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New: Saratoga Springs Creates “Violations Bureau” Parking Ticket Disputes 

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

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The City Council this week unanimously approved the creation of a Parking Violations Bureau as a more efficient method of adjudicating tickets issued for parking infractions. The new bureau will decide parking infraction charges prior to trial.

How it will work: anyone charged with a certain type of specific parking infractions can submit documentation or a signed and written explanation to the staff of the Bureau requesting charges be reduced or dismissed.

Assistant City Attorney Tony Izzo was named as the person to make a formal judgment or decision regarding a disputed matter at the Parking Violations Bureau. Additionally, three current employees of the city’s department of public safety will be assigned to conduct the new bureau’s work, so no additional city costs are anticipated.  

The specified violations are as follows:  

a. Parking in handicapped zone – must submit proof of a valid handicap parking tag or permit.

b. Unregistered motor vehicle – must provide photo of new valid registration or temporary registration affixed to window within 72 hours of the issuance of the ticket.

c. Failure to display current registration – must provide photo of new valid registration or temporary registration affixed to window within 72 hours of the issuance of the ticket.

d. Uninspected motor vehicle – must provide documentation that the vehicle has been inspected within 72 hours of the issuance of the ticket.

 e. Obstructing loading zone – must provide documentation that the vehicle was parked or standing temporarily to load and/or unload goods, wares or merchandise. Such documentation may include correspondence from business owners, invoices, or receipts.

f. Vehicle malfunction or breakdown – must provide documentation of services rendered to remove or repair the vehicle.

g. Medical emergency – must provide documentation from health care personnel, medical staff, or other person or persons that a medical emergency existed. A detailed description of the medical emergency is not required.

h. Death of vehicle owner – must submit reasonable proof.

After review, the person charged may either accept or reject the disposition proposed by the adjudicator, and ask for a hearing before the adjudicator, or a trial in Saratoga Springs City Court.

Last Call: City Officials Push for Earlier Bar Closing Time

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

Once more, with feeling. 

Expressing a desire to alter bar closing times in Saratoga Springs, the council took steps this week to attempt to fulfill that goal. And while It is an effort that the city has expressed numerous times in the past, the ultimate outcome this time around may be different. 

“This is something that has been debated in the city for at least 10 years and it’s been difficult to get Saratoga County to move on the issue,” said Supervisor Matt Veitch, who represents the city at the county level, and is also vice chairperson of the county supervisor board. 

“The time is right for this to be discussed with my fellow colleagues on the Board of Supervisors. I believe we will have some momentum on this moving forward in 2025,” he said.

Currently, the New York State Alcoholic Beverage Control Law prohibits sales of alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption in Saratoga County between the hours of 4 a.m. and 10 a.m. on Sunday, and between the hours of 4 a.m. and 8 a.m. on any other day. 

Bar closing times can only be changed by a county resolution to the State Liquor Authority, meaning the city on its own cannot affect bar closing times, Veitch clarified. “You need the county support for that.”

How the process works: the city will send is resolution – which it unanimously approved Feb. 4 – to the county. The county Board of Supervisors will consider it, and if the board agrees it will then forward their recommendation to the N.Y.S. Liquor Authority.  The SLA has the ultimate authority to decide the matter, which will affect bar closing times countywide. 

 “I’ve been having discussions with other (county) supervisors and I think there’s an openness now to discuss bar closing times,” Veitch told the City Council during its Feb. 4 meeting. “It will definitely be earlier than (the current) 4 a.m.,” Veitch said. “I’m not sure exactly what the final debate will be at the county level, but it won’t be a blanket 2 a.m. year-round…I think one thing that will remain 4 a.m. is New Year’s Eve, but other than that it will be earlier.” 

“From a public safety perspective, the Saratoga Springs command staff – the police department supports the earlier closing times,” said Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll.  “To reduce the hours with earlier closing times has the potential for us to reduce overtime as well as to keep officers safer,” he said, adding that Saratoga County Sheriff Michael Zurlo had also expressed to Coll his support for earlier closing times.        

It is unclear what timeline the measure would take, but the county Law & Finance Committee – which is chaired by Veitch – next meets Feb. 12. That subcommittee typically forwards its recommendations for approval to the county Board of Supervisors. That Board holds its next monthly meeting on Feb. 20.  

