SARATOGA SPRINGS — The former Grand Union Motel on South Broadway in Saratoga Springs will house the 2023-24 Code Blue Winter Shelter beginning in the fall of 2023, Shelters of Saratoga announced this week. 

S.O.S. will operate the shelter in partnership with Saratoga County. The shelter will offer semi-private rooms to individuals facing homelessness when the temperature drops below 32 degrees.

“In past seasons, the shelter was an open space lined with cots,” S.O.S. Executive Director Duane Vaughn said in a statement. “The new location will offer guests additional privacy, critical for restful sleep. Sleep is key to a healthy life, and we are working diligently to make accommodations as comfortable as possible. We are pleased to offer nightly shelter in this modified model this coming winter.”

In 2022-23, 271 unduplicated adults used the 61 available shelter cots at Code Blue on Adelphi Street, which was full most nights. 

The new location will shelter up to 80 adults and is in addition to the recently opened 35-bed 24/7 all-weather facility operated by RISE, a short walk away. RISE Housing and Support Services opened a year-round low barrier shelter earlier this month at the site of last season’s Code Blue shelter on Adelphi Street.

“We look forward to the collective impact our programs will have on reducing area homelessness,” Vaughn said.  “Reducing area homelessness is a collaborative effort among many Saratoga County human services agencies. We are better together.” 

Steve Ethier, owner of the Grand Union Motel said that while future development plans for the property are underway, the motel can provide safety to those facing homelessness during the cold winter months.

The Code Blue program is funded by the New York State Office of Temporary Disability in partnership with the County of Saratoga Department of Social Services.

To learn more about the Code Blue program and Shelters of Saratoga, visit www.sheltersofsaratoga.org

SARATOGA COUNTY —Primary Election races will take place in six municipalities in Saratoga County on Tuesday, June 27. Polls will be open 6 a.m. – 9 p.m. 

In the city of Saratoga Springs, incumbent Democrat Mayor Ron Kim is facing a primary contest challenge from former city Public Safety Commissioner Chris Mathiesen. There are 8,330 registered Democrat voters in Saratoga Springs who may participate in the Primary Election.   

Regardless of Tuesday’s outcome, both Kim and Mathiesen may still appear on the ballot in the general election in November, as Kim has additionally been endorsed by the Working Families Party and Mathiesen by the group One Saratoga. The Republican Party has endorsed John Safford for mayor. 

Courtney DeLeonardis, chair of One Saratoga, last week announced that the group, “nonpartisan, dedicated to unity and good government in Saratoga Springs,” secured sufficient signatures – nearly 1,000 – to ensure a line on the November ballot. 

To cast a ballot in the Primary Election, voters must be enrolled in the specific political party that is featured in that Primary Election. 

This designation includes registered Democrats in Saratoga Springs, registered Conservatives in Clifton Park and Malta, and registered Republicans in Clifton Park, Day, Mechanicville and Providence.   

Contested Primary elections, and parties involved:  Town of Clifton Park

Conservative – Town Justice: 

Vida Sheehan v. Robert A. Rybak.

Republican – Town Justice: 

Vida Sheehan v. Robert A. Rybak. 

Republican – Highway Superintendent: 

Michael Traider v. Dahn S. Bull.   

Town of Day

Republican – Town Councilmember (vote for 2): Lorraine Newton; Ellen Taylor; Joseph L. Flacke, Jr.; Cheryl L. Allen. 

Town of Malta

Conservative – Town Councilmember (vote for 2): Murray Eitzmann; Timothy F. Dunn; Craig M. Warner. 

Conservative – Judicial Delegate for the 113th Assembly District (vote for 2): Thomas J. Sartin, Jr.; Michael J. Welch; David F. Buchyn; Jeffrey A. Hurt.  

Conservative – Alternate Judicial Delegate for the 113th Assembly District (vote for 2): Tristan A. Ramsdill; Janet Hurt; Michael R. Biss, Jr.; Isabel L. Sartin. 

City of Mechanicville 

Republican – Commissioner of Finance (remainder of term): Mark Seber v. Tamar Martin. 

Town of Providence 

Republican – Town Councilmember (vote for up to 2): Ann Morris; Randy Wolfe. 

City of Saratoga Springs

Democratic – Ronald J. Kim v. Christian E. Mathiesen. 

To find your polling place, go to: voterlookup.elections.ny.gov. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The five prized trophies went missing shortly before the midnight hour on a late Thursday night in September 2013 in Saratoga Springs. 

A decade later, a narrative describing their forced exit, subsequent whereabouts and ultimate outcome has come to light in a 62-page indictment announced last week by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. 

