Scirocco angry, confused, threatens to contract out the transfer station.

Tempers boiled over again in City Hall Friday when embattled, incompetent DPW Commissioner Anthony “Skip” Scirocco suggested he would give the Cities lucrative Transfer Station contract to one of his largest campaign contributors, County Waste and Recycling of Clifton Park. County wide is the largest privately owned waste collections and recycling company in the capital region. It has consistently been one of Scirocco largest and most dependable campaign contributors nurturing a long and close relationship that now appears to be paying off big time.

This contract has the potential of paying off County Waste millions in the long term, all money that would have gone into the cities coffers if DPW had been managed efficiently. To add insult to injury the mercenary County Waste who would now maintain a total monopoly on the cities trash removal and would be able to impose any rate hike they wished.

County Waste is no stranger to controversy. The companies Clifton Park transfer station along with its offices were raided amid a whistleblower's allegation that the region's largest trash hauler defrauded the town of Colonie out of at least $15 million by creating phony weight slips for trucks and dumping far more at the landfill than it was paying for. There have also been unsubstantiated rumors that County Waste has connections with New Jersey organized crime,

Investigators from the Department of Environmental Conservation and the state Attorney General's office conducted the raid.

This week the company agreed to pay a nearly $1 million fine to resolve the complaint. The state will also collect $250,000 in penalties,

But in the sweetest part of the deal the whistleblower — a former employee of the company who alerted authorities — will receive $163,651, said a spokesman with the Attorney General

HEAR THAT BOYS

This law allows a private citizen with inside knowledge of fraud to bring a qui tam action on behalf of the government and to receive up to 30% of the proceeds.

So if any off you DPW workers would like to turn in Skip call (914) 517-5000

The city is entering a new and dangerous time in its history. The Saratogian by ignoring this story has shown itself to be as corrupt as Scirocco. It is time for a bipartisan motion by the Council to remove this Commissioner. His willingness to hand over one of the cities most lucrative revenue stream to a possibility mob connected, corrupt waste removal company is unacceptable. While other politicians are running away from County Waste, Scirocco is openly embracing them. At best the man is a fool, at worst he is a corrupt, possibly mob connected thief. Ether way he is no longer capable of running DPW.

NYS Comptrollers Audit Blasts Scirocco

Back in 2008, after theft of approximately $45,000 by a City employee was uncovered in the City’s Department of Public Works (DPW) an audit was called for from the NYS Comptrollers office to clean up the shoddy handing of massive amounts of cash that flows through DPW’s office.

People familiar with the case of the arrest of Joy A. Karam and her subsequent guilty plea to the theft of the money were well aware that this was only the tip of the iceberg in DPW. Under Scirocco’s DPW, petty cash was held as a sort of payday loan scheme in which connected employees could borrow a little bit to “tide them over until payday”. Even more sinister was the out and out theft of garbage bags.


This is no small change. The City annually sells approximately 58,000 trash bags at $3 per bag, generating approximately $174,000 annually. Now the word on the street was that you could buy these trash bags from certain DPW workers for the heavily discounted price of $1 to $2 bucks a bag and many DPW workers simply brought them home to use for their own garbage and remember most of them don’t even live in the city.

Now with the arrest of Joy A. Karam one would assume that Scirocco and “his boys” would have woken up and realized the gig was up. But not Scirocco, not only did the Comptrollers office find the same practices continued they flourished

The report found

“We visited the DPW garage in May 2009 and inventoried trash bags in stock. According to the inventory records maintained at the DPW garage, there were 185 cases of bags in stock (each case contains 200 bags). However, our count of the bags showed that there were actually 202 cases in stock, resulting in a discrepancy of 17 cases,or 3,400 bags. In addition, there were three full cases and a partial case in the office at the transfer station and a partial case at the DPW office. However, there was no record of inventory or calculation of bag sales at these locations as required by the policy.

The failure to maintain an acceptable inventory increases the risk that fraud or misuse of City receipts or inventory could occur and go undetected. The $45,000 theft in 2008 is proof of the risk. It should be noted that the 202 cases of trash bags in stock at the DPW garage represents $121,200 in future revenue for the City.”

The report also found that petty cash to maintain the payday loan scheme was still kept in a desk in DPW.

“Monies collected at the transfer station for the sale of trash bags are sent daily to the DPW office in City Hall. The DPW office is responsible for remitting the collections, along with the supporting documentation and reconciliations, to the Finance Department daily for deposit, in accordance with the City’s recently prescribed policy and procedures. We found that collections received at the transfer station and the DPW office were not being remitted daily to the Finance Department. We reviewed 48 days of collections totaling $29,895 that were received at the transfer station and the DPW office from December 2008 through April 2009. For 32 of the 48days tested, the daily collections were not remitted to the Finance Department timely. The monies were not remitted to the Finance Department on a timely basis with remittances ranging from one to 27 days”
So what was Scirocco response to the Comptrollers report?

