Fun in Saratoga

Foundation laid and framework is started on new south side recreation center

I was wondering how the new south side recreation center was coming along, so I stopped over at the construction site at the old park off Vanderbilt Avenue yesterday.  Apparently some people at the Saratogian were wondering the same thing, because this article was in this morning's paper. 

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Like it or not, the project is moving along.  The place was a beehive of activity with all types of construction equipment including a crane, a number of cement trucks, a bulldozer, a lift, a backhoe, a high-lift, and probably a few other pieces of equipment I can't remember.  The cement foundation is clearly visible and the steel framework of the building is being put into place.  I posted a number of pictures below to give you an idea as to how it's coming along but obviously it's better to get a firsthand look and the building will be taking more of a shape every day, so perhaps you want to take a drive by. 

The images below were taken from Worth Street

 
 
 
 

The pictures below were taken from Vanderbilt Avenue

 
       
    
   
The pictures below were taken from the playground at the end of Tremont Street
 

  

 

  
 
 
 

 

Saratoga Farmers Market information

Like I said in my post from yesterday, I am on a lot of email lists.  Here is one I just received from the Saratoga Farmers Market:

Saratoga Springs Farmers' Market Wednesday News ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ News from the Shed: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The days are getting shorter and the temps are starting to dip.  Hurry down to the market to get the last of the summer crops!  Not to worry however as the farmers have a never ending supply of cooler temp product to fill the plate! Wednesdays are special at the market:  Shushan Valley Hydro Farm (Phyllis Underwood) will return in October with hydroponic tomatoes, herbs, Asian cucumbers, lettuce, arugula, bok choy, and watercress.  Kilpatrick Family Farm will be offering on Wednesdays only, two bags of Spinach for $6 instead of the usual price of $4/bag.  Mary Jane Pelzer (Saratoga Suds) continues to provide good clean fun this Wednesday. Buy any four bars of soap on Wednesday and get a 10% discount. Elihu Farm (Bob and Mary Pratt) - will be asbsent this Wednesday--back on Saturday. Slice of Heaven will be back this week. SoLivelyTapenade now has a FaceBook page. Keep up with them at http://www.solivelytapenade.com/ Note:  Mr. Edge is only here on Wednesdays only and Battenkill Creamery is only at the market on Saturdays. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Get your market T-shirt and where it with pride! They are locally printed, 100% heavy cotton pre-shrunk. They are a great deal for $10.  We also have totes and insulated tote bags to help bring home your purchases easily and safely, as well as gift certificates and Free Bumper Stickers. See you at the market!
The Saratoga Farmers Market Outdoor Season is May-Oct,  on Wednesday, 3p-6p and Saturdays, 9a-1p at the High Rock Ave Pavilions in Saratoga Springs.

Route 471 Bus to end its seasonal run on Saturday September 26th

The Route 471 CDTA bus, going from Union Avenue to the train station, will end service for the season on Saturday September 26th, presumably resuming service next spring.  It wasn't easy getting (essentially prying) information out of CDTA on this - what should have been a simple process was anything but. 

First of all, 471 bus service was supposed to end on Labor Day, but that following week I saw that bus was still running so I called CDTA hoping they would tell me it was now a year round bus.  I am a fan of bus service and the 471 bus goes by my house right over to the Saratoga branch of the YMCA so it was convenient for me.  The bus is also a good way to avoid pollution, congestion, and wasting our limited supply of fossil fuels, so I want to take the bus when I can. So I asked the person who answered about the bus and she told me it ended on Labor Day, when I told her it was still running, she apparently checked her computer and realized that yes indeed, it was still running.  She then took my phone number and told me she would call me back with the answer.

Well, she never called back, so I called again the next day and nobody answered the phone.  I was shocked at this but tried again and still no answer.  Ohhhhhhkay.  I called another day and got a different person. This person told me that, rather than a Labor Day conclusion to the service period, the service would "likely" end when the drivers changed that bid period - the period when they can bid for certain, and presumably more desirable, bus routes.   I guess that makes sense from an operational standpoint, but nonetheless CDTA never announced any of this, despite previously announcing a Labor Day ending.  A CDTA driver told me he also thought it would end upon the new bid period, but he wasn't sure either. 

I would go on about CDTA's lack of professionalism, communications, and efficiency, and I've commented before on my disappointment with that authority, but the experience did improve from there. I was frustrated at the lack of community outreach and concrete answers, so I called again today but asked to speak to someone at the executive level. I was transferred to a voice mail and left a brief message with my phone number.  A short while later, I received a call from Carm Basile, the interim Executive Director of the CDTA, and he was a breath of fresh air.  When I explained my story, he seemed a bit shocked and embarrassed, apologized, and stated that these are things CDTA can not do and I had every right to be dissatisfied.  He pledged to improve the communications, then he said he'd call me back with the correct answer.  He called me back shortly and advised me that yes, the Route 471 Bus will end next Saturday and he would post that on the CDTA web site.  We had an interesting discussion about bus service, and I wished him well in obtaining the position permanently.  This guy gets it, at least from a customer service standpoint, so I hope he is appointed to the Executive Director's job permanently.  He has some work ahead of him, because the organization seems a bit ass backwards, at least when it comes to communications.  Here's hoping we have continued and even expanded bus service here in Saratoga Springs. 

