SARATOGA SPRINGS — The City Council this week set a Public Hearing regarding efforts to change its bar and restaurant closing times from 4 a.m. to 2 a.m. The 15-minute Public Hearing will take place in advance of the council’s next regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 6.
Through different administrations over the course of the past several years, the city has attempted to install earlier an earlier closing time for its downtown bars, but ultimately the county must agree for the city to be able to do so.
To the latter point, the council unanimously approved a formal letter be sent to the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors requesting prohibition of sales of alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption after 2 a.m.
“I think this is a step that we need to make, but we need to be prepared to do more, because I don’t think it’s going to be recognized,” said city Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran. Saratoga Springs Mayor Ron Kim agreed. “We need to leave no stone unturned in how we deal with the issues Caroline Street presents to us. Unfortunately, I don’t think the county will do this, but, yes, we need to send the letter,” said Mayor Kim.
The portion the city is requesting be changed refers to Section 17.11 of the state’s Alcohol Beverage Control Law, which states that any potential change made to restrict the hours of sale of alcoholic beverages by the state Liquor Authority must first come in the form a resolution adopted by the county board of supervisors.
RISE presentation at City Hall Nov. 15, 2022 depicting impact of the Community Court.
SARATOGA SPRINGS —In 2020, the city found itself faced with a problem.
An increasing pattern of people experiencing street-homelessness were frequently failing to appear in court, while others were re-offending shortly after being convicted. The result was a backlog of warrants and a significant amount of law enforcement time and resources spent policing individuals experiencing street-homelessness for minor, yet disruptive, offenses.
A collaborative effort between the Saratoga Springs Mayor’s Office, City Court Judge Francine Vero and RISE Housing and Support Services assisted in the design of a Community Outreach Court. Two years later, the program is showing signs of success.
“Before the court, people who were homeless and getting citations were just not showing up. The dockets were backlogged, and no one was getting the help they needed,” RISE Executive Director Sybil Newell explained last week, during the organization’s annual update to the City Council. “Since October 2020, the RISE Outreach Court Team has been present at every session, and 60 individuals have participated; 77% have appeared at all court dates versus 0% prior to this program being active.”
The post-discharge results point to 14 people who have graduated and remained arrest free for six months; 9 who ended up in jail and served their sentences; 6 hospitalized psychiatrically and 3 who entered into rehab programs, Newell said. “I consider the hospitalizations and entering into rehab programs to be successful, because that’s where they needed to be at that time.”
Additionally, 70% of the people involved in the program complied with all their court orders, and 78% have maintained contact with RISE Housing & Support Service. The housing agency sites its main offices on Union Avenue and is tasked with providing safe, healthy housing and support services to people with mental health concerns, substance use, and other life challenges.
The Community Outreach Court in Saratoga Springs, initiated in October 2020, stands as the only outreach court in upstate New York.
Francine Vero serves as judge for the Saratoga Springs City Court, as well as judge of the Outreach Court. Vero provided a statement to the city in conjunction with the annual report.
“When I took office, I was dismayed by the number of individuals suffering from homelessness charged with offenses who failed to appear in City Court when directed and re-offended shortly after being convicted. It was evident this ‘revolving door approach’ to court proceedings was ineffective,” Vero wrote.
With the formation of the Community Outreach Court in late 2020 anyone charged with a non-violent offense and lacking a stable residence was connected with a RISE coordinator after arraignment. That person was subsequently connected with social services they were in need of. Transportation was also provided to court appearances, treatment appointments and psychological evaluations.
“They work with individuals while they are incarcerated, setting them up for success with the treatment and housing plans for when they are released from jail,” the judge wrote. “The Community Outreach Court has proven to benefit the community and improve the lives of the participants.”
Officials call it a dignified and research-based approach to working with people experiencing homelessness, improving the quality of life within the community, as well as resulting in administrative cost benefits by decongesting court dockets and reducing the amount of time the police department spends responding to calls and arrests.
