The 2021 Saratoga Showcase of Homes Committee is now planning this year’s edition of the area’s premiere new home tour. Now in its 25th year and celebrating its “Silver Anniversary”, this annual community tradition has contributed over $1.3 million dollars to our local charities. 

The 2021 Saratoga Showcase of Homes will be over three spectacular weekends this fall on September 18-19, 25-26 & October 2-3 featuring the regions finest, award-winning builders showcasing their new construction. Please stay tuned for other special events surrounding this milestone event anniversary. We look forward to presenting an outstanding line-up of magnificent homes on display in Saratoga County attracting some 4000 visitors this coming fall. 

Be a part of the area’s premiere new home tour!
The Showcase of Homes Committee has an extensive marketing and promotional campaign in development, which includes official media sponsors in newspapers, magazines, television, online, social media and more! If you are interested in entering a new home in the event or becoming a showcase sponsor, please contact Barry Potoker, Executive Director at 518.366.0946 or bpotoker@saratogabuilders.org. 

The 2021 Saratoga Showcase of Homes event will benefit Rebuilding Together Saratoga County and Habitat for Humanity of Northern Saratoga, Warren and Washington Counties. Due to the pandemic, the 2020 Saratoga Showcase of Homes tour was reimagined in the form of a Showcase TV Special.  Last year, $10,000 was raised for to these charities from the proceeds. This event has now contributed over $1.3 million for our two designated local charities. 

For more information, please visit www.saratogashowcaseofhomes.com. Follow us this year on our blog & Facebook for all the details and updates!

About Saratoga Builders Association
The Saratoga Builders Association, Inc. (SBA) is a specialized professional trade association representing an industry basic to the wellbeing and economy of the people of Saratoga County. Its membership includes residential and commercial builders, developers, remodelers, building material suppliers, sub-contractors, financial institutions, architects, engineers, realtors, attorneys and other industry professionals. SBA is committed to the continued growth, prosperity and quality of life in Saratoga County. 

WILTON — Kirklin Woodcock has served as Highway Superintendent in the town of Wilton since the 1980s, overseeing a crew charged with the maintenance of approximately 100 center-line miles of town roads. 

The lifelong Wilton resident has decided this year will be his last as Highway Superintendent. This week, Woodcock spent some time to talk about accomplishments of the position, his personal life, and how Wilton has changed in the years since his earliest days of growing up in the town during the 1940s. 

Q. Tell us about your personal life. 

Woodcock: I’m a native, from Wilton. I’ll be 80 in March and I’ve been married 57 years. My wife’s name is Sandra and I have one daughter, Deborah. She’s married with one daughter, so I have one grand-daughter – that’s Caitlyn. She’s in college and going for her master’s at MIT.  I grew up as a country boy with a huge family. Three sets of twins, and I am a twin. 

Q. How has Wilton changed over the years? 

Woodcock: I would say the biggest change was when the Northway came through in the ‘60s. It split our town in half. There were some farms, and I’m talking some real nice farms, years ago along that Northway corridor, and the Northway split them in half. Since then, it’s pretty much grown into a residential area. 

Also, if you look at the growth around the mall area, back when we used to have Pyramid Mall, and the growth with Target and Ace Hardware distribution places in Wilton, it brought in a lot of jobs. It’s been quite a change. But, you have to go with the change. 

Q. Tell us about your long-held position as Highway Superintendent. 

Woodcock: The thing you have to remember with the job is that you work for the residents of Wilton. That’s always been my goal, to satisfy them and to work with all the other departments. 

I’ve been the highway superintendent for more than 30 years, re-elected every two years.  I had eight years on the town board prior to that when I was also working for UPS – where I had a 20-year career. 

We do all the maintenance of the roads – building, construction, and during the wintertime of course we maintain the plowing.  We also work with a lot of the other departments. We have been a major player in Gavin Park, Camp Saratoga, and we’ve put some effort in at Grant’s Cottage; we worked on the Maple Avenue Firehouse when they were getting going with their new building. 

