SARATOGA SPRINGS – The prevailing practice of kids selling water for a buck-a-bottle to patrons outside the entry gates of the Saratoga Race Course will no longer be permitted, announced city Public Safety Commissioner Chris Mathiesen, who said he has fielded numerous complaints connected with the issue. 

“This is something that was (started) with the best of intentions, but it’s turned into something that has been quite a drain and everybody in our department is fed up with what’s been happening,” Mathiesen said.

The act was never legal to begin with, with no sales tax charted, and no licensing involved. Vendors are typically required to obtain a license to sell their wares in Saratoga Springs. A 1934 ordinance exempts from the city’s licensing ordinance the sale of milk, periodicals and newspapers – the latter of which is a common practice outside the racecourse, and which will be allowed continue.  

“A number of years ago, one of our code enforcement officers, Dan Cogan, was trying to be a really good guy and make it possible for kids to be able to sell bottled water at the track as a way for them to make some money,” Mathiesen explained. The suggested guidelines stipulated the seller be 14 years of age or younger and allotted a one cooler maximum, filled with water bottles. “It’s turned into something that has gotten way out of control,” Mathiesen said. “Unless the City Council acts otherwise, this illegal activity is not going to take place in 2018.”

Current Code Enforcement officer Jack Donnelly supplied a letter that cited numerous complaints involving kids obstructing traffic, older folks – not just kids – selling and refilling multiple coolers of water, and families arguing with one another about their “spot,” to the point where the police had to intervene.

“This past season was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Code Enforcement. My department was constantly badgered and disrespected by a few of the water bottle salespersons this season,” reads Donnelly’s report, which adds that the safety of the unattended children could not be guaranteed given the large crowds of people going in and out of the racecourse. “I feel Code Enforcement should not be burdened with having to babysit an illegal endeavor.”

City Police Chief Greg Veitch released a statement which reinforced safety concerns and noted some coolers have been chained to race course fences overnight in an attempt to hold that vendor’s “spot,” and police have witnessed several unattended children selling water for hours at a time from multiple coolers re-stocked multiple times by parents throughout the day.

“While the police have no interest in closing down the lemonade stands of small children looking to make a few dollars – unfortunately, like many things in life, the actions of a few have led to a decision to ban all unlicensed water sales from the area around the racetrack beginning in the 2018 racing season,” Veitch said.

Public Works Commissioner Anthony “Skip” Scirocco suggested the city explore the possibility of a lottery-type system which would allow some kids, under regulated guidelines, to continue to sell water and subsequently learn some entrepreneurial lessons.

“If you regulate it, you have to accept responsibility for it, collect sales tax and declare income on a regular basis,” Mathiesen said. “There are a lot of hurdles there.” According to Assistant City Attorney Tony Izzo, a similar lottery practice was instituted during the 1990s, but resulted in an unfair flooding by some “entrepreneurs” of the lottery box.

“Even the people inside the track like to come out and buy the water because it’s only a dollar compared to like five dollars inside,” Finance Commissioner Michele Madigan said. “I’m not going to sit here and argue about something that’s essentially illegal – but if there’s a way to do it legally, where it’s enforced and safe and kids can be supervised, I think the next Council should probably take a look at it.”  

BALLSTON SPA – Four minors were charged in connection with a Tuesday morning incident at the Ballston Spa Central School District which resulted in the middle school and the high school going into lock-down mode.

The most serious allegation – making a terroristic threat, a felony – was charged to a 14-year-old boy suspected of posting a threatening message on-line via Instagram. Three other boys – a 13-year-old and a 15-year-old from the town of Milton, and a 15-year-old from the village of Ballston Spa were each charged with the juvenile offense of unlawful possession of weapons by persons under the age of 16.

Tuesday morning, Ballston Spa Central School District administrators contacted Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office school outreach officers with information that there had been an on-line threat made by a student about a shooting at the school.

While investigating the allegation, authorities discovered that another student had brought a weapon into school that morning. School administrators located the weapon and turned it over to Sheriff’s Office Investigators. An investigation by Sheriff’s Office personnel revealed that the weapon was a blank pistol that looked identical to a real firing pistol.

All the juveniles were referred to the Saratoga County Probation Department. 

Last Friday, a 16-year-old Saratoga Springs High School student was charged with making a terroristic threat after allegedly posting a story on Snapchat about "shooting up the school.”    

SARATOGA SPRINGS – A 16-year-old student who allegedly “posted a story on snapchat about shooting up the school,” according to court documents, was charged Friday with making a terroristic threat.  

