This year’s Breeders’ Cup races will be held over two days – Friday, November 5 and Saturday, November 6 at San Diego, California’s beautiful Del Mar Thoroughbred Club and it will have a Saratoga connection. Del Mar is often mentioned in the same breath as our own Saratoga Race Course when it comes to good racing amid a beautiful setting. Due to its beautiful location, Del Mar’s motto has been “Where the Surf Meets the Turf” since it was founded by crooner Bing Crosby in 1936. This year it hosts the Breeders’ Cup which will feature many horses that ran at Saratoga this summer. 

The Breeders’ Cup series of races spans two days of racing at varying distances, surfaces and categories. This years’ event will feature 14 races for total purses of more than $31 million. The five races featuring two-year-olds will be run on Friday’s card which is dubbed “Future Stars Friday.” The remaining nine races for older horses will be run Saturday November 6, with the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic ending the card with an expected post time of 8:40 p.m. The races will be televised live on NBCSN with the Classic being shown on NBC between 8 and 9 p.m.  Eastern Time. 

The Breeders’ Cup event was first run in 1984 and was created to be a televised season-ending event much like the Super Bowl or World Series. Having initially eschewed television coverage for fear of giving away its product, racing found itself with a shrinking fan base and difficulty creating new fans.  The traditional stakes races were televised but predicting who would run and how much interest there would be in any particular fall stakes race proved difficult and not conducive to television promotion.  This was exemplified by Spectacular Bids’ walkover in the 1980 Woodward Stakes. A truly worthy television event required racing to guarantee a number of stars and span the course of a few hours. The Breeders’ Cup was therefore designed to act as a season-ending championship event with races in every racing category. The event was originally meant to rotate among North American race tracks, and it did so in its early years; however in recent years, due to a myriad of factors including weather and politics, it has alternated between California and Kentucky for the past decade.

The event is a mixture of racing and entertainment personalities and diversified ownership groups. Celebrity chef Bobby Flay has an entrant in the Juvenile Filly Turf on Friday – the aptly named Pizza Bianca and the Europeans’ connections tend to bring large entourages on the trip. With the race on the West Coast there will be an assortment of Hollywood entertainers in the high-priced seats and continuing controversy surrounding charismatic trainer Bob Baffert. The negative publicity about medication violations in a number of Baffert-trained horses has led Breeders’ Cup officials to subject his runners to additional prerace testing as a condition to their entry into the races. Baffert has entered eight horses in the 14 races including Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit in the Classic and Filly Sprint favorite Gamine.

While the humans surrounding the sport give the interviews, it’s really about the horses. As is true with most North American race tracks, the best place to watch horses rather than people is the grandstand (where I will be) and there is no shortage of talented runners to view. This year sees several equine stars who will be short odds to eclipse their respective fields and claim champion status in their respective divisions.

The favorite in the Classic will be Knicks Go who has been outstanding this year winning his races from start to finish while going largely unchallenged. Like many entrants this will be his last race before entering the breeding shed. His main contender will be Belmont, Jim Dandy and Travers winner Essential Quality who will also be making his last start. A win by either would clinch the Horse of the Year title. They are both trained by leading trainer Brad Cox.

Should there be in upset in the Classic – the mare Letruska who is undefeated this year after beginning her career in Mexico could be declared Horse of the Year with a win in the Distaff run earlier in the day.

Saturday will also see short-priced favorites in Life Is Good in the Dirt Mile; Gamine in the Filly and Mare Sprint and Jackie’s Warrior in the Sprint. All possess superior speed. Notably all of the above-named horses ran well at this year’s Saratoga meet as did numerous other runners competing over the two days. In many ways this year’s Breeders’ Cup event acts as a continuation of this year’s Saratoga meet.

In contrast to the dirt races which will highlight short-priced favorites, the grass races are traditionally some of the most wide-open races with numerous Europeans lured to the United States by the purse money and prestige. European runners have performed extremely well in these races in most years but can find the California surfaces too firm for their liking at times. As an example of the scope of the event, there are 56 foreign horses from eight different countries entered to run. 

All in all it’s a two-day flurry of first class racing at a first class facility that will determine division championships and define the racing year. Well worth the watch.

