October 2009 Archives

Do the Math

By Nancy Muldoon

            In my formative years I always excelled at English class, Art class and I was one of the few girls that actually enjoyed gym class. Math was always my weakest subject and I was always in the lowest math group every year of school.

In sixth grade at Lake Avenue school my teacher Mrs. Foster would be become frustrated at my math impairment and would shout, "Do the math Nancy, do the math!"

Not surprisingly, her yelling at me didn't make the numbers in my head move any faster. In fact it gave me a strong aversion to numbers and anything that resembled a math class to this day.

But after listening to politicians talk about waste in various City Hall Departments and reading letters to the editor regarding our towns financial demise it seems that I am not the only one with a math impediment.

For those against paid parking, do the math! There aren't too many cities anywhere where you can park for free. Is it written somewhere in the constitution that says we are eternally entitled to free parking?

Every Racing Season tourists are charged anywhere from $5-$20 to park their car in my neighborhood (close proximity to the Racecourse) so they can spend even more money at the racetrack. Have you ever overheard a tourist say that they aren't coming back to Saratoga because they had to pay to park their car?

No. No you haven't and you won't.

THEY EXPECT TO PAY. And that's exactly why they should be made to pay when they want to park downtown.

Do tourists complain about having to pay for an overpriced sandwich at certain businesses downtown. Sure, but the downtown business association makes sure those comments never make it into certain newspapers here in town.

            Regarding DPW:

Get rid of the weakest links in the chain, if they happen to be the workers who are making over $30 an hour, oh well. You save the city money by getting rid of those who make the most not the least. The problem with the unions is that unfortunately it protects bad workers as well as good workers. That is any unions inherent weakness and that weakness costs the city money everyday.

Regarding the East and West Side Recreation fields:

 I was told by Ron Kim that they belong to the school district but are maintained by the city and that it costs the city 50K a year to do so.

Can't we have the elementary school children at Caroline Street Schools and Division Street schools help pick up litter and rake leaves and do various other jobs to maintain these grounds as some sort of community service?

I'm sure every citizen of Saratoga could come up with their own list on how to save money for the city and either write a letter to your elected officials or better yet, come to a city hall meeting and read your list to the council members and between a bunch of us I'm positive that we can do the math!

                                                           ###

Meet Joanne Yepsen

By Nancy Muldoon

            Joanne Yepsen, County Supervisor grew up in a house where politics was only occasionally discussed at the dinner table. However, family and doing things for others was the overarching theme in the household she grew up in. Joanne moved from Hamden, Connecticut in 1976 to attend Hartwick College in upstate New York and hasn't left since.

She spent a lot of time engaging herself in the community when she arrived in Saratoga in 1985.

For sixteen years she raised money for Skidmore College, and make no mistake about it folks, Ms. Yepsen's fundraising skills in this town are legendary. Ask around.

Ms. Yepsen claims she came into the position of County Supervisor completely through years of community service. She also served as President of the Arts Council for two years.

Joanne sees public service as community service at a legislative level. She has taken that foundation to her work with non-profits and as an elected official, to be the voice for those she represents.

She says the only drawback to her current job is that there aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done while she simultaneously runs her own business and raising three kids.

In 2001, when she left Skidmore, Yepsen started her own fundraising consulting business and when she first ran for public office in 2005 she had some concerns that if she became too political it could negatively affect her business. But to her pleasant surprise, the result was just the opposite. It allows her to work with her existing clients in a more sophisticated way now that she's had more experience in politics.

On the issue of paid parking County Supervisor Joanne Yepsen says that there are so many cities that attract shoppers, restaurant goers, and tourists that charge for parking and she thinks that Saratoga should be able to figure the parking situation out so that it's a win-win situation for everyone involved.

 "I'm not sure that we've been written up as the no charge parking city in national news."

Ms. Yepsen says that the beauty of her job as Supervisor is that there is no typical day for her. She spends a lot of her day answering phone calls and responding to the needs of individuals who need her assistance.

Supervisors are elected by the people to represent their municipality on the County level. Yepsen is driven to being in touch with the concerns and the cares and quality of life of her constituents. Her work takes her to the site of the issues whether it is at the Veterans Home in Ballston Spa or City Hall in Saratoga Springs. Like most women she accomplishes a lot of work from home where her computer and paperwork are.