Julius Cucinella, age 16, was charged with the felony after city police were made aware Friday morning of a threat posted on the social media network, Snap Chat.

The social media post caused the school district to be alarmed and fear for the safety of its students and staff, according to court records.  

According to a statement issued by police, a school resource officer assigned to the high school initiated an investigation and was able to identify Cucinella as the source of the post. The investigation into the post did not indicate anyone else being involved in the threat.

The student was arraigned and released on $500 cash bail and is scheduled to return to court Oct. 3.

The terroristic threat charge went on the books shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, with a sentence range of 2 to 7 years in prison. The first known person to have been charged with making such a threat locally was a 42-year-old Skidmore College graduate who in May 2007 telephoned the college's Alumni Welcome Center and left a threatening message on the answering machine stating that he was coming to the campus with his M-16 rifle to cause harm.  

SARATOGA SPRINGS – Super Bowl champions and World Series victors, Triple Crown winners and local kids got together at Saratoga Casino Hotel on a sun-filled Saturday afternoon to play some ball and raise some money to help keep sick children together with their families and near the care and resources they need.

“Hey Ozzie. Move around a little bit out there,” first base coach Craig Nettles – a six-time Major League Baseball All-Star – advised Ozzie Smith, a 15-time All-Star himself. Smith’s knack for impressive defensive plays earned him the nickname “The Wizard” and a reputation as one of the best shortstops to ever play the game.

Following Nettles’ instruction, Smith and Mickey “Mick the Quick” Rivers stepped up their warm-up drills, which consisted of fielding practice grounders and subsequently launching them at first baseman Lawrence Taylor.

“I wouldn’t sit there if I were you,” Nettles compassionately warned journalists who had settled down into the shadow cast by the New York Football Giant legend known as “L.T.” Taylor’s method: waving his first-baseman’s mitt at the incoming missiles with his left hand while negotiating a stogie between his right hand and his mouth.

Sensing they’d perhaps taken his call to movement a bit too seriously, Nettles finally bellowed, “You guys are going to wear each other out.”  Maybe he was right.

Wade Boggs led off the lineup for the “blue” team and promptly sent a spiraling home run over the fences. It didn’t end there.

A five-run “mercy rule” was instituted in the first inning. Another was instituted in inning two. The last anyone time anyone was keeping an accurate count in the brief softball game, the score was somewhere in the 10-3 neighborhood with the victor declared Team Otis – named after the game’s play-by-play announcer and two-time Giant’s Super Bowl champion Otis Anderson. But by that point, who was counting anyway? The day’s full slate of attendees – which also included ballplayers “Goose” Gossage and Dwight Gooden, horse racing world legends Angel Cordero, Ron Turcotte, and others – all had a good time.  

The on-field event concluded with Major League slugger Jose Canseco participating in a home run derby, with every home run hit by Canseco earning a $100 donation by Saratoga Casino Hotel to The Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Capital Region.     

Following the well-attended celebrity softball game, athletes met with fans for autographs and photo opportunities, and local bands The Refrigerators and Skeeter Creek performed on an outdoor stage.

Overall, more than $10,000 was raised during the day and the irony was not lost on Skip Carlson, vice president of external affairs at Saratoga Casino Hotel. Carlson’s time at the venue pre-dates the installation of Video Lottery Terminals and goes back to the days when it was known as the Saratoga Equine Sports Center.

“I’ve been here for 40 years and it’s funny to think that when we had a celebrity harness race here, maybe in 1980, George Steinbrenner had won that race. So today, with all those Yankees playing, it’s kind of come full circle,” Carlson said.

“The Ronald McDonald House is a home away from home for families who have kids in the hospital,” explained Jeffrey Yule, executive director for Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Capital Region. We take care of those families’ needs - their housing, their food, whatever they need, free of charge.” Yule said costs are about $80 per night night to put up one family and that there are 25 families staying at a time. 

“McDonald’s is a good partner for us. They account for about 25 percent of our funds and the rest comes from the public. This is an incredible gift to be donated, this much money, and it’s through events like these that we’re able to keep our doors open and our hearts open for these families.”

Jose Canseco swinging for the fences -

To maintain and promote the “City in the Country” form that includes an intensively developed urban core, an economically vibrant central business district, and residential neighborhoods with well-defined urban edges and an outlying area of rural character. - Saratoga Springs Comprehensive Plan, adopted by the City Council June 16, 2015.

Ever since Gideon Putnam began his early 19th century build-up in what would later become the downtown core, there has been an ebb and flow to the architectural terrain of Saratoga Springs.

