For today's post we'll go to Beijing.

With the Olympics fast-approaching, there has been a flurry of attention paid to the poor environmental conditions, and the poor human rights conditions. Apparently, there are also poor journalistic conditions, in which journalists are trapped behind the very devious Chinese firewall.

Apparently, any site that speaks ill of China (likely now including this blog), will not load on browsers in China. If the Olympics were JUST a sporting event, this wouldn't very much matter. There shouldn't be any impact on reporter's ability to write about the smog-choked road races and weight-lifting contests, but the Olympics are so much more.

the Olympics are a time when the world comes together to celebrate sport, a concept that I think is awesomely powerful. I've always objected to the politicization of the games, but at the same time, it's hard to overlook the fact that China spend untold billions on hosting the games, while it's country is in such poor environmental shape. And that is a story that needs to be told.

In fact, you have to wonder, couldn't the energy used to police the internet be better spent working to solve some of China's social ills? Just a thought.

I'll be back with another post tomorrow, so you have that to look forward to.

With the two factions of the city Democratic committee still fighting each other tooth-and-nail for control of that body, it seems that nearly every seat in the committee will be contested in a September primary, with both sides of the party fielding candidates. It was suggested to me that some readers might like to know who is on which side. I think this might be interesting, to aid Democratic voters in deciding which side of the fence they'd like to be on.

Here's the question: Are you interested in this? Let me know and we'll figure it out.

A few hours ago, Thomas Demopolis of the Post Star and I were the only two members of the press to attend a press conference called by 112th Assembly District candidate Tony Jordan.

It's unclear if others meant to attend, and simply got lost on the way. See, the directions given to the press told us to take the Northway to exit 11, and then drive EAST toward Ruhle Road. Well, Ruhle Road is WEST of the Northway. Of course, I'm not from Malta, so I didn't know that, and I was more than a little pissed when I found myself in Round Lake, nowhere near the press conference.

A call to Jordan's press representative got me on the right track, but the question has got to be, what can we expect from a candidate who can't even give accurate direction to a press conference?

Well, I know the old rule of thumb of journalism is: "If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out," but one thing that I generally take as fact is directions to a run-of-the-mill press conference like today's event. Next time, I'll check it out.

Perhaps the funniest moment of the event came when Thomas arrived, and noted that he had also got lost, after judging east based on the position of the sun in the sky. "Well, it can be hard when the sun is overhead," said Jordan's PR guy. Give me a break. Everyone knows which way east is.

The press conference was very much like any other press conference. You can read about Jordan's ideas for saving the state in tomorrow's paper.

It seems that after four days away, very little has changed. Some people are parading around in silly hats. Horatio Alger still doesn't like Barbara Lombardo (or, apparently, her family). And lightning struck two more people, this time at a ballet performance of SPAC. And since when does lightning "splash?"

Some things did change. First of all, I've got new neighbors, who moved in some time at the end of last week. It seems that the two men (father and son) now living in the second apartment of my building, after being evicted from their North Broadway mansion for the track season.

Also, my lawn was soaked following the weekend's rain. And, there's some new bling hanging above my dresser, in the form of the two medals I picked up at the Empire State Games while on my "vacation." I think I'm going to need another vacation to recover from the four days of racing.

In any event, it seems that everything is pretty quiet in the city. However, not as quiet as things are at the track, which is apparently resembling a ghost town more than anything else. You can read more about that in tomorrow's paper. Well that's all for now. Hopefully I'll be back in the fold tomorrow, and will hit you up with scintillating stories from the trenches. Until then, I hope everyone is well.

I have now seen the notice of claim filed against the city by Wayne Liss. The former city employee, who filed the notice on July 14, (not July 15, as previously reported) alleges that he was left shackled in the police station's booking room for eight hours following a DWI arrest. He states that while locked up, his arms were alternately suspended over his head, resulting circulation problems (non-permanent).

It is an accepted practice at the police station to lock prisoners up in the booking area, while the cells are being refurbished (they are not currently up to code). In the booking room, handcuffs are used to secure them to metal hooks installed in the wall. To date, this is the first suit that calls this type of incarceration "cruel and inhuman torture." Yes, that is a direct quote from the notice of claim.

The only other alternative is to place prisoners in unlocked jail cells, and then have an officers posted in the cell block -- one officer for each prisoner. This has the potential to create costly overtime.

