tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3916367746067142134.post5434964076229370432..comments2023-06-11T09:52:31.370-04:00Comments on Saratogian Newsroom: Comprehensive conversationsThe Saratogian City Deskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12483093324074629001noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3916367746067142134.post-45617459988624220892013-02-27T11:29:21.236-05:002013-02-27T11:29:21.236-05:00I agree with the commenter from February 26, 2013 ...I agree with the commenter from February 26, 2013 at 3:48 AM. Where are the names of the people that the 3 upset council members want to appoint? I'm sure if they were submitted, Mayor Johnson would consider them. Each council member interprets their level of power given to them by the city charter. This isn't about the fairness issue. This is about researching solutions and putting the product out for public input. After that, they can vote it up or down and make hay out of it at election time. Time to get back to business and stop the posturing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3916367746067142134.post-79104057851818336592013-02-26T03:48:20.974-05:002013-02-26T03:48:20.974-05:00The Mayor has not formed a Charter Committee. Bias...The Mayor has not formed a Charter Committee. Bias and misrepresntation fill this page. As far as the Comprehensive Plan the Charter and State law state specifically the Council has no right to appoint. They would review the finished product and have input at that time. If the dollars needed for the consultant is held up they do the city a disservice and should be charged with comptempt of the City Charter. This foolishness needs to stop. The Democratic Party calls for bi-partisonship but quickly undermined the Mayor since they have been in office. The GAPS Committee to study South Broadway is the charge of the Planning Dept. under the Mayor's perview. Without notifyig the Mayor they decided to make this effort and notify after the fact. As a professional he supported it but it was dead wrong. Resuly - A mental health center being considered at the entry of the city which in my opinion will kill any growth being considered in the area. #2 - In the response to the State of the City the Mayor was chastised for voting no on a 0% budget. I would have as well. After being constantly hounded about union contracts he was not given the funds to negotaite those contracts in the professional fees line. Talk about hypocrisy. And now the second most important document the city can produce is being held up for no valid reason other than ego, partisonship and a Council acting like little children in the playroom. I guess it should be expected. We have a Democratic President who doesn't respect the Constitution and will kill the economy with his policies and lack of skills other than speaking on the road at every turn. We have a Governor who is blowing smoke and mirrors at every turn and might possibly destrpy thoroughbred racing with hsi casin plan which hopefully the people turn down at the voting polls. Look at New jersey and Pa. and see what Casinos are working out for them. Bankruptcies all over the place including the State capital of Harrisburg and possibly Scranton which borders the nearby casino is Wilkes Barre. There are only so many dollars out there The governor speaks of people flooding to Conn. and losing dollars in this state. How about the people who come to saratoga Springs every summer for our meet. Is that not the same in reverse. There is one difference. The Saratoga meet is successful and both casinos in Conn. are hurting. I'm becoming tired of tax and spend Democrats who continually misrepresnt the facts to the people and will conintue to do so until the people run them out of office.Lucian - you can fact check every one of these comments.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3916367746067142134.post-44474876855161535422013-02-25T10:27:04.373-05:002013-02-25T10:27:04.373-05:00Anonymous 12:57
I spoke to the mayor at the end o...Anonymous 12:57<br /><br />I spoke to the mayor at the end of last week and he said the committee has not been formed yet and has "taken a back seat" to the Comp Plan Committee. <br /><br />You're right in saying he originally said it would be formed around the time of the election, and then later that it would be formed by the end of last year. As I wrote in Sunday's story about the Comp Plan and Charter Change committees, it still hasn't been formed, according to the Mayor. <br /><br />I heard a month or so ago the same rumor: that the committee had already been constituted and was meeting behind-closed-doors (at the Deputy Mayor's house) because it hadn't been technically named. I put the question to the mayor and deputy mayor and they both said it was false. <br /><br />Since I don't know who will potentially be on the committee, I can't ask them myself, but there you have it. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02447642181495092008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3916367746067142134.post-24088845217137216612013-02-24T12:57:02.031-05:002013-02-24T12:57:02.031-05:00Lucian, in an article you wrote on 9/15/2012 it is...Lucian, in an article you wrote on 9/15/2012 it is stated “Mayor Scott Johnson announced last week that he is forming a commission to explore charter change in the city, but it will have no impact on the Saratoga Citizen charter change proposal that will be put to voters in November.”<br /><br />Since September and another statement made by the Mayor regarding his Commission, it has been over 6 months and he still hasn’t named a committee PUBLICLY. I read on a blog today that once he publicly names a committee that he can have no further input (that is supposed to be the law) and all meetings have to be open to the public. However on that same blog, it was mentioned months ago that the Mayor did indeed choose a Commission and they have been meeting with the Mayor’s input, until which time that his amendments to the Charter are agreed upon by the Commission, at which time he will publicly name them.