Saratoga Springs Approves Increase in City Council Wages

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

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The City Council this week approved a Local Law that will increase the wages of future councilmembers, starting with the next City Council in 2026. 

Currently the five council members each receive $14,500 annually. Beginning in 2026, the four commissioners will receive $27,456 per year, and city mayor $42,456 annually.

Wages specific to the five council members have not seen an increase for at least the past 15 years. Each of the five seated members is an equal voting member in city government. The general consensus allowing for the higher increase specified in the mayoral seat is that by being the city’s official representative, the position requires an investment of additional time. 

The measure was approved by a 3-2 vote, with current Mayor John Safford and Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll voting against the resolution.    

Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi said the four commissioner salaries were based on a minimum wage formula that works out to about 33 hours per week and also allowed those employed to meet the state’s 1:1 ratio in the N.Y. State retirement system.    

The length of each councilmembers’ term will remain at two years. In November 2025, all four commissioner positions as well as the mayor’s seat will be up for election.  

Stillwater Runner Dedicates Career to Deceased Mother

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

Stillwater runner Anthony Zazzaro crosses the finish line first at Mother’s Day Event 2023.
Photo provided by Silvio Laccetti.

STILLWATER — Anthony Zazzaro, a four-year track and cross-country star at Stillwater High School, is used to bucking fierce headwinds.

Stillwater is a very small school (graduating class of around 70) with a strong athletic tradition. The cross-country team had only two members this past year. For Anthony, that means running and training alone, close mentoring by his varsity coach Shawn McClements, and plenty of support from his townsfolk for whom he has become a familiar sight running in all kinds of weather, all year long.

“Anthony and I have a very holistic coach-athlete relationship,” said Coach McClements. “For us, it’s always been about advancing the whole person, because cross-country is very mentally and spiritually demanding. Moments racing alone in the backwoods test a runner as he confronts obstacles.”

Zazzaro was the first and only Stillwater cross-country runner ever to advance through the states competition to the Federation Championships, which he did in 2022, 2023, and 2024. After the 2024 season, he won the Class C State Silver Medal.

Zazzaro’s most cherished and poignant moment in racing was competing in the Kelly’s Angels Mother’s Day Race in 2023 at the age of 15. Kelly’s Angels was founded by Mark Mulholland, an area media personality, to honor and memorialize his wife Kelly, who passed from cancer in 2007. Kelly’s Angels was well known to Anthony who had been a beneficiary and contributor to their outreaches, since his mother was suffering from cancer herself.

The race in 2023 was supremely special to Anthony. He ran to honor his mom who had been the major force and fan motivating her son to succeed, taking him to practices and events as a child, and gently prodding him to get up and running on those cold weekend mornings when other teens would nestle in bed for a few more hours. In this May of 2023, Diane Zazzaro was at the end of her heroic two-year battle with cancer.

Anthony set out to win the race for his mom, and so he did. As he recounted, during that effort his heart was breaking, but pumping harder than ever. “Every breath, every step I took, I wanted it for her,” Zazzaro said.

In a wheelchair, Zazzaro’s mom witnessed her son’s Mother’s Day tribute to her. It was to be one of her final experiences. Three days later, she passed away.

Devastated but unbroken by his loss, Zazzaro dedicated his racing career to Diane.

In this difficult situation, running against the wind, Anthony is blessed and encouraged by the memory of all the “Kellys” who left their families much too early. Sunrise or sunset, the cold of dusk and the heat of mid-day are part of the continuing cycle of training, competing and achieving. Just recently, he handily won the Springfield, Massachusetts Invitational to begin his indoor track season.

But Anthony doesn’t run alone. He has many angels on his shoulders to propel him ever onward.

Silvio Laccetti, Ph.D is a retired history professor, national columnist, and director of The Silvio Laccetti Foundation.

How Gov. Hochul’s Proposed Cell Phone Ban Would Impact Saratoga Schools

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

SARATOGA SPRINGS — New York Governor Kathy Hochul is advocating for a strict, new statewide cell phone policy that could go into effect as soon as August 1, 2025.

