Column like I see ’em – Saratoga Report Publisher comments on goings on in the Spa City and Beyond

Column like I see ’em – Saratoga Report Publisher Dan De Federicis comments on goings on in the Spa City and Beyond

OK, it’s been two months since I’ve done one of these, so top off the coffee and strap yourselves in – I’ve got a lot to write about.

So is Antonio Brown buying the Riggi Mansion on North Broadway or not? The Realtor.com web site lists it as “for sale” as opposed to “pending”. You say you don’t care, but trust me if he comes here – you will care. Oooh, this just in (and I’m not kidding), Antonio Brown, Orlando Predators owner trade crass insults. How’s that for delicious timing?
What’s up with the Sperry’s location? Gerard Wise of Roohan Realty, who is the co-broker on the property, told me “Sperry’s is actively on the market, we have several interested parties we are working with that are giving it serious consideration.” That’s encouraging, but it’s a shame it likely won’t be open for track season. Perhaps some special events. I hope someone buys it – it’s a great property!
The Belmont Stakes is Saturday. I am worried for horse racing. The times have changed, society has changed, and each death at Churchill Downs and elsewhere is widely publicized. As I write this, PETA is advocating for a postponement of Saturday’s races due to poor air quality caused by the Canadian wildfires. I love the sport, but the deaths, cheating, drugging etc. is beyond absurd and while there have been some steps in the right direction, the establishment of HISA being at the top of my list, some of the “reforms” feel like rearranging the deck chairs. All of these negatives make a fan and small-time owner like me question whether I want to continue in it. I’m a Saratogian in more ways than one, and at this point I will continue to support the industry, but recognize all of the stakeholders need to hold the players accountable for all of what goes wrong – intentional or not.
On a more upbeat horse racing note, Saratoga homeowner and resident Javier Castellano won his first Kentucky Derby a month ago aboard the horse Mage. Mage will not be in this race but Castellano will be riding Arcanagelo, who is an 8-1 morning line entry that many sharp handicappers think has a good chance to win. Like the situation before the Kentucky Derby, a win Saturday would be Castellano’s first ever in the Belmont. Let’s go Javier and Arcangelo! And for those of you that made a mental note that Castellano resides here only a small part of the year, I give you an official Saratoga Report Boo! I am still claiming him as a Saratogian.
Did you know many artists including John Fogerty, Sarah Silverman, Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Rick Springfield, Gladys Knight and Kool & The Gang are coming to Saratoga this summer? Well, I played a bit of a rotten trick here because they are indeed coming to Saratoga….California. That city is located in the Silicon Valley and is home to The Mountain Winery, which hasn’t made wine in forever but has a 2,500 seat outdoor concert venue that looks like an incredible place. My point here is that Live Nation is fine for filling up SPAC, but it would be great if Saratoga Springs also had a smaller outdoor concert venue with a different promoter for performers like those mentioned above (and many more – read the list here) who aren’t popular enough to fill SPAC and aren’t associated with Live Nation. Are you reading this NYRA? Yea yea you don’t want to pick a fight with SPAC, but still….how about some Rick Springfield at the track? Sing it everybody: “I wish that I had Jessie’s girl….Where can I find a woman like that?”

The Mountain Winery, in Saratoga, CA, sure looks like a beatiful venue

Some would argue that an outdoor concert venue of that size would be good for the region, but Saratoga already has plenty of riches, so it should be sited elsewhere in the Capital District. No! I want it all for Saratoga! All, all, all (except the State Capitol – that can stay in Albany – and Crossgates Mall). OK, being the reasonable person I am, I’ll allow this new venue to be built in Malta.
That empty storefront next to PDT, that used to be Greenhouse (salad) restaurant, would seem to be a good spot for a liquor store. The good folks over at First Fill Spirits – are you reading this? Is your lease on your not-so-prominent location on Washington Street coming due?
Speaking of PDT Market, if you haven’t been in there yet – why not? Check it out! I think it’s really terrific and it just puts me in a good mood being in there.
Have you been to North Broadway lately up near Skidmore? Geez it received a facelift – or a series of facelifts – and looks great. Heck there’s even a little cul-de-sac-type circle at the end.
Staying with North Broadway – OK all of you municipal-boundary nerds (you know who you are). Did you know the land to the east side of North Broadway – north of Fourth St. across from Skidmore – is not in the Spa City but is actually the town of Greenfield? That’s why you read ‘Column as I see ’em’, to get the vital information you need to keep living.

