Thomas Dimopoulos

Thomas Dimopoulos

City Beat and Arts & Entertainment Editor
Contact Thomas

SARATOGA SPRINGS — A summerlong paid parking plan, scaled back from the initial “tourism parking program” first floated late last year, will be presented during a 60-minute Public Hearing at City Hall this week. 

The Public Hearing will begin at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 2, and a vote regarding the proposal is anticipated to be held during a meeting of the City Council later that same evening.    

The initial proposal pointed to converting more than 1,300 on-street and nearly 800 garage parking spaces into either “permit” or “paid” spots for a five-month run that was to start this May. 

Following a presentation in February to more than 50 people, most of whom were downtown business owners and managers, the plan’s title, its time period in effect, and the breadth of the proposal’s reach were rolled back in what the city reported as “streamlined adjustments in response to great stakeholder feedback.” Plans for on-street paid parking has also been altogether eliminated, with city streets continuing to offer free parking for both residents and visitors.

The new seasonal parking plan is proposed to run from Memorial Day to Labor Day and include both free permit and paid parking in city-owned garages and surface lots. Visitors can pay $2 an hour to park in the garages and surface lots. 

“As a government we must identify new revenue streams to offset the increased costs of city services, downtown investment, and the maintenance necessary to support our nationally celebrated downtown,” said Department of Public Works Commissioner Jason Golub.  “This streamlined parking approach will be less disruptive to implement and will allow for a measured approach of paid parking downtown.”

Additional amenities of the program include directional signage to assist visitors toward available parking in the garages and lots where they will have the option to pay via their mobile device or a nearby pay station. 

Permits

Residents and any downtown business employers can obtain free parking permits to park in the garages and surface lots for themselves or their employees. Registration will be provided with proof of residency via an online portal or with assistance from employees at City Hall. The permits will be linked to vehicle license plates. Ticket forgiveness will be provided to residents and employees if they park in a lot and were eligible for a permit but did not have one at the time of the violation.

Revenue and Expenses 

Forecasting the utilization of spaces at a conservative 33% (a figure well-below what was observed in studies), the anticipated seasonal revenue for 2024 is expected to be approximately $1.6 million. 

Expenses are estimated at about $450,000, which includes the costs associated with program administration, equipment for the installation of paystations and enforcement, contract attendants to work at the garages, and additional parking enforcement. 

The proposal envisions re-investment of revenue generated into Saratoga Springs’ downtown. 

This would include a dedicated marketing professional for the Downtown Business Association, capital reserves for the parking structures and downtown improvements, and funds allocated for the recreation department. The proposed re-investment will be $225,000 for downtown and $40,000 for recreation in year one and will be annual. 

Following the establishment of the seasonal program, a plan allowing school taxpayers in the Saratoga Springs City School District to park at a reduced rate permit may be optioned.   

“There have been a few business owners that expressed fair concerns about customers in surrounding towns facing a barrier due to parking fees. Once the program is set up, we’ll work toward creating a reduced rate permit for school district taxpayers,” Golub said. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Each year, the state sends funding to cities, towns and villages as part of its Aid and Incentives for Municipalities (AIM) program. The amounts sent have largely stayed stagnant for more than a decade, however, and now some municipalities – Saratoga Springs among them – are appealing to the governor to increase those annual payments. 

“In Saratoga Springs, aside from changes for two years during the pandemic, this aid has remained flat for over a decade. Effectively, this is a budget cut for our city,” city Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi said this week.    

in 2013 AIM funding to Saratoga Springs was 4.25% of the city budget, but by its 2024 comparison it measured only 2.7%, said Sanghvi, noting a March 5 city resolution unanimously approved by the council that calls upon legislators and the governor to increase in AIM funding from New York State. Legislators have since picked up the baton. 

In addition to proposing an overall $210 million increase in AIM funding, the New York State Senate recommended the establishing of an AIM Redesign Task Force. The Assembly proposed a $100 million overall increase in AIM funds. 

“The Senate and the Assembly have come up with their budgets and have added AIM funding in there for all of us,” Sanghvi said. “Of course this is not the final budget, so, I applaud the efforts of the New York State legislature to increase our AIM funding and I hope the governor’s office budget will match New York State legislature’s commitment to the New York State municipalities. “ 

According to the state, AIM payments to the city of Saratoga Springs in 2023 were just under $1.65 million. Comparative to geography, Albany received just over $12.6 million, Cohoes $2.7 million, Glens Falls $1.6 million, and Mechanicville $662,000.   

