Displaying items by tag: Notes from the Chamber of Commerce

One week ago, I was invited to testify before the New York State Assembly’s Racing and Wagering Committee chaired by Assemblyman Gary Pretlow. Joining him at the hearing were local Assembly members Carrie Woerner and Angelo Santabarbara. Besides my testimony, the committee heard from locals like James and Tina Bond, of the Bond Racing Stables, Dr. Scott Ahlschwede of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, and David O’Rourke, the CEO of NYRA.

We were all there as part of a near day-long fact check on the status of both the state’s thoroughbred and Standardbred racing industries. To me, the best news of the day was hearing Chairman Pretlow state: “One of my stated goals is to make New York State the horse racing capital of the world.” As he said this, I watched as all of the committee members shook their heads in agreement.

Not everyone in the Assembly feels this way, however. Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, a Manhattan Democrat, has filed legislation to redirect VLT revenues away from horse racing. When asked about her bill by David Lombardo, on a recent Capital Press Room broadcast, the Assemblywoman made several comments which indicated she is not yet fully informed about the importance and value of horse racing in New York’s economy, particularly here in Saratoga. 

“The stands are mostly empty,” Assemblywoman Rosenthal said. “Horse racing is not a year-round industry,” she added. She appeared to suggest that Saratoga would not suffer if horse racing at the Saratoga Race Course and Saratoga Casino Hotel were eliminated. She then called the franchise agreement between NYRA and the state, in which the state gained ownership to the race track properties in Saratoga, at Belmont and Aqueduct, as a “secret arrangement.”

It’s no secret to anyone that follows horse racing that we had paid attendance at this Summer Meeting in Saratoga that topped one million. We had a record all-sources handle. We had unprecedented media coverage. The popularity of horse racing in our community at just the Saratoga Race Course showed not only at the track but also in our hotels, bars, restaurants and retail stores all summer long. 

In her interview, Assemblywoman Rosenthal added that she had only heard negative comments from the horse racing industry to her legislation so far. That’s why I want to invite her to Saratoga. I think before she advocates for legislation that would do harm to Saratoga that she should come and talk with us directly face-to-face. Maybe we could do this next summer when she could see the track filled with thousands of fans every day. I’d love to expand this tour to include SPAC, the Casino, UPH, Caffé Lena, our parks and historic properties, our downtown stores, shops, hotels and restaurants, our horse farms, golf courses, and the City Center. 

It would be great if we could talk with her about how devastated we were when all of these destinations were closed in 2020. Maybe such a discussion and tour would make it clear to her that the secret to our success in Upstate New York is that we’ve built a multi-faceted ecosystem. Perhaps she’d then understand that doing harm to anyone of these civic institutions is a threat to all of them and to our quality of life as well as our economic sustainability.

During my testimony, I veered from the text that I had prepared. “If you look at the tie I’m wearing today, it is a horse tie purchased a Dark Horse of Saratoga,” I told the committee. “If you were to call my cell phone right now, you’d hear my ring tone which is the Call to Post. I’m probably the only Chamber President in the country where this all makes sense. But this speaks to just how important this industry is to Saratoga.” Our story is important. She needs to come see and hear it. 

Published in Business

What should we do with an extra day? That’s a question that first entered my brain in 2000.

I was with the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce at that time. I had been there for five years. I had seen how much good a strong vibrant well led chamber of commerce could do for its community, its members and the local economy.

But on February 29, 2000, I sat there and wondered how the Chamber might mobilize the community to use this extra day to do something….but what?

Fast forward to 2015, I’m at the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, and I saw an opportunity to discuss this idea. 

That fall, we convened a meeting with a bunch of local leaders. People from the nonprofit sector, the for-profit sector and some local philanthropists.

We reminded them that 2016 was a Leap Year. We suggested we find a way to use this extra day for something good. I kept calling it the “extra day initiative.” 

There was interest. People liked the concept. That’s why they showed up. But what should we do or what could we ask our members and people in the community to do with their extra day. 

Bo Goliber, from Fingerpaint, at some point in the discussion, shouted out “Leap of Kindness Day.” 

Everyone said brilliant.

As the representative from GLOBALFOUNDRIES suggested, we then had to figure out how an individual by themselves or a company with 3,000 employees could both participate. 

How might we scale this idea of a Leap of Kindness Day? 

That led us to contact larger local nonprofits to see what we could do to help them. They told us. We need food, clothing, personal care items, money, etc. Setting up a collection drive was reasonably simple for our larger members and they organized drives to meet these local needs. 

Others came to us with their own ideas. Espey Manufacturing wanted to thank our US Navy Sailors with Stewart’s gift cards. The Hampton Inn and Suites, in Saratoga Springs, made breakfast for the Lake Avenue Fire Station. Polyset brought breakfast and lunch to first responders in Clifton Park. The Ballston Spa BPA collected non-skid socks for a local nursing home. 