The War to End All Wars

Veterans Day can be traced back to battlefields of the First World War. The conflict began in the summer of 1914. In June of that year Archduke Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated in Sarajevo, the capital of Serbia. The event sent shockwaves throughout Europe. Austria Hungary declared war on Serbia. A complicated series of alliances fell into place that brought the entire continent towards the brink of war. The great armies of Europe mobilized for combat. Great Britain, France and Russia were allied against Germany, Austria-Hungary and The Turkish Empire. As Great Britain’s Foreign Minister Edward Grey prophesied, “The lamps are going out all over Europe and we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.” 

The plan of the German General Staff was to strike at France in a quick, decisive campaign. At the same time they would crush Russian forces on their eastern border. The goals never materialized. The Russians, though severely beaten by the Germans at Tannenburg, were able to regroup and stay in the war through 1917. On the Western Front the French and British armies stopped the Hun on the Marne, just ten miles short of their objective, Paris. The German armies were forced into a retreat. They dug in forty miles from the French Capitol. For the next three years the armies would be bogged down in a war of attrition. Battles were fought with a catastrophic loss of life with little or no gains. The French army suffered close to four hundred thousand casualties defending the fortress city of Verdun. The Germans counted their losses at three hundred fifty thousand. The war was bleeding both sides dry.

The Yanks Are Coming

America from the outset of the war took the position of neutrality. There was no stomach here for entering the conflict. It was considered a European affair by President Woodrow Wilson, and much of our citizenry agreed with him. Unforeseen events were about to bring America into the fray.

The British ocean liner Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine in 1915. More than one hundred Americans lost their lives in the disaster. Among them was Alfred G Vanderbilt, a scion of one this country’s most prominent families of that era. Americans were outraged. As the war progressed Germany unleashed all out submarine warfare on American ships delivering supplies to Great Britain. By early 1917 Wilson had seen enough. He asked Congress to declare war on Germany. The stalemate on the Western Front was about to end.

The military mobilized our Armed Forces with lightning speed. General John “Black Jack” Pershing was given the assignment of commanding the American Expeditionary Forces, better known as the AEF. Within a years time more than one and a half million American soldiers were transported to France and readied for action. They covered themselves with glory in long forgotten battles such as the Meuse- Argonne, Belleau Wood, and Saint- Mihiel. The AEF victories turned the tide in favor of the Allies.

The German army was on it’s heels. By the fall of 1918 the war was nearing its end. Germany sued for peace. The armistice was signed in a railway carriage about an hours drive from Paris, near the town of Compiegne. The war came to a close at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. That date would eventually evolve into Veterans Day here in the states.

Armistice Day became a worldwide day of remembrance on the first anniversary of the event. In 1926 Congress recognized it as a day of observance. Twelve years later in 1938 it was designated as a national holiday by President Franklin Roosevelt.

In 1941 America would again find itself in a worldwide conflict. Our involvement in the Second World War would dwarf the effort of the first. Over sixteen million men and women served in the Armed Forces during the hostilities. Their efforts were decisive in ending the tyranny of the Third Reich and the Empire of Japan.

The war was over in 1945. America soon was faced with another conflict. The Korean War began in 1950. Nearly two million of our military personnel were sent to Korea. Our combat forces braved brutal conditions in repelling the North Korean and Chinese invasion of South Korea. A peace agreement was reached in 1953.

Veterans Day

In 1954 President Dwight Eisenhower made the decision to change the name of Armistice Day to Veterans Day. America had fought in two major conflicts since the First World War. He thought and rightfully so, that it was time to honor all veterans. Since then our military has fought adversaries all over the globe. From the jungles of Vietnam, to the deserts of Iraq, and the mountains of Afghanistan, American soldiers have performed with courage and valor when called to duty. 

Thursday will mark the 103rd anniversary of the armistice that ended World War One. November eleventh has become America’s day to honor all those who have served in the military, past and present. To those who serve. We salute you!

The Congress Park War Memorial

In 1931 a War Memorial was established in Congress Park. The octagonal shaped pavilion contains bronze tablets inscribed with the names of Saratoga Springs residents who served in World War One. It is surrounded by a small pond that adds to the tranquil setting. The memorial is accessible from a walkway that contains bricks with the names of area veterans of later conflicts. It is the perfect spot for a Veterans Day stroll.

The leaves have fallen, frost is on the ground, and we are about to turn back our clocks…which means Thanksgiving is just around the corner. But before we give thanks for our personal blessings, it is time to give thanks to our veterans.