AIM is provided to all of New York’s cities, towns and villages, outside of New York City. 

Elsewhere in Saratoga County, town data shows the town of Clifton Park received just over $98,000, Ballston $49,000, Malta $25,000, Saratoga $31,000, and Wilton $25,000 (all umbers rounded off). For a spreadsheet of amounts received by all cities, towns and villages, go to: osc.ny.gov/local-government/data/aid-and-incentives-municipalities-aim. 

When Gov. Hochul released her Executive Budget proposal in January for the State fiscal year 2024-2025, the proposal held AIM funding for cities and villages at previous year’s levels. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Three months into his regime as the city’s new mayor, John Safford announced that he – as the mayor before him and the mayor before that had done – was seeking solutions to a question that has remained unresolved for several years: What can be done to combat homelessness in the community?

“I’ve started to pull together various providers and stakeholders with mutual concern over the unhoused population,” said the mayor, identifying local agencies RISE, SOS, and Healing Springs, as well as members of the county as attendants of the Saratoga Homeless Strategy meeting.

“This meeting was all about getting these folks talking again. My main focus is bringing the county together with the city, stakeholders that haven’t been talking lately, and getting them in the same room,” said Safford, specifying that he has no current plans to form an official committee, although he intends other members of the council to be involved in some way.   

“My goal is effective zero. I want to have plans in place so that people coming in equal the number of people getting housed,” the mayor said. “You’re never going to completely eliminate homelessness, but we’re committed to building some kind of 24-hour safe place for the homeless to go with services.” The “safe place” could be centered in the city or possibly elsewhere in the county. “It doesn’t have to be in Saratoga Springs. Timewise, we’re under the gun to do something, because the current shelter I think we only have available through next winter.” 

The past decade has seen greater prominence by local agencies such as Shelters of Saratoga (S0S) and RISE Housing and Support Services, fundraising from both the private and public sector, and the increase of multiple temporary and emergency shelters sited across the city, but a permanent location has been difficult to secure. On more than one occasion when a long-term remedy was believed to be found, those with interests in geographic proximity to a site proposed for a year-round, 24/7 shelter nixed the plans. 

Last year, an ad hoc Task Force on Homelessness instituted by then-Mayor Ron Kim evaluated approximately two dozen sites across the city that could potentially site a permanent homeless shelter and navigation center. 

The group ultimately identified a 3.7-acre lot on Lake Avenue/ State Route 29 - located between the Northway overpass and a Stewart’s Shop near Weibel Avenue - as a primary site, and parcels on South Broadway, Route 9, and Maple Avenue as potential alternatives. Alongside possibilities, each of the venues also presented challenges - from area variances that would need to be secured and likely opposition of some area residents, to the lack of geographic proximity to agencies providing social services and access to public transportation.

“We are taking into account what the Task Force came up with, which is mainly locations. They had three or four locations that are still in play,” Safford said. 

“I’m very dedicated to getting this done, but doing it the right way,” the mayor continued. “This includes addiction and mental health. My concern is in the homeless population (and) we also have addiction and mental health problems that create problems if you do housing first. My view of what we have to do is higher than just housing. My goal is to address not only housing but also strategies to effectively deal with addiction, and mental health issues.”

In engaging other services in the discussion, Safford specifically referenced a program initiated with the involvement of Healing Springs Recovery Community and Outreach Center that addresses addictions and operates at the Saratoga County Jail.    

Ben Deeb, a Certified Recovery Peer Advocate (CRPA) and Certified Addictions Recovery Coach (CARC), was an employee at Healing Springs and began working with the Sheriff’s Department five years ago to create a recovery unit at Saratoga County Jail. Today, there is a 48-man recovery unit that features 13 hours per week of programs for individuals with opiate use disorder and alcohol use disorder in a specially designated unit at the jail. 

“In 2019 we were able to rehab a unit and designate that for individuals in recovery so that they would have an environment conducive to change,” Deeb said. “In order to gain any ground for recovery, you need to have a space that can promote change.” 