He Fucking dismissed it out of hand.

“DPW disagrees with the report” Skip Scirocco


So their you have it folks. Scirocco ether can’t or won’t change his sloppy accounting practices in his office. DPW will continue to be an underground Credit Union for the privileged few and garbage bags will continue to be available on the new “Saratoga Black Market.”

On a more happy note Scirocco will be holding an Open House in his new City Hall “Mancave”


No word if complementary garbage bags will be given out.

The Persecution of Barbara Bouchey

Well let me first say I am no fan of Barbara Bouchey but I do realize the tremendous pressure that she is under after exposing Keith Raniere as the freak we always new he was.

Barbara had long been a chief cheerleader and apologist for NXIVM. Those with long memories including my friends at The Metroland who have also been on the receiving end of NXIVM’s wrath recall her interview with Paul Post in a story in the Saratogian in which see said in support of NXIVM:

“One of the program supporters is businesswoman Barbara Bouchey of Saratoga Springs, who hosts a satellite school for the firm.

“It's a program with results that people have never experienced before," Bouchey said. "People can't explain it.” Bouchey said taking the course has improved her business considerably. She said she's now able to teach an asset management course in less than 10 hours that previously took 60."Revenues were up 35 percent the first year, and my employees have never been happier," she said. "That's human potential That's success.”

She herself had managed to cash in on her close ties to the Clare and Sara Bronfman family fortune. Her personal website boasted of her NXIVM training and she maintained close ties to then Saratoga Springs Mayor and NXIVM cult member Val Keehn and actively recruited the future Commissioner of Public Works and Keehn ally Skip Scirocco. He remains the only elected Saratoga Springs official with NXIVM ties today. Bouchey’s ties to Raniere and the Bronfman sisters started to unravel though as the increasingly irrational and paranoid Raniere pissed away over 68 million dollars in bad commodities trading as I outlined in an earlier story. http://saratogaindecline.blogspot.com/2010/01/peoples-republic-of-nxivm-springs.html

Bouchey is refusing to speak to the press but her deposition is one of the cornerstones in a lawsuit filed by Natasha and Yuri Plyam of California against Raniere in which she describes in vivid detail the insanity that passes for day to day life in the NXIVM cult. In her deposition she makes the explosive allegations that Raniere is a compulsive gambler and all around nutjob. Now Bouchey’s name has turned up in another,wholly unrelated lawsuit involving Raniere's premiere benefactors, the Bronfmans

UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

Case No.08-1210 In re: Joseph J. O’Hara Debtor(s)

Vs

Clare Bronfman, and

Sara Bronfman, Plaintiffs,

Joseph O'Hara a former rising star in the City who once resided in one of the cities largest and most palatial mansions on North Broadway is seeking Bankruptcy protection from the Bronfman sisters who claim that they floated him a $2 million loan years ago when he was a NXIVM devotee.

Bouchey makes her appearance in that case in a "motion for a protective order" filed by O’Hara’s lawyer. What this motion is claiming is that the Bronfmans' attorney has engaged in an "extraordinary level" of abusive discovery in subpoenaing four people who have nothing to do with the O’Hara case. These four people, the motion claims, do not know O'Hara or have any insight into the proceedings surrounding his bankruptcy claim or his loan from the Bronfmans. They do, however, know Bouchey.

According to the motion, these four individuals—Angela Ucci, Melanie Button, Robert Petro and Kathleen Ethier—were targeted and harassed by a private detective, Steven Rambam, who claimed to be investigating a variety of allegations made against Bouchey.

In their affidavits,Burtton, Ucci and Petro describe multiple "intimidating" encounters with Rambam. According to O’Hara’s motion, these four associates of Bouchey’s had been warned that Rambam was investigating her and might try to interrogate them as well.

So who is this Steven Rambam? A real piece of work by all accounts.

He runs http://www.pallorium.com/

Some say he has ties to the Jewish Defense League and is an ex- Mossad Officer. Some such as this website

http://steverombom.org/

Claim he is a dangerous and unstable child molester.

All I know from reading of him is that he is dangerous and intimidating, just the kind of man Keith Raniere would employ to harass and scare people.

He also has being charged with witness tampering and obstruction of justice in an ongoing government case against a former Brooklyn assistant district attorney who was indicted for money-laundering.

In this case what is known, is Rambam came to the door of Robert Petro, a 70-year-old minister and told him that he was investigating Bouchey. Rambam leveled vague allegations against Bouchey, claiming that she had misappropriated $40 million and had breached the Bronfmans’ confidentiality. At one point, Rambam threatened that he would have Petro arrested and drawn into a lawsuit if he didn’t tell him what he wanted to know. Rambam then came to Petro’s door, a second time and he tried to get Petro to sign a document. Petro said that he refused.

Melanie Button, who was Bouchey’s assistant for 14 years, claimed in her affidavit that Rambam approached her at 9:10 in the evening as she was pulling into her parking lot. She said “she was frightened by the man.”