“As we all know, the Woodland parking garage is still quite a situation – but of the individuals going through the Community Outreach Court: it is effective, and they are staying away from that parking garage,” Newell told the council. “In terms of overall impact, of the people who have gone through this court program, 90% of them have avoided the Woodlawn parking garage, 72% have remained arrest and conviction free, and 66% have refrained from substance abuse. This is information that we get from the police and the courts,“ she said.
“The situation at the garage was exacerbated over the summer when the encampment in the woods was emptied out. So, that’s mainly what is driving the (activity) at the parking garage; they were kicked out of the encampment in the woods and there’s no place else to go just yet,” she said. “We are working on some housing for them.”
Congressman Paul Tonko visits Lyrical Ballad bookstore on Phila Street in Saratoga Springs on Nov. 21, 2022, in support of Small Business Saturday. Photo by Thomas Dimopoulos.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Fifty-one years running and a collection of 200,000 books stand to greet those who who journey to Lyrical Ballad bookstore on Phila Street.
Here, what begins with the first step of an innocent stroll leads to a sequence of new encounters, one room into another, deep and deeper still. Innumerable entryways sink into a labyrinth of characters and events. Things to be learned. Dreams to be launched. It is everything the mind can conjure and a few it never before imagined.
Here is where Congressman Paul Tonko chose to visit this week during a multi-county regional tour to highlight and promote the upcoming Small Business Saturday events this weekend.
“I think of small businesses as the economic engine of our economy,” Tonko said.
“They have a vibrant offering and (provide) an opportunity for the community. Their economic impact is three times greater than that of our chain stores, so we have to be very sensitive to their needs and concerns,” said the congressman while standing framed by rows of leatherbound editions boasting the writings of Henry James, Gustave Flaubert, Balzac, Chekhov, and Thackeray.
“Many small businesses struggled through COVID, and so I also want to hear if they participated in any of the COVID programming, how that worked. We came through a once-in-a-century public health crisis and economic crisis, (which) caused a global inflation. We just want to make sure everybody is strong and steady as we move forward so that they can contribute to the whole economic picture.”
Small Business Saturday – Saturday, Nov. 26, 2022 – is promoted as a day to celebrate and support small businesses and all they do for their communities. It was initially created in 2010 by American Express on the Saturday after Thanksgiving to encourage people to Shop Small and bring more holiday shopping to small businesses. In 2011, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution in support of the day.
Lyrical Ballad bookstore was founded by John DeMarco in September 1971. He died in 2019 and two years later DeMarco’s wife Janice sold the bookshop to Charlie Israel and Jason Zerrillo – the latter of whom worked at the shop for more than decade.
“We bought the business because we love the business, and so we don’t want to change it too dramatically “ said Israel, who grew up across the street from Congress Park and remembers spending his allowance money at the shop when he was a kid.
“I don’t want to change this place. It’s part of what makes Saratoga special. You know, I talk to people who are in their 60s now who tell us they used to come here when they went to Skidmore,” he said.
“It’s been a part of the community for a long time and was an anchor when it took a little bit of vision to invest in downtown Saratoga. John (DeMarco) and a few other visionary business people took that on, and that brought Saratoga back from the brink, and I’m eternally grateful to him for that,” said Israel, adding that the notion of the electronic age displacing physical media such as books, has been exaggerated.
“The question hanging in the air is: how is the digital age affecting businesses such as ours? And the answer is: Not as much as you’d think,” Israel said. “We’ve been here 50 years we fully intend to be here for another 50.”
“I like the personalized impact that small business brings. You know, you walk in and you see Charles, or you see Jay – there’s a relationship that develops. And those relationships are important. It builds community,” said Tonko, who couldn’t see his way out of the bookshop without making a handful of purchases – a two-volume set about the Civil War and a book about horse racing, among them.