The success rate is measurable. A study conducted with the University of Wisconsin showed a large drop in the recidivism rate of people in the county based program, compared to the national average recidivism rate.  “Saratoga’s really a leader in this,” Deeb said. 

Mayor Safford said he intends to provide regular public updates at council meetings regarding the city’s efforts to combat homelessness.    

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Let the record show: on a late weekday afternoon of an Election Year, when the American tradition of campaign mudslinging will surely rise to present itself once again, decency prevailed in a century-old brick building on Lake Avenue where fifth-grade students assembled in the elementary school library to dialogue with Congressman Paul Tonko. 

“Words matter,” the congressman said to the students, arriving on Lake Avenue in a white Jeep SUV to deliver more than three dozen books to the school library, their pages filled with the words carefully selected by authors, he explained. 

“Our exercise every day is to choose words that help, and not hurt. Words that lift and don’t pull down,  that bring us together and unite, rather than divide. These authors had to painfully work on every word,” Tonko said. “They’re teaching us by their work that words matter, that they’re important and we should choose them deliberately in a kind expression of who we are.” 

Lake Avenue Elementary School serves about 400 students, grade K through 5. More than 60 of them gathered upstairs in the library, joined by school Principal Elizabeth Carroll, District Superintendent of Schools Michael Patton, School Resource Officer Aaron Moore and school educators and staff. 

“We all have gifts, and your teachers are great friends to you because they allow you to discover what your own gifts are,” Tonko said. “We all have different gifts and the exercise in the classroom is to have you discover, through education, who you are and what gifts you’ve been granted.” 

The 40 books delivered are among a stock of duplicate titles that arrived at the Library of Congress which are offered to members of Congress to bring to educational institutions or organizations that focus on reading. 

The Library of Congress, located in Washington, D.C., holds 164 million items on 840 miles of bookshelves that count as the single most comprehensive accumulation of human expression ever assembled, as well as the largest library in the world. 

This month’s transport of titles marks Tonko’s 78th delivery of surplus books through the program, with more than 2,500 books valued at over $50,000 delivered to local schools and organizations since 2017. 

“What’s your favorite book?” asked one student, whose name is McKinley. 

“’Silent Spring,’ by Rachel Parsons, because she ignited the spirit of taking care of the earth,” answered Tonko. 

“Who are your inspirations?” asked another. 

“JFK, MLK, RFK.” 

A student named Olivia asked Tonko to name his favorite thing about being in the House of Representatives. 

“I’m able to make changes or develop laws that affect people I may never meet - making life better for everyone,” he replied. 

The students were provided a 25-minute Q & A session with the congressman. Their questions ranged from “How did you get started on your career path?” to “What are your greatest accomplishments?” 

Successfully passing mental health parity was named by Tonko among his accomplishments, as well as dealing with the issues of mental health and addiction affecting people. “Trying to do legislation that will help people, enable them to survive that struggle to come out of it stronger and to have a good life,” he said. 

“How do you manage the most stressful parts of your job?” one student wanted to know.

“Probably by eating ice cream, and enjoying the outdoors. My favorite flavor ice cream? Coffee.”

Tonko thanked the staff for inviting him to the school and the students for paying him their attention. “I also hope you saw me paying attention to you. Paying attention is showing respect. And we need a whole lot of respect. It’s the way to maintain a civil society. We can disagree but we need to be civil,” he said. “If there is any message I can leave with you today, it’s to promote love, kindness and compassion, and don’t use the words that divide and hurt or put down and divide.” 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — In 2023, members of the Saratoga Springs Police Department responded to 27,643 calls for all types of service – approximately 1,500 more calls than in 2022 - and generated nearly 3,800 cases that resulted in just over 850 arrests. 

The Saratoga Springs Fire Department meanwhile responded to 6,990 calls for service in 2023, representing a 9.2% increase compared to the previous year. 

The Saratoga Springs Public Safety Department on March 8 released its annual report for 2023. The 74-page report was submitted March 5 by newly elected Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll, and Deputy Commissioner Daniel Charleson. 

In 2023, James Montagnino served as commissioner of public safety, and Jason Tetu as deputy commissioner. The police department concluded the calendar year with 80 sworn personnel, 51 of whom are currently patrol officers, according to the report. 

