SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Springs Poet Laureate Committee has recommended Mayor Ron Kim appoint Joseph Bruchac III as Saratoga Springs’ First Poet Laureate. The appointment and inauguration will take place during City Council on Jan. 17.    

Bruchac was born in Saratoga Springs and traces his maternal ancestry back to some of the earliest inhabitants, the Abenaki people. He has authored more than 180 books for adults and children, including Thirteen Moons on Turtle’s Back, Code Talker, and Rez Dogs. His honors include a Rockefeller Humanities Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Writing Fellowship for Poetry, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas. 

The number of Poets Laureate positions in states, cities, U.S. Territories, and Tribal nations continues to increase, and according to poets.org,  all but five states in the United States have established Poet Laureate positions. 

In 1985, New York established a state poet laureate position. It is currently held by Willie Perdomo who was elected in 2021 to a two-year term. At least seven municipalities in the state boast poet laureate positions – Albany, Buffalo, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, among them.  

The positions is an important way to honor a poet and recognize the place that poetry has in a state’s cultural tradition and civic life, with the poet named to the role serving as ambassador of the art form, literature, literacy, and storytelling. 

Bruchac holds a B.A. from Cornell University, an M.A. in Literature and Creative Writing from Syracuse and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the Union Institute of Ohio, as well as several honorary doctorates.  His work as an educator includes three years of teaching in West Africa, and eight years of directing a college program for Skidmore College inside a maximum security prison. With his late wife, Carol, he founded the Greenfield Review Literary Center and The Greenfield Review Press. 

Bruchac was selected through a competitive nomination and interview process by members of the Poet Laureate Committee, chaired by Rachel R. Baum.  His two-year term will run through December 2024. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS —The City Council last week announced its support for the development of a 200-plus apartment complex on the city’s south side geared to attracting local teachers, young professionals, nurses, hospitality industry workers and firefighters and police. 

The complex’s one-bedroom apartments are anticipated to range from $995 to $1,200 a month, while maximum rents in two-bedroom units could range from $1,200 to $1,650. The current rental average in Saratoga Springs for a two-bedroom unit is $2,245. 

Last year, Liberty Affordable Housing Inc., of Rome, N.Y., submitted its application to the city for a zoning map amendment in its effort to develop approximately 200 apartments in two, four-story structures on a portion of a wooded 30-acre lot on the corner of Jefferson Street and Crescent Avenue.

Last week, Saratoga Springs Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran announced that amendments to the city’s zoning and comprehensive plan had been granted by the Saratoga Springs City Council.

“The development of this project offers a significant boost to the number of apartments at a time which there are few options available. Healthcare and hospitality are core to the economy of Saratoga Springs, and the workforce should be able to live within the community that they work,” said Moran, in a statement.

The workforce housing community caps rents at a percentage of the region’s Average Median family Income, or AMI. The median family income in the Capital District region is $106,000. The project targets 60-80% of the AMI. To qualify to apply for an apartment at Liberty Saratoga the tenant/household verified income would range from just over $44,500 to nearly $85,000, and points to $900- $1,120 costs for a studio, $995-$1,200 for one-bedroom, and $1,200-$1,650 for two-bedroom apartments. 

The property will be owned and managed by Liberty Affordable Housing Inc., and Liberty Saratoga Apartments are slated to be designed by local firm Phinney Design Group. The two four-story buildings will include conservation of almost 20 acres of land including 9 acres of wetlands that create a natural buffer to other residential neighbors.

The development is supported by NYS funding which requires compliance with green building programs such as EPA Energy Smart, NYSERDA’s New Construction Housing Program, NYS HCR Mandatory Green Building & Energy Efficiency Practices, and the 2020 Enterprise Green Communities Criteria. 

GREENFIELD — The Town of Greenfield this week launched its new website and installed a large digital sign in front of Town Hall.

Town Supervisor Kevin Veitch says the new website “will be a valuable resource and will be used as an important tool promoting efficiency and transparency.” 

The site, at: www.greenfieldny.org. – will include new information, such as: Improved search capability via a community help section; Expanded information and forms from the Building, Assessor, Highway and Town Clerk departments; On-line forms and easy contacts to reach various departments; Dog license renewal on-line; Recreation program information; Community event calendar; Historical timeline of Greenfield, and ongoing newsfeed and quarterly newsletters, among other things.  

The new 3X6 sign is prominently placed on Route 9N in front of Town Hall, at 7 Wilton Road. The double-sided LED sign will have a 24-hour display broadcasting messages and will allow the town to share important community-wide messages like Amber Alerts, and town events and programs. 

The Town of Greenfield is home to 8,200 residents in Greenfield, Porter Corners and Middle Grove. It spans more than 41,000 acres of land bordering the Adirondacks.