EYESORE! The Pink Palace needs to be razed or at least maintained.

I wrote a previous entry a while back when "The Pink Palace", the former Skidmore College dorm on Union Avenue that was officially known as Moore Hall, was sold to Norstar,  a development company out of Buffalo.  Soon after that, I noticed that the grass was not being cut and there was a noticeable difference between the admirable way that Skidmore previously maintained the property and how Norstar seemed to be neglecting it.  Because I live within sight of that building, I was concerned about the lack of maintenance so I called both the company's Buffalo office as well as Mayor Scott Johnson's office and expressed my concerns.  A few days later the grass was cut and it continued to get cut for the rest of the summer.

That's the good news.  The bad news is that it appears that they aren't doing much more than cutting the grass. I will post some pictures below which show, among other things:  graffiti, piles of (flammable) debris , weeds and small scrub trees growing not only along the side of the building but also on the roof (!), and just too many other signs of an abandoned building.  The question I have is how long before we see broken windows, rodents, homeless people, partying teenagers, and other signs of urban decay on otherwise pristine Union Avenue? 

Where is the city on this?  They should be able to see the same things that I am seeing.  Also, I think it's fair to expect Skidmore College to respect the neighborhood that hosted this residence hall for nearly 50 years and ensure they sell their unused properties to companies that will respect the city and its neighborhoods by properly maintaining their property.  I will be contacting officials about this but since I called both the company and the mayor's office once already about this building I should not have to harp on them to do the right thing.  The initial lack of grass cutting should have been a red flag to city officials that this company may have to be monitored and prodded to properly maintain their property.  I would expect this if I lived in another city perhaps but not in Saratoga Springs, NY.  Unacceptable!

 

I wrote a related blog entry here on the Times Union's Saratoga Springs residents' blog. 

City tax bills due

The Saratoga Springs third quarter property tax payment must be delivered to city hall or postmarked today (September 1st, 2009) to avoid late fees.  Click here to find out more from the revamped (but still not great) Saratoga Springs city web site. 

New City web site

A while back the Post Star's Saratoga Snippets blog reported that the city of Saratoga Springs has updated their web site.   Thank God! That old one was a total embarassment - a relic from the 90's - and possibly even worse.  I haven't had a chance to review it too much but at first appearance it looks like a 1000% improvement. 

It is time to ban Norberto Arroyo Jr. from racing in this state forever

I am assuming most of you have heard about thoroughbred jockey Norberto Arroyo's Sunday morning arrest for cocaine possession with intent to sell in Saratoga Springs Sunday morning.  Here are two points I wish to make about this situation:

1. The Saratoga Springs police officers should be commended for what appears to be excellent public service.  They were out there working hard trying to keep our streets and neighborhoods safe.  Thank you Saratoga Springs Police.

2. I certainly support Mr. Arroyo's right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, and he should be treated fairly by the justice system.  With that being said, I have had some what I will call incidental contact (which I won't go into because I will be discussing it with the District Attorney's office) with Mr. Arroyo and based on that experience and his troubled past, I believe these charges will stick and he will be ultimately convicted. 

I want to expand on the second point I made above.  According to the articles I read, here is what I know about Norberto Arroyo Jr.:

1. The T-U article that I linked above, in reporting on Mr. Arroyo's second chance, said this about his past: 

   "....This time was his latest absence from racing, a six-month penalty levied in 2008 by the New Jersey Racing Commission. It has been three-and-a-half weeks since the 32-year-old Puerto Rican's return from that suspension, the reason for which has not been disclosed by either party. He also had to reapply for his license with the New York State Racing and Wagering Board after failing a drug test at Aqueduct on Dec. 4 of last year; it was conditionally granted to him on May 27.

   In addition to on-track problems, he's had his share of run-ins with the law (in 2002 he spent 39 days in Nassau County Jail for second-degree assault)."

2. Here is what the Daily Racing Form said about him:  "Arroyo's career has been full of pitfalls, including a 39-day stint in jail after being convicted on assault charges in 2002. Arroyo also had a run-in with a livery cab driver in the Bronx in 2001."

The T-U article talked about a second chance, but by my count Norberto Arroyo Jr. was on his third, fourth, or even fifth chance - and it appears to me that he blew all of them.  Based on the charges,as well as the "incidental contact" I mentioned before, I believe Mr. Arroyo made the choice to bring drugs to Saratoga Springs, New York and sell them to people living or visiting here.  He's a bad guy that should not be allowed to race in Saratoga Springs, New York State, or anywhere for that matter.  I hate to take away a guy's livelihood, but like I said it appears that he got multiple second chances.  He made choices that hurt other people and he should be barred from thoroughbred racing.