She claimed that Rambam attempted to ask her questions about files that Bouchey had “transferred.” She said that she didn’t know what he was talking about and that she was “pissed” by his intrusion, and abruptly broke off the encounter and escaped into her house. “I then watched from my window until they pulled out of my driveway . . . I was upset and I thought to myself . . . who does he think he is? Parking in a lot late at night trying to find out information about my boss . . . He came across being very authoritative and felt threatening.”

Button claimed that Rambam was seen in the lot a number of times throughout the next couple weeks. According to O’Hara’s motion,

According to O’Hara’s motion, Kathleen Ethier claimed that Rambam “has been taking pictures of her house and car and hiding behind cars outside her home.”

In her affidavit, Angela Ucci claimed that she had had a number of encounters with Rambam. The first was at her salon where she works as a stylist. It was at 8 in the evening, and she refused to speak with him. The second time he came to her work, the doors were locked and she hid from him. Ucci also claimed that she was contacted by an associate who warned her that she might go to jail if she didn't cooperate.

I am including highlights of the motion

4. What can only be described as abusive discovery went to an extraordinary level onJanuary 22, 2010, when Attorney Bivona began issuing subpoenas to individuals who were entirely unrelated to the parties in this case. Nor do these individuals have any information regarding the Debtor or the creditors in this matter.

5. The purpose of the subpoenas as the attached statement show was the harassment of a third party, Barbara Bouchey, who is a former friend and advisor to the Plaintiffs and is now, upon information and belief, a possible witness in a federal investigation3 into the activities of the Plaintiff’s and others involved with the organization Nxivm. As the Sunday Times Union relates, she gave unfriendly testimony in a California case. The clear purpose of the subpoenas is to gather information and harass Bouchey.

Dated: February 1, 2010

Wherefore, the Defendant requests an order:

Terminating further discovery;

Precluding the Plaintiffs from introducing any document or statements not previously disclosed;

Quashing the subpoenas issued to Kathy Ethier, Angela Ucci, Robert Petro, and Melanie Button;

Prohibiting the Plaintiffs’ attorneys from issuing any further subpoenas without prior application to this Court;

Awarding appropriate attorney’s fees and sanctions to Defendant; and
Such other and further relief as to this court seems just and proper.

Respectfully Submitted,/s/ Richard Croak

Richard Croak

Attorney for Defendant

314 Great Oaks Blvd.

Albany, NY 12203

518-690-4410

So it seems Raniere like so many other demigods before him seek to destroy and discredit anyone who turns on them or that they see as an impediment to their success, Ex-members like Barbara Bouchey and Joseph O'Hara who have special insider information are singled out for special treatment…. Looking Back on Val Keehn’s two years in office and knowing she was a NXIVM devotee I now understand where the plan of her crusade against long time Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Public Works Tom McTygue was hatched. Somewhere in the demented mind of Keith Raniere.

Disclaimer;I would be amiss if I didn’t name Chet Hardin for breaking this story.

If anyone would like to read the whole lawsuit it is

https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0B90aFYHa6LI2ZTAxOTFhODgtZDEyMC00OWQ1LTkwNmYtOTI4YjM5ZDE1ODAy&hl=en

A BRIGHT SHINING LIE

In an excellent story today Fred LeBrun in the TU points out the fallacy of NYC Parks position.
"Closure list is half the truth"
http://www.timesunion.com/ASPStories/Story.asp?storyID=903118&newsdate=2/21/2010&BCCode=MBTA
The entire plan is based on the premise that “$4 million in park and historic site fee increases that will be identified at a later date, and the use of $5 million in funds from the Environmental Protection Fund. ...”

Veteran Long Island Assemblyman Steve Englebrigh has already stated "Shifting the $5 million from capital to operational is a notion dead on arrival,"
So what does that mean? Parks goes to plan B,which is a longer list for closure and includes Grafton Lakes and Cherry Plain state parks and the Fort Crailo historic site, all in Rensselaer County, and Victoria Pool in Saratoga Spa State Park.

Basically we’re screwed. Carol Ash is planning to turn this whole thing around when it falls through and blame the legislature for failing to approve the transfer. Then in a move that would make Pontius Pilate proud, she will then wash her hands of the whole affair.