Veteran’s Day, which takes place on Thursday, November 11, evolved from Armistice Day, which was proclaimed in 1919 by President Woodrow Wilson. An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting, and this armistice ended World War I. It began on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

Not to be confused with Memorial Day, which is for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, Veterans Day is intended to thank all those who honorably served in the military in both war time and peace time. For without their sacrifices, we may still be celebrating the royal wedding, speaking German, or practicing a single religion.

These are the brave men and women who serve our country nobly, enduring hardships many of us can’t imagine. From the front lines around the world, to Cyber Command in Fort Meade MD, this well-oiled machine keeps the bad guys at bay so we can sleep soundly at night. Unfortunately, a great many of our veterans struggle to find jobs, housing or health care. While most of us will never step on a battlefield or fly a Boeing AH-64 Apache, we can certainly take the time to thank those who do, and perhaps do something extra to make their life a little easier.

Don’t know a veteran to thank? I bet you do. Currently there are approximately 18.2 million veterans living in the United States, which accounts for 7.6% of the population. So, chances are you interact with veterans on a regular basis. While the primary focus of Veterans Day is on the veterans, let us not forget about their families. Military spouses and their children endure a lifestyle that comes with its own unique challenges and sleepless nights. Military families often put their personal aspirations on hold so their service member can fulfill the oath they made to defend this great nation and our way of life.

It is with a great deal of appreciation and debt, that the staff at Saratoga TODAY offers a true heartfelt THANK YOU to all the veterans, in all the branches, as well as their families. Thank you for your sacrifice, your bravery, and the example you set for us all.

Today is for you! God Bless.

– Chad

*I borrowed this from a fellow Publisher in New Hampshire, hope you enjoy.

With President Biden pushing a multi-trillion-dollar spending package, I thought we should be reminded why free stuff isn’t free.

The folks who are getting the free stuff, don’t like the folks who are paying for the free stuff, because the folks who are paying for the free stuff, can no longer afford to pay for both the free stuff and their own stuff. And, the folks who are paying for the free stuff, want the free stuff to stop, and the folks who are getting the free stuff, want even more free stuff on top of the free stuff they are already getting!

Now…The people who are forcing the people who pay for the free stuff, have told the people who are RECEIVING the free stuff, that the people who are PAYING for the free stuff, are being mean, prejudiced, and racist.

So…the people who are GETTING the free stuff, have been convinced they need to hate the people who are paying for the free stuff, by the people who are forcing some people to pay for their free stuff, and giving them the free stuff in the first place.

We have let the free stuff giving go on for so long that there are now more people getting free stuff than paying for the free stuff. Now understand this. All great democracies have committed financial suicide somewhere between 200 and 250 years after being founded. The reason? The voters figured out they could vote themselves money from the treasury in exchange for electing them.

The United States officially became a Republic in 1776, 231 years ago. The number of people now getting free stuff outnumbers the people paying for the free stuff. We have to change this. Failure to change spells the end of the United States as we know it.

A few weeks ago 44,000 people filled the Saratoga Race Course; throughout the summer indoor and outdoor summer camps were packed with kids; and every Saturday night on Caroline Street, the bars, and the street, are wall to wall people. Well, summer is over, and it is time for the dictatorial edicts to begin again.

It was announced last week that 2–5-year-olds are now required to wear facemasks in daycare, and school-age children are once again forced into mask servitude.

“Follow the science” they say. Ok, let’s follow the science.

First, what is science? In general, science is the pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world following a systematic methodology based on evidence.

Let’s look at some evidence.

The population of Saratoga and Albany County combined is 500,000+ people. During the 18-months of Covid, zero (ZERO) people under the age of 25 have died from Covid. Another interesting piece of evidence from the CDC website is that nationally 2x as many people under the age of 17 have died from pneumonia than Covid over the past year.

If we follow the science, we should be quite concerned with pneumonia…or heart health for that matter. How about the government put a limit on the number of Big Macs and jumbo diet sodas a family can have in a week?

And what about those poor front-line workers who were heroes a year ago and are now being forced out of their jobs. That was a quick path from heroes to zeros.

Perhaps I am the crazy one and there is a utopian paradise awaiting all of us if we just stop thinking and allow ‘experts’ to make all our decisions; experts who are apolitical, beyond reproach, impervious to outside pressure, and unconcerned with wealth or fame.