“We want to bring an awareness of the importance of small businesses and learn what we can do to further sustain them, and enable them to grow,” he said.
Video capture from city camera at 3:03 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 20, 2022 depicting officers on the west side of Broadway near Caroline Street tending to scene of weekend shooting. Snapshot of a 2-minute video officially released by the city on Nov. 20. A 26-second video from an officer’s body cam was also released.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — An early Sunday morning altercation turned into an exchange of gunfire that spilled onto Broadway and ultimately resulted in approximately 20 shots being fired.
The 3 a.m. incident believed to have begun as a verbal dispute at a bar on Caroline Street between an off-duty Sheriff’s Deputy from Vermont and “a group of individuals from the Utica area,” Public Safety Commissioner Jim Montagnino said, accelerated as the altercation moved west to Broadway with approximately 8 shots being fired. City police officers responding to the incident fired approximately 11 shots after the off-duty deputy allegedly ignored calls to drop his weapon. The incident marks the first discharge of a weapon in the line of duty by a Saratoga Springs officer in more than a quarter-century.
During the initial dispute, the Vermont deputy was physically attacked by at least three people, Montagnino said, during a press conference staged at City Hall Sunday, less than 12 hours after the incident had occurred.
The Vermont man gathered himself at some point during the attack and by “apparently by moving his jacket back, showed the other individuals that he was armed. One of the other individuals then draws a handgun, points it in the direction of the deputy and then apparently begins to fire,” Montagnino said.
Officers responded to the scene.
“What they see is the Vermont sheriff’s deputy, standing on the sidewalk, his gun leveled and moving from side-to-side pointing the gun,” the commissioner said. “The officers repeatedly, loudly direct the deputy, “Drop the gun, get on the ground,’ again, again and again. By my count there are at least eight separate clear unequivocal demands to put the gun down and get on the ground. They are all ignored.”
Three city officers fired a total of approximately 11 shots. The Vermont man suffered a number of wounds. A woman believed to be the Vermont man’s girlfriend was “nicked by one of the bullets in her upper arm.” The man is reportedly in stable condition at Albany Med.
The Vermont man, Vito Caselnova IV, is a Rutland County deputy who has been on the force since April 2019, first reported by WNYT NewsChannel 13. A native of Glens Falls, he graduated from Glens Falls High School in 2016 and school at The College of Saint Rose.
“None of our officers were harmed. That’s something we can all certainly be happy about,” said Mayor Ron Kim.
State police are conducting an investigation into the incident and Broadway was closed from Lake Avenue to Division Street for the majority of the day on Sunday.
“This is the first time in 26 years a (city) officer has discharged a firearm in the line of duty,” Montagnino said. There have been no immediate arrests made in connection with the incident.
New, Reimagined Weekend Stages in Saratoga Springs Dec. 1-4
Mr. Claus inside his cottage on Broadway. Photo by Thomas Dimopoulos
SARATOGA SPRINGS —A reimagined Victorian Streetwalk will take place over a four-day span in Saratoga Springs from Dec. 1-4.
Broadway will close to traffic on from 6-9 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1 for a Tree Lighting Ceremony. Additional festivities, caroling and other music is scheduled to take place 5-8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 2 and Saturday Dec. 3, and Noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 4.
Santa and Mrs. Claus will be in their Broadway cottage, and Saratoga Downtown Business Association has announced live musical performances will include Madison Vandenburg – the singer from the Capital Region who garnered national attention during her 2019 appearance on the American Idol TV show.
Victorian Streetwalk Weekend Festivities will run through Sunday, Dec. 4.
The 9th Annual Convoy for Tots was held across Saratoga on Sunday Nov. 13, 2022. Photo by Super Source Media Studios.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — More than 100 vehicles from area businesses, civic organizations and emergency services agencies journeyed from the Ballston Spa middle school/high school campus to Saratoga Performing Arts Center Nov. 13 in a convoy to help generate new, unwrapped toys for immediate distribution by Capital Region Toys for Tots this holiday season.