Overall, the Public Safety Department includes a full-time Administrative Office Staff, a Police Department, Fire Department, Code Enforcement Division, Central Dispatch, Traffic Maintenance, Animal Control Officers and a Health Officer. There are approximately 204 full-time employees. An additional 14 part-time employees work as school crossing guards, vehicle traffic controllers, part-time traffic control maintenance and summer laborers at the traffic garage.

Police Department

The Saratoga Springs Police Department was created by an act of the State Legislature in 1887, when a staff of 8 worked out of a station that was formed as an annex to town hall. The current department resides in the same location and has expanded into additional portions of the building. Tyler McIntosh has served as chief of police since June 2023. 

Among the department’s stated goals in 2024 is the development and implementation of a department Drone Program, which will enhance investigations and crowd-management capabilities. 

Additional goals include: creating a Traffic Safety Unit, a Citizen Police Academy, and developing and implementing a comprehensive Wellness Program to improve members’ mental and physical health. 

The department also reported it has acquired Flock License Plate Readers, which provides AI and machine-learning powered technology to reveal detailed information that may not have otherwise be available, according to the company. The LPR’s will be set in fixed locations around the city. 

“This technological resource will provide invaluable data and leads for investigations that pertain to all sorts of criminal activity,” according to the report. “The ability to track, trace and analyze other types of evidence will be instrumental to the future of crime-solving.” 

Calls For Service

In 2023, members of the Saratoga Springs Police Department responded to 27,643 calls for service. The most frequent call type was the traffic stops, which accounted for about 11% of all calls. 

Officers generated 3,794 cases that resulted in 852 arrests. Comparatively, in 2022, the police department responded to 26,186 calls for service, and officers generated 3,933 cases that resulted in 821 arrests.

A consistent primary density for calls for service were in the area of Broadway between Caroline Street & Lake Ave. Secondary hotspots consistently observed were in the area of Union Street between Adelphi St. & Arthur St. as well as Hamilton St. between W Circular St. & Congress St. During the summer months, a consistent density for calls emerged in the area of the Saratoga Racecourse, and at the western portion of Saratoga Spa State Park in correlation with Saratoga Performing Arts Center. 

Of the 27,643 calls for service handled by members of the SSPD in 2023, 63 resulted in a use of force by SSPD standards. Those 63 resulting instances: Physical Force (40); Firearm Displayed (16)/ Firearm Discharged (0); Taser Displayed (5)/ Taser Deployed (2); Pepper Spray Deployed (0). 

In 2023, city police responded to 998 reportable traffic crashes, down from 1,052 compared to the previous year. 

Officers conducted 2,976 traffic stops in 2023 and issued 1,754 Uniform Traffic tickets – up from 1,686 tickets in 2022. Of the tickets issued 114 were for Driving While Intoxicated offenses, down from the 132, 135, and 133 DWI tickets issued for DWI offenses in each of the three previous years, respectively. 

Reported Offenses

  2023 2022
Rape 20 18
Robbery 12 11
Aggravated Assault 36 68
Burglary 41 75
Larceny 454 439
Motor Vehicle Theft 5 10
Kidnappings 5 6
Sex Offenses 18 22
Assault 388 381
Criminal Mischief 189 208
Drug Possession 73 82
Drug Sale 25 22

*Saratoga Springs Police Department – 2023 summary crime data submitted to DCJS. Report run Feb. 12, 2024. 

Fire Department 

The Saratoga Springs Fire Department has 84 full-time career fire officers and firefighters. 

In 2023, the Saratoga Springs Fire Department responded to 6,990 calls for service. This represents a 9.2% increase from 2022. Emergency Medical Responses accounted for 4,911 of the responses. Alarm Activations – 644, Good Intent and other – 697, Hazardous Conditions – 147, Service Calls – 198, and Fires – 93, were some of the others. The 93 responses to fire were the highest number in any one year compared to each of the past five years. 

The average response times, from dispatch to arrival in 2023, were 4:24 (downtown and eastside), 5:12 (westside), and 6:28 (I-87 East). 

The year also saw the Saratoga Springs Fire Dept. hosting its first Recruit Firefighter Training Academy, in a joint effort with the cooperation of the Wilton VFD, Glens Falls FD and the Albany Airport FD. The Academy began in late March and concluded in mid-July with the graduation of 15 firefighters. 