The irony in all of this is that the Victoria Pool is one of the few money makers for the Park system. Something Ash and her befuddled bureaucratic blood sucking buddies in Parks Management will do their best to hide. In the 69 days the pool was open last year in a rainy summer 16,108 paid to swim. This doesn’t include the guests from the Gideon Putnam Resort who swim under a different fee structure that Ash refuses to divulge.
12083 were adults at $8 bucks a head
4025 were children at $6 a head
$96,664 for adults
$32,200 for children
Total $128,864
Quite the haul considering it’s only staffed by 2 $10 an hour aides and 2 $15 an hour life guards who also help clean.
So where does it go?
Into a bureaucratic kind of black hole that only the morons of State Government could think up called the State Parks Infrastructure Fund (SPIF).
So why would the state cut one of its few profitable attractions?
Pure spite on Ash’s part. She is pissed her budget is being cut and instead of making the best of a bad situation, she has purposely cut the very attractions that affect the most people, money maker or not.
You are part of the problem Ms Ash, your job is to serve the public not your fellow bureaucratic brain dead pieces of drift wood in Parks management.I notice you didn't propose to cut even one of their jobs, how many of them have ever been to a Sate Park? What about Park Police you idiot? Do we really need 24 hour coverage in Saratoga to patrol one road? Resign, you simply can’t or won’t come up with a realistic solution to the problem
HELL YOU ARE THE PROBLEM!!

The list; The Good the Bad and the Ugly

Well the good. We are not on the list for now, but the question of fees, days open and other concerns have not been addressed, and by no means is the list definitive.

The Bad. Our friends at John Boyd Thacher State Park just got fucked royally, along with Johnson Hall State Historic Site in Johnstown, one of the most historic and beautiful pre-revolutionary houses in the country. Not to mention all the other local sights that were screwed.

Bennington Battlefield State Park Rensselaer Close Historic Site
Hudson River Islands State Park Rensselaer Close Park
John Brown Farm Historic Site Essex Close Historic Site
Max V. Shaul State Park Schoharie Close Park
Schodack Island State Park Rensselaer Close Park
Schoharie Crossing Historic Site Schoharie Close Historic Site
Schuyler Mansion Historic Site Albany Close Historic Site

The UGLY

Carol Ash “2008 salary $127,000” is the genius who came up with this shit plan to screw the public when asked to cut $20 million from the parks budget.

So Carol did you offer to layoff the overpaid, overeducated, pencil pushers that haunt every Park Facility in the State? Did you ask the rank and file union members to except a giveback or voluntary unpaid furlough? Fuck no, you little bureaucratic weasel. Even though those measures could have meant real saving and had the least effect on the badly stressed public, you chose to vent your anger on having your little personal empire cut by introducing draconian measures that would effect the public the most. There by screwing the very people you serve.

I am sick of parks along with NYC OTB being the dumping ground of every connected but incompetent campaign contributor that can’t find a job. Parks along with OTB needs a top to bottom restructuring to rid itself of these cancerous patronage jobs before they destroy once and for all the very thing they serve.

You are a parasitic pest feeding off a host. Closing 41 parks and 14 historic sites, and service reductions at 23 parks and 1 historic site along with the planned layoffs of seasonal help will only produce a temporary reduction in costs. But you know that anyway don’t you? Your job is safe and I’m sure a raise is in the works for you and your co-conspirators. But change is in the wind, maybe sooner than you think.

Fair is Fair

Well, well doesn’t publishing a few salaries set off a firestorm of protests.
Thank you for your emails. I have heard your complaints and will answer your questions.
A. I might very well be a dickhead. Thank you for asking
B. No you do not have a right to privacy as far as your your salary goes. You are paid with public money and your salary is public knowledge. Hell if you work as hard as you say you do, you should be proud of what you make.
C. This third complaint is legitimate. “You think we make big bucks, you should see what the real bigwigs in Parks make.”

Agreed, Parks has 9,783 employees and a budget of $155 million. The governor is calling for a cut of $20 million this year in an overall budget of more than $130 billion. So Parks is a very small fly in a very large jar of ointment. But they are part of the systemic problem in State Government today, namely personal costs which make up 80% of the State budget.
So where does Parks propose cutting costs? You would think cutting wages across the board by a mere 5% would be on the table at least for discussion, but not Parks in a vindictive move it threatens to close 100 of the state’s 178 state parks.
THIS IS BULLSHIT

I have a great deal of sympathy for Governor Patterson, he knows what the real 1000 pound gorilla in the room is, the State Work force. You could solve the entire budget problem in the State and in the meantime protect your own jobs by offering to give up some of your Union negotiated benefits and wages. Now before you cry that that’s unfair and how would you like to give up what you earned and worked for, let me tell you I all ready have. Every time I have had a tax increase you pick my pocket and take away what I’ve worked and saved for, time for you to share the pain and keep the Parks open.
And now without further ado
The Real Fat Cats of State Park System.

