SARATOGA SPRINGS — It is a place where local businesses thrive and share their prosperity with the community. It is where full-time employees receive free healthcare benefits and competitive salaries, and where entrepreneurs are provided tools to help them succeed and flourish. 

It is a model called The Business for Good and a vision presented by Ed and Lisa Mitzen and their “team of motivated do-gooders” who believe that equity is key to a brighter future. The idea behind the Business for Good Foundation is in using the team’s successful business skills and experience to help make the world a better place.   

“We’ve experienced a level of prosperity that’s still hard to get our minds around. We’re living our dream. And we’re very grateful for it. But we believe dreams should be accessible to everyone,” the Mitzens say. 

They established The Business for Good Foundation, a 501c3 charitable organization to assist others in the pursuit of their own dreams. “Help as many people as we could. Do as much good as we could do.”

Lisa said she and Ed have long shared an interest in giving back. 

“We always dreamed of starting a foundation,” said Lisa Mitzen, at the foundation’s public launch on July 13 at the Brackett House on North Broadway in Saratoga Springs. The site, which includes offices and a conference center will serve as the organization’s headquarters. 

Ed Mitzen was raised in Voorheesville and spent nearly a decade growing Palio Communications into a success before subsequently co-founding Fingerpaint Marketing in Saratoga Springs in 2008. 

The Foundation is built on a set of different pillars, Ed Mitzen explained. Owning businesses and taking care of employees while donating all that business’ profits to local charitable causes is one; providing capital and other useable tools such as marketing and mentorship to entrepreneurs, is another. Since its official launch last October, the Foundation has donated $4.4 million in grants and resources across the state.    

“We like to describe Business For Good as sort of an umbrella over each of the businesses that are acquired, which are still for-profit businesses, just the profits are then donated to Business For Good so we can then do better for the communities we live and work in,” said Lisa Mitzen, who grew up in nearby Hudson Falls. 

The Mitzens acquired the Bread Basket Bakery, which overlooks Congress Park, late last year. “The goal there was to give the staff great pay, great benefits, keep them all there, but change the mission – instead of it being a for-profit business, to donate all the profits to charity,” Ed Mitzen said. Revenue the bakery generates goes directly to fight food insecurity in local communities. A second Bread Basket location is planned to be sited on Weibel Avenue in Saratoga Springs, which will grow the foundation mission by also donating all profits to charity. 

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HATTIE’S

The addition to the foundation of the Spa City’s famed Hattie’s Restaurant & Chicken Shack is in the process of being finalized. Employees will be provided “great pay, great benefits, and have 100% of their health care covered,” Mitzen said.  An additional Hattie’s Restaurant is slated to open in the former Lombardo’s Restaurant on Madison Avenue in Albany next year. 

Lombardo’s Restaurant served as a cornerstone business in Albany for nearly a century, and its closure left a service and employment gap in an already economically challenged neighborhood. By renovating the building and installing a business such as Hattie’s that will employ locally and return all profits to local charities, the foundation is hoping that both – a piece of Albany history will be preserved, and that it will be a positive contributor to the South End community for years to come.

“The idea of being a part of a consortium of businesses that have tremendous synergy in working together and trying to elevate as many people as possible was really perfect for Hattie’s,” said Jasper Alexander, sporting his buttoned-up white chef uniform as he spoke at Tuesday’s foundation announcement. 

Hattie Mosely Austin founded her self-named chicken shack in Saratoga Springs in 1938. Alexander bought Hattie’s in 2001. Jasper and Beth Alexander will remain in charge of the restaurant. 

“Hattie was tremendously generous in the community. It was always a driving mission of hers and a driving mission of ours,” Alexander said.

“When I first met with Ed (Mitzen) I was so taken aback because he so bluntly said: I just want to do good. We all say that: ‘I want to do good,’ but here are two people who are, quite frankly, putting their money where their mouth is, and doing good,” said Beth Alexander. 

Year-round, Hattie’s employs about 45 workers, a number that grows to about 75 during the summer.    In addition to wage raises, employees will receive health benefits – “a game-changer and something very few restaurants are able to do,” Alexander said. 

“It’s a dream come true, and it’s quite frankly saving a historical restaurant. You know the restaurant business is a tough business and Hattie’s has been in Saratoga for 85 years. We just weren’t sure how much longer we were going to be able to do it,” she said. 