I assume by now Mr. Arroyo has hired a team of high profile and well connected attorneys.  These hot shots will fire up their PR machine and tell us he had a difficult upbringing, that he's trying to get his life in order, he is a family man, blah, blah, blah.  That may all be true, but it doesn't negate the fact that Norberto Arroyo Jr. makes choices that hurt other people and he doesn't have the integrity to be in thoroughbred racing.  There will be a hearing at the New York State Racing and Wagering board offices in Schenectady on Friday, and I have faith the board officials will take proper actions.  I also have faith that the Saratoga County District Attorney's office will likewise handle this case judiciously and will approach these charges with the appropriate level of seriousness.  Mr. Arroyo, Saratoga County residents, and those who are involved in the thoroughbred horse racing industry deserve nothing less.

Praise for the Saratogian

I am not simply one-way on my Saratogian commentaries, and I will praise our hometown paper when they get it right.  The paper had an excellent editorial in this morning's (July 5th, 2009) edition commenting on the "Racing Concern and optimism", which pretty much is a synopsis of the hopes and challenges those concerned with Saratoga Springs in general and NYRA racing in particular are facing during these times.  The editorial really showed a deep understanding of the issues, most notably how lack of Video Lottery Terminals at Aqueduct and the state's refusal to compensate the city for hosting the VLTs at the Racino adversely affects all of us here in Saratoga Springs.  I hope to see more of that type of work from The Saratogian, and I will praise them profusely when it happens. 

Saratoga hodgepodge June 17, 2009

I've got a number of unrelated Saratoga thoughts so, in no particular order, here they are:

• It says here that the wayward moose is cool, and she made my Monday. I hope she is doing OK back in the Adirondack Park.  Kudos to the Saratogian and NYRA for some clever comments in today's edition: "....As much as she might want to be the next Rachel Alexandra, for now the young moose will have to content herself with living in the wild.
  'We had to inform her that at the moment we can only conduct thoroughbred racing,' NYRA spokesman Dan Silver said."   The Times Union also had some nice pictures available in their photo gallery.
• Continuing with the Saratogian, I wrote last week about the opening of Springwater Inn, and today's edition had an article which covered the same topic. 
• I guess I found out a lot of local things from the Saratogian in the last few days.  I looked in yesterday's paper under the real estate transactions heading and I found out the Sunoco station on Broadway, across from the Saratoga Hilton, is now a Stewart's.  Apparently the news is over a week old but I missed it.  I like the fact that it is now a Stewart's, mostly because of course Stewarts is a local company but also because they are a good corporate citizen and their stores simply have quality products and service.   According to their web site, the Broadway location is their 327th store.  Click here for additional information from the Albany Business Review.
• I haven't been to The Starting Gate Bar and Grill yet, located in the building that was formerly the Olde Gaslight Tavern in front of the Hi-Roc Lanes, but I really like the sign they had made for the place.

• There were some blog entries and comments earlier this year complaining about the lack of a good concert schedule (at that point) for the upcoming SPAC season.  I think they really filled it out well with some choices for most age groups and fans of different types of music.  The recently announced addition of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band sure boosted my opinion of this year's lineup.  
• I will end these thought with a really good one:  TODAY IS EXACTLY SIX WEEKS UNTIL THE BEGINNING OF TRACK SEASON!!!!!

Route 471 bus returns to Saratoga Springs

I saw a welcome site on Sunday when the Route 471 CDTA Bus returned to Saratoga Springs and came down Union Avenue.  As I wrote in a previous entry, CDTA changed route 471 to a seasonal route, and eliminated the run for all but the summer months. 

I really want bus service to succeed here in the Spa City, the trouble is CDTA is apparently simply going through the motions on the reintroduction of the route and didn't even make much press out of this.  I don't know if the 471 bus will get much more ridership in the warmer months than it did before.  But that can change with some effort and outreach on CDTA's part.  Although I linked it above, I am going to copy a portion of my previous entry I made in January about CDTA and the 471 bus, because it is still relevant:

My point is:  What if CDTA got creative in Saratoga and tried some different things such as:

• Smaller buses with more flexible schedules and routes.
• Partnerships with downtown businesses, both horse tracks, the YMCA, the Amtrak station, the Farmers Market, downtown events such as the Victorian Stroll, and a host of others. This would be win-win for both entities. And by partnerships I mean joint promotions including discounts and other special efforts.
• Effective marketing and advertising - this means through unconventional means - not the same old same old.

Put a bus up and down Central Avenue in Albany and the masses will hop on, but that won't work in Saratoga.  I feel CDTA let us down, and it's more than just the loss of one bus route.  What this means to me is the loss of an opportunity to gain some momentum to make this community that much more pollution free, congestion free, and pedestrian friendly.  CDTA took a cookie cutter approach to bus service in Saratoga and at least one route failed miserably.  I am very disappointed and once again must say that CDTA let us down.

CDTA's Ececutive Director Ray Melleady made a comment on that entry, and I appreciated him taking the time to do that.  I realize CDTA has budget issues just like every other authority, but press releases and other public relations efforts are essentially cost-free, because the staff and infrastructure are already there.  When I say press releases and public relations efforts, I mean creative ones that show energy and commitment, not simply an "updates and changes" release.  I don't understand why they can't at least try some joint effort with the YMCA, which would require not much more than a few phone calls. 

Well there are my thoughts on that issue.  Metroland's blog has a related entry that you can read here about CDTA's bus service.