Or maybe there is a supreme being who will make our decisions for us. I seem to remember something about a supreme being, but he blessed us all with free will.

– Chad

A few weeks ago 44,000 people filled the Saratoga Race Course; throughout the summer indoor and outdoor summer camps were packed with kids; and every Saturday night on Caroline Street, the bars, and the street, are wall to wall people.

Well, summer is over, and it is time for the dictatorial edicts to begin again.

It was announced this week that 2–5-year-olds are now required to wear facemasks in daycare, and school-age children are once again forced into mask servitude.

“Follow the science” they say. Ok, let’s follow the science.

First, what is science? In general, science is the pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world following a systematic methodology based on evidence.

Let’s look at some evidence.

The population of Saratoga and Albany County combined is 500,000+ people. During the 18-months of Covid, zero (ZERO) people under the age of 25 have died from Covid. Another interesting piece of evidence from the CDC website is that nationally 2x as many people under the age of 17 have died from pneumonia than Covid over the past year.

If we follow the science, we should be quite concerned with pneumonia…or heart health for that matter. How about the government put a limit on the number of Big Macs and jumbo diet sodas a family can have in a week?

And what about those poor front-line workers who were heroes a year ago and are now being forced out of their jobs. That was a quick path from heroes to zeros.

Perhaps I am the crazy one and there is a utopian paradise awaiting all of us if we just stop thinking and allow ‘experts’ to make all our decisions; experts who are apolitical, beyond reproach, impervious to outside pressure, and unconcerned with wealth or fame.

Or maybe there is a supreme being who will make our decisions for us. I seem to remember something about a supreme being, but he blessed us all with free will.

– Chad

Freedom doesn’t come free. This was never more evident than September 11, 2001, when radical Islamists from 7,000 miles away launched the most sophisticated and deadly terrorist attack in world history.

Families sat in shock, worried about loved ones, while young patriots answered the call and signed up for the armed forces. The American spirit is strong, and we don’t take kindly to attacks on our Republic, or our brothers and sisters.

Our nation mobilized as we prepared for the global war on terror. American flags lined our streets, and patriotism was at an all-time high. It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times.

Now, two-decades later, those terrorists are back in control of their heartland, Afghanistan. Their immediate neighbors, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, share similar goals of extremism and global Islamic dominance, ruled by Sharia law.

After the attack it was easy for us to label the terrorists cowards, but make no mistake, they are not cowards. They are ruthless, calculating, cold-blooded killers who will sacrifice their lives in the name of religious extremism. They have been killing for centuries, and they will kill for centuries more.

While there are differing views on our role in the middle east, I think all sensible Americans can agree on one point: we need to secure our nation. This means tightening our borders and enforcing the existing immigration laws. Vet those coming into our country and make sure they share our values. In July alone, 212,000 immigrants were apprehended at the southern border and released into our nation. In just one month, it was nearly the population of Saratoga County!

The sad reality is, if we can’t control our borders, there will be another 9-11.

We owe it to the fallen, and the survivors, to never forget the events of 9-11; never forget those who lost their lives; never forget the children left orphans; never forget the mothers who will never see their children again; never forget the service men and women who fought and died far from home; and never forget the realities of the world we live in.

Remain vigilant my friends, and always do the next right thing.

God Bless!
– Chad

It’s 2 a.m.

Club music pulses in the thick night air as a mob of sweaty and drunken individuals control the street.

Heated words are exchanged between several groups as the initial violence erupts.

The first fight breaks out with a flurry of punches and kicks as people are jostled about.

In the chaos of combat, people lose track of their friends, and humans devolve into their primordial state.

But for this group, fisticuffs will not suffice. A flash of cold steel penetrates the night before landing in its target.

The blood begins flowing and tempers continue to rise as the combat zone expands and makes it way up the block.

BANG, BANG.

Shots ring out from a handgun as people scatter in fear…

No, this isn’t a scene from downtown Chicago, Atlanta, or even Schenectady.

This was last Friday night on Caroline Street in our little city in the country…Saratoga Springs.

I have said it before, and I will say it again: It is a quick and slippery transition from a beautiful upscale resort community to a crime-ridden deteriorating city….and we are quickly slipping. This most recent event comes on the heels of another barfight that spilled into the streets and involved a table used as a weapon, assaults on officers, assaults on teens, threats on officers and threats of burning this city down to destroy our economy.