The allegations charge nine Pennsylvania residents with conspiring to break into a dozen museums and institutions in multiple states – the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs among them – and stealing priceless works of art and sports memorabilia. The accusations claim the events transpired over a period of 20 years and included the transporting of stolen goods to Pennsylvania where some of the suspects melted the memorabilia down into discs and bars and sold the raw metals in the New York City area for hundreds or thousands of dollars.

The suspected “smash-and-grab” burglary in 2013 at the Union Avenue racing museum involved a man wearing dark clothing forcing their way into the museum. Among sounding alarms, triggering sensors and more than a dozen surveillance cameras, he vandalized two display cases and escaped through a separate exit with five trophies in a duffel bag, police described at the time. The entire ordeal took less than five minutes. 

There were five trophies in all in the Saratoga heist – three gold and two silver collectively worth more than $400,000. They included a 1905 Saratoga Special Trophy, a 1903 Brighton Cup Trophy, a 1903 Belmont Stakes Trophy made by Tiffany & Co. featuring semi-precious stones, and a pair of steeplechase trophies – one crafted in gold in 1914, the other in silver in 1923.  

According to the indictment, 53-year-old Nicholas Dombek, 47-year-old Damien Boland and a person identified as “Conspirator No. 1” made multiple visits to Saratoga Springs prior to the September 2013 incident to view objects on display at the racing museum and observe security measures in place. 

Boland is accused of driving Conspirator No. 1 to the museum on Sept. 13, when the latter broke in, used tools to smash multiple display cases and remove the five trophies. The two are then alleged to have driven in Boland’s car to the Saratoga Casino Hotel parking lot where the trophies were transferred to Conspirator No. 1’s car. 

The two are said to have later met up at a Denny’s Restaurant in Dickson City, Pennsylvania to inventory the trophies before proceeding to Boland’s bar, Collier’s Bar in Scranton, where they melted the trophies down into metal pieces. They subsequently transported those metal pieces to New York City where they were sold for approximately $150,000 to $160,000. Conspirator No. 1 later paid Nicholas Dombek $30,000 from the proceeds of the sale in exchange for Dombek’s help in planning the theft, according to the documents.        

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs released a brief statement this week which thanked law enforcement for their efforts and said they are “pleased to learn arrests have been made in conjunction with the 2013 theft of priceless trophies from our institution.”

The nine people accused overall are all Pennsylvania residents. Their alleged actions at times mimicked a Hassidic disguise to case out a mineralogical and geological museum in Massachusetts, and saw them pose as prospective members of a Country Club to secure a scouting tour of clubhouse memorabilia and evaluate on-premise security measures. There are additional accusations of being draped in a fireman’s uniform and carrying an axe in order to not draw suspicion prior to smashing display cases, as well as selling some of the goods “to an individual named ‘King Joe’” in New York City.  

Among the various objects claimed to have been taken from numerous locations: 9 World Series rings awarded to Yogi Berra between 1947 and 1962; 6 championship boxing belts; a 1961 MVP Trophy awarded to Roger Maris, an Andy Warhol artwork created in 1984 titled “Le Grande Passion,” and a  work created in 1949  by Jackson Pollock titled “Springs Winter.” Additionally, the allegations document the thefts of antique firearms worth more than $1.3 million; an 1903/1904 Tiffany Lamp, $400,000 worth of gold nuggets and a variety of gems, minerals, jewelry, and other items taken from multiple stores in New York, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. The whereabouts of some of the paintings and stolen objects to this day remain unknown. 

The accused: Nicholas Dombek, age 53, Damien Boland, age 47, Alfred Atsus, age 47, and Joseph Atsus, age 48 – indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to commit theft of major artwork, concealment or disposal of objects of cultural heritage, and interstate transportation of stolen property. All four men were also charged with substantive counts of theft of major artwork and the concealment or disposal of objects of cultural heritage; Dombek was further charged with a substantive count of interstate transportation of stolen property. 

Five other individuals were charged by felony informations for the same conspiracy. They are: Thomas Trotta, age 48, Frank Tassiello, age 50, Daryl Rinker, age 50, Dawn Trotta, age 51, and Ralph Parry, age 45.  According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, the indictment and informations charge the nine with conspiring and other objects. 

More than two dozen law enforcement agencies were involved in the lengthy investigation, including the FBI, New York State Police, and the Saratoga Springs Police Department.

The maximum penalty under federal law for the conspiracy count is five years imprisonment, and for each of the other offenses is 10 years imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS – A new homeless shelter opened on Adelphi Street this week, the first low barrier facility in Saratoga Springs to be open year-round.  

The shelter will operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and house 30 beds. Monday, June 12 marked the first day of operation.  It was filled to capacity.  

