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City Eyes New $25 Million Police Station 

Written by Thomas Dimopoulos on . Posted in Featured, News.


5 Williams St., existing building view from the front on Aug. 28,2024. A multi-space parking lot is to the rear of the building. Photo by Thomas Dimopoulos. 

City Police, photograph from Our Boys In Blue: A History of the Saratoga Springs Police Department, small pamphlet in archives of The Saratoga Room SSPL, published 2003.

SARATOGA SPRINGS – The city of Saratoga Springs is exploring building a new police station to replace its current home in the basement of City Hall which has served as its headquarters for nearly 150 years.  

“The discussions are preliminary but it’s clear that eventually we need to plan for a new police station, and that’s what the Capital Budget (Plan) is for,” said city Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll. “We’re looking at two possible locations at this time –one is right behind City Hall where the city employees park, and the other would be the old Senior Center.” 

The city owns the land at both locations. 

The 7,800 square-foot former Senior Center site at 5 Williams St. is currently in use on a short-term lease by RISE Housing and Support Services as the human services agency’s administration offices, while their own offices are under construction.  

A plan eyeing 5 Williams St. would seek to demolish the building on site and construct a new three-story facility and relocating all police services and the communications center from City Hall to Williams Street.  The general cost estimate – which includes demolition, construction, and the furnishing of a new 30,000-plus square foot facility lists $14 million as a Base Budget Estimate, with contingencies and allowances at a total cost of $23 million to $25 million. 

The lot behind City Hall meanwhile has seen many designs that had previously proposed it as a location for a new public safety facility. At various times those plans have included a multi-parcel public-private collaboration to include a cinema, a 500-car parking garage, and other amenities. A City Center Parking garage and pocket park have since been developed along a good segment of the location, and a cinema sited a few blocks away. 

The Public Safety Department’s long-range proposal specifically details $21.8 million in a Capital Plan over a five-year period beginning in 2025 to fund a police department facility, according to documents submitted by the 2025 Capital Program Committee to address priority city needs from 2025-2030. 

Historically

On April 26 1887, the State Legislature approved an act that created the Saratoga Springs Police Department. The department employed 8 men to serve and protect a population of 11,500 in the days prior to fingerprinting systems, computer databases, radio communications and DNA technology, when  police technology largely consisted of the gun and the nightstick. The annual salary of the men started at $500, with higher-ranking officials earning as much as $1,300 per year.  

More than a century later, the department in 2024 staffs 98 men and women to serve and protect a city of about 30,000 residents year-round, with a visitors’ capacity that grows in multitudes when the temperature grows warmer and the sun hangs longer in the sky. In 2023 SSPD officers handled 27,643 calls for service, 3,606 cases, and made 851 arrests.  

The growth of the department has resulted in significant operational challenges inhibiting organizational efficiency and effectiveness in the current station location, according to officials. The lack of workspace forces the sharing of desks and the usage of single spaces for multiple public safety purposes not always conducive or in concert with one another. As well, it places SSPD’s Command Staff Offices in the century-old basement of City Hall in windowless rooms. 

Feasibility studies related to the development of a new public safety facility in the city date to the mid-1970s, and more than a half-dozen reports were conducted during the decades that have followed. In 2006, a committee was formed to help develop a new station and the City Council seated at the time explored multiple proposals for a new facility, but no majority approval could be secured for any of the plans. Subsequently no action was taken.   

Renovations and upgrades have been made to City Hall in the time since, but the restrictive space of the current police department is less than ideal, officials say.   

“It’s not a modern-functioning police station,” Commissioner Coll said. 

“I take insurance company recommendations to heart, and their recommendation was that we need to have a new facility. We can’t have prisoners walking up and down Broadway – you look at modern policing, they have a sally-port,” said Coll, referring to a secure area used to load and unload prisoners. “The police department is in the basement of City Hall (and) It’s really not conducive to modern policing.”

Every year, the city prepares a six-year Capital Budget plan that includes a prioritized list of capital projects the city wishes to get done and costs associated with those projects. Even as the plan stretches over a six-year period, the council votes on the Capital Budget one year at a time and may be altered year-to-year. 