Fire Prevention and Inspection/Code Enforcement – In 2023, there were 1,963 total inspections, with 811 total violations.

Ambulance Report – in 2023, there were 5,398 emergency medical calls, and 3,900 transports. The fire department EMS revenues increased in 2023 as a result of placing a second ambulance in service on a daily basis. That ambulances transport revenue in 2023 was just over $2.9 million. 

Station Three update: A project decades in-the-making, the report cites an approximate March/April estimated opening of the station based on Henning Road.

Thursday, 14 March 2024 15:45

Action! New Cinema Opens In Wilton

WILTON — Once again as it had once before, the fragrance of hot buttered popcorn roams the long halls of the Wilton Mall, welcoming all who enter with a familiar and comforting scent. 

Four years after hosting what was thought to be its final screening, a multi-theater cinema has opened once again at Wilton Mall. The cinema features eight screens, including one large-format auditorium. All the auditoriums feature luxury leather rocking chairs, wall-to-wall screens, and Dolby Digital surround sound. 

It is operated by Scene One Entertainment. Joe Masher is its owner and CEO. For Masher, formerly of Bow Tie Management, It is a return once again to a place he was charged with operating once before – this time in the role of entrepreneur instead of employee. 

“It first opened on my birthday in 2013, so this one holds a special meaning for me,” Masher said, at a gathering staged March 13 to celebrate the cinema’s opening, in front of an audience that included local business executives, regional political dignitaries and members of the media. 

Sen. James Tedisco recalled his own brush with the cinema world as a young man, working in the wardrobe department during the filming of “The Way We Were.” The film,  starring Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand, was filmed in part in Ballston Spa and Schenectady in 1972. “I got fifty bucks a day,” Tedisco quipped.    

The Wilton movie theater had originally opened in October 2013 by Bow Tie Cinemas and closed during the early on-set of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

A return of movies in a mall might seem a challenging proposition of entertainment days-gone-by, but Masher – who also owns a cinema in Schenectady, said he believes in movie-going as a traditionally out-of-home American cultural experience. “And that’s not going to change,” he said, flanked by a cinema lobby with walls draped in the images of posterboard heroes – Ryan Gosling, Amy Winehouse, Emily Blunt, among them, collaborating with a visual variety depicting twisters, apes, ancient warriors, and next-generation robots.     

“I just came back from a week in Los Angeles where I was part of a coalition that met all of the heads of distribution from various studios, and we were assured the film calendar is packing-in for the rest of the year and that we would have exclusive product that would be as “In Theaters Only,” said Masher,  who grew up in Troy, worked several decades in the cinema theater industry in a variety of locations on the east coast. Now, he says, he has returned home to the region and has brought some members of “my old theater team” along with him.

“The theater is in fantastic shape and the mall has maintained it beautifully since its pandemic closure,” Masher said, adding that potential future plans include removing some of the rows in one of the theaters and inserting a stage where comedy shows and Open Mic nights can be held, as well as transforming a portion near the entryway into an authentic beer garden. 

“Scene One Cinemas fulfills one of the most requested uses from our guests and brings the former theater space in the food court back to life,” said Wilton Mall General Manager Mike Shaffer. 

The Wilton Mall has seen some large-scale changes in recent years, and more changes may soon be underway. In 2018 BonTon closed, followed two years later by the closure of Sears.  In 2020, Saratoga Hospital set up its medical offices in a repurposed vacant space previously occupied by Sears, and a potential project under discussion seeks to develop nearly 400 apartments alongside the mall.   

“I’m very excited with what’s going on at the Wilton Mall, particularly with the potential of the residential units coming in,” Masher said. The plan for that potential development continues to move through the town’s approval process. Developers will next stage a public appearance before the Wilton Town Board on April 4. 

The cinema screens movies every day. 

Thursday, 07 March 2024 14:35

Repaving Paid Parking in Saratoga Springs

SARATOGA SPRINGS — After floating a plan that proposed converting more than 1,300 on-street and nearly 800 garage parking spaces into either “permit” or “paid” spots for a five-month run starting in May, the city’s Department of Public Works announced it has made “streamlined adjustments in response to great stakeholder feedback.”

The announcement came two weeks after a presentation of the former proposal was made in front of more than 50 people, most of whom are downtown business owners, at City Hall. 