We had a major fire in 2002. The fire was a major catastrophe for me because I put so many years in and then in three or four hours it was all gone, and boy that’s devastating, That kind of set us back for a little while, but we got through that and here we are today with a major town along the Northway corridor. My crew is second to none. They’re a phenomenal crew.

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Q: You’ve decided to not seek re-election for another term in November? 

Woodcock: I have a couple of projects I want to see finished, but I will not seek re-election in November. I built it up to where it is today. When I started out it was nothing, we had a pile of dirt roads and I want to turn this job over to someone who I’ve been training for a while. I don’t want to get to get too much into the politics of it, but I certainly would like my deputy Mike Monroe to take my job, if that would be the wishes of the residents of Wilton. He’s been in my department about 20 years and can certainly do the job. 

Q: What will you most miss? 

Woodcock: I’ll miss the guys and I’ll miss my colleagues. But it’s time to turn it over to someone who’s younger and I want to set aside some time for myself.  I have some hobbies – I do some auctions, I’m going to try and play some golf maybe, weather permitting.  All of my friends are here. I’ll miss it, but I won’t have to get up at 2 or 3 in the morning and I can sleep in if I want. 

I’ve also been dedicating my time and what I can do for the Double H (Ranch) Hole in The Woods. We do a fundraiser for them every year and try to help out. I would imagine, in the 25-plus years, we probably raised $200,000 to $300,000, I would think. 

Q. That’s the camp Paul Newman was involved with? 

Woodcock: Paul Newman and Charlie Wood. I knew Charlie Wood from before. Paul Newman joined forces with him and got that all going. It’s unbelievable because back in the ‘60s before I settled down, I worked at the Double H Hole in the Woods, in what used to be Hidden Valley Dude Ranch. Our crew back then we did the first thousand feet of grubbing for the ski slope up there, drilling the rock and blasting. That’s when I was a young guy. You know, it’s funny when you realize what you did then, and you see what it is today – it’s a big change.

I’ve had a great run and I think it’s maybe time to sit on the side and enjoy some other things.  At least I can ride by and say I was a part of it. 

Robin Dalton grew up in a Republican household, and it is the one party she’s been affiliated with during her adult life.

In 2019, after announcing her candidacy for the position of Public Safety Commissioner, she successfully ran as a Republican on the Republican, Independence, Libertarian, Conservative, and SAM party lines, besting Democrat challenger Kendall Hicks by 7 points, and taking office in January 2020.

A week-and-a-half ago, she submitted paperwork seeking to change her status as a registered member of the Republican Party to having no official party affiliation. The move comes at the same time that Dalton has announced her bid for re-election in November.

“The Republican Party on a national level has taken a very extreme turn. That’s not a reflection of any one thing in Saratoga Springs. It is my discomfort with Donald Trump and his presidency and where it was leading the party – devolving into a party that represents a very anti-democratic sentiment. I could not identify the fundamental principles of the Republican Party as I knew it, growing up,” Dalton says.  

“Challenging the votes of a fair and democratic election. The insurrection at the Capitol. The way the party has allowed itself to be represented by Marjorie Taylor Greene. That’s just not who I am,” Dalton says. “I didn’t leave the party, the party left me, and I know that there are a lot of other people out there that feel the same way.”  

She first began closely observing city council meetings about a decade ago and says she was encouraged that political partisanship did not seem to play a factor in the way the city council presented themselves or the ways in which they voted. It is something she is adamant about wanting to see continue.   

“Being at the City Council table in Saratoga Springs has no correlation to any particular political ideology and my party affiliation has never had anything to do with any decision in my position in Saratoga Springs, it’s not going to affect my dealings with things in Saratoga Springs at all,” she says. 

There are five at-large City Council members – one mayor and four commissioners responsible for the variety of different city departments, with decisions made during twice-a-month public meetings by simple majority rule. In Saratoga County, 2021 Primary Elections are slated to take place June 22 and the General Election on Nov. 2 – at which time all five council seats will be up for vote.  