The foundation recently closed on a building in downtown Voorheesville that had been vacant and previously housed a Stewart’s Shop. In Voorheesville, which is where Ed Mitzen grew up, the community will be surveyed to learn what type of business it is interested in being sited there. That business will be built around the same initiative of donating all the profits to charity. 

Additional Business for Good Foundation projects include incorporating what Mitzen calls Accelerated Entrepreneurship. “What we want to do there is use our business backgrounds and skills to help aspiring entrepreneurs in underserved communities realize their dreams of starting their business,” he explained. “There are a lot of really smart, hungry and passionate folks but they don’t really have access to resources. So, what we want to do with the Foundation is provide them with capital, provide them with advice and guidance, provide them with marketing support, IT support, HR, office space and really get them going. We don’t own the businesses; we’re just really trying to help them to become entrepreneurs.” 

The first business undertaken in that mode was a brownstone located at 134 Central Ave. in Albany that formerly served as the law offices of prominent African American civil rights attorney Peter Pryor. The building had fallen into disrepair, and the project entailed renovating the building so it may function as an office space for the Wallace Turner Law firm. When completed in the coming months, the project will connect the past and the future by ensuring the continuation of its legacy. 

The goal is finding a path of enduring giving to help provide sustained support that leads to lasting change. As the foundation umbrella grows, Mitzen says: “We’re not looking for turn-arounds, it’s too hard. We want people who have been successful, who show a passion for what they do, who believe in our model.” 

Mitzen’s father worked for the Albany VA Hospital. His mom worked as a respiratory therapist and nurse at Saratoga Hospital and Albany Medical Center. Mitzen was asked what drives his passion of wanting to give back.   

“My father worked at the VA and passed away when I was 18. He was 41. I think the one thing that got instilled in me is: I’m on the clock, right? I’m 54,” he said.  “I want to do as much as I can before I leave this place.”

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SARATOGA SPRINGS — The long-awaited resumption of public meetings at City Hall was itself interrupted five minutes after it began.

As Rev. Joseph Cleveland addressed the council during the public comment portion of the meeting July 6, city Mayor Meg Kelly issued a warning to some in the assembled audience.

“If you’re going to be ‘hmm-hmm’ and make remarks, we’re going to have you removed,” Mayor Kelly said. She subsequently demanded the room be cleared, declared “a recess,” and announced that the meeting was “adjourned.” The mayor, followed by some of the other members of the council, then left the room.    

Some minutes later, council members returned to their seats and the meeting resumed. 

Rev. Cleveland, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Saratoga Springs, was one of a dozen public speakers, most of whom expressed concern and took issue with “divisive” remarks made by city Assistant Chief of Police John Catone during a press conference last week. Some of the speakers at the council meeting additionally requested a public apology be issued regarding some of the comments that were made. That press conference may be viewed in its entirety on the Saratoga Springs Police Department Facebook page dated June 28, at: facebook.com/sspdny. 

As to the meeting interruption and resumption, the City Charter states Open Meetings shall be
conducted in accordance with Open Meetings laws of NY State, and “the Open Meetings Law is silent on how a meeting ends,” according to the state Committee on Open Government. 

• Police Reform Task Force/ Civilian Review Board Advisory Committee

The Civilian Review Board, or CRB, was a key recommendation made by the city Police Reform Task Force, in response to the governor’s Executive Order, advisory committee member Jason Golub told the council Tuesday night. There are more than 200 CRB’s across the country, some of which are being evaluated by the committee, in order to present to the City Council a detailed plan on how to best implement a CRB in the local community.

“Our role is to provide the council with research that will allow you to confidently implement a CRB that makes sense; What I do not want for our city is a CRB in name only that ultimately does not meet the goals for which it was intended,” Golub said. “CRB’s can protect civilians and members of the police force… it is critical we get this right for our community, and this is where our focus will be.”   

The goal is to provide monthly updates to the council and a full report by October that will include the development of the scope of the CRB’s power, and the budget required for a two-year pilot program. 

“The totality of our research will be provided to the city council and the public. It will then be up to the city council to determine what to do (with) the findings,” he said. 

• Supervisor Tara Gaston, who represents the city at the county level, was appointed chair of the Saratoga County Health & Human Services Committee on Jan. 6. Six months later, Gaston reports she has been removed from that position of leadership, as well as from the committee itself altogether. 

Gaston’s announcement took the Saratoga Springs City Council by surprise; some council members publicly expressed they thought Gaston had done positive work in the position, particularly in regards to the COVID-19 pandemic.   

