YOURSELF AND LISTEN TO DEBATES

I am a self educated citizen when it comes to Charter Change.  Your Captain is not involved with Saratoga Citizen or SUCCESS, (although I have friends in both groups).  I feel it is up to the individual to do research on their own before making a decision.  There are all kinds of posts on the various blogs, from insightful to the ridiculous.  After doing some internet research I did find information on the Saratoga Citizen website informative, while honestly I couldn’t find out any information except for the donors of SUCCESS, on the internet.  All the information I received about the group was from friends of mine who are members and have told me where they stand and why as told to them by Ms. Foy. 

In researching the Commission form of government, which Saratoga has had for almost 100 years, I found that there are only 40 or so cities our size in the entire U.S. that use this form and about 76 total in the entire country.  The Commission form, as almost everyone knows, was started because of a disaster in Texas and businessmen needed fast action to rebuild their losses.  It still appears that the Commission form is promoted mostly by businessmen as evidenced by the list of donors of SUCCESS.  There also seems to be a few ex politicians who suffered tough losses and really didn’t want to give up their power as backers of the group.

One phrase a friend said to me is ‘what is wrong with Saratoga’?  ‘Our City is the envy of cities across the country’ (this has also been said by Mayor Johnson).  In response I said to her, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Saratoga Springs, we have a beautiful city and while I don’t believe we are the envy of the country, I find that many people like to live and visit our City.  Saratoga has a great volunteer base, a great downtown, an active Chamber of Commerce, a very busy Convention Bureau, these things can’t be denied.

However, there is a double edged sword, while we have all the above, we also have a dysfunctional and costly government.  The question one should ask themselves is, can our government run more efficiently and more streamlined?  Do we need 5 payroll departments?  Do we need to give City employees 15 minutes of work time to cash their checks on Friday?  Do we need 8 unions, which our Mayor cannot negotiate expired contracts, should we turn a blind eye when the City fails to live up to the laws they set forth? Is there proper planning for 5 to 10 years out?  Ten years is a stretch but there are some items that would benefit from a time period like this i.e. do we have a plan on the number of years and how many police cars needs to be rotated out for new ones?  The same plan should be planned with fire vehicles, or do we wait 19 years until a fire truck catches fire while trying to put out a fire?  By the way this last one made the national news.

It seems to me as I talk with people that young adults and those who moved here in the last 15 years or so favor a new form of government, while the ‘old guard’ of Saratoga favors the status quo, and if you ask them why, they have no answer other than to say ‘it’s always been this way’.   One thing Saratoga Springs has is a very high percent of voter apathy.  In the last primary, workers in 2 Districts reported a total of 6 and 7 people respectively, turning out to vote, (very sad).

Some people try to demonize Pat Kane, Brent Wilkes and anyone else in the Saratoga Citizen group.  I feel the issue is the form of government and the information a group puts out, not the people behind it.  If this were so, would that mean that if you disliked Remiga Foy, you would automatically say that SUCCESS is a bunch of crazies and be for charter change?  Should Ms. Foy be demonized because she is adamant in keeping the status quo? I don’t think so.

I did my research first on the various forms of government and truth be told the Professional Manager, Council, Mayor form of government seems like the best one out there.  Granted there is no form that is 100% perfect, but in today’s real world, running a government has become so difficult, that running a City without a qualified professional manager at the helm seems unreal.  Would you hire a carpenter to run a $37 million dollar computer business?  There are some who say that say they are for a strong Mayor, but it seems to me that you still are electing a pretty face who may be as dumb as a box of rocks.

Just one other thing, if you do your own research without having someone talk you into something you will feel more comfortable with your decision.  A question that pops up frequently is the cost of a new government.  The figures are out there, but think about this, if this new government form is voted in, it will be bound by the budget that is passed by the current Council, the very same Council that will be responsible for sifting through resume’s for a Professional Manager, one who will work under a Council elected by the citizens of Saratoga.

See how much information you can get if you take the time to do a little research?