Coordinated by the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office and iHeart Media – Albany, largely supported by Saratoga First Responders, Convoy for Tots is held annually to support the mission of Capital Region Toys for Tots. An estimated 9,000 to 10,000 toys were secured during the 9th annual event on Nov. 13.
The organization serves more than 160,000 children annually in the Capital Region, and the Nov. 13 event marked the ninth annual convoy. The eight previous events have resulted in over 100,000 toys donated for distribution in the Capital Region.
BALLSTON SPA — In September, Saratoga County began offering clinics for seniors regarding updated COVID-19 vaccine boosters.
The boosters – called a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine – include components of the original virus strain and the Omicron variant and are designed to provide better protection against the Omicron variant, according to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.
Saratoga County Health Services Commissioner Dr. Daniel Kuhles recently provided the county’s Health and Human Services Committee with an update regarding the status of the vaccination clinics.
“On the bivalent COVID vaccine initiative, we’ve been focused on our seniors, who can either register online or call our call center,” Kuhles said. “We’ve had clinics almost every day since September.” Most recently, the county staged Moderna Bivalent Booster Clinics at the county Public Safety Building in Ballston Spa, and Pfizer Bivalent Booster Clinics at Galway Town Hall and at Mechanicville Senior Center.
Comparatively speaking about 7.3% of the US population and 8.5% of the population in New York State has received a bivalent booster, Kuhles said. “In Saratoga County, it’s 13.56 % and 35% of seniors. So, while the overall interest across the nation is low, we continue to outperform the nation and the state.”
Appointments are required, and information may be found via the county website at saratogacounty.ny.org. The county clinics restrict the bivalent vaccine to seniors. For all others, boosters offered at pharmacies and other locations may be found via the CDC (search at: vaccines.gov, or call 1-,./ 800-232-02330).
New Yorkers ages 5 and older are eligible for a Pfizer-BioNTech bivalent booster dose and New Yorkers ages 6 and older are eligible for a Moderna bivalent booster dose.
The middle of November has, over the past two years, traditionally been the start of a major regional spike in COVID infection, according to state reports.
Nov. 12, 2020 marked the first fall time surge as the Saratoga County 7-day average infection rate topped 20 cases per 100,000 – peaking at 82 in January – and staying above 20 until April 26, 2021.
A similar fall surge took place last year, climbing above 20 per 100,000 on Nov. 5, 2021, peaking at 380 in January, and staying above 20 through Feb. 15, 2022. Since April, the weekly average has fluctuated little, maintaining an approximate 20 cases per 100,000 rate of infection. Those numbers, sourced via the NYSDOH database, do not include self-administered home tests.
Overall, there have been 2,262 hospitalizations and 376 deaths of county residents since 2020, according to Saratoga County’s Department of Health COVID Surveillance data.
Of those hospitalized: 304 were vaccinated and up-to-date with booster recommendations, 608 were vaccinated but not up-to-date with booster recommendations, and 1,350 were not vaccinated.
Regarding deaths: 39 were vaccinated and up-to-date with booster recommendations, 73 were vaccinated but not up-to-date with booster recommendations, and 264 were not vaccinated.
For more information on county government matters, go to: saratogacountyny.gov.
Neil Young in the studio, from “Harvest Time.” Photo by Joel Bernstein.
While recording his album “Harvest” during a nine-month period in 1971, Neil Young was accompanied by a camera capturing moving images and some of the sounds.
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the album’s release, captured footage from Northern California, London, and Nashville are being turned into an exclusive cinema event on Dec. 1.
“We’re just making a film about, I don’t know, just the things we want to film,” a 20-something Neil Young explains in a preview trailer, while walking along a path at Broken Arrow Ranch in California in 1971.
“Neil Young: Harvest Time” will be presented in movie theaters worldwide on Thursday, Dec. 1 with select encores on Sunday, Dec. 4.
