SARATOGA SPRINGS — Department of Public Works Commissioner Anthony “Skip” Scirocco announced this week drainage improvements, performed by DPW, are nearly completed on Seward Street. 

The improvements are the result of neighborhood flooding issues communicated to DPW by residents and an engineering study identifying drainage solutions. The engineers’ opinion on probable construction cost estimated that the improvements would cost $632,000. With DPW performing the work internally, the current expenditures equaled $63,824.64, with the anticipated remaining costs less than $10,000. 

The drainage improvements were precipitated by residents contacting DPW in May of 2019 about flooding issues along Seward and Van Dorn Streets. A subsequent follow-up led to the engineering study that provided guidance on drainage solutions. The hydraulic study was performed by Barton & Loguidice, which analyzed flooding events, suggested corrections, and provided the $632,000 construction estimate.

The City’s engineering staff recommended that the work be performed in-house by the Utilities Department crew. The addition of a storm line connected to a “live” line on Church Street, drainage structures, and curbs were all part of the work completed by DPW. The final phase when the storm water infrastructure is installed, will be to pave the roadway with CHIPs funding at no cost to the taxpayers.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — By a vote of 152 to 8, Saratoga Springs School District residents last week approved a tax levy of $5,205,672 to operate the Saratoga Springs Public Library in FY 2021-22. Frank Brady and Carol Daggs, both of Saratoga Springs, were elected to the library’s Board of Trustees. Brady was reelected, and Daggs was elected to fill a vacancy created by the expiration of Kristen Dart’s term.

The library serves the residents of the Saratoga Springs City School District, and funds for the library are collected when school taxes are collected. The proposed FY 21-22 budget contains no increase over the amount levied in FY 20-21. The most recent increase was approved in 2019. 

An estimated $530,717 will be available from sources other than FY 21-22 property taxes. The tax amount for public library purposes appears as a separate item on school district tax bills.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Design Review Commission – one of three city Land Use Boards – resumes in-person meetings at City Hall at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, July 7. 

Current applications under consideration include: advisory opinions of a proposed Fire Station – which would be the city’s third – at Henning Road, an extension request regarding an advisory opinion of the Unified Development Ordinance, or UDO, and an architectural review of a new mixed-use building and 10 townhomes as part of the Excelsior Park Development. 

The meeting marks the first in-person DRC meeting in the newly reopened City Hall. These are the general meeting guidelines: 

• Applicant presentations to the Board will be limited to 15 minutes. 

• Public comments from the audience during public hearings will be limited to 3 minutes.

• All speakers will be timed to ensure compliance.

• Individuals may not donate their allotted time to other speakers.

• Please be respectful to the speakers while they are addressing the Board.

• Comments to the Board should relate specifically to the application under consideration and the review criteria.

• All written comments will be distributed to the Board and made part of the public record.    

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Assistant city Police Chief John Catone anxiously drummed his fingers atop the council table inside the newly reopened chamber at City Hall. A room of reporters assembled for the press briefing waited for him to find his words. 

“Today I am speaking directly to the people of this city,” Catone said, looking over the rim of the pair of eyeglasses perched atop his nose. 

“How can we, in Saratoga Springs, make sure we don’t become a destination location known for violence,” he said. “We’re at a seminal moment in this city’s history. We can become a city known for its violence, or, we can stop it immediately by everyone getting on board and working together.”    

The press briefing was prompted by a series of incidents that have occurred in downtown Saratoga Springs during the past few weeks.

Most recently, a 2 a.m. weekend altercation on Caroline Street saw a fight break out involving 15 to 20 people; a 26-year-old man suffered a stab wound to his torso and some rounds from a handgun were discharged into the air, causing the crowd to flee. The incident may potentially be related to gang-on-gang violence, or perhaps may be retaliatory action connected with a knife-related episode on Caroline Street last month, police said. Authorities have recovered a “ghost gun,” two spent rounds and a live round. There are people of interest, police said, and some “are known gang members.” As of this week, no one has been charged.   

“The last three weekends down there have looked like Travers Weekend,” said Catone, referring to the racecourse event that typically draws massive crowds downtown in late July. “So, from this weekend through Labor Day Weekend we’re going to approach it like every weekend is Travers Weekend. That’s the approach we’re going to have
to take until we get conformity, until we get cooperation, and until we end the violence that’s been going on.” 

Public Safety Commissioner Robin Dalton said current city police staffing levels are at 67 and anticipated the department could use an additional 20 in number. With COVID-related cutbacks affecting city finances, however, that’s a tough get. 

The city police department has engaged in conversation with a range of agencies – State Police, the county sheriff’s department, the FBI, State Liquor Authority, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Albany Police Department and Crime Analysis Center – among them, to formulate a plan to address the recent acts of violence in Saratoga Springs. 