Overall, the construction cost for the new police headquarters facility is estimated to range from $23 million to $25.5 million. About $1.5 million in sitework and demolition costs are anticipated to be required at the department’s existing space at City Hall.   

The preliminary long-range plan for a new police station looks to set aside funds in this proposed timeline: $1.5 million (in 2025), $5 million (in 2026 and again in 2027), $10 million (in 2028), and $300,000 in 2029. The City Council is expected to host a Public Hearing and hold a discussion and potentially vote on the 2025 Capital Budget and Capital Program at its meeting on Tuesday night Sept. 3.    

City Installs New Cashless Collection Boxes To Aid Homeless 

Written by Saratoga TODAY on . Posted in Featured, News.


The first of six new cashless collection boxes was installed on Broadway Aug. 23, 2024. Photo by Thomas Dimopoulos.

SARATOGA SPRINGS —Following an effort initiated in 2016, the first of six new collection boxes encouraging the public to contribute to local agencies who help those who are homeless, was installed Aug. 23.  

“Originally we had 12, but after they were installed in 2016, they got broken into because there was a slot for cash,” said city Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll, who alongside city Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi jointly unveiled the new box located in front of Roohan Realty, at 519 Broadway. “We have six (of the 12) left that got refurbished. If it’s successful, it’s a pilot program, we’re going to add more.” 

The difference in the boxes this time around is the collection boxes will not accept cash. Instead, they sport QR codes – one directed to Shelters of Saratoga and the other to RISE Housing & Support Services – so the public can decide which local agency they want to support. The funds go directly to the non-profit agencies.  

The purpose of the boxes is to encourage the public to contribute directly to local agencies to help people get off the street and into safe housing. 

Each box sports a message that reads: “There’s a Better Way to Give…Don’t Encourage Panhandling,” a message developed with input and agreement from both local nonprofit agencies.

The Saratoga Springs City Council on Aug. 6 unanimously approved an agreement with the Downtown Special Assessment District to install the six collection boxes. 

The location of the six boxes are in front of: Roohan Realty, Compton’s Restaurant, Bluebird Spa City Motor Lodge, Uncommon Grounds, Saratoga Springs City Hall, and Impressions of Saratoga.  

Anne’s Washington Inn: 80 Years of Family and Hospitality

Written by Jonathon Norcross on . Posted in Business, Featured.


Joe Bokan Jr. and his wife Kathleen pose with their three children in front of Anne’s Washington Inn in Saratoga Springs. Photo by Lawrence White. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Many businesses advertise themselves as “family owned and operated,” but Anne’s Washington Inn takes the concept to another level.

In 1943, hotelier Charles Russell purchased what was then the McCarty Hospital in Saratoga Springs for $7,500 and transformed it into the The Washington Inn. His daughter, Anne (Russell) Bokan ran the place for more than forty years. In 1985, Anne’s son and daughter-in-law, Joe Jr. and Kathleen Bokan, took over operations. Today, the couple’s oldest daughter Madeleine oversees the inn’s wedding and events operations with her toddler in tow. That’s five generations of family members who have sat on the inn’s famous front porch across 80 years of busy Saratoga summers.

If Anne’s Washington Inn feels more like a family residence than a resort, that’s probably because it was. Joe Jr., the current owner/operator, spent his childhood there with his five sisters.

“All of us ran the front desk, all of us made beds, all of us cleaned bathrooms; whatever it took,” Joe Jr. said. “As kids, we all grew up doing it.”

As the decades have gone by, not much has changed in the way the Bokans do business.  

“We all pitch in,” said Joe Jr.’s daughter Madeleine. “One day we’ll be in the rooms. One day we’ll be in the dining room, doing events, checking people in. It’s kind of all-hands-on-deck.”

Originally called The Washington Inn, the business was renamed in honor of Anne (Russell) Bokan in 2007. “It’s amazing to hear from longtime Saratogians. They’ll say, ‘Your mom was one of the first women to have a business in Saratoga.’ She really ran it. She’d always done it, but it never hit me. Back in the 50s, women were not running businesses,” Joe Jr. said.

There were a couple other reasons for the name change as well. Adding “Anne’s” made the inn easier to find in web searches. It also moved the business up the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce’s list of lodging establishments, which resulted in more referrals. In the first year following the name change, Joe Jr. said his sales went up 30%.