The shaded area with the red border is the SE corner of the Town 
of Greenfield.

I read some negative comments on social media (namely the What’s Going On Saratoga Facebook Page) about the plans to put a Chipotle restaurant on the parcel of land that was once the Gaslight Lounge/Starting Gate Bar & Grill on Ballston Ave. in front of The Strike Zone (First reported in Saratoga Report way back in October). I get the general concern about chain restaurants in our city, but that aforementioned (forlorn) building is a bit of an eyesore and has been vacant since 2015(!). It’s not doing much for the tax base and it’s not creating any jobs – for almost a decade. In this one instance raze that old (but not old enough to be historically significant) building and let the owner make some money off of his land. Yes, yes, of course I want sour cream on that. You think I got this rotund by refusing sour cream?

Rendering of the proposed Chipotle on Ballston Avenue

Continuing on chain restaurants, I’m OK with the Chipotle on Ballston Ave, but it wouldn’t break my heart if someone bought the Wendy’s location on Congress Avenue and used the land for something other than a third-rate hamburger chain. Oh Dave Thomas, how we miss you so – but I digress. Wendy’s is on a huge lot in a prominent downtown location. I would even prefer to see….(dare I write it?)…..condos at that location (pause for booing). Are you reading this Sonny?
Sometime this spring Lauren Halligan, who was previously a staff writer for The Saratogian, started working at the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce as Director of Communications. Good for the chamber and good for her.
And the Saratogian recently hired a new reporter, presumably as a (belated) replacement for Ms. Halligan. Her name is Emma Ralls and she just graduated from college last month. So she doesn’t bring a ton of experience (unless you count her time at High Point University’s “Campus Chronicle” newspaper), and she’ll be splitting her time covering both Saratoga and Troy, but her early efforts look encouraging.
I’ve called the Mayor’s Office probably four times in 2023, and none of those times was I able to reach an actual person. Geez if I lived in the village of Galway I would get it but…shouldn’t the Mayor’s Office in a city this size have the phones answered?
That repaving of Union Avenue east of the Northway sure came out nice. I love the smooth pavement and the clear striping
Maybe a newly paved Union Avenue is the reason homes near that stretch are so expensive. Are there any new-build homes east of the Northway in the city going for less than a million dollars? No? OK, thanks.
Staying on that stretch of ummm, Route 9P, the plans for the Brookmere Resort (at the former Longfellows location) look pretty exciting, don’t they? There are some things I will miss about Longfellows but let’s face it – just like Steven Tyler of Aerosmith – it was a great run but dude it’s time to go.

Rendering of the proposed Brookmere Resort

Since at least Memorial Day I’ve been experiencing agonizing traffic backups on various streets here. If you travel in the central part of the city during the day then you no doubt experience them too
Tuesday’s rain was welcome precipitation for sure (the hail not so much), but considering how dry it’s been it felt like a scant amount. We’ve received some more rain since then but it’s hard to tell how much of an impact it is having. With the recent weeks’ dryness, seemingly everybody watering their lawns, and the throngs of tourists about to descend on the Spa City, I hope Loughberry Lake can keep up. I’ll take water restrictions for a thousand Alex.
How are these home locations for being right on top of the action? The Wright Street location of this house under construction (pictured below), by my precise measurements, is about 14 inches off the Clubhouse Turn. The second location (2nd picture below), using that same ruler, is about half a meter from the mens room at The Horseshoe Inn. Have you ever been to the Horseshoe after the track on a Saturday? It’s loud and they don’t end early. I hope these townhomes will be soundproof. Sing it with me: Yea yea, you shook me all night long.

Above: Home under construction on Wright Street near the Marylou Whitney aka
Clubhouse entrance to Saratoga Race Course.  Photo credit: some 
attorney who runs a lot on the east side.

Below: Location for proposed townhomes on Bowman St. Near the 
Horseshoe Inn.