The film depicts the “Harvest Barn” sessions, as well as an iconic performance with the London Symphony Orchestra, and sessions in Nashville. Performance and rehearsal content is intertwined into the storytelling and includes most of the tracks from the 1972 album ‘Harvest,’ including “Heart of Gold,” “A Man Needs A Maid,” “Alabama,” and “Old Man.”
“This is a big album for me. 50 years ago. I was 24, maybe 23 and this album made a big difference in my life,” Young said in a statement. “I played with some great friends and it’s really cool that that this album has lasted so long. I had a great time and now when I listen to it, I think I was really just lucky to be there. I hope you enjoy this story, which is ‘Harvest Time,’ and which talks about everything that happened. And now people all around the world can see it at the movies.”
A 50th Anniversary Edition Harvest Box Set will also be issued on Vinyl and CD which includes the original album, three studio outtakes on CD/7” vinyl, an unreleased live 1971 BBC solo performance on CD/LP and DVD, and a hardbound book and fold-out poster.
Visit NeilYoungHarvestTime.com for ticketing and the most up-to-date information about participating theaters.
Robert Burke Warren will discuss his new book “Cash on Cash” with Chuck “Rochmon Record Club” Vosganian at Northshire Bookstore.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Robert Burke Warren will discuss his new book “Cash on Cash: Interviews and Encounters with Johnny Cash,” with Chuck “Rochmon Record Club” Vosganian at Northshire Bookstore this week.
The event takes place at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 16.
Music has played a major role in Warren’s personal life and his career has included stints with RuPaul – “the singer of my first band, when I was 17. He was 20,” Warren recalls, The Fleshtones, and auditions for the B-52s and The Ramones. In 2016, he published his debut novel “Perfectly Broken” – a splendidly entertaining volume of words he synopsisized to this journalist as “Musicians in love, musicians behaving badly—and the people that love them.” In January, he co-hosts the David Bowie Birthday Bash in Manhattan.
“Cash on Cash,” published by Chicago Review Press in September, offers unprecedented insight into one of the most significant American cultural figures of the 20th century.
As an interviewee, Cash was an exemplary communicator to an astonishingly broad spectrum of people: always open and articulate, part friend, part spiritual authority, part flawed hero. Throughout a decades-long career, as Cash took risks, embracing new technologies, formats, and attitudes, he cleaved to a simple, core message of unvarnished truth.
Cash’s story, told in his own words, shines unfiltered light on a journey of archetypal proportions that resonates still in this comprehensive collection of interviews and feature stories, some widely published and others never previously transcribed, culled from the 1950s through the early days of the new millennium.
“Cash on Cash” is available at Northshire Saratoga. The bookstore is located at 424 Broadway in Saratoga Springs. Call 518-682-4200, visit: northshire.com.
Republican N.Y. State Sen. James Tedisco, elected to 44th Senate District. Photo provided.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Despite a changing electorate, an increase in population, and a redrawing of district boundaries, Saratoga voters this week elected to largely maintain the present state of affairs when choosing their political leaders.
Congressman Paul Tonko, Assemblypersons Mary Beth Walsh and Carrie Woerner, and county district attorney Karen Heggen were each reelected to new terms, and when it came to selecting a state senator for the new all-encompassing county district, it was the familiar name of James Tedisco which Saratoga voters chose.
There were, however, major diversions in some key races among Saratoga County voters when compared to the selections of the majority in the rest of the state.
There are approximately 173,500 registered voters in Saratoga County, according to the NYS Board of Elections most recent report of Nov. 1. Approximately 36% are registered Republicans, 29.6% registered Democrats, 27.2% are independent of any party, and the remaining 7.2% are comprised of registered third-party voters.
In these midterm elections, nearly 100,000 Saratoga voters cast their ballots countywide, representing over 56% of Saratoga County’s 173,500 active registered voters.