Now, an interesting subtext to this potential lawsuit, is that while I obtained the notice of claim by filing a FOIL request for it on Monday, I have heard from inside spies (not Ron Kim), that the Public Safety Department, which is wholly involved in this claim (although not named as a defendant) has still not seen the notice, received by the city more than a week ago. This, despite Mayor Johnson's assertion to me on Tuesday that he believed it had been transmitted to that department. I know that politics rule City Hall, but it seems to me that day-to-day operations should still go forward.

Another interesting point on the notice of claim is that Wayne Lis lists no attorney in the suit, and will represent himself. He is seeking payment, but does not say how much he'll take to go away.

In other news, I'm not official on vacation. I'll have four consecutive days off, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. If I don't return on Monday send out a search party. Since I can't afford to go to somewhere interesting like St. Thomas, where my bar tender brother is going in a week, I'm doing the next best thing: going to Binghamton, NY.

I'll be participating in the Empire State Games, as one of 13 cyclists representing the Adirondack region in the intra-state competition. With a little luck, I'll have some medals to show off upon my return. You can follow my progress at the games at my other internet home, Good Bye Blue Mondays. I'll be updating the blog as much as I have internet access. Have a great weekend.

There are still nearly two months before the primary election in September, which will see voters voting on their next political party representatives. I'm beginning to feel that these local elections might have more politicking going on than the national race for the White House.

Or maybe it just manifests in different ways. Regardless, it seems that several individuals running for seats n various political committees have filed protests in the race for seats on the state democratic committee. Including two people running to represent Saratoga on the committee. Shawn Thompson and Patrick Southworth are the two candidates, and I learned today that Southworth has filed protest against Thompson, alleging that Thompson did not properly enumerate the geographic area of the district.

In fact, the petition shows (county reporter Ann Marie French checked on this for me when she was in Ballston Spa today), that a cover a letter submitted with the petition does enumerate Saratoga County as the geographic area, in keeping with state election law. Democratic Commissioner of Election Bill Frucci confirmed this for us. He, along with the election commission, will rule on all protests, and if a complainant is not satisfied with a ruling, there is, of course, an appeals process. The question then becomes: how much do you want to spend on that party seat?

Whether or not the signatures contained in the petition were collected properly and within the correct area is another question altogether, and one that would require a much deeper examination to determine. Someone with more time on their hands might want to take a look at this...

Anyone out there who still reads the print edition of The Saratogian (a task becoming increasingly difficult due to continuing problems with home delivery), has surely noticed by now an item on page 3 called "Who What When Where Why," or, more simply "5 Ws."

Well, I haven't been the biggest fan of these since they were rolled out back in April or May, but I have to admit, it is quite the popular feature. Numerous people have approached me to tell me they read the 5 Ws with great interest each day.

So here's your opportunity for fame and fortune (OK, maybe not fame or fortune, but at least some local notoriety). I would love to feature any one who reads this, or anyone else for that matter.

If you're the kind of person who would love to see their smiling mug in the paper -- or is you know someone who might. Please give me a call at 583-8729 x219, email me at abernstein@saratogian.com, or post on the blog.

Feel free to use a 5W to plug your upcoming garage sale, your child's first birthday, or show off your brand new lawn mower. Whatever. Seriously, I'd love nothing more than to put you in the paper.

It could be an austere weekend.

This goes out to any City Hall employees who check this blog more regularly that their email. It has been reported to me that an e-mail circulated among City Hall this afternoon states that because of a problem with the city's direct-deposit mechanism, some employees who use direct deposit may not get their pay check until Saturday or Sunday.

That's all I know. A call placed to the finance department has not been returned. Although, in fairness, I didn't give them much time to call me back. In any event, the email said the city has alerted various financial institutions to the problem, and was working to resolve it. If you're bank account's balance looks a little low this weekend, now you know why. As far as I know, this only effected employees using direct deposit.

I'm sure this glitch will be resolved forthwith. If not, a faulty pay roll system might be the least of the city's problems...

In other news, it's the weekend, have a good one, and drink plenty of water.

Remember in middle school when someone wanted to get the students' attention in assembly, invariably for a mundane announcement, and to do so, they would shout out something obscene?

Well, it's already been reported that the scofflaw who crashed the Saratoga High School's graduation dressed as -- yup -- a giant penis, was sentenced to community service and public apology for his disorderly conduct violation, but I thought I would elaborate on The Saratogian's role in the case.

