Displaying items by tag: Saratoga Unites

SARATOGA SPRINGS — A recent study by Saratoga Unites and Saratoga Sustainable highlighted the use of Styrofoam containers at local restaurants.

Polystyrene foam, commonly known by the brand name Styrofoam, is not biodegradable, cannot be recycled, is a major source of pollution and fills landfills causing direct expense to tax payers. Polystyrene has no place in food service ware in the City of Saratoga Springs — a belief shared by a significant majority of eateries surveyed by Saratoga Unites in cooperation with Sustainable Saratoga.

In this study of 77 restaurants in Saratoga Springs, 16 still use Styrofoam containers for carryout food. However, five of these establishments are planning to switch to plastic or more environmentally friendly materials including cardboard, paper or compostable products. The survey covered both high end and fast service restaurants. 

Given the negatives, the modest cost advantage that may result from the use of polystyrene in food containers is greatly outweighed by the environmental and health costs. This realization lies behind the decision of a majority of restaurants in Saratoga Springs to not use polystyrene. Many of those who have switched from polystyrene cited customer and owner environmental concerns as their reason for switching.

In light of these findings, Saratoga Unites and Sustainable Saratoga are planning a program of incentives to encourage voluntary elimination of polystyrene from Saratoga eateries. 

Saratoga Unites moderator Lois Shapiro-Canter; the audience inside the H. Dutcher Community Room; and local political candidates (left to right) Justine Culora, Nancy Dwyer, Paula Tancredi Penman, Tracy O’Rourke and Emily Mastrianni. Photos by www.photoandgraphic.com.   

SARATOGA SPRINGS – A new political action group called Saratoga Unites, formed by local women and men in the wake of last year’s presidential election, held one of its first public forums Tuesday night in the Saratoga Springs Public Library.

Every other week since late in January, the members of Saratoga Unites have coordinated their efforts mostly at private homes in the city or near Saratoga Lake, according to President Lois Shapiro-Canter, a Saratoga Springs attorney.

“We have a great group of people,” she said, noting how eight members make up the Saratoga Unites leadership committee. (The website is https://saratogaunitesny.org/.)

Shapiro-Canter moderated the group’s “March to the Polls” event this week inside the library’s H. Dutcher Community Room.

More than 50 people were in attendance as ten women running for local offices were asked to describe the evolution of their political views in recent months, as well as the importance of electing more women candidates in general.

“Women are tired of always being put in the back seat,” Shapiro-Canter said. Saratoga Unites will support “progressive-minded women who want to preserve the rights that have been secured,” she added.  

Shapiro-Canter pointed to the fact that men hold 80 percent of 535 seats in the U.S. Congress and comprise 75 percent of the governors or state legislators nationwide.

Of more than 40 total seats on the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors and the governing boards of Ballston Spa, Malta, Milton and Wilton, women occupy only four seats, or about 10 percent.  

Saratoga Unites organized two separate panels of women running for local offices. All of the women are either registered Democrats or endorsed by that party.  

Shapiro-Canter asked each of the candidates if they had attended the popular Women’s March in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, Jan. 21. At that event, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand had reportedly called on women nationwide to run for office.   

The first panel included Justine Culora, who seeks a seat on the Stillwater Town Board; Nancy Dwyer, who is challenging incumbent Wilton Supervisor Arthur Johnson; Paula Tancredi Penman, running for Wilton Town Board; Tracy O’Rourke, running for Malta Town Board; and Emily Mastrianni, running for Greenfield Town Board.  

Mastrianni was the only panelist who traveled to the nation’s capital for the Women’s March, together with two of her three daughters. “It was an incredibly moving event to be surrounded by all these families,” she said. “It was part of the reason why I’m here.”

Early this year, after current Wilton Councilwoman Joanne Klepetar had announced her intention not to run again, Tancredi Penman explained that she and Dwyer started meeting to discuss forming their respective campaigns.

“That’s the minute that I knew I could raise my hand and say, ‘I want that spot,’” Tancredi Penman said.

“We have a slate of candidates for the first time ever” in Wilton, she said a few minutes later, to a round of applause. “We know how to work as a team.”  

“Please tell your friends and neighbors: Your votes count,” Dwyer said at the end of the first panel discussion.    

The second panel included City Court Judge Francine Vero, who aims to win her first election for that position (Vero is the first woman to serve as a Saratoga Springs City Court judge); Tara Gaston, who is seeking a county supervisor seat; Deputy Mayor Meg Kelly, in a heated race for mayor; Patricia Friesen, who also seeks a county supervisor seat; and Elizabeth Fairbanks-Fletcher, running for Greenfield Town Justice.

Sergia Coffee and Meg Stevens, both of whom are competing for two open seats on the Milton Town Board, were invited by Saratoga Unites but did not attend.

“I have always been empowered by the women in my life,” offered Kelly, when asked for her input on the march in Washington, D.C.

Vero informed the audience how “judges cannot attend anything political,” or even speak publicly about such events as the Women’s March.

Vero added that she agreed to be a Saratoga Unites panelist only because her participation conformed to a “window” that judicial rules allow for campaign promotion. 

In general, Vero said, she hopes more women “will be inspired” to take on “leadership roles,” citing her own experience in the Adirondack Women’s Bar Association. 

Gaston, a Saratoga Springs attorney, was perhaps the most determined member of the second panel to make inroads in male-dominated local governments.

Gaston said her main goal is “putting sunlight on the Board of Supervisors.” If elected, she would support conducting a thorough review of the county budget to find out “where to save money.” 

As the spouse of a U.S. Navy veteran and mother of four, Gaston explained, she had to move repeatedly around the country after her early life in Alabama. Her parents, she recalled, had devoted themselves to helping others. Those past experiences factor deeply into her analysis of Saratoga County’s current needs, she said.

“I saw governments all across the nation that didn’t serve their people,” Gaston said.

The day after the 2016 election, when both Gaston and her daughter were expecting the first woman to be elected president of the United States, the daughter asked what would happen next.

“What else are you going to say?” Gaston remembered, telling her daughter: “We’ve gotta take it over.”   

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