GROUND BREAKING NEWS, I GUESS

In ground breaking news it seems that there is a story spreading around local coffee shops and in downtown restaurants’ that a local blogger that we won’t mention (the one with the red nose, blood shot eyes and beard) has been getting his funding from a local businessman who we won’t mention (his name rhymes with Daisy with an M) and that his ‘cancer screenings) are a way to so solicit funds for his trips to Double Vision in Clifton Park.  I want to tell you right now that I have no hard proof of this but the story is getting more steam behind it every day.  He has also posted on his site that Saratoga Citizen is behind (a.) funding Lee Harvey Oswald. (b.) Saratoga Citizen cut Ted Kennedy’s brakes before going over the Chappaquiddick Bridge and (c.) That Saratoga Citizen has buried Jimmy Hoffa’s body under the monstrosity ‘Tempered by Steel”.  I guess that Big Sugar told him to demonize Saratoga Citizen any way he can, it may be worth $20,000.00 for him to go a little more overboard, that might be why he was wearing an aluminum foil cap with a 6” antenna and hopping on one leg on Broadway the other day.

Mayor Johnson will officially open the Waterfront beach this week.  He will cut the ribbon so you can drive up to the property.  You may not swim, boat, raft or go water tubing yet as the place isn’t finished, as a matter of fact it’s only about 20% finished, and this is after our Little Caesar Mayor Johnson told us last year it would be complete by May of 2012.  He was waiting and salivating hoping for a lawsuit to feed his buddies in Glens Falls but since there was no lawsuit he got a little behind (now don’t think dirty, not that kind of little behind).  Here it is the end of August and he will open the beach for swimming from Nov.1 thru March 31.  I just can’t wait until he cuts the ribbon for the Grand Opening of the Public Toilets in the Spring.  Saratoga was #2 in Some Great City Magazine for best ribbon cutting for public toilets in the lower 48. #1 was a his and hers igloo in Nome.

Well it’s time to go out and do some crime fighting or look for Tamara; I bet that makes you all happy.

If you can think of anything else that Saratoga Citizen is responsible for let me know.  The one about Saratoga Citizen making blouses for Mary Zlotnik with those plunging necklines is already taken.

ASSESSMENTS

It seems like City Hall is in a state of confusion again.  With no Professional oversight, not that John Franck isn’t a professional, has a stooge in his department who has caused a controversy much as she has done in almost every job or organization she has been involved in.  This story may not even be worthy of news when the Attorney General makes its decision.  It appears that an independent appraiser will appear and try to have your assessment lowered much as an appraiser performs his or her duties to estimate the value of a house so a Bank can have a figure to use in making a mortgage loan.  The important word here is ‘independent appraiser’ which means they get paid, think of representation by an attorney, they don’t represent for free.

I think one must understand the whole City assessment picture before rendering an educated complaint like some bloggers have done.

But, I digress.  Mary Zlotnik has been asked to leave almost every job or volunteer position she has ever held.  She has held many of her past jobs for as little as a few months.  It seems that she may becoming a new Remiga Foy in that if it is not done her way she’ll find a way to ‘make it so’, as Jean Luc Pickard used to say. “I would tend to believe that she has a poor job history at her former position at City Hall based on her track record”, said an aquatints  of Mary’s.  Here’s hoping that after the Attorney General’s decision, Mary Zlotnik doesn’t find herself in a lawsuit that might not end in her favor.

THANK YEW!!

Well people, first I want to thank you for reading Captain America’s fun and fact filled posts (lol).  Your Captain started his blog in June of this year and there have been 6,250 hits to the site since then.  I appreciate it.  I promise to continue the blog without having any 24 hour money-thons to get my readers to donate money to me or beg on Broadway for SPAC tickets.  I will also promise not to have you think I have cancer so that I can get money from saps who believe I do, just so I can take a vacation with my wife Joyce, did I say Joyce?  I didn’t mean her.

Well just some interesting bits on area oddities.

It seems one of our greatest Mayor’s in the history of Saratoga Spring (and that’s going back hundreds of years when the area was known as Well Water Junction, by the Indians), translated that means mucho aqua.  Anyway, Mr. Johnson took umbrage to Lucian McCarty’s blog post about him (Lucian) asking the Mayor many, many times about his appointing a Commission at this late stage after 3 years of saying he could do so.  Well in a phone call with the Mayor it seems Sir Scotty said it wasn’t funny to keep making it seem like he was ducking the issue.  To that I say REALLY?  After 4 years?  Mr. Mayor, your middle name is Duck.  I hate to pick on the Mayor all the time (he does deserve it) because I am involved with Republicans on many levels and they think he is a little batty also.  I’ll have more later.

By the way, has anyone found Tamara yet?  Wonder Woman left a spare costume.

 Thanks again.