A Little Heads-Up for the TU

When you run a story about a waste to energy plant being proposed next to the Port of Albany you might want to get a comment from Mayor Jerry Jennings. Why? Because Mayor Jerry, in the vaguest of terms, has claimed that just such a plant will remedy the $10,000,000+ budget shortfall the City of Albany will experience once the Rapp Rd. Landfill closes. Now, call me crazy, but it seems highly unlikely that the area will accommodate not one, but two such plants in the very near future.

We Wear Short Shorts

At last nights City Council meeting dozens of supporters of the Complete Streets initiative showed up to voice their support for legislation that would accommodate all modes of transportation in future road construction plans. In practical terms, designs would incorporate bike lanes, mass transit lanes and pedestrian access in addition to existing car lanes. In a moment of selective amnesia (or gross ignorance), a supporter with the obligatory hyphenated name claimed "passing this policy is really the easy part...finding ways of making change happen is the hard part." Really? Isn't it so cute when new folks come into the City with the misconception that they've settled into some liberal utopia. They see the cute downtown and the over-priced liberal arts college and assume wow, what a great, progressive little town. I cant wait to tell all my friends back home how I live in Saratoga Springs now and I bike downtown and protest in front of the post office and clear nature trails and do hot yoga and drink chia shakes. And now we're lobbying to implement a complete streets program! Hurray!

Well, sorry to burst your bubble but passing the policy might be a bit tougher than you think. You see, back in 2007 a like minded group attempted to implement the same strategy for Broadway. And, unfortunately for that group, the plan wasn't some abstract pipe dream...it was a real, tangible plan with pictures and fancy computer overlays and the such. In fact, it contained so much specific detail that it garnered fierce opposition from over a thousand petitioners.

Now, I don't mean to assume the worst about people, but by passing this initiative off as something harmless is simply dishonest. Especially without countering the valid criticisms that sank the 2007 Broadway initiative. That opposition was based almost purely on eliminating two lanes of a four lane commercial thoroughfare. If this plan were implemented on any residential two lane street the opposition would be based on eliminating portions of front yards. Now, I'm not saying that's not a sensible trade-off, but lets not pretend its an "easy" one. And make no mistake about it, "passing this policy" (i.e., codifying it in the zoning) has very real consequences that will actually "make change" quite easy....even for those that don't want it. Point being, the debate needs to happen now...not down the road after the policy has been passed.

On a related note, is it really necessary to show up to the Council chambers in full racing gear? Did you really need to be THAT aerodynamic to get to the meeting? Somehow, I think not. In truth, tight cycling wear (absent a sanctioned bicycle race) is really the mark of a lazy cycler...doing everything he can to cut down on wind resistance and do as little work as possible. You want to see a real cycler? Check out the guy in jeans and a windbreaker pedaling six garbage bags full of bottle returns to the local Price Chopper. Now THATS hard-core. THATS "really doing it." And THAT dude has no use for tight shorts. And since were on the topic of tight shorts, I personally think that an ancillary purpose of this group is to establish that walking around in tight shorts is now somehow socially acceptable. Well, I'm here to tell you that its not*. Not anymore than me walking down the street in my underwear. You know why? Cause next thing you know the Polish Cycling Team is in line at Ben & Jerry's next to you and your toddler. And how does daddy explain that one away?

*unless you're a really hot chick, that is.

Dark Side Of The Moon

Much has been written about the current struggles of the Saratoga Springs Housing Authority. No one can deny that Executive Director Ed "Spike" Spychalski is receiving gluttonous compensation for his duties. Recently, The Saratoga Affordable Housing Group, a so-called affiliate of the SSHA, has been caught up in the downhill avalanche of negativity surrounding the Housing Authority. The leading antagonist in this drama is city resident John Kaufman. From an outside perspective, most would view Kaufman as some altruistic soul hell-bent on exposing corruption for the betterment of humanity. But alas, as is often the case, reality is a far cry from what is exposed in the press. Kaufman has a score to settle...and, ultimately, the poor of Saratoga Springs will bear the brunt of his animus.

Back in the day, Kaufman and his "partner" Jane Weihe were very active in City Democratic circles. She, losing multiple elections for City Council seats and he, working behind the scenes to ensure development in the city was appropriately demonized to ensure future homogeneity. His appeal was centered around the idea that "certain kinds" of multi-family developments didn't pay for themselves. Pretty sure he wasn't talking about luxury condos on Railroad Place. This may seem a peculiar stance for a progressive liberal but its pretty much status quo in Saratoga Springs for these types.