Let this serve as another wake-up call to our elected officials…We want our city taken back; we want law and order restored; and we want our families to feel safe downtown.

Decisive actions need to be taken, and they need to be taken promptly.

Let’s start by listening to our law enforcement leaders rather than community agitators. They are the experts, and they have our best interests at heart. And let’s keep in mind the Pygmalion Effect, which states people tend to perform up to the level that others expect of them. Right now, it seems like we have some pretty low expectations for the public.

On a more specific note, here are some suggestions that should be considered:

1. I know it isn’t a popular decision with the bar owners, but the closing time needs to be revisited. If you aren’t familiar with our ordinance, Saratoga Springs bars can stay open until 4 a.m., while surrounding communities close at 2 a.m. This translates into large numbers of undesirable elements making the trip from Albany, Troy and Schenectady, to Caroline Street where the liquor flows freely (well, not free) for another few hours.

As mom always said, nothing good happens after midnight. Midnight may be pushing it, but 2 a.m. seems like a reasonable cutoff. If you can’t drink enough by 2 a.m., maybe you have some other issues you should be exploring. Let’s get this proposal back on the table!

2. Lock down Caroline Street with a heavy police presence. For the past year we have heard a steady mantra of “Defund the Police.” How about we Refund the Police and exponentially increase the police presence in Saratoga Springs? While this would not solve the issue short term (the trainees will be in police academy for months) we can do lateral transfers from other departments and borrow officers from the State Police and the Sheriff’s department.

3. Reimagine our image and our culture. Do we want to be known as the homeless capital of upstate NY where BLM shuts down intersections and harasses tourists while gang members (yes, gang members) control Caroline Street? I will take a bold leap and say that the overwhelming majority of residents do NOT want this.

This is our community. This is our hometown. This is where our children go to school and where our neighbors run small businesses. This is where tourists flock to escape the stress of daily life and where the world’s best jockeys, racehorses and ballerinas come to perform.

Save Saratoga Now!

“On April 22, a Saratoga Springs High School English teacher violated school protocol by allowing local leaders of Black Lives Matter to give a lecture to his class.
This past weekend the district admitted that the teacher acted improperly.”

While Americans were focused on the pandemic and economic recovery, a dangerous ‘woke’ movement quietly swept through education systems across America. Under the guise of social justice, this relatively new theory (Critical Race Theory or CRT), is an academic movement of activists who seek to critically examine issues of race and to challenge traditional liberal approaches to racial justice. This ideology goes by several names, such as anti-racism, identity politics, and intersectionality, among others.

 While this philosophy may sound good on the surface, a deeper dive into its history and practice exposes disturbing realities. ‘Anti-Racism’ appears to reject the lessons of the Civil Rights Movement.  In doing so it suggests that society should judge everyone based on their inherent characteristics such as race, sex, and sexual identity rather than evaluating everyone on the content of their character. This flies in the face of Martin Luther King Jr’s dream that children “will one day live in a nation where they will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

 Anti-racists are explicit about their views. They often say things like; “All white people are born racist” and “All people of color are victims.” Doesn’t that paint a beautiful picture of humanity? This is morally repugnant and completely unacceptable.

These “Woke” actors believe that concepts such as meritocracy, delayed gratification, and being on time are examples of “Whiteness,” and designed to oppress people of different ethnic backgrounds.  It positions everyone into one of two groups.  Either you are an Oppressor, defined as White, Male, Straight and sometimes Asian, or you are Oppressed, defined as a person of color (Asians excluded), female and gay.

Americans have spent enormous amounts of time, money and blood breaking free from the chains of oppression, yet many CRT proponents claim racism has not improved? They claim racism is woven into the fabric of the nation and is “in the air we breathe.” If children are taught they are either oppressors or victims, what sort of future does that hold?  I am a firm believer that people either rise, or fall, to the level of their expectations.

The good news is parents and concerned community members across the country are fighting back.

Last week two Saratoga Springs Board of Education Trustees began to ask questions about some of the language included in the district’s new Equity, Inclusivity and Diversity in Education policy. The policy guidance includes eleven items that the district and Board of Education must implement, and is built off a framework provided to the school by the New York State School Board Association and the Board of Regents. 

