In the Yaddo Gardens, the artists colony unveiled its free lending library for kids and young adult readers on Aug. 9, 2023. Photo by Thomas Dimopoulos.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Yaddo unveiled its new lending library in the Yaddo Gardens on Aug. 9, among a group of children present and a classical quintet performing “Here Comes The Sun.”
The free library offers books for children and young adults.
“All of us who love and support the arts know that the cultivation of the next generation of readers, theater goers, art and music lovers, movie buffs, depends on us and what we do to captivate our young,” said Yaddo President Elaina Richardson. “This library is a wonderful addition to our Gardens and extends our support to young readers and Saratoga students.”
The project received the support of Stewart’s Shops. “The encouragement of reading and creativity is key to the health of young minds,” Stewart’s Foundation President Susan Dake said in a statement.
The Yaddo Reads Lending Library will be available for the rest of the season during Garden Open Hours: Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. as well as Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (closed Fridays) through Oct. 15.
Built from sustainable materials (recycled milk jugs), the Yaddo Reads Lending Library is element- and pest-resistant and will feature new books for children to read at their own pace, borrow, and return. Yaddo will replenish the book supply such that the program is inclusive and equitable to all who use this as a creative resource.
BALLSTON SPA — The Saratoga County Public Safety Committee unanimously approved a measure this month that recommends a cooperative agreement be inked with Washington, Warren, Fulton and Montgomery counties to share tactical team personnel, equipment and resources.
The five county sheriff’s offices have experienced a need for sharing resources or general police back-up within their jurisdictions during which a joint response would be the most effective way to deal with certain criminal cases, scenes and investigations, according to the resolution.
The agreement between the five counties would create a cooperative contract and codify what has previously conducted joint services on a “handshake” basis. The agreement would see the sharing of “Sheriff’s Office personnel, equipment and resources.”
The proposed intermunicipal agreement is anticipated to be among the agenda items at the Board of Supervisors monthly meeting on Aug. 15.
Hippie Bus. Bob Grimm (left) and “Dr. Bob” (at right) in front of the VW “Light” Bus, during a conversation at the Saratoga Automobile Museum Aug. 9, 2023. Photo by Thomas Dimopoulos.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — “What is the overall message of the bus?” Dr. Bob Hieronimus asked the crowd of a few dozen who had gathered at the Saratoga Automobile Museum Aug. 9 for a meet-and-greet.
“We are one people. On one planet. And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden,” he said.
Robert R. Hieronimus, Ph.D. – AKA “Dr. Bob” – artist, author, and radio host, hails from Baltimore where he has painted more than 40 symbolic murals and dozens of painted Artcars.
In the late 1960s he traveled with several rock bands to share information about mysticism, and designed posters and album covers. His doctoral research on American symbolism has been used by the White House, State Department, and Department of the Interior, as well as being turned into popular books, Founding Fathers, Secret Societies and United Symbolism of America.
The “Light” Bus, renowned for its intricate symbolic artwork, holds a special place for music enthusiasts and history buffs as an emblem of the 1960s era, drawing a connection between music, culture, and automobiles.
Dr. Bob was joined by Bob Grimm, as well as the bus itself, for the talk at the auto museum. Grimm was a member of the band “Light,” which the bus is named after, and made the pilgrimage to Woodstock in the Summer of 1969 where the story of the bus takes place.
Properly identified licensed taxicabs in Saratoga Springs.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Be aware of the vehicle you’re entering.
The city issued the warning for summer visitors and year-round visitors alike after becoming aware of unlicensed, fake Uber and Lyft drivers picking up passengers from popular locations around Saratoga Springs.
“We strongly urge visitors and residents to verify the status of any vehicle they use,” said city Mayor Ron Kim, identifying Caroline Street, Siro’s and other popular venues near the racetrack as specific places where unauthorized vehicles are setting up shop – including some which have posted fake Uber signs in their cars and phony taxi markings on the top of their vehicles. “Essentially these individuals are people who slap something on their car and then pick up riders,” he said.