The “distraction-free schools” legislative proposal would, among other things:

Prohibit the unsanctioned use of smartphones and other internet-enabled personal devices on school grounds in K-12 schools for the entire school day, including classroom time and other settings like lunch and study hall periods.

Allow schools to develop their own plans for storing smartphones during the day

Propose that $13.5 million in funding be made available for schools that need assistance in purchasing smartphone storage solutions

In a January 23 Board of Education meeting, Saratoga School District Director of Program and Budget Integration Dr. Joseph Greco said that Hochul’s proposal recommends lockers be used for phone storage during school days, which means the district may not need to tap into the $13.5 million fund set aside for storage solutions.

“We have an ample supply of lockers here, so this may not have a budgetary impact on us,” Greco said, “but it’s certainly something we’re keeping a close eye on.”

Greco said that Saratoga schools would be required to report on their enforcement of the policy, including any disciplinary action that might be necessary. Schools would also be required to provide demographic information for any students subjected to phone-related disciplinary action. 

Bobby Yusko, the district’s assistant superintendent for business, said he believed that the chances Hochul’s cell phone policies will be enacted are “pretty high.”

The governor has allowed for some exceptions to the ban, according to Greco, including the use of devices (such as laptops or tablets) sanctioned by teachers for classroom instruction, and the use of devices needed for translation purposes. Students would also be allowed to have access to simple cell phones without internet capability, as well as internet-enabled devices that help manage medical conditions.

The “distraction-free schools” policy would be implemented in time for the upcoming 2025-26 school year.

“From parents and teachers, to social justice and law enforcement leaders, New Yorkers agree that our young people succeed when they’re learning and growing, not clicking and scrolling,” Governor Hochul said in a statement. “Using the insights from my statewide listening tour, this comprehensive proposal to restrict smartphone use in schools will ensure that New York’s statewide standard for distraction-free learning delivers the best results for our kids and educators.”

Standard Fare Joins Growing List of New Phila Street Eateries

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


Zac Denham and Clark Gale are opening the restaurant Standard Fare on Phila Street this spring. It’s one of at least four new restaurants coming to the off-Broadway street. Photo via Standard Fare.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Phila Street. So hot right now. Phila Street.

New York’s hottest club is Phila Street.

I don’t know how to put this but Phila Street is kind of a big deal. It has many leather-bound books and smells of rich mahogany.

OK, now that the pop culture references are out of the way, it is indeed true that Phila Street in downtown Saratoga Springs is bustling with new establishments set to open their doors this year.

One of the eateries is Standard Fare, a new enterprise from Bocage Champagne Bar owners Zac Denham and Clark Gale.

Located at 21 Phila Street, Standard Fare aims to deliver “upscale American comfort food,” with a menu that includes dishes like meatloaf, mozzarella sticks with caviar, double-cut Berkshire pork chops with apple sauce and potato pancakes, “big dumb milkshakes,” and over-the-top pies and cakes. It’s a restaurant that Denham and Gale said would be appropriate for both a high school baseball team celebrating a big win and a couple in search of an evening date spot.

“The name reflects our goal: raising the bar for the kind of food we all secretly crave but often overlook,” Gale said. 

Denham and Gale said the restaurant will feature a chic design that’s unlike anything else that currently exists in Saratoga. 

Standard Fare will be open seven days a week, with extended late-night hours (midnight during the week and 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays). Lunch, brunch, and takeaway options will follow shortly after the initial opening, which should happen at some point this spring. 

“2025 is shaping up to be a huge year for dining in Saratoga,” Denham said. “With so many exciting new openings, we wanted to create a space that cuts through the noise—something that feels timeless yet vibrant, indulgent yet accessible. Comfort food that’s nostalgic yet surprising.” 

“We’ve loved being part of the Phila Street community with Bocage,” said Gale. “This area has such a unique energy, and if you’ve never ventured off Broadway, you’re missing something special. The vibe here is unmatched, and we’re excited to contribute to its story.” 

The story of Phila Street has a few other chapters being added to it this year as well. One is Familiar Creature, a forthcoming “Montreal-inspired” wine bar located at 42 Phila that was created by the team behind Hamlet & Ghost. Familiar Creature will serve local meats and cheeses, roasted chicken, French small plates, and, of course, wine. The kitchen will be led by Chefs Michele Hunter and Alex Johnson.