Yepsen admits that she operates as County Supervisor with no staff, no office and no budget which she says can be a plus or a minus. And 'no parking spot' she quips. Her cell phone is her office, and Joanne prides herself on being accessible getting back to people right away. Because she has no office, Yepsen says that she can get a lot done in a day.

  She adds that most of the County Supervisors are usually the towns Mayor, except Clifton Park, Corinth, Mechanicville and Saratoga Springs.

Yepsen laughs when I ask her if its tough being the only woman in City Hall and she admits that we need more female elected officials in office all over the country.

Eleanor Roosevelt is someone that Joanne strongly identifies with. "She took on challenges that were way before her time, and she did them well, and it set the path for so many of us to say, we can do this."

Joanne is currently reading is Ted Kennedy's memoir entitled True Compass.

Yepsen says she admires the Kennedy work ethic and values that we don't see too much in America these days.

Ms. Yepsen wants to ask Citizen Nancy readers as to why so many people in Saratoga don't attend the City Hall meetings or don't vote? She is curious as to why people don't call her or other elected officials and wonders if it's because they don't think it will make a difference?  Or is it because they are just too busy?

If you have any questions or would like to contact Joanne Yepsen, your County Supervisor directly you may reach her at 526-5272.

Growing Up in Saratoga

By Nancy Muldoon

            When I was growing up here in Saratoga I either rode my bike everywhere or I walked. During racing season I had a lemonade stand on the corner of Lincoln and Nelson Street. My cash register was an empty cigar box from one of the men who rented a room in my grandmother's house on White Street. The intoxicating aroma of a cigar always makes me think of my childhood summers in Saratoga.

            As a child, I loved and looked forward to summer vacations. I was outside all the time and when I got sick of playing outside, I would ride my bike to Peerless Pool in the State Park which didn't seem that far, with the exception of the time I foolishly stayed in the sun too long and got second degree burns (blisters) on my body, and the bike ride home was rather torturous. The sun is rather unforgiving on Irish skin.

 I grew up on White Street and there were many kids on my block. I was rarely indoors even when the weather was freezing, and only came home, like most kids of my generation when we were made to. My childhood playmates and I would be no less than irate when called in for dinner as this would interrupt our baseball game. Whoever got called in for dinner would promise to only eat enough food to make parents happy and then we would dash back outside to resume the game. Any kid who was forced to sit through an entire meal and was subjected to adult conversation and was considered tardy by our standards was looked down upon and was subjected to verbal abuse and/or alienation when they finally did return.                                        

On the days it was too hot and we didn't feel like going to the pool we would wait patiently, well maybe not always patiently, but we would wait for the distinctive and unmistaken able sound of Grasso's Ice Truck to come by. The truck was a former milk truck that seemed to hum as it rolled down the street, it had three decorative triangles painted on the back, green, white and red (colors of the Italian flag) Old man Grasso was an Italian immigrant who seemed like an unlikely candidate for an ice cream man. He was not all that conversational and he never was without his cigar and the ashes of the cigar would inevitably end up in someone's Italian Ice.

As a kid, I hated the sight of ash in my ice but what I wouldn't do for one now. Mr. Grasso offered only three flavors of Italian ice, cherry, orange and lemon. Cherry and orange were the most popular and sometimes he ran out and I would have to settle for lemon. I even remember the price of his ices which never seemed to change, which says a lot about the philosophy of old Italian men, the world around them may change considerably but they never do. Thank god for Old Italian men. 10 cents for a small, 25 cents for a medium( the one I usually got) and 50 cents for a large (considered expensive in the 1970's).

The neighborhood kids and I would often sneak into the Saratoga Race Course during its off season (most of the year), and play hide and seeks for hours on end. In my mind, the Racetrack is a perfect place for hide and seek, the only thing that could top that now would be if NYRA suddenly got smart and was actually interested in turning a profit and opened it up as a haunted house for Halloween. (I'm game) I wax nostalgia as I recall running through the Club House finding hidden rooms and passageways that the public never gets to see. As a teenager I would often sneak in there by myself to be alone with my thoughts. It's too bad that the tourists never see the Race Course at its most beautiful, in the autumn in all its stunning and majestic glory.

                                            ###

Canvassing In the Crest

By Nancy Muldoon

           I spent a few hours with Ken Ivin's walking around Geyser Crest today as he was handing out campaign literature and collecting signatures for the petition to stop the discrimination against Saratoga regarding Video Lottery Terminal Money.

            Anyone who knows Ken knows that he has a great speaking voice and I kid him that perhaps he should be in radio, and he tells me that one of his past jobs was doing commercials but the pay wasn't so great.