Included in the eleven-point plan is a call to “Model Anti-Racist Language and Action.”

What exactly does it mean to “Model Anti-Racist language and action?” Interestingly, when two Trustees began asking questions of fellow board members, no two members answered the question in the same way.

Language is very powerful, and words matter. I want to know exactly what is meant by “Model Anti-Racist Language and Action.” This is like building a nuclear weapons lab, but some people are using the metric system, some are using the imperial system, and some think they are building a coffee shop.

Ibram X. Kendi, author of the book, “How to Be An Anti-Racist,” states: “The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination. The defining question is whether the discrimination is creating equity or inequity.  If the discrimination is creating equity, then it’s antiracist (good).  If discrimination is creating inequity, then it’s racist.”

Discrimination, defined by Anti-Racists, is any unequal outcome between groups.

So if a law firm is full of Asians and whites, and not blacks, that’s “racism” even if everybody was hired based solely on their qualifications and not their race. 

Fundamentally the modern Anti-Racist movement is not against discrimination, it’s against inequity, which in many cases makes it pro-discrimination!

As Mr. Kendi puts it, “When I see racial disparities, I see racism.”

Let’s take a look at the actual practice of ‘anti-racism;’ in education:

Parents for Defending Education, a non-for-profit organization, has documented more than 200 instances of inappropriate curricula and lessons taught to students as young as five years old. Examples:

• In California, 3rd graders in Cupertino were forced to deconstruct their racial identities, create identity maps and rank themselves according to their “power and privilege.”
• In Illinois, a Loyola Academy H.S. assignment asks students to apologize for the color of their skin.
• In Missouri, middle school teachers were forced to locate themselves on an “oppression matrix,” and watch a video of “George Floyd’s last words.”
• In NY, a Rockville Centre High School assignment asserts that police are the sixth leading cause of death for young Black men after cancer.
• In Rhode Island, the Moses Brown School unveiled a ‘Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion’ plan with ‘concept of intersectionality;’ which segregates children by race.
• In Irvington NY, Union Free School district hosted a Zoom meeting with invitees from the NYU Metropolitan Center on Equity and the Transformation of Schools. During the event it was stated that “all white children are born racist” and that we all “have to undo our whiteness.”
• In NYC, a group of concerned parents sent an open letter to the Dalton Community regarding the school’s “anti-racism curriculum,” referencing classes with an “obsessive” focus on race and diversity, racist cop reenactments in science, de-centering whiteness in art class, learning about white supremacy and sexuality in health class, and wildly age-inappropriate issues.

Defenders of Anti-Racism in education will claim that these examples aren’t being “properly contextualized.”  But I ask them, in what context is it acceptable to demand students apologize for the color of their skin or to teach them that “all white people are born racist,” or “all people of color are victims?”

Kudos to the two board members who had the courage to ask pertinent questions about this vaguely written policy. It’s certainly not easy for anyone these days to stand up and ask a simple question to the ‘woke’ mob. Doing so can get a person harassed, cancelled, and shunned from polite society.

Interestingly, nowhere in the model guidance from the Board of Regents or the NYSSBA is the phrase, “Model Anti-Racist Action and Language.”  Why exactly is Saratoga Springs attempting to add it to the district policy?

The examples provided above may give Saratogians a glimpse into what the future of education may look like in the Saratoga Springs School District. Hopefulely they will give the Board of Education reason to pause, and carefully evaluate the policy language being debated this month.

I, along with Saratoga residents, overwhelming support more diversity and inclusion in the school system.  However, reasonable people should be able to agree that the school district must erect appropriate safeguards to prevent the most extreme examples of Anti-Racist Action in education, especially those that promote discrimination, from becoming a reality in Saratoga Springs. Now is our opportunity to make a difference on this topic…

Mark Your Calendars: On Tuesday, May 18, residents will be asked to vote for their new school board members. I urge you all to take this ‘right’ seriously. Do your own research and understand the values and beliefs of the candidates. For those who are interested, I endorse the following candidates for Saratoga Springs: Amanda Ellithorpe, Connie Woytowich & Christina Kraszewski.

Written by Chad Beatty, Publisher of Saratoga TODAY

The year was 1973 and downtown Saratoga Springs was facing a crisis. Twenty-two storefronts were vacant, with almost all the 2nd and 3rd floors empty. Simultaneously construction of the Pyramid mall had begun at exit 15. The perfect recipe was brewing for a downtown disaster.