Sticking with the general topic of atmospheric conditions, some of the local schools eliminated outdoor recess time this week because of the smoke from the Canadian wildfires that seems to have no respect for international borders. I was searching for witticisms to liken the resulting haze to things going on at city council meetings, but just like Yukon Cornelius’ search for silver and gold, I came up with nothin’.
What I did come up with from the city council was the state of being annoyed, specifically by Commissioner Dillon Moran. I’ll try to be brief here but I’ll fail so bear with me. Near the end of Tuesday night’s (6/6) meeting Commissioner James Montagnino was outlining a change he made to police department policy upon someone being issued a criminal summons for allegedly committing a, using my police vernacular, “fingerprintable” crime (most, but not all, alleged crimes resulting in arrest or the issuance of a criminal summons require the defendant to be fingerprinted). Commissioner Montagnino, in announcing a policy change or perhaps clarification, explained that the issuance of a criminal summons is not a custodial arrest. In the recent case, however, where BLM activist Lex Figuereo was recently issued a summons for an alleged crime, he went to the police department for fingerprinting and was handcuffed before his entry. Commissoner Montagnino, in sum and substance, noted the policies were silent on this issue (handcuffing a defendant in these circumstances) but he correctly asserted a defendant in these circumstances should not be handcuffed and he announced, in a bit of a victory lap, that he intiated a new policy to ensure that someone appearing at the PD to be fingerprinted after receiving a summons for an allegation of a fingerprintable crime would not be handcuffed. This makes perfect sense. Moran, who seems intent on politically assassinating Commissoner Montagnino every chance he gets, interrupted him to “ask a question” but essentially attacked him for the handcuffing and alleged, twice, that Figuereo was “slammed up against the wall”. Woh. As I’ve said numerous times, I’m not a fan of Commissioner Montagnino – who seems to do two dumb things for every smart thing he does, and Figuereo never should have been handcuffed – but that was the point of Montagnino’s change in policy. His change in policy was an acknowledgment that Figuereo’s handcuffing never should have happened. But nothing here justified Moran’s attack on Montagnino – that I contend was for his own political purposes. You can make your own judgement here by watching the video of the meeting starting at the 3 hour 16 minute mark. This is particularly appalling because Moran, an elected city Commissioner, in an effort to attack Montagnino, made an inflammatory and false allegation against police officers – who already have jobs that are increasingingly dangerous and tough enough. UPDATED: SSPD issued a release with video showing that Figuereo was not mistreated during this processing. I intended to call Moran about this but I bumped into him Thursday night. I told him what I was writing and he gave what he claimed was justification for attacking Montagnino, and Moran further acknowledged Figuereo was not slammed against the wall. He said he was using “hyperbole”, and “given the chance” he would correct his statement. I told him there is a big difference between hyperbole and inflammatory falsehoods, and he shouldn’t wait to be “given the chance” and instead should actively seek to correct his false statement. We had some disagreements but I will credit Commissioner Moran for having a cordial and perhaps productive conversation with me. He nonetheless owes Montagnino and the city police department an apology.
While I’m at it, has Mayor Kim apologized to anyone about his incorrect – and again inflammatory – statement that police were wearing “riot gear” while staging in the stairway during the hostile period of the May 2nd council meeting? In all fairness, maybe he has, but I am not privy to it.
And since I criticized two dems here let me point out some problems with the Republicans/Conservatives. This Thursday article in the Daily Gazette reported that the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee filed a report with a Division of the NYS Board of Elections regarding a web site called RonKimTruth.com. The complaint stated the web site failed to provide certain disclosures etc. and accused the far right web site Moving Saratoga Forward of being behind it. So long story short the Moving Saratoga Forward creator, who is officially anonymous but is known to many – and I would say “many” includes the Gazette Reporter who wrote the article – denied any connection or knowledge to the source of RonKimTruth.com. Michael Brandi, the city Republican chair, also had a quote in the article that he did not know who was behind Moving Saratoga Forward. OK, this isn’t going to win me any friends, but fair is fair here. I don’t know these things for a fact, but the needle on my inernal bullshit detector shot to the right as I read this article and digested both Moving Saratoga Forward’s denials about RonKimTruth.com and Mike Brandi’s denial of knowing who is behind Moving Saratoga Forward. I’m not buying any of what they’re selling. I guess I’m naive here but Saratoga-area residents deserve better than the same old ugly politics – and lies – that plague this nation. How can any office holder, party official, or influencer expect to serve the people of this community if they can’t tell the truth? We deserve better.

I hate ending on such a serious and negative tone, but I sort of let the flow of these commentaries go where they take me, and here we are. Thank you to those of you that read all of this, and everybody, even if you left me at Union Ave striping, have a great weekend!