            Thus far, Commissioner Ivin's has collected over 2100 signatures and he had no trouble collecting signatures in Geyser Crest. The majority of residents who answered their door and spoke to Mr. Ivin's signed the petition and were very vocal about Governor Paterson's decision to forsake Saratoga residents out of money.

            A resident who signed the petition complained to Ivin's about the Governor having no problem giving the VLT money to the city (NYC) but didn't want to give it to the people of Saratoga. He then yells for his wife to come to the door by saying, "He's [Ivin's] got a petition for the Governor to give us our damn money back!" Of course she happily signs the petition.

One resident came bounding to the doorway after his wife had already signed the petition and exclaimed, "I need to sign!"  Some residents were unaware that the Governor had taken VLT money away from Saratoga but most already knew the details and said that had kept themselves informed on this issue and were eager to sign the petition. "Oh, I'll sign that, and "You bet I'll sign that." were the most popular responses that we heard.

Another resident who signed the petition was rightfully concerned about her and her husbands standard of living, she told Ken that she and her husband have already taken a twenty five percent pay cut at their perspective jobs and since she doesn't even drink alcohol or smoke and has since stopped buying cups of coffee she doesn't know what else she can cut back on if property taxes are increased.

Only four individuals chose not to sign the petition, one for medical reasons, one for religious reasons, and two said that didn't know enough about the issue.

            On another note, I never realized that Geyser Crest had so many dogs but since Ivin's has pounded the pavement in the Crest before, he was way ahead of me. He brought along special dog treats for dog owners 'from his own dog named Baili- also known as The First Dog of Finance. Baili's motto is that there should be "a biscuit in every bowl." Baili also has her own website www.ivinsforfinance.com/baili-dog-speaks.asp The biscuits were made by Sloppy Kisses here in Saratoga, I tease Ken by saying if this finance thing doesn't go well, he could always go into advertising.

            Geyser Crest is very important to any one who wishes to obtain public office. It is comprised of three voting districts so one would be politically foolish not to 'heel toe it' in the Crest. Ken and I both agree that in order to win in this town, a politician must court the "elderly vote" as they are the only group of voters that consistently and religiously get to the polls on election night.

                                                            ###

The Batcheller Mansion Inn-

By Nancy Muldoon

            Initially I was going to write a "Top 5 Bed &Breakfasts in Saratoga" story. However, after visiting the Batcheller Mansion this past week I didn't think that it was fair to lump other B&B's in with what I consider to be the most unique piece of architecture in all of Saratoga.

Since the Batcheller Mansion is in a category all by itself I will stand by my decision to write about various other B&B's in Saratoga at another time in the very near future. I am grateful that the local innkeepers in Saratoga graciously accommodated time out of their busy schedule's to show me around.

            The number One Bed and Breakfast in Saratoga Springs is without question the Batcheller Mansion Inn located at 20 Circular Street right in the heart of Saratoga.  This place is second to none in terms of architecture, history, decadence, comfort, amenities and just about everything else.

            The very friendly and ever accommodating innkeeper is Dan DelGaudio who is known for his famous stuffed French toast and all of the breakfasts at the Batcheller Mansion Inn are made to order. (no chafing dishes at this place)

            All of the rooms (there are nine) are well appointed. The best rooms in the house are the Diamond Jim Brady room, the Katrina Trask room and the Batcheller Room. The Diamond Jim Brady room with its regal pool table and a more amazing bathroom which includes a king size Jacuzzi is a favorite amongst men so if you are looking for a great birthday or Father's day gift, reserve this room!

The beautiful Katrina Trask room is gorgeous with its king size canopy bed which is very popular with brides; it's also the only room in the house that boasts its own private balcony and old fashioned bear claw tub.  (local husbands take note: rent this room for your better half and your wife is bound to put up with almost anything you do or say from now until eternity.)

The Batcheller Room named after George Batcheller himself is bright roomy and over looks Congress Park will make you feel like royalty every time you stay.

The Batcheller Mansion Inn now offers private spa treatments like facials and massages which start at $100.00. These services are available with a 48 hour notice.

You can also rent the entire Mansion for you and your family and friends. Call for rates.

During the slower months of the year, (January and February) Innkeeper Dan DelGaudio offers any room for the astounding steal of $129.00 per night! Check their website for such an offer. www.batchellermansioninn.com or call 584-7012.