The new proposal suggests seasonal paid parking in garages and atop surface lots only, with all on-street parking to remain unchanged. 

Residents and business employees will be able to park in the garages and surface lots for free via a permit scheme – the process of which has yet to be detailed. 

The plan is also looking at a shorter timeframe compared to the initial May 1-Sept. 30 proposal. Implementation is now proposed for Memorial Day to Labor Day.

The DPW has stressed that its presentations are in the way of ideas and that the public has, and will continue to be able to weigh-in on any potential changes. 

It is anticipated a Public Hearing will take place regarding the seasonal parking plan during the April 2 City Council meeting.   

The department also said revenues generated from parking will go toward city services, the downtown corridor, and the parking facilities. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The City Council on March 5 unanimously adopted a resolution in favor of reducing the speed limit on a section of South Boadway opposite the Saratoga Spa State Park.    

The move follows the recommendations of the city Planning Board, which last month met with officials from the Tree House Brewing Company interested in siting a micro-production of alcohol and a new eating and drinking establishment on a 10-acre parcel at 3376 Route 9 (South Broadway). 

The resolution posted by the city did not detail the specific length of road that might be affected. Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll specified it would be on “by 3376 Route 9 South Broadway.” 

The anticipated increased pedestrian activity with the siting of the new business is deemed to warrant a reduction in the speed limit, from 55 mph to 40 mph.   

The city’s request, which will be submitted to the state Department of Transportation, asks that the DOT address several items.

“One is to reduce the speed limit, the other one is to address the crosswalk at the southern intersection of Crescent Avenue, and the third issue is to use the right-of-way to potentially expand sidewalks,” said Commissioner Coll.   

“We’re very much in favor of this,” said Mayor John Safford. 

Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran added that he had recent conversations with Saratoga Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) CEO Greg Connors related to the potential speed change. “He mentioned that its often very difficult to get some of these mileage reductions on some larger highways like that is, but Malta did some work and dropped theirs to 40,” said Commissioner Moran.

The South Broadway site is currently located an open field bounded by Saratoga Honda to the north and Homewood Suites to its south.   

The initial proposal for “Tree House Saratoga Springs” was presented to the city Land Use Boards last fall. Tree House Brewing Company was founded in 2011 and currently operates six facilities – five in Massachusetts and a farm in Connecticut. According to the company, it is the largest direct-to-consumer on-premises brewer in the country, and said the proposed project in Saratoga Springs will be their only expansion in New York. 

The land where Tree House would be located operated as Murphy’s Driving Range and Mini-Golf from 1945 to 2013. 

As initially proposed: the project space of approximately 10 acres would include four structures, a 22,680-square foot brewery and taproom building, outdoor pavilions, picnic tables, small gathering areas and walking paths.

Representing the Tree House Brewing Company at the Planning Board in February, attorney John Cannie noted that the square footage of the building had been reduced and a pavilion eliminated since the company’s original plans were filed with the city last year.

The company said it anticipates the siting of its venue in Saratoga would add more than 60 jobs of varying skill sets - production, restaurant and hospitality staff among them – and estimates its economic impact to the region as $30 to $40 million. 

SARATOGA COUNTY —A new redistricting of the Congressional Map will split Saratoga County into two voting districts – the 20th and 21st -when residents head to the polls to elect a representative in Congress in November.    

Currently, all of Saratoga County is in District 20, and represented by Democrat Paul Tonko.   

District 20 will remain in the bottom half of the county and include Saratoga Springs and most points south - Ballston Spa and Clifton Park among them.   

The northeastern part of the county – specifically the town of Saratoga where current 21st District Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik makes her home - as well as northern Saratoga County towns, will be part of the 21st District, currently represented by Stefanik. 

“I’m deeply disappointed to no longer serve as the Congressional Representative in Rensselaer County and Otsego County, part of Montgomery County, as well as parts of Jefferson County following the 2024 election,” Stefanik said, in a statement. “I look forward to representing the hardworking families, small businesses, farmers, veterans, and seniors in Saratoga County again and those in Oneida County.” 

To view an interactive map of Congressional District, go to: newyork.redistrictingandyou.org. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Cage The Elephant last appeared onstage at SPAC in 2019, performing a memorable set on a memorable summer night while on a co-headlining tour with Beck. Five years later, Cage the Elephant, or CTE as they are known in some circles, return Aug. 18 to headline their own gig at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. 