THE 45 HIGHEST PAID MEMBERS OF NYS PARK SYSTEM

Aldrich, John Annual $137,519
Alworth, Thomas Annual $132,610
Apholz, Sharon Annual $114,961
Ash, Carol Annual $127,000
Bartley, Elaine Annual $106,090
Beers, Andrew Annual $138,766
Bruening, Glen Annual $137,781
Burns, T Kevin Annual $104,080
Catalano, David Annual $114,961
Christopherson, William Annual $101,049
Currier, Craig Annual $144,704
Davis, Daniel Annual $104,080
Doherty, John Annual $114,961
Eberhard, John Annual $114,961
Finn, Peter Annual $138,360
Fish, Scott Annual $114,961
Foley, Ronald Annual $137,425
Giroux, Cheryle Annual $114,961
Gold, James Annual $114,961
Gordon, Elizabeth Annual $117,548
Gordon, Rachel Annual $121,140
Gorman, George Annual $104,080
Herring, David Annual $104,080
Kane, Daniel Annual $138,368
Kieff, Kevin Annual $114,961
Kowalchyk, John Annual $110,031
Kulleseid, L Erik Annual $138,368
Larrabee, Eileen Annual $110,917
Laudato, Paul Annual $104,080
Lyons, Thomas Annual $111,887
McDonald, Jeffrey Annual $104,080
McLaughlin, Jayne Annual $114,961
Odonnell, Richard Annual $116,606
Ostrander, Sandra Annual $110,277
Pierpont, Ruth Annual $108,764
Place, Charles Annual $107,008
Pushkarsh, Christopher Annual $114,961
Riesdorph, Richard Annual $104,080
Rutkowski, Edward Annual $136,761
Smith, Frederick Annual $103,076
Spahr, Linda Annual $124,072
Stewart, Gregory Annual $104,080
Tesik, Michael Annual $104,080
Thomas, Mark Warren Annual $110,531
Weinreb, Shelley Annual $104,080

HOW DARE THEY!

Now our overpaid boneheaded State leaders are floating the idea of closing State Parks, including the gem of the State Park System beautiful Victoria Pool in our own Saratoga State Park. And you wonder why I call this blog Saratoga in Decline. Now let’s see you think you can save money by closing one of the busiest and most expensive attractions in the State Park System by closing it and laying off a few part time kids?

You’ve got to be joking right?

Here’s an idea I bet you never thought of.

Lay off some of the bloated administrators and other overpaid employees who make up 80 percent of the State Park budget.

Saratoga/Capital District Region State Parks had 147 employees in 2008.Of that number 37 made over $50000 in 2008.I’m sure the number was much higher in 2009.

Here is the list of shame.

Albert, John Annual $68,878

Ball, Alane Annual $91,096

Burch, Wanda Annual $72,123

Caruso, Peter Annual $$65,617

Cassidy Sr, Kevin Annual $72,423

Conklin, Thomas Annual $69,132

Dialberto, Allen Annual $65,264

Fallon, Christophe Annual $71,598

Fontanella, Janice Annual $70,608

Gomes, Jorge Annual $56,521

Greenslade, Michael Annual $74,820

Grimaldi, Mary Ellen Annual $50,643

Henzel, Philip Annual $62,589

Hill, Heidi Annual $66,831

Horne, Anita Annual $70,607

Hughes, Thomas Annual $72,301

Iskenderian, Peter Annual $58,158

Jepson, Catherine Annual $62,934

Keenan Jr, Lawrence Annual $78,821

Kress, Kurt Annual $96,843

Kuhn, Robert Annual $94,373

Lavarge, Donald Annual $74,456

Mastrianni, Elizabeth Annual $67,362

McGreevy, Jeffrey Annual $55,894

Monahan, Patrick Annual $53,037

More, Christopher Annual $71,555

Penge, Jason Annual $69,458

Perez, John Annual $67,438

Polsinelli, Michael Annual $53,037

Rivenburgh, Steven Annual $77,454

Rogers, Darlene Annual $57,655

Sadousky, Jack Annual $94,967

Sicko, Joseph Annual $69,949

Taylor, Robert Annual $69,333

Want to save some real money? Lay off some of these overpaid paper pushers and get back to running the Parks. Skip the consultants, the five year strategic plans, get off your ass and mow the fucking grass you morons. Your job is to keep the Parks OPEN as much has possible. You can’t do that from behind a 5000 dollar desk in a marble office in Lincoln Baths. Fire the Park Police, who do nothing for 9 months out of the year. Contract it out to Part Time Private Security. Hell you could save enough money to even make a few improvements.

CAN’T HANDLE IT

RESIGN

People are fed up with this State. Everyday civilian workers are being asked to pay more and take less. Time for you to do more for less. The disparity in incomes are growing daily .Something has to give and it won’t be us

Today's Worst Person in the World*

In today’s paper we find this rather twisted bit of self promotion along with inept ass kissing from one of Saratoga’s most rabid rabble-rousing NXIVM bitch’s Susan "Nancy" Goldberg.
Titled “An open letter to Mayor Johnson”
http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2010/02/15/opinion/doc4b78c78bc6d0e183210433.txt
In this piece of bullshit, “Nan” as her friends call her pledges “In the spirit of civility and bipartisanship, I am offering to repay the community for this invaluable training by volunteering to serve on your zoning review initiative”
Well Nan isn’t that just peachy keen. You in the spirit of “civility and bipartisanship” offer your generous “help”. Well I will give you credit for gall. You are without a doubt one of the most vicious back stabbing partisan people I have ever met. Your lust for power and your contempt for anyone who is paid less than 90 grand a year is loathsome. Your plotting and scheming to manipulate all those around you knows no limits.