Then there’s Noah’s at 43 Phila, an Italian joint from Chef Noah Frese of Siro’s fame. Perhaps setting the tone, the restaurant’s first Instagram post features the cast of “The Sopranos.” The red sauce venture is billed as “your new, favorite, usual spot” where “everything [is] made with love, taking you back to the best part of an Italian’s childhood.” 

Finally (for now, at least), there’s the more casual Fillies on Phila, a wood-fired pizza restaurant that, according to Saratoga Living, is set to open this winter. The owner, Micah Henzel, also co-owns the neighborhood bar/restaurant Milton Tavern, which opened in Ballston Spa in 2023. Fillies will be located at 39 Phila, the former home of Nashville of Saratoga.

By our count, that’s at least four new restaurants opening up on Phila Street this year that will join local favorites like Harvey’s, Sweet Mimi’s, Mittler’s, Bailey’s, Bocage, Trattoria Fortunata, and Solevo.

It’s been alleged that there are more restaurants in Saratoga Springs per capita than anywhere else in the country. It may be hard to determine whether that’s definitely true, but take a stroll on Phila Street in between Broadway and Henry Street later this year and you might believe it. 

Delay Picking Winner:Saratoga Springs Special Election Too Close To Call

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


The vault at Saratoga County Board of Elections, Jan. 29, 2025. Photo by Thomas Dimopoulos. 

BALLSTON SPA — Framed by a spire-topped church erected in 1835 that heralds a letterboard reading “God’s House, All Are Welcome,” and a single-story family home where a human figure in flannel clothes is, on this day busily shoveling away a late January snowfall, stands the county Board of Election complex, where inside a sublevel vault that runs maybe 50 feet long, ballots will be counted to presumably decide the winner of Saratoga Springs’ Special Election. 

Following nine days of Early Voting, and a 15-hour Special Election Day across Saratoga Springs on Jan. 28, the contest to decide the city’s DPW Commissioner/fifth City Council member through calendar year 2025 returned no known victor.   

Democrat Hank Kuczynski, the interim DPW Commissioner, ran as a write-in candidate. A total of 1,725 write-in votes were secured, although it is not yet known how many of those write-ins carried Kuczynski’s name. 

Republican Chuck Marshall secured 1,684 ballot votes.  

It is anticipated that a winner will not be known until at least next week. The counting of ballots will take place at the county Board of Elections complex in Ballston Spa. At press time, no date for the start of the counting process had been announced. 

Also of note: there are just under 300 absentee ballots yet to be returned. Regular absentee ballots need to be received at the BOE by Feb. 4; Military ballots by Feb. 10. 

A total of 3,409 votes have been tallied, according to unofficial reports from the Board of Elections. That represents about 16% of all active registered voters in Saratoga Springs. 

The next City Council meeting is Tuesday, Feb. 4. 

In November all five city council seats will be up for vote.

State Of The City: Earlier Last Call, Charter Review Among 2025 Plans

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

“We celebrate the idea that our city is not just
 a collection of streets and buildings, but a living, breathing symphony…”

SARATOGA SPRINGS — A new commission will be appointed to review the City Charter and recommend potential changes, and an earlier Last Call for local bars were among the 2025 agenda items announced during the mayor’s State of the City Address at the Skip Scirocco/ Saratoga Music Hall in Saratoga Springs on Jan. 23. 

All five council members and both city supervisors were each allotted time to address the assembled crowd, which included former city Mayor Scott Johnson and current state Sen. Jim Tedisco. 

Framed by a trio of flags, one each representing city, state and country, city council members and supervisors reflected upon achievements in 2024 – the opening of a new fire station among them, potential future challenges, and plans for 2025, from addressing heavy truck traffic navigating local streets to anticipating the return of the Belmont on Broadway festival.  

City Mayor John Safford announced he will be establishing a commission that will be chaired by Vince DeLeonardis to review the City Charter “and make recommendations for improvement.” 

Supervisor Matt Veitch spoke about a decades-long debate involving attempts to institute earlier bar closing times in Saratoga Springs, explaining that any such measure may only be achieved if first adopted on a countywide basis with county support. 