Judge Doern's decision in the case specifies that the man-turned-phallus will complete 24 hours of community service, and write a letter of apology to the principal, the students, and the community, to be submitted as a letter to The Saratogian. Of course, we would love to publish such a letter (or so says our editor), if for no reason other than to see exactly how this gentleman goes about apologizing for what was really just supposed to be a joke.

In other news, it turns out that Calvin Morrett represented himself in court proceedings. That's one smart dick!

In other news, I hope that everyone has had a chance to check out our new-and-improved website. Page load time is noticeably faster, we now have web polls, the ability to embed videos into stories, and other cool stuff. The most important feature, obviously, is that it doesn't take 30 minutes to load each page. I've been enjoying this feature, I hope you do too!

I will be back to post tomorrow, but I will be off on Sunday, once again.

There's a whole lot going on in city government at the moment, from the ongoing debate over the proposed capital projects to the hiring of attorneys to handle labor negotiations. Plus, we have about 54 hours until Senator Joe Bruno becomes just plain Joe Bruno, and then who knows what will happen.

In spite of all of that, I'm going to use my time tonight to write about something happening here at The Saratogian. If you've visited www.saratogian.com recently, you might have noticed that the site's layout is slightly different, and that the time it takes for pages to load is much faster.

That's good stuff. The new (old) web platform will allow some functionality that really should be a part of any website in the wonderful world of web 2.0, have now returned, including the ability to comment on stories, web polls, the ability to embed video in stories, etcetera. It's all pretty exciting, and hopefully, it will answer some of the complaints you all have been voicing since the new site went live back in December.

You can read more about the change over at Tangled in Wires, Web Editor Stephen Shoemaker's blog. Another bit of good news is the return of our archives from the past seven years. The past six months will be missing for a bit, but will return in due time, once they've been migrated over to the new server. Big changes for us here, I hope you enjoy the new site!

There was tension-aplenty at tonight's Council meeting. Thanks to Jeff Olsen, who is staunchly opposed to any development of the South Side Recreation Field, there were also some laughs. At least, I hope the letter he distributed tonight was intended to be somewhat satirical. He asked the council to vote on the following resolution:

"We, the 2008 City Council of Saratoga Springs, are sorry for the following losses we ahve caused by our actions:

1. We are sorry that we did not allow children to play baseball at South Side Park
2. We are sorry that we did not allow children to play football at South Side Park
3. We are sorry that we did not allow children to play lacrosse at South Side Park
4. We are sorry that we did not allow children to play tennis at South Side Park
5. We are sorry that we did not allow children to play volleyball at South Side Park
6. We are sorry that we did not allow children to play frisbee at South Side Park
7. We are sorry that we did not allow children to play soccer at South Side Park
8. We are sorry that we did not allow children to play outdoor basketball at South Side Park
9. We are sorry that we did not allow children to play in the snow, fly a kite, picnic with their families, sit in the shade, look at the stars, plant a community garden, or do much of anything else outdoors at South Side park. Those tiny kindergarten-sized fields we left behind really weren't big enough, and the rest of the Park got paved over by the building and the parking lot. We know that we said that there would be more than 50% green space, but it really didn't work out that way.
10. We are very sorry that we did not work together as a community to make a better Park at the former South Side Recreation field.

This resolution states that we did not listen to the people who told us in July, 2008 that playing outdoors in our City's parks was very important for the future of our City. People told us that was why the City had acquired this Park in the first place -- the deed to the property even said so. We're sorry that none of the kids in that part of town have a playing field that they can walk or ride their bikes to. We just didn't realize that the City would never be able to replace the only Park we had south of Union Avenue. There were other alternatives, but we didn't try hard enough to figure them out. We really believed that it was a great idea to trade free, year-round outdoor recreation that anybody could use whenever they wanted to for an indoor recreation building and a parking lot. We thought that this was the right thing to do at the time. We're sorry we didn't listen.

Adopted by Resolution of the City Council

Don't Pave South Side Park. Save South Side Park."

Needless to say, there was no vote on the resolution.

One item that is no laughing matter is the closing the Friendship Connection Social Club, on which I reported last week. Many people turned out to decry the closing of the agency that serves mentally ill adults, including those use its services, and those who work as advocates for that population. The center will close due to state budget cuts, and members of the public asked the council to find a way to keep the vital service operating. More on this to come.