Nowadays, Joe Jr. said he leaves much of the marketing and public relations work to Madeleine. Although an heir to the inn has not been officially proclaimed, Joe Jr. said that his daughter may one day emerge as his successor. “She loves the hotel. She loves the people. She gets it,” he said.

“But he’s not allowed to retire anytime soon,” said Madeleine. “This place runs because of him.”

“I’m having too much fun [to retire],” said Joe Jr.

Anne’s Washington Inn, currently celebrating its 80th year in business, is open April through October. Events are offered year-round. Located on four acres of land off South Broadway, the inn is within walking distance of the Saratoga Spa State Park and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC). For more information, visit www.anneswi.com.

Rising Stars on the Track and a Racing Hero in the Classroom

Written by Tony Podlaski on . Posted in Featured, Sports, Winner's Circle.


Photo courtesy of the National Museum of Racing

As the Travers showcased rising champions, Saratoga enters the transitional phrase of ending the racing season with some people heading back to the classroom

This year’s 155th running of the Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course provided another exciting finish with 2-year-old champion Fierceness holding off a determined run from 3-year-old filly divisional leader Thorpedo Anna.

The Travers is somewhat of the transitional point for the Saratoga meet, especially going into the last week and Labor Day weekend, for horses, those involved in the industry, and even seasonal and retired employees around the track.

While Fierceness and Thorpedo Anna, as well as Sierra Leone, Dornoch, and perhaps a couple of the other finishers coming out of the race, transition into the fall by preparing the Breeders’ Cup in November at Del Mar, many people in the Saratoga Springs region are also getting ready for the upcoming school year, whether it is being a student or a teacher.

One of those people is legendary track announcer, broadcaster, and speaker Tom Durkin, who is teaching public speaking at Saratoga Catholic High School starting in September.

This is not the first time that Durkin has taught a public speaking course. Shortly after retiring with a 24-year career as the track announcer for the New York Racing Association in 2014, he taught a public speaking class for the Saratoga Springs High School Continuing Education program.

“This is something that I always that I always wanted to do,” he said. “I did one for adults in the continuing education, and I liked that. I really wanted to teach high school-aged kids about public speaking.”

Durkin approached Saratoga Catholic principal and alumni Chris Signor about teaching the class. While Durkin’s approach and idea came as a surprise for Signor, he is excited about this learning opportunity for the students, which is a joint project in both the English and Business Departments.

“This came out of the blue. I never planned this in my wildest dreams,” Signor said. “He has some great ideas about teaching a course that he wanted to expand upon when he taught it as an adult continuing education class. This is going to be a popular course with the kids. This has been very well received.”

Durkin’s interest in public speaking started in a class at a catholic high school in Chicago where he grew up. Not only did Durkin only enjoy the small-sized class, he also found it beneficial as those skills became the foundation to his race calling for NYRA and the Breeders’ Cup, his sportscasting for NBC and ESPN, and speaking engagements that include the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Inductions.

While race calling, broadcasting, and being an emcee for the Hall of Fame inductions reflect an aspect of entertainment in public speaking, Durkin believes that rhetoric and discourse are important to both persuasion and analysis.

“There are all different kinds of discourse,” he said. “Rhetoric is the art or science on convincing someone to your point of view by the means of speech. If you want to ask your parents to borrow the car, you can use a lot of rhetorical skills to try to persuade them.”

By taking a student-centered approach to his teaching, one of Durkin’s objectives is providing students the skills and experience they need, which includes writing speeches, appearance, and body language, so they can deliver an effective speech.

“I will give them many of the tools,” he said. “The primary objective will be having the students get in front of other people and speak at least once every class. It’s just getting that experience of getting in front of people and communicate to them. It’s important for them to sound good. If you don’t sound good, it’s much harder to keep the audience’s attention.”

Durkin’s lesson plans also include teaching students about when to memorize speeches, how to use adrenaline to their benefit, and how to overcome perhaps the common challenge many public speakers – fear.