You ass kiss those you wish to fool into believing you serve any greater goal than forwarding your own personal agenda for the city, which appears to be the Disneyfication of Saratoga Springs. You appear to have no clear political view except that the City should be a nicer place and that they you be loved and trusted by everyone and questioned by no-one.

You are democratic enough to talk down to anyone and master’s of making nothing happen very slowly.
In your Utopian vision of the City all Republicans, independents, thinkers and working people are cast to the hinterlands where they can be bused in when needed. Saratoga becomes a gated community with a heavily armed Police force guarding you from the unenlightened masses.
Well Nan it ain’t goner fly. Your beloved Comprehensive Plan Revision that was carefully crafted by your cohorts, along with your other recommendations from your parade of endless committees, all including habitual committee person Lou Benton will never see the light of day. This topic has been discussed ad nauseam. We have had enough of your “help” and with any luck we can repair all the damage your “help” has caused in a generation or two.
I will say I like the tattoo of you, Ron Kim has on his arm.

* Disclaimer. Nancy’s not the worst persons in the world, of course.Somewhere somebody’s ending freedom, or killing a child, or defrauding an orphan, or bombing a home. In any kind of empirical analysis of the worst person in the world at a given moment—you don’t even come close.YET

SNITCH

Both the Times Union and the Saratogian report today in headlines that teenagers were arrested at Saratoga High School on weapons charges.

In this case that Saratogian went with a more reasonable headline that explained it was a rather mundane BB gun.
While the TU went with the more sinister.

“Saratoga students arrested on weapons charges”

Both stories explain how 3 teenagers in the “crime ridden” Saratoga burg of Geyser Crest were “seen” loading a weapon by an alert neighbor at 2 in the afternoon. They quickly alerted authorities who promptly set up surveillance at the high school and apprehended the teens without incident. Two were charged with a “violation” and the only girl involved was given a free pass but was suspended from school along with the two males. No word yet about how much the Police officers son is enjoying his new toy.
Now I’m not going to defend these three brain challenged youth. Frankly teenagers and BB guns are a bad combination and I only hope their plans for the weapon did not include shooting small animals or their classmates. I also believe the police response was correct and measured, considering that the gun might have been real.

But why do I find the behavior of this neighbor who called the police so creepy. Maybe I’m missing something or these were neighborhood trouble makers but the idea of someone sitting in the Crest all day watching the neighbors just disturbs me.

Maybe it’s just that people are frightened or that deep down they have a great fear of our youth.But the truth is the kid was 19 and could legally buy and have a BB gun in his trunk. He only broke the law when he pulled onto School grounds.

So before anyone uses this as an excuse to bring back the DARE program or augue for a Police Armored car just sit back breath and remember Junior across the street is not going to slit your throat in the night. Or maybe he is?

Comment of the Day

In an effort to inform and educate I will answer this comment in a way that is fit for an adult but not a pornographic blog.

Anonymous said...

Will somebody please look up the meaning of "teabagging?"
It DOES NOT mean what you think it does.

Tea Party does not equal Teabagging, and you might be suprised to find out what it really means. I won't explain here, ......you might need to ask a young person.

I will enlighten the uninformed. People use the word "tea bagging" in a derogatory fashion to make fun of conservatives who call their gatherings “tea parties” "Tea bagging" is a sexual practice widely carried out after a night of excessive merrymaking on Caroline street and particularly popular on Valentines Day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teabagging

Is Saratoga Springs becoming more Conservative?

One of the overlooked aspects of the last city election were the results of our neighbor to the north. In Wilton NY with the surprise election of the teabagging duo of Robert Pulsifer and Robert Rice upstate politics took a sudden turn to right, upsetting the long entrenched GOP way of handling Wilton politics. They wasted no time in quickly moving to eliminate the position of Town Planner held by Kate Maynard at their first Town Board meeting.

Kate Maynard, AICP joined the Town of Wilton in April 2008. Kate came to the Town with 10 years in public and private sector planning including comprehensive planning, economic development, open space conservation, and development review. She is a Nationally Certified Planner and received her Master's degree in Regional and Urban Planning from SUNY Albany in 2003. She lives in the Town of Wilton with her husband and two children.
Even long time Town icon Roy McDonald who is Wilton’s State Senator and had previously served 23 years as Town and County Supervisor was taken aback.

McDonald said "We've got a good thing going in Wilton - don't screw it up," he added” What I learned on that board is that there is a lot I don't know. We rely on professionals to help our committees make the proper decisions. Exit 16 is going to be dramatically different in the future and we want to do it right. We've promised public services and lower taxes and we did that. This is a place people are looking at to move to and the development needs to be done right."