Putnam’s original boarding house would give way to Union Hall and the Grand Union Hotel, and soon be joined in close geographic proximity by the massive structures of Congress Hall and the United States Hotel. The arrival of the steam locomotive in the 1830s made it easier for visitors to come to the then-village, and the first public street lighting with gas went up in 1853. By century’s end, Broadway boasted the Collamer and Ainsworth buildings, Town Hall, Convention Hall, and the Adelphi and Van Dam hotels; John Morrissey operated a clubhouse in Congress Park, and the racecourse dominated the summer season on the east side of town.

“In the older pictures, when you look down Broadway you can see it was built-up on both sides,” says Saratoga Springs City Historian Mary Ann Fitzgerald. “We lost some to fires and some to Urban Renewal. These buildings come and go through years.” The wrecking ball also played a deconstructive role. However, even as the effects of Urban Renewal were being realized in the mid-1960s, the new Northway afforded motorists an easier passage to Saratoga Springs, just as the Saratoga Performing Arts Center was opening its doors.

Placing recent development in historical context, Fitzgerald says things today are not much different than what they were a century ago.  “To me (the current build) is reminiscent of what once was,” she says, “filling in gaps and bringing things back closer to the scale of what we once had.”

Some current projects, both proposed and those in development, are listed below. The landscape is varied and includes hotels and condominiums, rental and purchase properties, retail storefronts to business offices. Some are targeted to address the “affordable” or “workforce” housing market. 

South Broadway/ Saratoga Diner site. Located on the west side of Broadway.

Proposed: Demolition of the long-standing Saratoga Diner on South Broadway and construction of approximately 110 single and two-bedroom “affordable” apartment units, two floors of commercial space, and a new business incubator collaboratively partnered by Saratoga Economic Development Corporation and Saratoga CoWorks.

The project at the southern gateway to the city would include 46 one-bedroom units and 64 two-bedroom units, 7,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, 4,000 square feet of service establishment space and a 7,500 square-foot food beverage or brew pub, which will act as a visible anchor on South Broadway.  Streetscape improvements include street lamps, landscaping, and a total of 273 parking spaces for resident and commercial parking uses. The second floor will house 17,000 square feet of commercial space where two new tenants are expected to join SEDC’s 10,000 square foot “incubator,” a flexible co-working space to be inhabited by a rotating group of entrepreneurs and early-stage growth business teams.

The majority of the rental units would be offered to those earning between 60 and 100 percent of the AMI - a $50,400 to $84,000 range - while 14 units would be offered at a “fair-market rent” to military veterans. Construction is anticipated to begin next spring and the buildings fully operational by the summer of 2019.

146 South Broadway. Located on east side of Broadway.

Proposed: Demolition of a single-story traditional fast food space and construction of a two-story mixed-use building. Restaurant and professional office space on the ground floor, four apartment units on the second floor.

Adelphi Hotel, Broadway.

The Adelphi Hotel, first opened in 1877, is anticipated to reopen this month. Features 32 rooms, a ballroom, and three restaurants: Salt & Char (already open), Morrissey’s, and the Blue Hen.

Adelphi Hotel – New Hotel, 19-23 Washington St.

Proposed: A new six-story Hotel and Spa that will physically connect to, although be operated independently of, the Adelphi Hotel. Features: spa with an indoor swimming pool on the first floor, and 50 rooms on floors two through six. 

Rip Van Dam – New Hotel, 351 Broadway/ 7 Washington St.

Proposed: A new six-story Boutique Hotel. Features: swimming pool and restaurant on the top floor and 152 rooms in all, located behind the four-story Van Dam hotel and the Starbucks café on Broadway. Additional plans for a parking garage on Hamilton Street that will serve hotel guests and workers, as well as 40 spaces designated for Palio employees. Public parking may also be offered “as capacity allows,” according to documents submitted to the city.    

The Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation this week expressing concerns regarding the mass, height and design of both the proposed new structures, and has invited residents to share their thoughts with the organization at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.,

“These are two large projects essentially adjacent to each other and I think people should be aware of that changing streetscape on Washington Street,” said Samantha Bosshart, executive director of the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation.

Universal Preservation Hall, Washington Street.  

Historic building on Washington Street constructed in 1871 will undergo renovation and re-open in early 2019 as an acoustically perfect theater-in-the-round experience with a capacity of 700-plus people. The upgraded venue will feature new heating and air conditioning systems, a kitchen, an elevator and new light and sound fixtures with acoustic treatments. New entry doors will be set on the building’s Broadway facing-side to provide theater-goers close proximity to a multi-level public parking garage on Woodlawn Avenue. Once completed, it is anticipated UPH will stage approximately 200 events annually.