As we started sharing #leapofkindnessday with our members and our community, other chambers of commerce took notice.

In 2016, we had 52 chambers of commerce in 30 states that asked us if they could share our Leap of Kindness Day idea with their members and communities. We said yes.

Its 2020 now. Four years later. This is another Leap Year. And so we’re again leading the effort to promote Leap of Kindness Day in Saratoga County and beyond. 

New acts of kindness have been announced. 

Customers at Curtis Lumber, for instance, have already bought more than 500 2x4s that Curtis Lumber will be donating to Habitat for Humanity on February 29. 

The Clifton Park Halfmoon Library is collecting funds from patrons for CAPTAIN Community Health Services. T-Shirt Graphics is selling hoodies for just $8 online. All purchases will be donated to the Racetrack Chaplaincy who will give these to backstretch workers.Two website development firms offered to help Kelly’s Angels with a special request. There are collection drives for food, clothes and personal care items already underway. 

This year, we already have more than 160 chambers of commerce in 41 states, Canada and Ireland joining us in celebrating Leap of Kindness Day.

Now, you don’t have to organize a collection drive to participate. Every individual can do something kind for someone else. Make a donation on February 29 to your favorite local charity. Send a thank you note to someone that changed your life. 

February 29 this year is a Saturday. Take your family or friends out for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and TIP big. 

Here in Saratoga, we had the chance to invent Leap of Kindness Day. And the impact is humbling to say the least as more people every day share what they plan to do not just in Saratoga County but across the world. So we ask, what will YOU do with your extra day on February 29, 2020? 

For more information on how you can get involved and make a difference, visit: www.saratoga.org/foundation/leap-of-kindness-day-2020.

Published in Business

When Theresa Agresta, the owner of Allegory Studios and CultureTalk, became the Chair of the Saratoga County Chamber’s Board of Directors earlier this year, she wanted our Chamber to do more than ever before for small business owners.

As a small business owner herself, she had a sense that business owners would value an opportunity to meet up to share their concerns, ideas and challenges privately with one another. 

So we established a new Business Owners Council and invited owners to meet up with one another once a month, at the Chamber.

We then invited local experts to these meetings to talk about employee benefits, cash flow projections, how to manage charitable giving, new sexual harassment training laws, developing sales goals, etc.

The creation of this new member benefit is a big accomplishment for the Chamber in 2019. 

This Council now meets on the first Tuesday, of every month, from 4 to 5 p.m. at the Chamber. 

Our goal will be to increase participation and to continue to bring in speakers on issues of relevance to local small business owners.

This accomplishment is a direct result of the leadership being provided by volunteers with the Chamber, like Theresa Agresta. 

On January 23, 2020, our Chamber will host our 102nd Annual Dinner. We will honor Theresa Agresta and other volunteer leaders for their service to the chamber and this community. 

Our Annual Dinner is also a time for our members and the community to celebrate all of the Chamber’s accomplishments from 2019 and to look ahead to 2020.

Now there is no way we can celebrate every accomplishment.

But there are three that demonstrate how our Chamber changes things for the benefit of our members and all of the communities we serve across Saratoga County.

For starters, we built a Field House for the benefit of US Navy Sailors and their families stationed in Saratoga County, on the US Navy’s Naval Support Activity Center base, in Saratoga Springs. 

The funding came via a grant secured by former State Senator Kathy Marchione. After working with local Navy leaders to determine what to build with these funds, the Chamber hired Munter Enterprises to build this 7,700 square foot facility. 

Now US Navy Sailors stationed in Saratoga County have a first-ever safe, secure, on-base, indoor location to play volleyball or basketball; to host graduations, movie nights, and educational workshops; to drill and to prepare so that they can succeed in all of their missions.

In 2019, we created the Saratoga County Institute for Management in collaboration with SUNY Empire State College. 

With the support of the Saratoga County Capital Resources Corporation, we were able to offer scholarships to small businesses and nonprofits so they could participate in the Institute’s classes. 

From scratch really, we had to create new curriculum, secure expert presenters, oversee the 21 classes, and support the participants and their employers who sponsored them. 

Graduates of the Institute will be better leaders within their organizations thereby helping these companies and nonprofits to succeed, grow and thrive.

In 2019, our community came together like never before to create ONE online community calendar. To get this done, we had to collaborate with Mannix Marketing, Discover Saratoga, the Saratoga Springs DBA, Skidmore College and the Saratoga Springs City Center. 

Now with one online events calendar in place, event organizers can enter information on any one of our seven top performing local websites and that information feeds to all of them. 

The goal is to make it easier for event organizers to promote their events and for people to find them.

And if you’d like to learn more about the many other accomplishments we had in 2019, we invite you to visit www.saratoga.org or to attend our Annual Dinner. 

Published in Business

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Property Transactions

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