Those authorized to transport people include registered and licensed passenger services.
“Taxi drivers are required to maintain a current and valid Class E or CDL New York State Driver’s License,” said Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran. “Through the taxi licensing process, the city checks criminal histories, arrest records, driving records, warrant information, and enrolls taxi drivers in the NYS License Event Notification Service (LENS) program – so that if something happens, we find out about that individual and flag them or remove them from the road.
“Recently I had the opportunity to do an overnight shift with the police department and one of the issues they brought to my attention was: an overabundance of what I would call Gypsy Cabs, or unlicensed operators of taxi cabs,” Moran said. “The primary issue is public safety. People pretend to be a cab, yet they have no background checks, they have no insurance we know of. That’s a very dangerous situation. We don’t know who they are, and we don’t know where you could wind up. It is absolutely vital that you understand that you’re putting yourself at great risk.”
How to Recognize
Legit Services
There are certain clear signs that you’re in a legitimate taxicab. A licensed taxicab in Saratoga Springs is properly identified on the top and on its side with required signage and carries a medallion sticker. The 2023 medallion is maroon in color. Additionally, a ‘Taxi Passenger’s Bill of Rights’ must be prominently posted in each taxicab that does business with the city.
While ride shares like Uber and Lyft are not licensed by the city of Saratoga Springs, they are still legal operators as long as they’re registered with the rideshare company. As independent operators, drivers must follow the Uber and Lyft rules and regulations and passengers can verify both the vehicle and driver and establish a pick-up location.
“Rideshares Uber and Lyft are legal operators and sanctioned by state law,” Moran said. “They carry insurance in excess of what we require as a local municipality and there is direct engagement between an individual in your car when you’re getting a ride. You’re not handing money through a window and handing it to a driver. You shouldn’t be getting into a car if it’s not a direct assignment through a rideshare app, or if it’s not a taxicab that’s properly queued in front of a place, and properly marked.”
The Riggi Mansion, located at 637 North Broadway, captured in 2021. A pair of signs reading “Attenti al Cani” – attention/beware of the dog, at the entryway gates. Photo by Thomas Dimopoulos.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — A project under consideration at the city’s Land Use Boards will see the demolition of a single-story building on Church Street to be replaced with a five-story building standing 61 feet tall that will house 23 condominium units and first-floor commercial space.
The existing brick structure at 78 Church St. currently houses the floor covering store Torrells Carpetland and was built between 1909 and 1926, according to the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation. SSPF last week sent a letter to the city to say it does not object to the building’s proposed demolition.
The project applicant is SpringCity Development Group – a development arm of Bonacio Construction.
Palazzo Riggi Goes Up for Auction Next Month
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The 20,000-plus square foot mansion on North Broadway known as “Palazzo Riggi” will go up for auction on Sept. 8. The list price is $12 million, nearly $6 million less than the $17.9 million price when the 6-bedroom, 7-full and 6-half bath home first hit the market last September at $17.9 million.
Owned by Michele Riggi, the mansion, built in 2003, includes two custom kitchens, four fireplaces, an elevator, home theater, personal fitness room with steam shower, and a bowling alley. There are 12 rooms in all regarding the Luxury Collection auction, as posted by listing agent Berkshire Hathaway Adirondack Premier Properties.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — With its work completed, the Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness is expected to provide a report to the City Council in early September, Saratoga Springs Mayor Ron Kim said this week.
The ad hoc group was formed earlier this year to target solutions regarding a permanently placed 24/7 homeless shelter in the city.
“They did a lot of great work – they recommended the site, they recommended an RFP for us to consider, they’ve recommended financing options,” Mayor Kim said. “There’s a lot of story to tell.”
During its meeting Aug. 1, the City Council unanimously approved, by a 5-0 vote, a Local Law to set a 1,000-foot minimum distance between a homeless shelter and any primary or secondary educational facility. That 1,000-foot buffer would apply to daycare centers, provided those centers are part of a school.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — During its meeting on Aug. 1, the City Council approved a long-debated ordinance prohibiting intoxication or impairment by alcohol or drugs in a public place when in possession of a firearm.