“We’re going to do everything in our power, with our partners, to saturate the downtown area with a strong police presence,” said Catone, assigning blame for the incidents on several factors including a narrative of “hate, lies and disinformation” that unfavorably labels and demonizes police, city political hopefuls running for election in November who have attached themselves to that narrative, and the failures of state leaders and legislators, all serving to create a changed mindset that embolden criminals, he said. 

“The shooting was only a small part of the whole mess this weekend,” said Catone of the late Friday-early Saturday incident on Caroline Street.  “On Saturday night, many of those gang members returned and they brought more people with them, and they’ve become emboldened,” he continued. “They literally walked up to our officers, looked them in the face, and said: ‘We’ll be back next week, with more people.’ OK. Let’s be clear about how this is going to go: we are not going to back down.”

Saratoga’s history is littered with stories of mayhem that occurred over more than a century and included gangland shootouts, political payoffs and corruption that generally concluded in the mid-20th century when open illegal gambling in the city came to an end.

In his three-and-a-half decades with the department, Catone said current conditions have provided the most violence he has seen in his career. Statistical evidence will be compiled at summer’s end to provide summer-to-summer comparisons to learn whether there has been an overall uptick in recent times, Dalton said.    

“At the end of the day we have to make a commitment to public safety one way or the other, and that comes with a price tag. That’s a community decision about how we’re going to do that,” Catone said. “How do we stop the violence? It’s going to take a community effort of working together. You are either with us, or you are not. If you’re not, then you’re part of the problem.” He called upon local and regional tourism and business agencies to step up. 

“When you put 10, 12, 15 officers down there and you have 5,000 people who are in bars drinking all night long – and some of which comes from an element that we quite frankly don’t support being here – 10, 12, 15 officers is not going to fix that problem. So, what do you do? Do you shut the bars down at two o’clock? Do you add another 50 police officers on a Saturday night? The cost of being a destination location carries a price tag with it and this community has to decide what the price tag is…we have to decide, what are we doing? Are we picking safety, or are we going to just be all about the money and then whatever happens, happens,” Catone said. 

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SARATOGA SPRINGS ­­ — The following streets are to be paved according to the schedule below.  Paving will begin at 6 a.m. and should be completed by 4 p.m. There is no parking of cars on the street during these hours, and driveway access/egress will be limited with potentially lengthy delays.

Monday, June 28

Mill Seward St. from Church St. to Pearl St.

Mill Long Alley from Walton St. to Dead End

Tuesday, June 29

Mill Morton Place from Nelson Ave. to Ludlow St.

Mill Fasig Lane from Nelson Ave. thru Ludlow St. to Dead End

Wednesday, June 30

Pave Seward St. from Church St. to Pearl St.

Pave Long Alley from Walton St to Dead End

Thursday, July 1

Pave Morton Place from Nelson Ave. to Ludlow St.

Pave Fasig Lane from Nelson Ave. thru Ludlow St. to Dead End

WILTON — The Open Space Institute (OSI) celebrated a grant to establish the first publicly owned community forest in Saratoga County. 

The Saratoga County Community Forest, a joint project of OSI, Saratoga County, and Saratoga PLAN, will serve as a dynamic community hub for multi-use recreation and offer connections to a larger trail system envisioned for the Palmertown Range, a sector of the Adirondack Foothills that runs from Fort Ticonderoga in the north to Saratoga Springs in the south. 

In the community forest model of land conservation, municipalities or community-based organizations own the forestland and local citizens participate in the planning and management of forests. 

Easily reached off Route 9 and with ample space for developing public parking, the proposed Saratoga Community Forest property’s will allow visitors of varying abilities, fitness levels, and experiences to easily utilize and enjoy local trails and quickly immerse in an Adirondack experience. Additionally, as the first publicly-owned community forest in the area, the project is intended to serve as a model for future community forest development.

The $391,000 award, made available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Community Forest Program, will support the permanent protection of the proposed 202-acre Saratoga County Community Forest property, which includes a rocky ridgeline, forested ravines along streams, a diversity of mixed northern hardwood forest communities, old logging roads, and an historic graphite mine.

The Community Forest Grant Program pays up to 50 percent of the project costs and requires a 50 percent non-federal match. OSI, Saratoga County, and Saratoga PLAN are pursuing additional partnerships, private fundraising efforts, and grants to help fully achieve this ambitious plan. 

The proposed Saratoga Community Forest Property contains four acres of wetlands, more than 6,700 linear feet of streams, and is within the Lake Loughberry watershed, which is the main source of drinking water for the more than 28,000 residents of the City of Saratoga Springs. The protection of this property will help filter rainwater before it drains into Lake Loughberry and help maintain water quality.

Visit OSI online at www.openspaceinstitute.org.

Washington, D.C. — Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (NY-21) is among nine co-sponsors of the bipartisan Essential Caregivers Act – a bill to protect residents of long-term care facilities and allow them to access up to two designated essential caregivers during a public health emergency. 