NY Senate District 44
More than 120,000 votes were counted, nearly 100,000 of them from Saratoga County in the newly redrawn 44th Senate District, which includes all of Saratoga County and part of Schenectady.
Republican James Tedisco emerged victorious securing 56% of the vote, compared to the 42% garnered by Democrat Michelle Ostrelich.
Ostrelich joined other party members Tuesday evening at The Inn at Saratoga on Broadway, where Democrats had gathered. Post-election, Ostrelich said she will continue to serve in her current capacity as a Schenectady County Legislator.
Tedisco meanwhile joined fellow county Republicans on Election Night at Vapor. The club is flanked by a this-century-constructed gambling facility with video lottery terminals and more than 1,000 slots, and a near century old harness racing track where sulky drivers are pulled across the half-mile dirt oval by horses eleven months of the year.
Tedisco was first elected to represent the 49th State Senate District – which includes parts of Saratoga, in 2016, and previously served in the New York State Assembly from 1983-2016. Tedisco, who represented the 49th district, decided to run in District 44 after the state’s redistricting process took shape earlier this year. The move drew criticism from Sen. Daphne Jordan of the 43rd district, who contended she had the rightful geographic claim to the new district, according to WAMC. Jordan subsequently announced she would not actively run.
House of Representatives
Once every decade, geographic boundaries regarding candidate representation are redrawn. Earlier this year, congressional redistricting placed all of Saratoga County into District 20, alongside Albany and Schenectady counties, and parts of Rensselaer.
In CD 20, Democrat incumbent Paul Tonko beat Republican challenger Elizabeth Joy 54% to 45%, with a victorious district-wide margin of approximately 27,000 votes. It is a contest the two candidates had staged previously; in 2020, Tonko defeated Joy by a near 20-point margin of victory.
Tonko was victorious among voters in Albany, Schenectady and Rensselaer. Saratoga voters favored Joy 53% to 47%, a difference of just over 6,000 votes. Republican incumbent Congresswoman Elise Stefanik had represented a portion of Saratoga in previous elections. The newly redrawn Congressional District 21 covers areas east, west and north of CD 20 where Stefanik defeated Democrat challenger Matt Castelli by a near 20-point margin of victory.
Republican Walsh, Democrat Woerner Re-Elected to NY Assembly
Areas of Saratoga County are represented as NY Assembly District 112 and NY Assembly District 113. Just over 45,000 voters presented their ballots in each of the contested districts in 2022.
In Assembly District 112, Mary Beth Walsh (R, C) emerged victorious over Andrew McAdoo (D, WF) 59% to 39%. In NY Assembly District 113, Carrie Woerner (D, WF) bested David Catalfamo (R, C) 52% to 47%.
For the first time in several decades, Democrats challenged the district attorney seat long held by Republicans. County voters re-elected Republican incumbent Karen Heggen over Democratic challenger Michael Phillips 57% to 43%, with a margin of victory of about 14,000 votes.
Saratoga County Votes in Statewide Races
Statewide, voters selected Democrats Kathy Hochul for Governor, Thomas DiNapoli for Comptroller, Letitia James for Attorney General, and Chuck Schumer as U.S. Senator. Three of those four state majority preferences came up short locally, however.
In the governor’s race, Saratoga County voters favored Republican challenger Lee Zeldin over Kathy Hochul 55% to 45%, attorney general Republican candidate Michael Henry over Letitia James 53% to 46%, and Republican U.S. Sen. Candidate Joe Pinion over Chuck Schumer 51% to 48%. (Note, all numbers are rounded up).
Ballot Proposal 1 – Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022, was overwhelmingly approved statewide and by Saratoga voters alike. The “yes” vote authorizes the sale of state bonds up to $4.2 billion to fund environmental protection, natural restoration, resiliency, and clean energy projects, in addressing and combating the impact of climate change and damage to the environment.
