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.

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.

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.

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?

THESE ARE NORMAL DAY’S OF OUR LIVES IN SARATOGA!

Have you ever wondered to yourself, has the world gone crazy or is it you?  Well, Capt. Am.  Friends, it has to be the world or more specifically Saratoga Springs.

• “More than a dozen people spoke at a Design Review Commission public hearing Wednesday night regarding the future of 66 Franklin St.”

• “The Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation says the building can be saved, according to Executive Director Samantha Bosshart. The SSPF even hired an attorney from a national firm to fight to save the stack of boards.

• “Boff (the owner), as well as the builder who has been maintaining the property, estimated a full renovation of the building would cost more than $2 million and the building would be worth less than $1 million when done.”

My good people this is daily business in Saratoga Springs unless your name is “Developer” Sonny Bonacio, then the City will pay you over $1 million dollars to tear a building down.

Here is another example of delirious business:

·         Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the Saratoga Springs Public Library, Saratoga Citizen brought another speaker in to discuss what they see as the benefits of the council-manager form of government. "The only way people can be for or against it is if the know what it's about," said Pat Kane, one of the groups primary organizers.  The proposal is legally set to appear on this November’s ballot for a vote.

·         "Nothing to report at this time," Mayor Scott Johnson said Tuesday night (August 16^th), when asked about whether he has decided to assemble a mayoral commission to explore charter change or not.

·         The mayor left the door open for the commission back in May when the City Council put the Saratoga Citizen proposal on the ballot, however, Johnson has done nothing about putting a Commission in place after saying he might do so 3 years ago.

·         “I've asked the Mayor about the commission virtually every time we've talked since then, and I am no closer than I was in May to knowing whether it is going to happen. At the end of June he said “I don’t want to unduly delay it. There are reasons why I’ve delayed my announcement.” He wouldn't tell me the reasons.”

Most of the information here is from Lucian McCarty’s blog piece.  Thanks Lucian.

Here are only 2 examples of how Saratoga does business, and these examples are just part of one day’s business as usual.

There is a serious matter though.  Two bears have been sighted on Skidmore campus in the last few days and this should be nothing to make light of as many people use the North Woods for walking, jogging or walking with their dogs, and the woods are very close to Maple Ave. Middle School, so be careful.

It was noted earlier in the day that upon hearing this, Mayor Johnson donned his best Daniel Boone cap and his bow and arrow to either get his wife a new bearskin rug or chase them back to Wilton. 

Just another day in Paradise.