Scribbles from this reporter’s notebook that night: 

Singer Matt Shultz, blessed with a seemingly unlimited amount of boundless energy, led Cage The Elephant through an entertaining hourlong set - crawling, taunting and exhibiting Jagger-esque dance moves in a mashed-up fury of dayglo mesh cloths. Accompanied by a strip of eternal flames and a rotisserie of flashing lights turning stage spectacle to the spectacular - yellow smoke here, green laser beams and strobes-a-plenty there – and showcasing the band at their post-Pixies singalong best, bringing the crowd to a standing cheer. 

Schultz concluded the set by crowd-surfing to the outer reaches of the amphitheater while Queen’s “We Are The Champions” played over the house PA, emerging 15 minutes later as the house lights burned bright for the intermission changeover, stripped down to a pair of red gym shorts, strips of black Velcro across his upper torso, and wearing a nude bodysuit...

Cage The Elephant last week announced the band’s 45-date North American U.S. tour with its Aug. 18 Saratoga Springs stopover that will include Young The Giant & Bakar as special guests. The band’s sixth studio album, titled “Neon Pill,” will drop via RCA Records on May 17.

This week, Shultz made a public revelation via an Instagram post that he has been suffering through a mental health crisis during the past few years and spent two months in a hospital followed by months of outpatient treatment. He thanked those close to him for their support in helping him get to a better place. 

“It’s a miracle that I’m here today,” he wrote. “Over the last three years, I was unknowingly fighting my way through an utter mental health crisis. In a short time, I had slipped into psychosis due to an iatrogenic response to a medication I was prescribed. It took the love and support of my brothers in the band, my community, and, most of all, my wife Eva to get me through it. Eva stayed by my side, and she saved my life countless times. To say she is a warrior and a queen is an understatement,” Schultz wrote. 

“Her unwavering love coupled with professional treatment helped me to regain my grip on reality and fully recover. Along the way, I learned a lot of hard lessons, and I thank God I was able to come out on the other side. I’m humbled and grateful for the opportunity to write this message. I owe my life to God and the support system of friends, family, and Cage The Elephant. I’ll just say it now once again, because it needs to be said, ‘Thank you.’”

The new album finds the Kentucky-bred six-member CTE forging new musical ground, while maintaining their uncompromising creativity and wildly cathartic performances, according to advance press for “Neon Pill.” 

“Everything is undoubtedly expressed through having settled into finding our own voice,” Schultz said, in a statement.  “With this album, having gone through so much, life had almost forced us into becoming more and more comfortable with ourselves. We weren’t reaching for much outside of the pure experience of self-expression, and simultaneously not necessarily settling either. We just found a uniqueness in simply existing.”

Page 1 of 101

Blotter

  • New York State Police The New York State Police announced that it issued 5,576 tickets during this year’s St. Patrick’s Day enforcement initiative. The campaign began on Friday, March 15, and continued until Sunday, March 17. During the campaign, funded by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, State Police utilized sobriety checkpoints, additional DWI patrols, and underage drinking and sales to minors detail. State Police also ticketed distracted drivers who use handheld electronic devices. State Troopers arrested 132 people for DWI and investigated 199 crashes, which resulted in 25 people being injured and no fatalities. As part of the enforcement, Troopers also…

Property Transactions

  • BALLSTON Heather DiCaprio sold property at 473 Garrett Rd to Justine Levine for $288,000 Sharon Willman sold property at 99 Jenkins Rd to Charles Lemley for $165,000 CORINTH George Montena sold property at 422 Oak St to Stephen James for $142,250 Mark Makler sold property at 313 Oak St to Sabrina Sinagra for $195,000 GREENFIELD Landlord Services of Upstate New York sold property at 1935 NYS Rt 9N to Cochise Properties LLC for $210,000 MALTA  Linda LaBarge sold property at 35 Snowberry Rd to Qu Haozheng for $270,000 Dennis Mitchell sold property at 60 Village Circle North to BGRS Relocation…
  • NYPA
  • Saratoga County Chamber
  • BBB Accredited Business
  • Discover Saratoga
  • Saratoga Springs Downtown Business Association