City Attorney Joe Scala has repeatedly said that the South Side Recreation Center's deed does not represent an obstacle to the proposed indoor rec center there.

Not being a lawyer, and not possessing the money to hire one, I was without any opinion to the contrary, save that of Ron Kim, who is a lawyer, but I think we can all agree, slightly biased against the project for various reasons. Of course, Scala (and, for that matter, attorney/Mayor Scott Johnson) may also be biased.

What we needed was an independent opinion. As I said, I couldn't afford to hire one, but fortunately for me (and you), local government watchdog Kyle York has, seemingly, a huge budget for legal fees. He, through a friend who specializes in real estate law, furnished me with the opinion below. The bottom line, as I read it, is that the city could very well face suit over the proposed facility, but the city would likely be successful in fending off the case, and in fact, a court might not even hear the case.

The only question remaining, should someone decide to sue the city, is how much it would cost the tax payers.

From: Peter L. Rubin

To: Kyle York

Sent: Saturday, July 12, 2008 4:10 PM

parking is allowed as an ancillary & necessary use to accomplish the primary purposes of the deed restriction, to wit, “playground & recreational uses”. without the acceptance of the ancillary & necessary use, the primary uses of the restriction cannot be achieved and the wishes of the grantor would fail.

new york state precedents: too many to mention.

grand high exalted mystic justice of the peace.

ps. send $1.5 million for legal fees.

peter l. rubin

president and ceo

the coral company

13990 cedar road.

university heights, ohio 44118

*9:43 p.m. After receiving a call from my one of my editors expressing some concerns over this post, I have edited it.

This morning I received an anonymous message on my voice mail that said two employees of the city government got into any altercation following a budget workshop on Thursday. The altercation was so heated that the caller stated a third city employee had to leave his office to settle the dispute.

Accounts of the incident differ, and since I wasn't there, I can't say which accounts are accurate, however, I have confirmed that this event did, in fact, take place. Out of my desire to not drag anybody through the mud, I've removed the names of the above party. I will tell you this: both of the two people involved in the altercation are members of the same political party, and appear to have been arguing over a budgetary matter. That being said, it was reported that other government employees were able to maintain their decorum at a time when some could not.

I have received one comment on this blog blasting me for not revealing the names of those involved, but I have not posted it out of my desire to respect the privacy of those involved. I maintain that I can report on this incident without getting into the he-said-she-said which would necessarily accompany the mention of names.

Have a nice weekend, I know I will!

So, it turns out that at least one of the johns in that rape case from May were illegal aliens. Who knew. I will be posting tomorrow, but I will not be posting on Sunday. Have a happy Thursday!

One arrested in rape case, two for forged gov't ID

Joint investigation with ICE also snags 7 for illegal residency

By ANDREW J. BERNSTEIN, The Saratogian

SARATOGA SPRINGS — An individual arrested Thursday morning is charged with a rape related to an ongoing investigation. Two others are charged with possessing forged government IDs. The three arrests follow a joint investigation by members of the city police department and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. Raul Martinez-Aguilar, 21, of 101 Walworth St., was arrested around 7 a.m. Thursday and charged with second-degree patronizing a prostitute, a class-E felony, and second-degree rape, a class-D felony. Martinez-Aguilar is accused of having sex with an underage female in exchange for money. He was arraigned and is being held in Saratoga County Jail in lieu of $10,000 cash or $20,000 bond. Lt. Gregory Veitch, spokesman for the city police, reported in a press release that Martinez-Aguilar’s arrest was the culmination of an investigation involving the minor. The same investigation led to the arrest in May of three area residents who were charged with various rape and profiting from prostitution charges. Kyle A. Wedderspoon, 23, of 391 Middleline Road, Ballston Spa, Michael McCleary, 20, of 506 Sandhill Road, Ballston Spa, and Brett R. McClellan, 20, homeless, are each charged with various felonies related to two incidents in May. Both incidents involved a 14-year old girl. Also arrested Thursday morning were Gelacio C. Reyes, 22, of 96 Walworth Street, and Angel B. Merino, 20, of 101 Walworth Street. Both were charged with second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, a class-D felony. Police reported each was found in possession of a forged government identification card. Both were remanded to Saratoga County Jail in lieu of $2,500 cash or $5,000 bond. Veitch reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers also detained seven other individuals suspected of being in the United State illegally. Those individuals were transported by ICE agents to Albany, and are being held on $5,000 bond, pending immigration hearings. The investigation centered on two homes on Walworth Street. Veitch said that all ten arrestees were believed to be Mexican nationals. He added that some residents in the two houses investigated were found to be legally present in the U.S., and were not arrested. The investigation, which saw city police cooperating with the federal immigration agency, is somewhat unusual, Veitch said. “It’s not very often that these come up. Occasionally ICE will notify us of an investigation, but we work with other federal agencies more frequently,” he said. Reach Andrew J. Bernstein at abernstein@saratogian.com or 518-583-8729 ext. 219.