Specifically, the bill, H.R. 3733, designates up to two individuals who can be designated as an Essential Caregiver by a facility resident in the event of a public health emergency. These Essential Caregivers are required to follow the same safety protocols as facility staff during visitations and can assist in developing treatment plans, communication with medical professionals, and advocate on behalf of the patient.

WILTON — The origins of the game may be traced back to the late 19th century of the Victorian Era when the Ladies Putting Club of St. Andrews in Scotland developed a putting course for women golfers. 

Today, the art of timing a putt between the swaying limbs of a windmill, over a narrow water-filled ravine or tapping a well-placed ricochet off a historic castle wall takes on a variety of forms in the world of miniature golf, where there are indoor courses and outdoor courses, courses lined of felt or concrete or artificial grass, and challenges awaiting the mini-golfer that range from the natural illumination of a bright afternoon sun or a glow-in-the-dark terrain accented by make-believe monsters. 

Saratoga native Brian Brumley first opened the 18-hole Olde Saratoga Miniature Golf Course on Maple Avenue in 2019. This year, on certain pre-specified nights through the summer, there’s a new added attraction. It takes place 6-9 p.m. on Tuesdays for adults 21 and over. It’s called: Puff Puff Putt. 

“A lot of people tell me what a great idea it is, and it’s the first thing they’ve seen since marijuana became legal where they can come out and socially smoke,” Brumley says. 

On March 31, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation legalizing adult-use cannabis.  Over the long-term, the development of an adult-use cannabis industry in New York State under the legislation – which ultimately establishes an Office of Cannabis Management and provides licensing for marijuana producers, distributors and retailers – is projected to reach $350 million annually in tax collections from adult-use cannabis programs, as well as create 30,000 to 60,000 new jobs across the state. 

Open seasonally from May until October, Olde Saratoga Miniature Golf Course maintains its normal days and hours of operation aside from the 6-9 p.m. Tuesdays Puff Puff Putt event. 

“This is our third year with the mini-golf and it’s all based on the history of Saratoga – each hole has a different piece of Saratoga history – the racetrack, SPAC, the springs, the museums,” says Brumley, among the course that includes a Saratoga “horse” starting gate with spaces for a golf ball to tunnel through, as well as a variety of twists, turns and looping obstacles. The course is tucked in the back of a property on Route 9, which includes other businesses such as a hair studio and a spirits shop. 

“Growing up here, I’ve always loved the whole history part of Saratoga. My first job was at the track. SPAC was in my backyard, and we would ride our bikes over there when we were 12 years old and listen outside to the concerts,” he remembered.  While playing miniature golf, kids and adults can enjoy a walk through time. 

As for the Tuesday night gatherings, Brumley points out that no cannabis is bought or sold on the premises, people must bring their own.  “Down the road on Tuesday nights we plan on having some live music as it gets bigger – just turning it into a social event, an alternative to the bars for the people who aren’t into drinking,” he says.   

Olde Saratoga Miniature Golf Course is located at 556 Maple Ave. in Wilton. To make a reservation for Puff Puff Putt Tuesdays, which is an adults-only event, call or text: 518-450-7006.  The company may also be found on Facebook and online. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — More than 1,000 days have passed since an August 2018 lightning strike forced the closure of City Hall. Fire and water damage caused by the strike led to extensive damage of the structure, built in 1871, and inspired a multi-million-dollar renovation project. 

Twenty-five months later, the building partially reopened to host an on-site public meeting of the City Council. Temperatures were taken at the door and mask-wearing visitors shared their contact information on a sign-in sheet. A scattering of chairs were set to be socially distanced from one another inside the council room.

“Good evening and welcome,” city Mayor Meg Kelly began, that night in September 2020. “We are here in our new and renovated City Council room.”  It did not last. 

In mid-November, City Hall was once again shuttered due to an occurrence of COVID-19, and the council relocated their public meetings to the virtual space of Zoom. It is where the twice-a-month council meetings as well as all other meetings and workshops of city commissions and committees have been ever since. The entryway doors – bookended by a pair of brass lions and draped in red, white, and blue banners – remain shuttered. A flyer fixed to the glass front informs City Hall is closed to the public due to COVID-19 and offers department office phone numbers for those seeking assistance. 

Security concerns related to appropriate security measures safeguarding those working inside the building were raised among some on the council, which kept the building shuttered, although the city’s website as well as signs posted on the building itself maintained the building remained closed due to COVID-19.   

The Saratoga County Board of Supervisors resumed their in-person meetings open to the public June 15, a few hours after Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that most state mandated restrictions related to the pandemic were to be immediately lifted.

On Thursday, June 24, the city of Saratoga Springs announced via an email from the Public Works Department it would be reopening City Hall on June 28.