<br /><br />A true king, 5 years in the making.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3916367746067142134.post-48734397960368517292013-02-22T00:31:37.952-05:002013-02-22T00:31:37.952-05:00 I think that the Mayor has just added another fol... I think that the Mayor has just added another folly to his repertoire. The whole Council should have had at least 1 member that they could have appointed without Johnson’s approval. After all, the Council members are considered elected leaders of the City just as the Mayor is. The reasons this has become such an issue is #1 the fact the Council was left out of the process and #2 their appointment had to be on the Mayor’s list and #3 this is another case of Mayor Johnson inserting his Strong Mayor attitude where it doesn’t belong and quite frankly enough people are tired of it.<br />.<br />By State law the Mayor has the right to appoint all board positions to the Zoning and Planning Boards, every other Board should be equally set by the 5 Commissioners.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3916367746067142134.post-4432537243588075112013-02-20T14:50:53.290-05:002013-02-20T14:50:53.290-05:00Thanks, Anonymous 2:25 p.m., I appreciate the supp...Thanks, Anonymous 2:25 p.m., I appreciate the support. <br /><br />I thought the committee the previous commenter was referring to was comparing apples to oranges, personally, since as you point out Mayor Ken Klotz allowed all the commissioners an appointment to the Comp Plan Committee he appointed in 2000 (as reported in this blog post, http://saratogacitydesk.blogspot.com/2013/02/mayoral-differences.html?showComment=1360928336703#c7280039279751838489, which you also kindly pointed out). But he/she isn’t the first commenter to take shots at me or the newspaper and won’t be the last (and the ones you see are just the ones that I publish!). Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02447642181495092008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3916367746067142134.post-24339501654897640112013-02-20T14:25:24.756-05:002013-02-20T14:25:24.756-05:00I don't think the "Anonymous" who po...I don't think the "Anonymous" who posted at 12:38 p.m. Feb. 20 is being fair to the reporting The Saratogian has done on this issue. The relevant precedent is how prior Comprehensive Plan review committees have been appointed.<br /><br />By clicking on the "Mayoral Differences" previous-post in this same Blog, we see that The Saratogian did research the appointment process used by prior mayors for Comprehensive Plan reviews. According to this reporting, in addition to Mayor Kotz's picks, each Commissioner had one appointment.<br /><br />Another tremendous benefit of the "Mayoral Differences" post is that it actually links to a pdf of the 2006 recommendations--recommendations that Mayor Johnson apparently never brought to a vote. A side-by-side reading of the 2006 (never-adopted) draft and our current Comprehensive Plan (available at the City's official web site) shows how woefully outdated the official CP has become. It was approved July 17, 2001--that's BEFORE the attacks of 9/11. Think of the changes our City has seen since then--not to mention the economy, technology and our awareness of climate change.<br /><br />The City badly needs a modern Comprehensive Plan. It looks like, after failing to follow-through on adoption of the 2006 changes, the mayor is--again--setting another review committee up to fail.<br /><br />It is the majority of City Council that ultimately will need to approve the revisions. It is only reasonable to proceed, from the outset, with their full participation and consent in the makeup of the committee. To do otherwise is unfair to the many fine individuals who already have agreed to serve.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3916367746067142134.post-81425970193259165192013-02-20T12:38:43.662-05:002013-02-20T12:38:43.662-05:00This is an article that was printed previously in ...This is an article that was printed previously in the Saratogian. I have eliminated a couple paragraphs for brevity.<br /><br /><br />November 19, 2002<br /><br />Mayor Ken Klotz Monday announced his appointments to the committee that will recommend what, if any, land purchases the city makes using the newly approved bond referendum.<br />Sally Hart Brown, the co-chair of the Saratoga Springs Open Space Project, was named the chairwoman of the advisory committee. The other members of the committee are: Theresa Capozzola, Jim Gold, Jenny Mirling, Jeff Olson, Margaret Roohan and Janine Stuchin.<br />Finance Commissioner Mike Lenz said he hadn't anticipated the committee to be formed so soon and had hoped that each member of the council would have the opportunity to supply names of individuals for consideration. ''It would be nice for each council member to provide input,'' Lenz said. Accounts Commissioner Stephen Towne, in a memo to Klotz last week, nominated three people to be named to the advisory group. None of them were among the people selected by Klotz. Deputy Mayor Hank Kuczynski said Klotz consulted with the people who had made their interest in the committee known. ''He tried to base his selection to have a broad representation of the community,'' Kuczynski said.<br /><br />My point: So that was OK? Theresa's "eloquent" speech about inclusion is kind of hypocritical don't you think since she was on an open space committee charged with selecting vacant parcels to purchase with open space money which consisted only of Mayoral appointees with no input from other council members. I didn't see her protest when she was the one being appointed with no council say.<br /><br />This is selective outrage. Politics at its worst and the press is helping it along with no questions or research. This took me all of 5 minutes to find out. You have a great website for researching this stuff. Perhaps you should use it.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com