“It’s been calm,” Sybil Newell said Tuesday. Newell is the executive director of RISE Housing and Support Services – the agency operating the shelter.  “We have some people staying here who go to work, so we had a handful of folks who got up this morning, had breakfast, and went to work.” 

The shelter is located just west of South Broadway – in close proximity to the Saratoga County Mental Health Clinic building on South Broadway, and RISE’s main office on Union Street – and since 2020 operated seasonally on an emergency basis as a cold-weather “Code Blue” winter venue. 

The new shelter involved a public-private partnership and the collaborative effort of many hands that saw to its fruition. 

On June 9, the City Council staged a Special Meeting during which it unanimously approved an agreement with RISE to operate the shelter. The agency was the sole bidder for the project during the RFP process. The contract calls for the city to pay just under $240,000 for RISE to hire, train and staff the program, as well as maintain the facility through the balance of the 2023 calendar year.    

Local developer Sonny Bonacio secured a five-year lease on the property, renovated the building, and is providing it rent free to RISE until 2025.

“We have a sublease with him for the next two years,” Newell said. “They [Bonacio Construction] also installed the fence and installed the air conditioning. They got us the laundry machines, built the staff office,” she said. Interior     couches and the tables came from Stephen Sullivan at Longfellows.  The Corinth Central School District donated 32 numbered lockers. Metal detectors are stationed at the entryway.  

“We also had a private donor, who wants to remain anonymous, who bought all the beds. The outpouring of donations that has come from people has really helped us,” Newell said. The shelter offers breakfast, lunch and dinner and privacy fencing circling the exterior of the property bookends a collection of chairs and canopies.

In recent years, the city’s parking garage on Woodlawn Avenue has been pointed to as a central location where those lacking housing have congregated for extended periods of time. The hope is providing ample space, meals and beds at the 24/7 shelter location will help deliver people congregating at the parking garage and elsewhere to the Adelphi Street venue. 

“The program will be low-barrier, which means that anyone is welcome and they are not required to participate in case management or any other services,” Newell said, adding that advocacy services will be available on-site for anyone seeking to use those services.

Former city mayor Meg Kelly says the idea was born while brainstorming ideas with Sonny Bonacio earlier this spring.  

“The people who were really at the core of this are Sonny, myself, Sybil and (Rise Associate Executive Director) Lindsay Conners,” said Kelly, who is president of the Bonacio company West Side Management of Saratoga. “I said, let’s see if we take the Code Blue shelter and make it a year-round shelter. I talked to the owner of the property, and he said he had somebody else that wanted to rent it, so Sonny outbid him.  

“I think the building is so nice that people want to be there, and they’ll get healthier in a healthy environment,” Kelly said. “Some people say: ‘You need to just give them the bare minimum.’ Well, how did that work out with Code Blue? They shut the doors and they all go over to the garage.” 

Sheltering Saratoga Began A Decade Ago

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. Numerous plans to site a permanent shelter in the city have been rejected at every turn by those living close-by or with nearby interests. 

Most recently, plans to site a permanent shelter at a city-owned building at 5 Williams St. were stunted after some members of the Saratoga Central Catholic School, which partially borders the proposed shelter, expressed opposition to the siting of a shelter in close proximity to the private school.  Shelters of Saratoga – the organization involved in the operations of the Code Blue shelter as well as long-term shelter plans – subsequently announced that “after hearing the concerns of the community, we’ve decided not to move forward with a shelter at 5 Williams St.”   

“I think this new temporary shelter that was passed is a step in the right direction for Saratoga,” says Chris Pitts, son of Nancy Pitts, adding he was disappointed the Williams Street idea was “kicked to the curb.” 

“I think it was/is the correct place for the permanent shelter. It’s in a great location where a significant amount of homeless people are anyways. And it would probably help convince some people who are otherwise on the fence of seeking help if it were convenient like that,” Pitts said.  “I think they need to get some kind of permanent shelter ASAP. This temporary stuff is probably frustrating for some people who may be looking for help.” 

The recently created Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness is currently searching for a permanent site for a homeless shelter and navigation center and is expected to make its recommendations to the City Council in July. Any permanent site, however, may require new construction and take significant time to complete, which factored into the city’s recent actions to issue an RFP and award the bid to RISE to operate the shelter on Adelphi Street.  

“This is not intended to replace Code Blue…this is meant to be a temporary program until the Task Force and the city, the county, or any other agency comes up with a more permanent solution,” RISE’s Sybill Newell said. 

It is not at this point known the role the county will play in the shelter, financially or otherwise.  City Mayor Ron Kim suggested this week that members of the council meet monthly with residents and businesses living and working in the immediate area of the shelter to discuss any issues that may arise and to plan mitigation strategies. 

For more information about the new shelter, RISE Housing and Support Services or how to help, go to: riseservices.org.