One only has to look to the intersection of Route 50 and Old Gick Road and stare in amazement at the Veterans Park that is marooned with no public access. The names carefully craved in granite that no human being will ever read. The sidewalks that begin and end and go nowhere. Really it doesn’t take a Masters Degree to see, this is one fucked up intersection. I wonder did the workman chuckle to themselves when they built this crap. So I would guess an augment can be made that Wilton needs a planner.
Now no one that I know has ever called Witon Politics a hotbed of Marxist liberals, that is until Robert Pulsifer and Robert Rice came along. Running on a campaign of less regulation, less government and lower taxes {this in a town with no town tax} they were swept into office by a more and more conservative electorate. I can hardly wait to see what they do next. But we live in a Democracy and they never hid what they stood for or what they’ll do. So I will give them points for being honest.
That brings us to Saratoga. One can see after our own election the citizens of Saratoga had completely rejected the Democratic platform of higher taxes and no reduction of City services. The Republicans of Saratoga Springs have a long tradition of intelligence, moderation and above all discipline. That discipline makes them loath to turn on one of their own. The beneficiary of that discipline has been Commissioner of Public Work Skip Scirocco but one has to wonder how much longer that will hold.
Rank and file Republicans are in a more and more conservative mood and many are calling for the out and out ouster of Scirocco. Skip already finds himself ostracized on the City Council and many just wish he would join the DFC wing of the Democratic Party to save them the aggravation of being forced to primary him. It is an open secret that the Democratic Committee drained its treasury through secret contributions to Scirocco. Either way it seems that these are the last 2 years of Scirocco and if the Democratic Committee doesn’t change its policies and admit its failures they are destined to become irrelevant in future years.

I can only hope Sarah Palin doesn’t stop in for a visit to congratulate her protégés in Wilton

Commissioner of Public Works Skip Scirocco buyer’s remorse?

In a well crafted letter today former candidate for Commissioner of Public Works Edward Miller slammed brain dead Skip Scirocco for his seemingly single minded inability to grasp the dire situation the city finds itself in.

Scirocco just doesn’t get it.

http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2010/02/07/opinion/doc4b6e4425dadcd839661222.txt

Yesterday was a good example of Scirocco’s mismanagement. At the chowderfest late in the day when the barrels had already overflowed onto the streets he had one truck with three men to empty the Garbage Barrels.

Why did you need three men? One just sat in the Truck.

As I understand it you have a two man crew on weekends. Was the third receiving unnecessary overtime?

It only took a half hour to empty the barrels if they were working a 8 hour shift why not have them do it twice so it wasn’t such a mess.

What else do they do on weekends with no snow? Why can’t they be in the garage so the cops can get gas?

These aren’t really tough questions it just seems you lack common sense.

You have been very lucky so far this year Skip with no snow and all. I will credit you with one thing. I have never seen such bipartisan unity and cooperation by the Council in its criticism of you .As far as the Saratogians criticism of the Council browbeating you. All I saw was you grandstanding for the Public.

Every augment you make is full of holes. Most of your staff except for your massage girl Donna A Buckley, have been brought back.

You have “Big Deal" O'Neill as a supervisor with one man under him. That's right one supervisor for one laborer. You even spent $65,000 to buy him a new truck. I admire loyalty Skippy but you’re buying it with taxpayer money. What you afraid “Big Deal" might turn on you to? Once a rat faced fucker always a rat faced fucker.

Governor Patterson to Resign

Long embattled Governor Patterson is set to resign Tuesday under a cloud of accusations about sex in broom closets, State Police cars and the even more serious charges of possible bribery in the awarding of the VLT contract in Aqueduct Racetrack .This is an exclusive scoop, but it will be breaking into mainstream media soon,. Remember you read it here first.

The Worst Person in the World 2009.How deep are his ties to NXIVM?

Well folks in a moment of quiet before the NXIVM people find me or I happen to get run over by a snow plow I would like to point out who positively had the most derogatory effect on the City in 2009.

THAT IS RON KIM.

Now I know what many of you are thinking, it’s Commissioner of Public Works Skip Scirocco and he is the early favorite for 2010 but right now the spotlight belongs to Ron. He worked for it, he asked for it and he’s got it. You not only destroyed the Public Safety Dept and turned this once popular Dept to an object of public scorn and ridicule you laid the ground work, through irrational scheduling, that included hundred of hours of unnecessary overtime that directly led to the first layoffs in the Dept’s history. You also led an attempt to pimp out our ambulance provider Saratoga EMS in favor of Albany based for profit meat wagon Mohawk Ambulance. Talk about blood money. Not content with that you proposed to sell the only Public Access to the Saratoga Lake in a misguided revenue one shot. You also promised to can the Rec Center and resurrect the political career of your soul mate and fellow cultist Val Keehn. Not only did you fail on every goal you set out to do you went on to lose your run for Mayor, by a record breaking loss of 1500 votes. If that wasn’t bad enough you dragged the entire Democratic ticket down with you as well….