The measure passed by a 3-2 vote. Commissioners Dillon Moran and Jason Golub, who each voted against the proposal, expressing general agreement with a majority of the ordinance’s components, but took issue with certain aspects of it.
“I think it’s a great idea as a piggy-back onto another offense – If someone is arrested for assault and you have reasonable suspicion that you can now search them for firearms or give them a breathalyzer,” Golub told the council. “But, to expect the police to identify those who are both drunk and carrying a firearm independent of another violation is a near-impossible exercise unless you want to violate people’s civil rights,” he said. “That’s my biggest concern.”
According to the ordinance, “intoxicated” and/or “impaired” is as defined by State Vehicle and Traffic Law.
“The tile work which we performed could only be compared in extent and quality with that found in such places as Newport, R.I. or Hollywood, California where price was of secondary consideration. The objective for the entire house and grounds was it be the finest that could be produced. The first consideration was always quality.”
– Excerpt of a letter written by J. Francis Purdy, of the J. Francis Purdy tile and marble company of Albany, to J.B. White, J.B. Realty of Saratoga Springs, Sept. 14, 1951.
photo provided
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Strands of rope and twisted wire span the metal gates and stone entryway stations of the Ballston Avenue estate. A pair of ornate lamps peek streetside across the busy Route 50 thoroughfare where motor vehicles speed on by. A large marquee standing tall atop all of it spells out the most recent use of the property: Villa Balsamo – Restaurant, Cocktail Lounge.
The property, which measures 14 acres in all and features natural ponds, sites a nine-bedroom, six-bathroom mansion set back approximately 350 feet from the road. In its near-century of existence, the 10,240 square-foot structure has served a small handful of owners and has functioned as a private home and as a public restaurant. A return as either one of those options is possible in the future.
“It’s waiting for its next owner and occupant,” says Patrick Gibson of the Diehl Done Team at Keller Williams. The property is listed at $4.3 million.
Floyd J. Shutts, a bank manager-turned-knitting-business-wholesaler, purchased the land in 1927 and reportedly invested a half million early 20th-century dollars to build his 15-room mansion two years later. Following his death – Shutts’ was buried at Ballston Spa Village Cemetery in 1934 – the estate was purchased in turn by restaurateur Gerald King (during whose ownership in the 1960s Bing Crosby was among the visitors, vintage scribes insist), and by Schenectady businessman Chester Hotaling – who turned it into the Chester House restaurant.
At some point in the mid-20th century, Saratoga Springs realtor J.B. White, whose offices were at 100 Broadway, sought to put the property up for sale and apparently reached out to the J. Francis Purdy Co. of Albany for detailed information about the work Purdy had conducted during the initial development of the mansion. The historical files of the Saratoga Room in the Saratoga Springs Public Library provide a copy of the letter response penned by J. Francis Purdy to J. B. White dated September 14, 1951.
“In reply to your letter of the 12th regarding the Shutts estate on Saratoga-Ballston Road – the tile work which we performed for Mr. Shutts in his home could only be compared in extent and quality with that found in such places as Newport, R.I., or Hollywood, California where price was of secondary consideration,” the letter reads.
The tile used in the master bathroom “were of the most expensive produced,” Purdy writes, and “the tile work in the other bathrooms, solarium, game room, kitchen, halls, pavement over garage, etc., represented the best that our industry could produce according to the standards of 1929.”
Purdy concludes: “It was a sad development that Mr. Shutts did not live long to enjoy with his family the beautiful home and grounds he developed.”
An undated advert regarding “The King Shutts Estate” indicates the property would to be shown only through appointment by J.B. White. Price for the complete property: $85,000.
In the mid-1970s, the property was purchased by Joseph Balsamo. Balsamo came to America in 1950 from Sorrento, Italy, served in the Merchant Marine, and was reportedly part-owner of a restaurant in Queens that stood half a mile north of Kennedy International Airport and half a mile east of Aqueduct Racetrack.