“I am seeking re-election in the fall and I did have five party lines in 2019, which was awesome. I also had this incredible coalition of bi-partisan support. I campaigned with people from different parties and it went very well because we all prioritized city over party,” Dalton says. “I do have to get the endorsement of a party, or people will have to write me in – so I am seeking any endorsement opportunity that I am approached with, and any party that’s willing to interview me I will interview with and seek the endorsement of.”

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Moving forward, she will be independent of any party – not to be confused with the Independence Party, which actually is a party. Being independent of party is a situation former council member Matt McCabe was previously successful in, serving two terms as Commissioner of Finance.     

The Commissioner of Public Safety position is an especially challenging one since 2020 as it directly addresses issues of social justice and the response to the pandemic – the latter being charged with issues of adapting safety compliance measures, re-opening plans and disseminating local vaccine information as it trickles from the federal government to the state, the state to the county, and then into local municipalities. For Dalton, this has included setting her alarm to two-hour intervals overnight to refresh online vaccination site availabilities for residents who have contacted her office, and successfully facilitating scores of appointments for some of those residents in the process.

Regarding social justice issues, a politically charged environment trickling down from the federal level has made solving complicated issues even more so. “I support our police department, and I also recognize white privilege and want to fight for social justice and equality and inclusion, and address race and bias in a comprehensive way. To not be able to have both of those things in one person is just absurd to me,” Dalton says.

 “I am so appreciative of every party that supported me in 2019, especially the Republican city committee. They were incredible. They got me elected. And I’m deeply appreciative of their support and hope I will continue to have that support,” Dalton says. “The philosophy I’ve always had going into politics here was that I was going to be my most sincere and authentic self, and that if I couldn’t do that I wasn’t going to pursue this line of work. Fortunately, I’ve been able to maintain that and people who have known me politically here know that I’m (politically) moderate. I’ve never been someone who swings hard right or left.

“Right now, it’s a really hard time to be a moderate (and) in this political climate, I have no idea where either party is headed. People expect you to be one extreme or the other. Suddenly national issues have also become local, but I just don’t feel comfortable keeping an association with a party based on their actions on a national level,” Dalton says. “Even though that puts my political future here in jeopardy – because I risk not having a line at all on the ballot in November – I needed to be comfortable with myself and my choices.”   

Overall, in Saratoga County, there were about 62,700 active registered Republican Party voters, 49,600 Democrat Party voters, and 43,200 voters unaffiliated with any party on Election Day 2020. Despite that majority of registered Republicans, the Democrat-led Biden/Harris ultimately bested the GOP’s Trump/Pence ticket, in the process keeping alive Saratoga’s reputation as a bellwether county with a voting streak of accurately selecting the nation’s next president across this entire century, and at least into the 1990’s. For comparison purposes, voters of Clallam County, Washington, have voted the winning candidate in every presidential election since 1980.

The state Board of Elections publishes updated party enrollment statistics three times each year with the next due report date slated for April 1, at which time it will be possible to gauge if there has been any switching of parties among local voters.   

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BALLSTON SPA — Deputies Eddie Hernandez and Jeffrey Kaplan were presented the Life Saving Award and Meritorious Service Award by Sheriff Michael Zurlo this week for their decisive action to save the lives of the two residents who were in immediate peril.

On Jan. 28, members of the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office responded to an EMS assist call from a resident in the town of the town of Halfmoon.  It was reported that the two residents of a home on Oakleaf Drive had lost consciousness for unknown reasons.  When arriving, the deputies were met with a strong noxious odor from the residence and immediately located the two residents of the home who are both in their 60’s and who were having difficulty maintaining consciousness. The female resident was carried from the second floor of the residence outside by Deputy Jeffrey Kaplan and the male resident was dragged from the first floor to the outside by Deputy Eddie Hernandez. 