Now any normal person who suffered this kind of set back would do some serious soul searching, but not you Ron. So let’s just get this out in the open shall we?

You and Val Keehn along with other members of the DFC are NXIVM devotes. Just as NXIVM founder Keith Raniere, who members call "Vanguard,” blamed his 68 million dollar losses in commodity trading to so called “Negative forces”, you blame your election loses on other evil forces. You are also responsible for Commissioner of Public Works Skip Scirocco policies of spend money till it kills in an unholy alliance to advance your agenda. We have no proof yet of Commissioner of Public Works Skip Scirocco’s involvement in NXIVM but we are looking everyday. In the meantime we are stuck with this Joker who still spends money like a drunken sailor.Hey Skip the VLT money is gone its 2010 not 2007

And not that that I like to rub it in, but here is an example of what a real leader can accomplish.

And finally since I have pointed out that your Bankruptcy rates are almost 500 dollars higher than you competitors and your business has suffered as a result of this and your crushing defeats at the polls. I hear like many other people in this town, you have decided to open up your own catering business. I hear you might even score a couple of Saratoga Democratic Committee events. Let me give you some advice. Don’t take any checks. I hear they're a little short of cash.

PUBLIC WORKS: Theater of the absurd

In an otherwise routine City Council meeting an extended argument broke out that pitted Commissioner of Public Works Skip Scirocco against, well just about everyone else. A situation the incompetent commissioner increasingly finds himself in. First some back round. After four years of mismanagement under Ron Kim in Public Safety and two years of Scirocco in Public Works the wild spending and unlimited overtime in a period that some Public Employees have dubbed the “happy time”, city finances crashed and budgets came back to earth, forcing some tough decisions to be made by sober minded professionals whose first priority was looking after the taxpayer and not the Public Workers unions.

One of the choices was the pairing of a bloated workforce in Public Works. Eliminated were some overnight and weekend dispatching positions that were full time CSEA jobs paying 20 dollars an hour with a full benefit package to employees who sole function was to keep an eye on the garage {I guess to see that the building didn’t move} and watch the gas pumps {I guess in case of an earthquake} and answer the occasional phone call. They did have one important function, serving as a self service station for Public Safety vehicles. Now I don’t know what they pay Gas Stations employees at the local HESS Station but you can bet your ass it ain’t 20 bucks an hour with a Serta lounger and cable TV to keep you awake. But there was the problem with the gates closed, the cops were forced to buy their gas at the local Stewards Shop. Now Bill Dake liked that, but the normal members of the Council suggested to Scirocco that this was absurd and the police, since they pump their own gas anyway were more than able to do it without the sleepy dispatcher’s assistance.

DO you follow so far?

Now there was a pre Council meeting to discuss this but Scirocco was to busy down in his man cave in his new double office looking in his full length mirror to go. Anyway he had it all figured out. He would just bring in the weekday dispatchers. Pay them overtime {30bucks an hour} to sit on their ass and stare at the pumps and watch TV. I’m not making this UP. That really was his plan. IF YOU EVER WONDERED HOW CITY WORKERS MADE 70K, 80K, 90K it’s management decisions like this. Now the Council had a simple cost effective idea, install a Camera, monitored at the police station and let the cops pump their own gas {after all they do it anyway}.In this next set of Videos I will show you Commissioner of Public Works Skip Scirocco response.

This is his famous makes no sense speech.

Next Commissioner of Public Works Skip Scirocco announces he will not be run out the door {like we could be that lucky}

Finally Mayor Johnson tells him if you can’t run your Dept we’re do it for you.

Commissioner of Public Works Skip Scirocco only answer to anything is “I need more money”

His favored employees continue to make obscene amounts of money

Such as Office supervisor and head of City hall CSEA Katherine Moran, who made $62,258 in 2009 plus large amounts of Comp time that will have to be paid out to her in a lump sum that is in the high 5 figures at her retirement which is said to be planned for this year.

Joe “BIG Deal”O'Neill, Scirocco’s chief rat and dirty trickster made $54,593 in 09

Gary Benincasa, DPW CSEA president made $60,961 in 09

Few College educated nurses at the Hospital make that much with crappy benefits for a little wage comparisons.

For Christ’s sake Scirocco the Council is trying to help you. You represent the Taxpayers, not the unions. It’s only been one month and your way over budget already. Do you want to work with the Council or do you want to go to the bone yard of failed political aspirations along with your soul mates Val and Ron. Your minions might post a bunch of Union shit on the Saratogian web site from CSEA headquarters but not one of them was in the Gallery tonight. The young cub reporter might be buffaloed by your “I fight for the people” Bullshit but so was Bernstein and he writes about Pewee basketball now. The choice is yours Skippy. The unions love ya, but no one else does.