BALLSTON SPA —The Ballston Spa Public Library (BSPL), The Friends of the Ballston Spa Public Library, and the BSPL Board of Trustees, announced they have received a $100,000 award from the Alfred Z. Solomon Charitable Trust, to support a new reading room addition as part of the library’s master plan.  

The project will bolster the Library’s public spaces and programming to better serve the public, according to a statement issued by the library, and is expected to result in an increase in the number of public programs offered and in the number of programs hosted at the library by partner groups. 

The Alfred Z. Solomon Charitable Trust was established to benefit nonprofit scientific, medical, educational, cultural, religious, and charitable organizations by funding projects and programs in memory of the Trust’s founder, Alfred Z. Solomon.

BALLSTON SPA —The Saratoga County History Center announced its “Finish the Job!” campaign raised $56,553 to help preserve the Brookside Museum and its history.  

The funds will replace 70-year-old storm windows, renovate the museum’s storage areas and store, refinish floors, and enhance its energy efficiency.  

The trustees of the Saratoga County History Center thank the community for their generosity and commitment to preserving public history.  

“Support for our ‘Finish the Job!’ campaign is the second capital campaign for the Saratoga County History Center,” said Sean Kelleher, vice president of the history center. “The first campaign fund-ed the restoration of the iconic porch; now we are doing energy efficiency and building restora-tions that will allow visitors to safely access the museum, grounds, and library for generations to come.” 

GALWAY — Millie Stina was born in 1938 on the Lendl Farm in Galway, where her parents William and Anna Marie, and her brother Milton settled to begin their journey as dairy farmers. 

For the past few generations, the hay grown on the Lendl farm was managed and harvested as a family enterprise, recently under the leadership of Milton Lendl. The land is currently rented by the Eildon Tweed dairy farm, from Charlton, using the land to grow corn and hay. 

“The love, dedication and hard labor that my parents put into this beautiful farm is what I wish to preserve as a lasting legacy to honor them,” Stina said.  

Saratoga PLAN assisted the local farming family to permanently protect 66 acres of farmland through an agricultural conservation easement. This easement conserves viable agricultural land and woodlands by preventing the conversion of the property to non-farm uses. 

“Saratoga PLAN is honored to have had the opportunity to assist the Lendl and Stina families with conserving their family’s farming legacy,” Saratoga PLAN Special Projects manager Maria Trabka, said in a statement.  “It is gratifying to know that the family’s foresight, and PLAN’s services, combined with funding from New York State and Saratoga County, aligned to ensure that their legacy of caring for such a lovely patchwork of fields and woods will persist for the next generation of stewards.” 

PLAN, which stands for preserving land and nature, has helped conserve over 7,000 acres of land in Saratoga County. The organization helps landowners conserve farmland, woodlands, and natural habitats, connects people to nature through an extensive trail network, and facilitates community-based conservation by partnering with municipalities to help them accomplish their community’s conservation goals.  For more information, call 518-587-5554, or visit www.saratogaplan.org.

BALLSTON SPA —The Federal Emergency Management Administration (“FEMA”) informed the Village of Ballston Spa that the Ballston Spa Fire Department (“BSFD”) has been awarded an “Assistance to Firefighters Grant” (“AFG”) related to the BSFD’s application seeking $168,000 to purchase new SCBA’s along with additional air bottles. The BSFD has been purchasing such equipment on a piecemeal basis over the last few years, as the cost for such equipment has increased greatly over the past decade.

“I am thrilled and thankful to FEMA for this grant, as it allows us to address a number of concerns we have had related to the safety of our volunteer firefighters now and in the future,” said BSFD Chief Kevin Krogh, in a statement. “New SCBA’s provide a better layer of protection when our firefighters are asked to run into fire structures to save occupants and protect those structures. I cannot overstate just how important this grant is to our Department and how thankful our members are for our grant writer, Julie Burline, and our local leadership, including Mayor Frank Rossi, Jr., Deputy Mayor and BSFD Liaison Bernadette VanDeinse-Perez, and the other members of our Village’s Board of Trustees.”

Over the last 20 years, FEMA has awarded over $7.7 billion in grant funding geared toward the equipping and training of emergency personnel throughout the country. In the case of the BSFD grant award, the grant application highlighted the need for an increased quantity of new and more modernized SCBA’s and bottles needed to provide oxygen to firefighters in low-oxygen fire scenes. New SCBA bottles often include enhancements that allow a “breathe-along” function, whereby a firefighter who is experiencing trouble with their bottle (including exhaustion of oxygen supply) can utilize the bottle of a colleague with them in the fire scene until they can be brought to safety for a replacement bottle. Service life for SCBA cylinders is limited to 15 years, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation Code of Federal Regulations and Special Permits, which can be extended under certain circumstances for a limited duration.