Both subjects were treated at the scene by EMS personnel and transported to Samaritan Hospital.  It was later determined that both had suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning due to an issue in the residence.  Both are expected to make a full recovery. 

“I have no doubt that the decisive action taken by these two deputies saved the lives of both of these residents,” Sheriff Zurlo said, in a statement. Both deputies will be formally recognized at an awards ceremony to take place later this year. 

WASHINGTON, DC — House leaders announced this week that Congressman Paul Tonko (D-NY) has been selected to serve on three major climate committees in the House. Anchored by his key leadership role as Chair of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change, Tonko will also serve on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee and House Committee on Natural Resources. 

These appointments position Tonko, one of just a small handful of engineers in Congress, to continue leading Congressional efforts to build national climate action and advance climate-driven legislation through Congress. 

“America is at a crossroads. We can double down on the economic and environmental stagnation of the past or we can seize this moment to build back better and make ourselves a global leader in clean energy innovation, environmental and labor standards, and a new flowering of prosperity in communities all across America,” said Tonko, who represents the 20th Congressional District, including a majority of the city of Saratoga Springs. 

At The DRC: Proposed Phila Street Demolitions Opposed by Preservation Foundation

SARATOGA SPRINGS — A request for demolition of two vacant buildings is getting push-back from the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation. 

The matter is under consideration this week by the city’s Design Review Commission, although a late request was filed to adjourn the application until March 3. 

The two properties, which stand at 65 Phila St. and 69 Phila St. were both constructed in the 1850s.

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“Despite their poor condition, the buildings still retain their architectural integrity,” argues the Preservation Foundation – which was established in 1977 and cites as its mission “to preserve and enhance the architectural, cultural, and landscaped heritage of Saratoga Springs.”  The two buildings have been listed on the Foundation’s “Ten to Save” list since the endangered list program was created in 1998.   

Lengthy documentation about the properties and the application for demolition may be found on the city’s website at saratoga-springs.org  under the Design Review Commission banner. The Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation’s response to the proposal of demolition may be found at: saratogapreservation.org. 

• Approximately 300,000 doses per week are anticipated to be received by the state from the federal government for distribution.  Additionally, a new federal government program will supply private pharmacies in New York with an additional 30,000 doses per week. 

• Statewide: Approximately 2 million vaccine doses have been administered and of those nearly 20% of those vaccinated have received both doses. Locally, more than 22,000 Saratoga County residents have received one dose of COVID vaccine, and more than 5,000 Saratoga County residents have received both doses. In all, this accounts for more than 12% of county residents having been administered at least one dose of COVID vaccine. 

• 7.1 million of a total population of 15 million New Yorkers are eligible for vaccines right now. Local governments may now add restaurant workers to vaccine eligibility lists. That call to add is up to local governments, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this week. 

• The COVID infection rate in Saratoga County this week dropped to a weekly rolling average of 4%. This is down from a peak high of 11% on Jan. 7 and signifies the lowest infection rate in the county since the days immediately following the Thanksgiving holiday.     

• Hospitalizations: The percentage of hospital beds available, and percentage of ICU beds available in the eight-county Capital Region of which Saratoga is a part, each remain among the worst in the state, as has been the case for the past several weeks.

• The county has a hold agreement with the Saratoga Springs City Center so the building may be used as a mass vaccination center when sufficient amounts of vaccine have been obtained. That determination will be made by county Public Health officials and at this time a date has yet to be targeted for its use. 

• Important to know: After being notified of an unexpected increase in vaccine allocation, Saratoga County has recently focused on vaccinating seniors, both at county public health and directly at people’s homes. Many of those who were vaccinated came from the county’s Special Needs Registry. That registry includes county residents or caregivers of an individual with special needs such as mobility impairment, developmental disability, major respiratory illness, etc. County residents or caregivers of an individual with special needs may fill out the Special Needs Registry Application form accessible via: saratogacountyny.gov.

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