Today we face a similar challenge. Communities are locked down in a global pandemic, which includes social distancing and reduced numbers allowed in businesses. We already have empty storefronts and business owners worry more may be coming. Deja vu? Not to worry.

In 1973 local citizens stepped up to the challenge…and today local citizens are once again stepping up to the challenge. Two similar crises, separated by decades, but in both circumstances, leadership, optimism, and community action came together to save the day.

First let’s look at the past. It was the mid-90’s and Joe Dalton of the Chamber of Commerce, along with Bob Bristol of The Saratoga Associates, called a meeting with a dozen property owners. This informal meeting led to the creation of a dynamic ‘Plan of Action’ which would guide the city for years to come. Within weeks dozens of citizens had volunteered to work on the project.

Bill Dake of Stewart’s Shops steered it for the first six months, after which Charles Wait of Adirondack Trust Company served as its chairman. “A lot of people did a tremendous amount of work” said Bill Dake. “As people saw the positive impact taking place, more people got involved. Downtown got its own personality!”

A lot of people got involved in the ‘Plan of Action’ from attending charrettes, to planting trees, to major facade improvements, but the key issue may have been getting the City Council to remove the restriction on restaurants and bars serving outside on Broadway’s wide sidewalks.

“It gave Broadway a unique personality as people watching was the best and cheapest entertainment there was,” added Dake. Rumor has it the sidewalk activity had been curtailed years before after the Mayor’s daughter was “mooned” by an over-served patron from one of the bars. But I digress.

One of the first projects that took place was a massive clean-up…something tangible that would yield immediate results. From there an all-volunteer crew dug holes and planted 80 mature trees in the business district, the number reaching 250 within 20 years!

With visible progress taking place, property owners dug deep and funded a basic design plan. That, coupled with a new 1 percent sales tax increase and federal Community Development funds, and the ‘Plan’ was taking on a life of its own. From façade improvements to streetscapes and parking, downtown Saratoga Springs transformed itself, and within a decade 70 percent of the downtown businesses were new; vacancy was a rarity, a testament to community action!

Fast forward to November 2020. With decades of growth under its belt, downtown Saratoga Springs has been the envy of small towns across the nation…but the wheels of progress are quickly slowing. Vacant storefronts are popping up and long-time events which are part of our fabric have been cancelled.

However, led by the DBA (Downtown Business Association), scores of volunteers are once again mobilizing and have reimagined a downtown holiday celebration. “When we realized that there was no way to have Victorian Streetwalk this year, the DBA knew we had to do something to promote downtown and keep our holiday tradition alive” said DBA President, Deann Devitt. “The more we thought about it, the more we realized that we needed to make downtown a destination for the entire Holiday season and remind people how unique Saratoga is!”

At that point they approached Saratoga Springs Special Assessments District with their ideas. “They immediately agreed to partner with us and provide us with a $10,000 grant to help spread the holiday spirit throughout the City. And with that grant, a month-long celebration called Victorian Streetscapes was born!”

Next, they reached out to their friends at Discover Saratoga who were happy to collaborate on the effort. “We hope that this will give one more reason for folks to come downtown throughout the season to take in the holiday atmosphere and of course, shop local!” said Darryl Leggieri, President of Discover Saratoga. “We must continue to work together as a united community, and help our neighbors and local businesses succeed during these difficult times.”

Once the actual planning began, the amount of support from local business owners began rolling in. The Charlton School, with the help of Saratoga Land Management Corp., stepped up with a 19-ft Norway Spruce for downtown. Elms Farm donated thirty, 6-ft. trees for storefronts while Allerdice and Dehn’s Flowers worked on critical behind-the-scenes details. Also instrumental in organizing the event were Mayor Meg Kelly and Commissioner Scirocco and their teams.

Let’s not forget about Santa! Although he won’t be in his cottage this year, Santa IS Coming to Town! He will be driving through Saratoga neighborhoods visiting children on a vintage fire truck provided by King Enterprises.

Devitt finished with “The reality is, during these unprecedented times, it truly ‘takes a village’ to support our local businesses, and without question, this city, its residents and fellow business owners have been that village.”

Saratoga Strong!