What can I say? I'm speechless. My bi-monthly trip to the Planning Board, earlier this evening, was the shortest ever. 90 minutes from start to finish. This was eased along by the fact that half of the four items on the agenda were scratched prior to the start, so the board was left with only two applications to discuss, and one letter of credit. Fine with me, I had my hands full with four other stories for tomorrow's paper!

The board has rescheduled what would, ordinarily, be its next meeting, on July 23, as that's opening day for the track. Instead, the board will re-convene on July 30. That's fine with me, as the 23rd is the opening day for the Empire State Games, and I was in the midst of a crisis, trying to figure out how I could be in both the city council room and Binghamton at the same time. Crisis averted, thanks racing season!

In other Planning Board news, the board will meet on August 13. With several large projects delayed, delayed, delayed, the board scheduled the meetings to hopefully avoid a hellish September. September may well will be hellish, but at least the planning board (and I) won't have to endure an undo number of applications! Cheerio.

I wasn't present when the dick disguised as a man wearing a penis costume interrupted Saratoga Springs graduation, but this video almost makes me feel like I was there!

I'm totally blogged out, and truly still recovering from the holiday weekend, so in lieu of a post today, I'll direct you to -- gasp -- the competition. The Times Union, apparently inspired by the headline I put on last week's City Council Report, "Kim, Johnson at odds," delved a little deeper into the deepening divide between the two city leaders. Johnson was reportedly unhappy with our headline, but what can you do?

In other news, as you doubtless noticed from today's paper, election season is on us. 8 million positions with 16 million candidates. I've been tapped to be The Saratogian's go-to guy for all matters elections, so if anyone knows of a little-known candidate with a less than efficient PR machine, steer them my way.

I'll be working on the race for the City Court Judgship, the race to replace Joe Bruno, various races for seats on various political committees, and the congressional race between incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand and Sandy Treadwell. Throw the national election on top of that, and I should have more than enough to keep me busy.

I'll be back in full force tomorrow.

If you're anything like me, and I suspect that most readers are, you're now at the beginning of a nice, long weekend. Hopefully everyone will have a chance to enjoy the many celebrations planned by the city, perhaps knock back with a frosty adult beverage and a hot dog or two.

Don't forget, firework tomorrow at dusk in Congress Park. I hope to see you there.

Thanks to this wonderful holiday, I will be off on Sunday, so don't look for a blog until Monday evening. Have a great weekend!

I spent about an hour this afternoon at a rally designed to launch Roy McDonald's run for state senate. The event was well attended, both by press and citizens, despite the hot sun. To top things off, free Ben and Jerry's ice cream kept the crowd cool (but not me -- does it look like I eat ice cream?)

I have to say that after a week of trying to keep up with which Democrats were running, which weren't, who had announced, and who was thinking about it, and who was rumored to be collecting signatures, attending McDonald's event was a relief.

With me at the rally was a veritable who's-who of city, county, and other notable Republicans. Even if Joe Bruno wasn't there, the message couldn't have been clearer: Mr. Seney notwithstanding, McDonald is our guy. Plain. Simple. Done.

We'll see if the all-for-one approach of the GOP will stand strong against the multi-faceted approach of the Democrats, but I know that I would appreciate it if the Dems could organize a little better!

I've recently received a comment from attorney John Aretakis, in which he responds to my post about my relationship with this source, and the way we went our separate ways. I wasn't sure if he would ever find my blog, though it seems that he has. I've duly posted the comment, and you can read it here.

Yesterday's post, about various wrangling between Mayor Johnson and Commissioner Kim over each one's pet project, has garnered more than the usual number of comments, so rather than writing more today, I'll direct anyone who hasn't already read that post to go check it out, and leave your thoughts.

Between that and Aretakis's likening me to a spurned lover, you should have plenty to keep you occupied between segments of the Tonight Show.