“When he saw this place, it took him a year of driving up here from Brooklyn once a week and waiting for the owner to come out to collect his mail,” Ralphie Balsamo told Saratoga TODAY regarding his father’s efforts to purchase the estate.
The persistence paid off. Joseph Balsamo, who died in 2018, successfully convinced the owner to sell, and soon after Villa Balsamo began its offering as a restaurant, showcasing the culinary talents of the family’s Southern Napolitan cooking.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The city’s Land Use Boards are considering a proposal for a Special Use permit that would site a private social club for businesspersons just west of Broadway, on Woodlawn Ave.
The approval is sought at 118 and 121-125 Woodlawn Ave. in connection with two parcels that measure .14 acres and .23 acres, respectively.
The applicant is seeking to use 118 as a private/social club for businesspersons to be operated by a not-for-profit entity, with 121-125 Woodlawn to serve as off-street parking for club members, according to documents first submitted to the city in June. Saratoga TODAY first reported on the venture on June 15.
The club is anticipated to operate 8 a.m. – 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 8 a.m. – 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and provide light meals and bar service for its approximately 200 members. No amplified music will be allowed. The club will serve as a place for its members to conduct meetings, as well as a place for members “to relax and unwind after a day at the office,” according to documents filed with the city.
The building at 118 is located on the corner of Woodlawn Avenue and Van Dam Street, just west of the convergence of Broadway/Route 9 and the Saratoga Hilton. For more than a century, the property was owned by various religious operations and operated as a religious house of worship,
The existing gravel lot at 122-125 would be upgraded and consist of 22 parking spaces.
The initial director, founder and organizer of the club will be Lisa Moser – co-founder with husband Robert of Prime Construction. Membership to the club will include an application process for membership, annual dues and an initiation fee upon acceptance.
The city Planning Board is anticipated to discuss the proposal at its workshop on Aug. 3.
Could this be the future home of a permanent homeless shelter? A view facing west from a vacant lot on Lake Avenue/ State Route 29 selected as a primary location by the Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness. Photo by Thomas Dimopoulos.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness has identified a 3.7-acre lot on Lake Avenue/ State Route 29 as its primary selection to site a permanent homeless shelter.
The vacant lot is listed for sale at $800,000 and is located between the Northway overpass and a Stewart’s Shop near Weibel Avenue.
The Task Force was formed In February 2023 and charged with locating a potential permanent site for a homeless shelter and navigation center by July to recommend to the City Council. The ad hoc group began with evaluating some two dozen potential sites across the city. They concluded with their vote of recommended locations on July 20.
Alternative sites that ranked highly included a parcel at 153 South Broadway – property that stands in close proximity to two temporary shelters, although the owner is reluctant to sell that property according to Task Force discussions; 1.6 acres at 3290 Route 9 / Top Hill motel with a sale price listed at $1.9 million; a 1-acre property at North and East Ave for sale at $1 million, and 260 Maple Ave./ Gateway Motel, which extends to 1.5 acres, potential purchase price not known.
Each venue offers some set of challenges – from Land Use Board review to area variances required (although the latter would seem unnecessary were the city to outright purchase the property), proximity or lack thereof to venues currently providing social services, access to public transportation, and, given the track record of previous attempts made: opposition from some area residents when a site is ultimately selected.
The discussions will now move to the Saratoga Springs City Council, which next meets at City Hall on Tuesday, Aug. 1.
There is still much to be discussed and funding sources to be evaluated, including what level of support may be provided by the county.
Relative to the preferred site on- Route 29: the location is not in close proximity to social services, and there is no current bus stop allocated – although one may be advocated for via CDTA, the ad hoc board surmised. The site would ultimately need a use variance from the ZBA, as well as subsequent Site Plan approval from the Planning Board and County Planning Board review. The Stewart’s Shop, located at Gilbert Road and Lake Avenue is anticipated to soon undergo a 2,500 square-foot to 4,100 square-foot expansion.