“I was told that I did not show proper respect to my colleagues. I will say that I made comments that may have not been appropriate at that particular moment. I recognized that and apologized for that at the same meeting. I did not make any comments or do anything that has not been done many times by other supervisors, and in that same meeting had another supervisor refuse to respond when I asked, as chair, to stop talking over me. So, I don’t believe I did anything wrong, but the (Board of Supervisors Chairman Todd Kusnierz) has the authority and ability to remove anyone, as they choose,” Gaston said. 

“In government, it’s not uncommon to make changes in leadership positions on a regular basis, and this is no different as we work to ensure we best meet the needs of Saratoga County residents,” Kusnierz said. “She has performed as chair of the committee well representing Saratoga County.”

“I’ve been engaged and active in that committee to help recover from what took place at the county earlier in the pandemic. There is still a lot of work to be done – both with COVID and the Public Health Department expansion – and I believe I am one of the few people on the Board that has the knowledge base and the experience to be able to this properly and efficiently,” Gaston said. “And to not even sit on the committee anymore…I think that’s a disproportionate response.”   

Supervisor Darren O’Conner, of Malta, is expected to be named chair of the Health & Human Services Committee at the next Board of Supervisors meeting later this month. 

• New Fire/EMS Station

Sean Foran, of Huber Breuer Construction in Syracuse, provided an update to the council of the city’s proposed new Fire/EMS station on Henning Road. The station – which will be the city’s third – will serve residents of the east side. 

The design process is anticipated to begin in August, leading to a bid and contract award process in 2022.  “A bid process in early 2022 would allow the project to proceed in April or May 2022, and would allow owner occupancy in the spring of 2023,” Foran told the council. 

The total product budget is approximately $6.7 million, and the building, with an entry road on Henning Road, will hold three double-deep, drive-through bays to house 6 full-size apparatus for the fire department, and will overall measure to about 16,000 square feet. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Congressman Paul Tonko announced last week that five local projects totaling $19.955 million that he pushed for to receive federal funding have been advanced out of the House of Representatives, as part of a major infrastructure package, the INVEST in America Act. 

The Capital Region infrastructure projects passed out of House include: $6 million for the purchase of eight CDTA electric buses, $5.7 million for a continuous bicycle and pedestrian route that will connect the Cities of Watervliet and Troy and $1.055 million for Bicycle & Pedestrian Access Improvements for the town of Clifton Park.   

The measure passed by a vote of 221-201, largely along party lines with two Republicans – Pennsylvania U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and New Jersey U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith voting alongside 219 Democrats. 

The House of Representatives also passed lifesaving limo safety measures authored by Tonko – a Democrat who represents the 20th Congressional District, following the 2018 Schoharie limo crash that took the lives of 20 people. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner, D-Round Lake, announced a bill she sponsored to create an Opioid Settlement Fund has been signed into law. The bill ensures opioid settlement money is used to assist those struggling with addiction through substance use disorder prevention, treatment and recovery programs.

“The ongoing opioid epidemic has had heartbreaking and deadly effects on families across the state, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only intensified the struggle for individuals with substance use disorders,” said Woerner, in a statement. “Social isolation and economic hardships have taken their toll on most of us, but those suffering from addictions have also been cut off from in-person counseling and treatment programs during the pandemic. The new Opioid Settlement Fund to ensure that funds recovered by New York from the manufacturers of harmful drugs are invested in services that will prevent addiction, reduce harm from addiction and support people in recovery. This legislation gives us a chance to fund the programs that are necessary to support those on the road to recovery.”

The Opioid Settlement Fund will ensure any money the state receives from these settlements is used only for eligible expenditures, including substance use disorder prevention, treatment and recovery programs and public education campaigns to combat the epidemic. Additionally, the new law prohibits these funds from being used to supplant or replace existing state or federal funds that would be used for prevention, treatment and recovery programs or services. 

For anyone living with an opioid or other substance abuse addiction in need of help, the confidential New York State HOPEline can be reached 24/7 at 1-877-8-HOPENY or by texting HOPENY. 

Saratoga Springs — After months of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Saratoga Springs Heritage Area Visitor Center reopened to the public Thursday, July 8.

“We couldn’t be happier to reopen the Visitor Center,” said Darryl Leggieri, president of Discover Saratoga. “With summer travel heating up and COVID-19 restrictions lifted, it’s critical to have a place in our community where locals and visitors alike can go to gain important information about our city.”