Stonequist Apartments – New building, South Federal Street/ West Circular Street.

Proposed: A mixed-income, mixed-use development project to be sited behind the Stonequist Apartments to feature as many as 80 affordable housing units - projected at 40 to 100 percent of AMI. An additional 30 units proposed at the former site of the William H. Ford Community Center, at Jefferson Terrace, on the east side of Broadway. Both are under the ownership of the Saratoga Springs Housing Authority.

Code Blue Emergency Homeless Shelter – New building, 14 Walworth St.

Proposed: 6,400 square foot emergency homeless shelter to be sited on Walworth Street, adjacent to the Shelters of Saratoga.

West Side Development – New buildings, adjacent to Saratoga Springs train station.  

Proposed: Two developers have submitted plans featuring up to 10 new buildings comprised of a five-story hotel, more than 400 residential units and nearly 30,000 square feet of retail space. Projects to be developed on a stretch of vacant land from the south end of the Saratoga Springs train station to Washington Street/ Route 29, just west of West Avenue.

Station Park project: built out over five phases, calls for two buildings dedicated as a mixed-use space with each building housing 36 residential units, and a total of 22,000 square feet of retail space. The 72 residential units would be for-sale condominiums. Additional development to include two buildings - each providing 57 units for senior housing and 33 units for senior assisted care, a 110-to-120 unit five-story hotel and spa, a pool and fitness center, and a free-standing building with an additional 6,200 square feet of retail space. Nearly 600 parking spaces would span across the location to cater to residents, retail workers and shoppers.

Vecino Group project: development of one three-story building and three four-story buildings to stand just east of the Station Park proposal and near the Washington Street post office. Featuring 160 apartment units presumably in the “workforce,” or “affordable” housing categories.  

According to city officials, two additional firms are also currently readying proposals for further development in the immediate vicinity of the Station Park project, although the size and scope of those two potential projects are not currently known.

Union Avenue Condominiums, 46 Union Ave., south side of the avenue. 

Planned for occupancy by March 2018: A five-building residential property with on-site parking featuring one, two and three-bedroom residences priced from $689,900 to $895,500. Occupies the site of the former Skidmore College dormitory officially called Moore Hall, and commonly referred to as the “pink palace.”

East Side Fire/ EMS station.

Status: Remains on the city’s radar,but no definitive plans at this time.

Condominium Project, 120 Henry St.

Proposal: Development of a five-story condominium building to house 30 units with 70 total bedrooms to be located at 120 Henry St., on subdivided land adjacent to the Four Seasons market.

24 Caroline Street/ 68 Putnam Street.

Proposal: New mixed-use addition and alteration to consist of six apartment units and two commercial spaces, located at site where damage and demolition occurred in the aftermath of a November 2016 fire.

City Center Parking Garage, High Rock.

Proposal: City Center Authority leasing of city-owned land to build a 480-space parking garage adjacent to High Rock Park, behind the City Center.

Status: Project remains in litigation.

Developments, both proposed and amended, are regularly addressed at City Hall meetings by the city’s Land Use Boards – the Planning Board, the Zoning Boards of Appeal, and the Design Review Commission – as well as at City Council meetings. Those meetings, and agendas regarding what each will be discussing, are available on the city’s web site at: http://www.saratoga-springs.org/. You can also subscribe to the individual boards and have the information show up in your mailbox in advance of the meetings.

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SARATOGA SPRINGS – A number of fake Confederate States of America bills were discovered at the Saratoga Springs Public Library recently.  An unknown quantity were found wedged inside of books shelved in the library’s section of literature related to the Holocaust, according to a library employee.   

  The “bills” share a general similarity with the original 500-dollar notes in style and imaging - including a profile of Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson. The new “bills” were amended to include passages from the Bible and multiple images of the Star of David.

“It’s disheartening to see this going on in our community,” said city Police Lt. Bob Jillson.

The materials were reported to police on Aug. 16 and the incident logged as “unknown subject placed anti-Semitic literature into books at library.” 

The local incident immediately followed a weekend during which some white nationalists converged on Charlottesville, Virginia and chanted Nazi slogans to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. That weekend concluded with one alleged Nazi sympathizer being accused of driving his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one person and injuring several others who opposed the rally.

Local authorities said there aren’t any leads regarding the placement of the phony bills into the books, and that the event seems to be an isolated incident. 

“This is one more message of hate that is very unfortunate,” said Mayor Joanne Yepsen. “Our city is an inclusive and welcoming city and there is no place for any anti-Semitic action or words in Saratoga Springs.”