“It’s the No. 1 phobia in America,” Durkin said about fear. “People are more afraid of public speaking than they are afraid of dying. If there is any of that, we are going to deal with that off the bat. If you make a mistake, so what? The ceiling didn’t fall. You didn’t get struck by lightning.”

As part of the lesson, Durkin plans to emphasize that one of the ways for students to overcome the paralysis of fear and being confident is preparation.

“If you are over-the-top totally prepared, you are going to have a good experience because you will be confident,” he said. “If you are not prepared, all you will be thinking about is the mistakes that you are going to make.”

Durkin plans to share plenty of personal examples for being prepared, as well as other concepts covered in this class. Some of these include his retirement speech in the Saratoga Winner’s Circle, his speech for receiving the Eclipse Award for Merit, and his mother’s eulogy – all of which required a thorough revision process.

 “The key to writing a good speech is rewrite and brevity,” he said. “Part of rewriting is editing out extraneous stuff, but adding stuff by using various rhetorical tropes to make it a good speech.”

While Durkin plans to cover the objectives for the course, he would also like to work with students on cultivating their creativity over the academic year.

“I really like to take somebody who was intrepid on public speaking. I want to foster creativity.” he said. “This course is going to teach creativity and conviction. I will point them in certain directions on how they can do that and how to convince people. There are several ways to do it: pathos, ethos, and logos.”

With a student-centered classroom, teaching can be a two-way street as the students gain knowledge and skills from the teacher, and the teacher learns from them as well. Durkin indicated that he wants to learn something from the students.

“I would like to have an ability to connect to younger people,” he said. “There is a lot of stuff that they do, which I don’t understand. I’m sure there is a lot of stuff that I do that they don’t understand. It’s just being around young people and open up my understanding about the real person behind the teenager.”

If the class goes well and he learns something from the students, Durkin said he would “absolutely” come back to do it again next year.

CODE BLUE: $3 Million Shelter Sited

Written by Thomas Dimopoulos on . Posted in Featured, News.

Parcel of land at 96-116 Ballston Ave., captured from Finley Street Aug. 21, 2024, with Route 50 visible at left. The existing building in the distance is 96 Ballston Ave. and is included in the county purchase. Photo by Thomas Dimopoulos. 

BALLSTON SPA — The Saratoga County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution during its monthly meeting Aug. 20 to purchase a 1.4-acre parcel at 96 -116 Ballston Ave. (Route 50) in Saratoga Springs for $3 million as the future location of a permanent Code Blue homeless shelter. 

A memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, was also unanimously approved in anticipation of entering into a long-term lease with the Shelters of Saratoga organization to build and operate the cold-weather shelter.     

The goal is to have a facility open on-site by the fall of 2025, said Saratoga County Board of Supervisors Chairman Phil Barrett.  

Code Blue protocols are activated when the temperature is 32 degrees Fahrenheit or less, including wind chill. As an emergency wintertime shelter, it presents a different setting than a year-round 24/7 low-barrier shelter that has been discussed in Saratoga Springs in recent years. 

“The county has a responsibility that’s mandated by New York State that we need to fulfill,” Barrett said. “We need a permanent location because we’re in a very difficult position year-to-year trying to find a Code Blue shelter. We found a piece of property that can be purchased at a very attractive price – based on the zoning, based on the fact that there’s a building on the property – to be a solution to the problem.” 

The parcel was appraised at approximately $3.2 million, according to the board resolution. It stands directly opposite a commercial strip mall which features a market and other amenities and is along a public bus transport line. 

“The zoning on the parcel allows for a great deal of density, multi-family projects,” Barrett said.

Plans call for the county to purchase the parcel for about $3 million and as owner of the property enter into a long-term lease with Shelters of Saratoga, or SOS, who will presumably use the one existing building on site as well as raise funds to develop the property where a shelter will be constructed. 

“Ground leases of this type are typically over many years, at least 50 years, and there are provisions in there: if the organization were to go defunct, if there were some other circumstances where they were not able to provide the services any longer or no longer fiscally viable, then that building would revert to the county,” Barrett said. “It’s important that the county have some influence over any programs that occur there – and that’s something we will have through an MOU with Shelters, through our ownership of the property, so the county is protected.”

Basically, the county will purchase the land, and SOS will pay for the construction and operational expenses of the shelter, including staffing, utilities, and maintenance.  