Kaufman's beef with the SSHA is nothing more than a tangent of his larger squabble with former SSHA Board Director Dennis Brunelle. Back in the early 2000's, Brunelle, along with a large group of concerned citizens, formulated a group dedicated to providing housing for the County's working-class poor. The purpose of the group was to, in the face of virulent anti-development opposition from people like Kaufman, advocate for development projects that included affordable housing. This was a no-no. Kaufman lambasted Brunelle for having the tenacity to support development in the city and claimed he ought to be ashamed (for, presumably, getting in bed with evil developers). Of course, Brunelle's efforts were largely unsuccessful until the completion of new, affordable units on Allen Drive. The same units Kaufman is now identifying as having undergone some sort of illegal asbestos removal.

Now, say what you will about Brunelle's defense of the SSHA fiasco, the fact remains that Brunelle didn't profit from his position on the board (aside from travel expenses associated with purportedly acceptable trips for the SSHA) and he has been a life-long advocate for the poor and disenfranchised in Saratoga County. Was he guilty of sticking by his man? Yes. And the appropriate punishment has been leveled. As many of you know, I would be loathe to praise anyone that had ANY kind of personal/professional association with Val Keehn, but Dennis Brunelle is a good man who simply got in over his head. The same cannot be said for John Kaufman. The only time Kaufman gets involved with an issue is:

1. When his roommate is running for office.
2. When developers attempt to change the demographics of the City. And,
3. When he's got a personal score to settle.

The latter is whats playing out right now. Kaufman will ride the Allen Drive pony till its slumped in a heap on the side of the road. Sure, there are problems with Allen Drive. But those problems are a direct result of the combative atmosphere created by virulent NIMBY's like Kaufman and his ilk. No doubt those same forces were instrumental in ensuring that any lottery for the new units were restricted to current city residents. No doubt short-cuts may have been taken to stretch scarce development dollars. No doubt Kaufman will piggy back these issues to drive the Saratoga Affordable Housing Group into the ground and halt any further affordable housing development in the City.

Score Settled.

Headline Of The Day

I only hope there comes a day when school administrators and news outlets that publish their rubbish are repeatedly flogged by long lengths of processed meats. Much like the enormous hot dogs that are currently (and very appropriately, I might add) stuffing the crusts of Pizza in Europe. Here's the headline, verbatim from The Saratogian:

"Saratoga Springs City School District, under superindendent destignate's direction, looks to restructure upper-level administrative posts"

It would appear that, indeed, the evil Sith Lord Superindendent Destignate is restructuring the administration at the SSCSD. And, his evil apparently knows no bounds:

Destignate's plan "abolishes four cabinet positions - assistant superintendent for secondary education, assistant superintendent of elementary education, director of information technology and director of assessment and staff development...Those positions will then be replaced with assistant superintendent of 21st Century Teaching and Learning, assistant superintendent of information technology and operational innovation, K-12 Director of Literacy and K-12 Director of Mathematics, Science and Technology Integration."

Oh, the horror! Such wanton name-changing is unprecedented in the history of the Republic. One can only hope the crack squad at the Saratogian stays on top of this troubling development.

As an aside, I think its quite clear to all of us why the Saratogian is literally buried in accolades from the prestigious Local Media Association.

May the force be with us.

What About Our Furry Friends?

At the request of a reader from a previous post I provide a wider map showing the habitat of friendly woodland creatures (aka the Blodgett property) in relation to other public access points in the Lake Lonely/Saratoga Lake/Kaydeross Creek area. As previously reported, the City is seeking to impact prime wildlife habitat to provide surface parking and creek access for kayakers and canoeists. This project will alter wetlands and introduce human activity into an otherwise lovely forested wetland area.

All's Well That Ends Well

We can all breathe a sigh of relief now that the landfill bonding measure has passed the Albany Common Council. Only ten more years until the landfill meets capacity and the City builds a $100,000,000+ waste to energy plant that wont break even and spews pollution over a large swath of South Colonie and Albany. Good Times!

Move Along, Nothing To See Here...

I'm confident there was absolutely no malfeasance when the illustrious Saratoga Springs Housing Authority appointed itself developer and manager of the 15-unit affordable housing development on the other side of the railroad tracks next to all the other subsidized housing on Allen Drive. Surely, an organization that was clever enough to restrict its applicant pool to current city residents would be well equipped to handle such a project. I mean, really, there's not much room for tom-foolery when the budget is only $2,300,000 and the developer/manager has a sparkling track record.

Given the above, I think we can agree its prudent to turn to much more pressing issues. Like Saratoga's super hot Finance Commissioner.