“The time is right for this to be discussed with my fellow colleagues on the Board of Supervisors,” said Veitch, who serves as vice chairperson of the county supervisors board. “I believe we will have some momentum on this moving forward in 2025.” Veitch additionally reported that in the county’s just-received year-over-year sales tax numbers for January, “we are trending negative for the first time since 2020.” 

Supervisor Michele Madigan highlighted a report released by the state comptroller on Jan. 22 detailing that homelessness in New York state has more than doubled between January 2022 and January 2024, specifically increasing 138% in Glens Falls, Saratoga Springs and surrounding counties. 

This year’s SOTC Address takes place during a week when Early Voting is underway for a special city election to seat an elected DPW Commissioner for the remainder of the 2025 calendar year. The DPW department spearheaded last year’s inaugural paid parking program in the city; nothing was said during the SOTC regarding whether that parking plan may return this year.  

City Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi confirmed that she will not seek re-election in November.

Poet Laureate Joseph Bruchac opened the evening with two poems – one named “Harmony,” another “Civility” – two themes city Mayor Safford has riffed on since taking office in January 2024. 

“Words spoken calmly with others in mind, like the instruments in an orchestra, they blend into a symphony that finds a good place,” said Bruchac to begin the night. It was a theme city Mayor Sanford returned to at the night’s conclusion one hour and fifteen minutes later. 

“We celebrate the idea that our city is not just a collection of streets and buildings, but a living, breathing symphony…the great composition of our shared life,” the mayor said. “This year, our song continues.” 

Local Construction Industry Leaders Bemoan Labor Issues

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


A sold-out audience listens to the Outlook for Construction 2025 panel discussion hosted by the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce at the SUNY Adirondack campus in Wilton. Panelists, from left to right: James Dawsey of MLB Construction Services; Michael Munter of Munter Enterprises; Kylie Holland from Curtis Lumber; and David Collins of D.A. Collins Companies. Photo by Jonathon Norcross.

WILTON — Local construction industry leaders assembled on Tuesday morning at SUNY Adirondack’s Wilton campus for a panel discussion about the future of the business in Saratoga County. Among other topics, the panelists described issues they’re facing with recruiting and training new hires, many of whom lack skills applicable to the construction trade.

“Historically, in our industry, we recruited farm kids,” said David Collins, owner of D.A. Collins Companies. “They know how to fix equipment, they know how to operate equipment, they know how to work long, hard hours. Now those farms aren’t around anymore.”

Collins said the lack of skilled recruits was resulting in more training for new hires.

“The younger people coming in don’t have the same work ethic or insight into what a day’s work is compared to a farm kid,” added Michael Munter, vice president of Munter Enterprises. “I don’t want to use the word ‘soft,’ but I think we’re a little softer than it was when we were out there in the trenches getting screamed at.”

Munter said that veteran construction workers had begun mentoring younger workers to help show them the ropes. 

Audience member Stacey Fantauzzi, vice president of operations for North East Fire Protection Systems, said business owners themselves had also become “soft” by “accommodating a lot of the shenanigans” of new hires. Fantauzzi said parents are “atrophying our children by allowing a lot of this softness.”

One 2022 survey conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America found that 91% of construction firms reported having difficulty filling open positions due to a lack of qualified candidates. This shortage of skilled laborers could result in longer and costlier projects, declines in productivity and quality control, and more injuries on the job.

The labor issues could also impact housing shortages. A fall 2024 labor market report from the Home Builders Institute stated that “additional skilled construction workers will be needed to reduce the nation’s housing deficit during the second part of the current decade, a shortfall [the National Association of Homebuilders] estimates to total 1.5 million homes.”

Despite the need for more workers, labor shortages in home building remain widespread, even with an uptick in immigration over the last two years. A NAHB/Well Fargo Housing Market Index survey found that builders reported shortages in 16 different trades, ranging from landscape to carpentry.

James Dawsey, president of MLB Construction Services, suggested that a stronger presence in schools was necessary to introduce kids to skills applicable to the construction trade.

“I think if we reach down and at least give the kids a basis for wanting to get into this business, I think that’s a big plus on our side,” Dawsey said. “Hopefully it’ll pay dividends in the future to try to attract people into our business.”