The MOU will outline the basic financial arrangements and the County’s general responsibilities, including acquiring the parcel of land, leasing it to Shelters of Saratoga, and exercising final authority over which programs are conducted on the property.

County leadership and S.O.S. are philosophically aligned, Barrett added. “The county doesn’t want a low-barrier shelter, neither does Shelters. The county doesn’t want a safe injection site, or anything of that sort, neither does Shelters.”  

S.O.S. has operated a Code Blue shelter at a variety of temporary locations in Saratoga Springs during the past several years, efforts to site a permanent shelter rejected at every turn by those living close-by or with nearby interests. 

Supervisor Michele Madigan, who represents the city of Saratoga Springs at the county level, thanked her fellow board members for agreeing to the proposal, adding that the securing of a permanent site was a long time coming and is an important step to address a community need. 

“Our first Code Blue Shelter in Saratoga Springs opened in 2013 and in 2016 this became a government mandate,” Supervisor Madigan said.

The Code Blue Saratoga program was born from the tragic death of Nancy Pitts. The 54-year-old mother of two sought shelter on a Williams Street porch during a frigid December night in 2013. She was discovered by police the next morning. Within days of the homeless woman’s death, a cooperative partnership between then mayor-elect Joanne Yepsen, non-profit organizations, and members of the community was initiated and a plan set in motion to site an emergency shelter in the city. A series of cold-weather shelters have followed, each on a temporary winter-to-spring basis. 

The Code Blue program provides people with winter shelter and safety from the cold. In addition to overnight shelter, the organization offers nightly dinners and resource navigation, supportive housing, and linkage to treatment. The 2023-24 winter season included 299 unduplicated guests and was open for 171 nights, with 11,560 meals served donated by local businesses and organizations, according to S.O.S.

Rhoda Meets Lillian: It Didn’t Go Well

Written by Paul Perreault on . Posted in Featured, History.

Lillian Russell (left) & Rhoda Thompson (right). Photo provided by The Saratoga County History Roundtable.

On the morning of August 14, 1909, Miss Rhoda Thompson of Rose Hill Farm in Milton instructed her driver, Sylvester, to harness the horses so that she might bring her house guest, a Mr. Wilder, to the Saratoga train station in order to catch the 4 pm train to New York. 

Miss Thompson was a well-known society woman from a very prominent Saratoga County family. She was the daughter of Judge James Thompson, a Regent of the University of the State of New York, and Mary Stansbury Thompson and the granddaughter of John Thompson, the first judge of the county and a member of the State Assembly in 1788. Her brother John was surrogate of the county and one of the founders of the Ballston Spa National Bank. He was its president when he died in 1892

Rhoda was prominent in Saratoga County society and took an active interest in the affairs of her community. She was a  charter member of the Saratoga County Daughters of the American Revolution and the Saratoga County Historical Society. She contributed to many charities and each year helped direct and finance the West Milton District School, repairing and modernizing the schoolhouse and giving funds each year to balance the budget. When she died in 1923, she directed that the remainder of her estate, over $100,000 ( equal to over $1,800,000 in today’s dollars ) go to the New York and the Albany County Association of the Blind in the name of her mother who was blind for many years prior to her death.

As Miss Thompson and her party were heading toward their destination, they encountered a “huge car crossing the Mourningkill flats at great speed.”  The road was very narrow at this point; not wide enough for two vehicles to pass without great care and Rhoda anticipated that the car would exercise such. Instead “it put on more power and shot up the hill like lightning, there was no escape from being crushed, except to take to the ditch”.  Her carriage was smashed  and on its side, while the horses were scattered. Rhoda found herself “lying in a dusty road, a stunned, dazed, tattered, battered dust heap” who could not rise  due to a painful ankle.  As bad as the physical injuries were, worse was about to come.

As Rhoda recounts “Over the brow of the hill appeared a bold, coarse, painted woman, who filled my soul with disgust. She offered to take me anywhere, to send a doctor, etc. …. I refrained from saying I prefer to lie here in the dust, until some decent person comes along if only to take me in a wheelbarrow.”