After an avalanche in the Austrian Alps engulfed skiers on Christmas day, the quick action of several area teens aided in the search for survivors. 

When the Gottmann family from Malta, and the Osterhout’s from Broadlalbin, arrived at the small, quiet town of Stuben in the middle of Austria’s largest lift-linked ski area – the Arlberg, they were in high spirits. 

Known for its excellent snow conditions, it was the Gottmann’s third time visiting the mountainous region. After checking-in to the Chesa Lavadina on Christmas Eve, they were on the slopes by 9 a.m. on Christmas Day. 

Morning Rumblings

The weather was unseasonably warm following days of heavy snowfall, and in Zurs, the avalanche rating was high. The familiar warning was a common occurrence for the ski area, which, because of their careful grooming, hadn’t experienced an on-trail avalanche for 50 years. 

“We knew about the avalanche warnings but were not anticipating anything happening. We weren’t too worried,” said Erik Gottmann.

“The weather made it unstable so there were not a lot of people going backcountry skiing in the unpatrolled area,” said Kristen Gottmann.

The family learned later that the ski resort tried to break free precarious snow from the mountaintop with dynamite that morning but was unsuccessful. 

Avalanche!!!

After lunch, the children; Erik Gottmann, 19, Troy Gottmann, 17, Hans Gottmann, 15, and Tyler Osterhout, 16, said goodbye to their parents and boarded a separate lift up Trittkopf mountain. Just before 3 p.m., they stopped on the slope and took some pictures. That’s when the extraordinary happened. 

“It first started with a little snow sliding down the mountain. It was not too crazy. It was pretty silent. Then, there were the screams,” said Erik. 

Beginning at 2:51 p.m., a torrent of snow released just 100 yards from where the boys were standing. Troy caught the deluge on video. In just 10 seconds, mounds of heavy, wet snow tumbled 500 yards toward nearby ski runs burying skiers. 

“We just said, ‘we’ve got to go help those people, see if people are ok, and if not, help them,” said Erik. 

Quick Actions

On another lift, Kristen wasn’t aware anything unusual had happened until she received a call.

“My son, Troy was really panting and said, ‘There’s been an avalanche. We’re all ok. We’re all ok.’” The next thing Kristen heard was, “We’re going to go help,’” before the phone lost connection. 

The first man the boys found was buried up to his neck. A handful of people gathered around him quickly, using their gloved hands to dig him out from the snow. 

“He was in a good amount of pain. He’d cut his pinky and was swearing in German,” said Erik. All the Gottmann’s have a grasp of basic German and were able to decipher that he wasn’t able to feel his legs. 

“Obviously, something was wrong.”

A Group Effort

Within 10 minutes, the paramedics were on-site and the ski patrol began their search. Based on Troy’s video, 10 people appeared to have been engulfed by the cascading snow. As many as 200 people joined in the rescue, scouring the path of the avalanche with poles, searching for broken skis, helmets, and goggles – any clues they could find indicating the whereabouts of the missing skiers. 

Hours passed and Kristen was only able to speak with her children intermittently. After receiving the initial call, they had a tough ski down the slope. Then they ran the two or three blocks to where their children were expected to emerge but didn’t.

“By this time, we were frantic. I just wanted to know they were safe,” said Kristen. A triage station had been set up and she’d seen five or six helicopters fly by   overhead. They brought in rescue dogs. Then, around 6 p.m., it started getting dark and search lights were set up. 

“After the initial findings, we felt like it was our obligation to continue to help,” said Erik, a sophomore at the Virginia Military Institute. “We just thought it was the right thing to do. Obviously, it was pretty scary but most people would do the same thing as long as they have some kind of heart.”

At the base of the mountain, the families were finally reunited and, once the road reopened, returned to their cozy bed and breakfast. It was there they heard the local news was calling the rescuers the “Heroes of Zurs.” 

“I’m proud of my boys for doing the right thing. Other people came across it and skied away,” added Kristen. 

Hitting the Slopes (Again)

Rather than being deterred by the incident, the local group remained in the high alpine region and returned to the slopes with a healthier respect for Mother Nature’s immense power.

“You never know what’s over that next hill, so when you experience something like this, you take note of the unintended consequences,” said Erik. He also added how thankful he is for everyone who helped out after the avalanche but may not be receiving recognition for their heroic actions. 

Every skier feared lost has now been accounted for. The avalanche resulted in four injuries, one considered serious, and several run closures, which have now been reopened. In addition to being vital to their search efforts, Troy’s video has aired on numerous national and international news outlets. The local families returned home on New Year’s Day and only then learned how far the story had spread and the full impact of their quick actions.