The Heritage Area Visitor Center has adjusted its hours to Tuesday-Saturday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Unvaccinated individuals are asked to maintain social distancing and wear a mask while inside the building.

Discover Saratoga has plans to offer community programs at the Heritage Area Visitor Center throughout the summer, including the ever-popular Summer Concert Series in historic Congress Park. This free, family-friendly event will take place Sundays in July (July 11-25) and Tuesdays in August (August 3-24) from 7-8:30 p.m. Complete concert series schedule to be released soon.

Guided walking tours are available Tuesday-Saturday starting at 10:30 a.m. outside the Heritage Area Visitor Center and are led by experienced guides. Tours can be booked online at www.walkingsaratoga.com, by phone at 518-832-3796 or by email at walkingsaratoga@gmail.com. The cost is $20 per person and children under 12 are free. Tours are appropriate for the entire family.

For more information, please visit discoversaratoga.org/saratoga-springs-visitor-center.

MOREAU — The Friends of Moreau Lake State Park, an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) charity, is conducting a survey of members and non-members with assistance from the New York Council of Nonprofits as part of a capacity-building grant from Parks and Trails New York.  The deadline for completion of the survey is July 14. 

The survey can be found directly at friendsofmoreaulake.org.  It should take about 10 minutes to complete.  Members who take the survey can enter a raffle to win a Stewart’s gift card, and non-members can enter a raffle to win free membership.  The survey will enhance the ability to carry out the organization’s mission: to partner with Moreau Lake State Park to enrich the experience for every park visitor through education, events, and stewardship. 

SARATOGA COUNTY — CAPTAIN Community Human Services and its partners kicked off this year’s Free Summer Meals Program on Wednesday, June 7, at Mechanicville Elementary School. 

On average, families spend $316 more on food during the summer months according to No Kid Hungry and the Center for Best Practices. The summer months also bring additional costs for childcare or summer camp for youth that would otherwise be in school. 

According to No Kid Hungry, offering free summer meals not only improves physical health, but can have benefits for mental and emotional well-being. In addition, the program has long-term impacts, including increased high school graduation rates and reduced number of chronic disease. 

The Free Summer Meals Program has been provided by CAPTAIN CHS since 1991, originating at the Community Outreach Center, Cheryl’s Lodge. It wasn’t until United Way of the Greater Capital Region funding was available that CAPTAIN CHS was able to expand and begin serving all of Saratoga County. In 2020, CAPTAIN CHS served over 17,000 meals throughout Saratoga County. 

Managed by the NYS Department of Education under the direction of and through funding from the USDA, this year Free Summer Meals will be provided to youth 18 and under at 20 different locations in Saratoga County through Sept. 3. Open site locations include Cheryl’s Lodge, D&R Village, the Greenfield Community Center, Kayadeross Acres, Louden Oaks, Malta Gardens, the Mechanicville Area Community Services Center, Mechanicville Housing Authority/JS Moore Homes, North Pointe Apartments, Park Avenue Playground, Pyramid Pines, Saratoga Hills, Saratoga Village, the Schuylerville Public Library, and the Waterford Town Pool. Other sites are available to local children in designated areas. All open sites are listed on the CAPTAIN CHS website at www.captaincares.org/summermeals or families can call 518-371-1185 for more information. 

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SARATOGA SPRINGS — Local organization Youth² – Youth Helping Youth will be holding a Community Care Pop-UP for feminine hygiene products on Saturday, July 10 at 112 Spring Street from 2-4 p.m. 

Many women struggle to get vital products because they aren’t covered by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program) and instead they have to use their own money to buy the products. Youth² is trying to help out by collecting pads and tampons and distributing them between local organizations – CAPTAIN (Community Action Programs for Teens and Interested Neighbors), Wellspring, and the Oakwood Community Center Food Pantry – to help the women who need these products.

CAPTAIN aids runaway teens. Another organization that will be receiving the products is Oakwood Community Center Food Pantry in Troy, that distributes food, hygiene products, and more throughout the community. The last organization is Wellspring in Saratoga Springs, which takes in women and children that are victims of domestic abuse. Youth² is also looking for a contact to link them to a correctional facility or jail that is in need of feminine hygiene products for their incarcerated women.

If you want to help by purchasing feminine hygiene products (boxes of pads or tampons) or $5 gift cards from Price Chopper, CVS, Target, or Wal-Mart, simply drop them off at the 112 Spring Street parking lot (rain or shine).  It will be a Covid-19 safe drop-off. Any and all donations are greatly appreciated.