Rhoda soon learned that her “undoer” was none other than Lillian Russell, the “Kardashian” of fin-de-siecle society. Although a talented vocalist and actress, by 1909 she was better known as the “friend” of Diamond Jim Brady, the market manipulator who was famous for making money, wearing flashy jewelry and eating enormous amounts of food. Jim owned over 20,000 diamonds and a typical meal could consist of two whole ducks, six or seven lobsters, a sirloin steak, two servings of terrapin and assorted vegetables.  Because he did not drink alcohol, the meal would be washed down with gallons of orange juice.

Lillian adopted all three of Jim’s habits and by this time her “girlish figure” was being described as “full-bodied”. The couple were a fixture in Saratoga each August at the races and the casinos. Lillian’s, the popular downtown restaurant which closed in 2015, was named for her.  

While recovering, Rhoda wrote to a friend that when she discovered who the driver was “I understood my instinctive feelings of repulsion and disgust, the desire to first clear the air of her presence”. While Miss Russell offered to assist and even provide a ride to a doctor, Rhoda saw her offer as being made “in a perfunctory way with the air of doing a noble gracious act, although entirely irresponsible” and chose to accept a ride from a passerby.

Rhoda’s distaste for Lillian was apparently not only based on this encounter but a deeper-seated feeling about “the sporty class who scatter money and diffuse evil through this region during the summer.”  Sounds like “old money” looking down on “new money.”

Paul Perreault served as the Malta Town Historian from 2009-2023. He was a principal in the Ballston Spa School District and a history teacher at Shenendehowa High School.  He is a member of the Association of Public Historians of New York State, the Ballston Spa Rotary Club, and volunteers at the Saratoga County History Center.

Artificial Intelligence Creates “Immersive” Audio Experience at Saratoga History Museum

Written by Jonathon Norcross on . Posted in Business, Featured.

An audio tour QR code is stationed at the entrance of the Saratoga Springs History Museum in Congress Park. Photo by Jonathon Norcross. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Technology hasn’t yet advanced to the point that history buffs can simply hop in a DeLorean to explore the past, but it’s getting pretty close.

At the Saratoga Springs History Museum, artificial intelligence was used to generate more than four hours of audio content designed to help visitors immerse themselves in historic Saratoga. Ambient sounds and period-appropriate music abound in the museum’s new self-guided audio tour, which aims to transport museum goers back to the Gilded Age. 

“The stories we want to conserve in this museum are really important, and conserving them for a modern audience is definitely a priority,” said Museum Director James Parillo. “Trying to express this through artificial intelligence is something we really wanted to explore, and so far, I think we’ve created something really unique.”

The spoken part of the audio tour was created by simply feeding existing text into AI software; various male and female-sounding voices narrate the text seen on placards throughout the museum. But the rest of the tour’s soundscape is the result of AI’s more creative capabilities. This is most apparent on the third floor of the museum, where exhibits about the notorious Walworth family murder are accompanied by Haunted House-esque sounds of rainstorms, creaking floorboards, howling winds, and disembodied voices. (To fully capture the experience, headphones are recommended.) 

The audio tour was the brainchild of L.F. Leon, the museum’s director of communications. AI allowed Leon to create narration without having to hire someone to spend hours in a recording studio. The AI software, Leon said, also allows its user to own all of the material it creates. Classical music and jazz tunes heard throughout the tour were acquired from copyright-free sources.

As for ensuring historical accuracy, since all of the spoken audio was simply adapted from existing text, the information has already been verified by the museum. In other words, there’s no risk of AI simply making something up, as it sometimes is known to do. (That said, the AI narrators did seem to struggle a bit with the pronunciations of a couple Saratoga-specific names, such as Travers and Adelphi.)

QR codes stationed throughout the museum link visitors to a webpage that contains all of the audio tour files in numerical order. No app is needed. Each exhibit or item in the museum with a corresponding audio file has a number next to it, and the files can be played in any order. The audio tour also has the added benefit of allowing people who may not be physically able to climb the museum’s stairs to experience all of the exhibits auditorily from the ground floor. 

Visitors can experience the new audio tour for themselves at the Saratoga Springs History Museum, which is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors, and $8 for students. The museum is located at 1 E Congress Street in Congress Park.