Well one thing I can say with confidence, this is one Council that likes to hear itself talk. I just got home at 11pm after another 3+ hour City Council meeting .I swear if each of them would just stop pontificating they could wrap these things up in 2 hours or less.
Note to Public Safety Commissioner Christian Mathiesen, number one reason to keep the bars open till 4am? City Council meetings.
First was the public comment period and many good and brave residents of Stonequist bravely got up and complained about continuing problems.
Front page of the TU
Saratoga Springs housing authority oversight debated HERE
I read this in my 2 minutes of fame in the public comment period.
"First the Public housing Authority is a disgrace and nothing less than the removal of the board and the firing of Spychalski would do.
Last Thursday members of the Council said that the public should be able to weigh in on this 40% increases in ambulance frees.Members of this council campaigned on being OPEN and transparent but here 5 days later I find the fee increase buried with the dumpster fees.Mr.Mathiesen claims these fees are in line with surrounding communities and he is correct. What he’s not telling you is the surrounding communities have insurance contracts in place to pay for transport? The City has not been approved by MVP, CDPHP, Medicare, Medicaid? So with no contracts in place the patients will be billed for using out of contact providers.
Will the city be forced to hire a medical director?
Do they have insurance (general liability, MV and malpractice)?
The only contact they seem in a rush to sign is with MultiMed Billing Service. A million dollars no bid contact, that doesn’t seem very open or transparent.
Next I see the City is in the eviction business.List is below
I would remind the council they are throwing 5 families on the street, this will be adding to the city’s homeless population. I wonder if any are veterans and if a Catastrophic health emergency or unemployment led them to be in this situation. Are there children in these homes and where will they go? The fact that the city will be recouping much more than the taxes and fees owed and will in in all likelihood net a considerable profit while desirable is at the expense of these families and is nothing to be proud of.
And finally I see a completely unnecessary new position on the Public Works agenda.
I would remind the council that they serve the public and not union interests and the collection of Revenue should be used to decrease taxes and not to feed the incessant and endless demands of the cities workforce. Do what is in the best interest of the people and not in your narrow political interests."
Many people got up and voiced similar concerns. The only one interested was the Mayor as this whole deal was cooked up in Eileen Finneran's kitchen a long time ago.
Next was a nauseating question and answer period with Housing Authority Board of Directors, Eric Weller. Weller was Skyped in from Florida. He was condescending, arrogant and evasive.
Next the Parking garage passed quickly.
Then Finance Commissioner Michele Madigan who has been named official mascot of the International association of Firefighters was adamant she wasn’t trying to conceal any fees.
Mathiesen also chimed in this was all above board. But what’s funny in this video look at the cubby women behind Mathiesen. Yea that’s Eileen Finneran, she must of got a little testy after a couple of hours with no feedbag. Well anyway watch as Mathiesen claims he’s innocent and misunderstood, you can see the humorless Eileen start to wave at me, but what I didn’t catch on camera was her flipping me the bird.
Well what can I say but
Stay classy Eileen
Anyway who does this sow think she is M.I.A.?
Let me tell you Eileen, I like M.I.A. M.I.A. can sing. You are no M.I.A.
And finally the handful of people left way past 10 got to see Public Works Commissioner Anthony “Skip” Scirocco get gangbanged by the Council.
The reservation coordinator is a dead issue, deal with it.
Then Tim Cogan woke up, Eileen went to the McDonalds 24 hour drive-thru and the city will awake to a new "Ambulance TAX”
22 comments:
Another front page TU story on the bed bug issue as discussed at the meeting. Do they own a condo in Florida? Is anyone in charge of Stonequist ever in town? Even on channel 6. With video. If only HUD can control Stonewuist let's get the Feds in here. Where are Chris Gibson and Gillibrand??
Now he's blaming civil service for the mess in the DPW dept,civil service has bent over backwards for this little bastard,it's obvious now to the general public that this multi-million dept is being controlled by someone who has given the word incompetence a whole new meaning,even the newly elected rep.city chair walk out of the meeting in disgust as skippy tired to justify this totally useless new position,skippy, no matter how hard you try and no matter how many butts you kiss they will never except you and the mrs'in the Newport Sect,time for a change in dpw.
I am not going to play your stupid games with the comments on this blog. also read the whole comments that Jason has made and not parts of it because Jason Gross is a very smart DPW worker and works harder than all those high paying formans in DPW. Also Gerri, ricky, and george work very hard everyday to Earn a paycheck for themselves. I also don't like the the one who heads this blog John Tige, I heard he used to work for the city and he was lazy and stupid from people that worked with him. also show both side of the city meetings commissioner skip could with the resevation coordinator if hired could make double or triple amount of money for the city, about 1 million to 1.5 million dollars for a 42,000 job. So please show the whole truth not just what you want to see.
I can’t believe the Tooth fairy said he didn’t learn a thing tonight. I wish he would, like how write a correct agenda item
According to the TU this morning, SSHA board member Eric Weller said last night that it "didn't sound plausible" that the housing authority would withhold leases from certain tenants as a way to control them.
Eric Weller is as uninformed and delusional as the rest of the board. I haven't gotten a lease in several years and I know of other people who have not gotten one either. The housing authority raises the rent without notifying you, and then when you show up to pay your rent and don't have enough money, they tell you that they mailed you the new lease and either you didn't sign it and return it, or maybe it got lost. It's always your word against theirs, and since they're not required to send the new leases through certified mail, you have no proof that they didn't send it. Then you have to come up with the rest of the money quickly because if you don't, they will start eviction proceedings by the middle of the same month.
Please, please, PLEASE get these tyrants out of there!
7:04,you and jason gross are absolutly worthless in dpw as a matter of fact skip wants to get rid of you....no more rats says skip,john tighe was one of the dpw's most valued employees'and now he's in the business of exposing derilicks like you,skippy time is coming to an end,by the way how many flowers do you water in the winter,must be hard hanging around all day,do you ever feel guilty about your pay check?Skippy has no friends on this council.
For a sitting Deputy Commissioner to give a member of the public the finger while at the Council, is misconduct and grounds for dismissal.
Madigan looks like an owl too bad she isn't wise
"Mr. Ed" wants the tenants to talk to him. "Go right to the source and ask the horse" should be his new mantra. Well this famous "Mr. Ed" is a horse's ass who uses his bitch-puppet Katie Psycho to collude with him. Do they have kids together or something? Cause she's up his ass more than anyone else over there.
I haven't gotten a new lease since 2005.It seems to me that my fellow tenants are now coming out to say THEY haven't got leases either! And we thought we were the only ones...just like with the bedbugs! and EACH of the 2 years SS didn't give a raise to its' recipients, our rents were STILL increased;I believe you need to check videotapes of Eric Wellers' attendances at our Board of Director meetings in the past 12 months; When I am not in attendance, I am up in my room watching on our in-house channel 14EXCEPT for the last meeting when the tv "oh-so-suddenly" was scrambled for that day & you could neither hear NOR see the action. but then...I am NOT subject to a Roll Call of members!HOW would he even KNOW what's going ON at that office? oh, and this is Teresa & this is my first post here in days...so Spychalskis...seems you got more than ONE "non-fan"; I'm just sitting back watching the posts...but I HAD to comment and verify what a previous poster said..I haven't got a lease either. Do we need to send out more "survey papers" under tenants' doors?
Teresa, I always thought I was the only one too, until I mentioned it to a few neighbors and realized I was not the only one. I would like to know just how widespread this issue really is.
I can also Verify that leases are not actually sent out. I lived in Stonequist AND in Jefferson, both places I lived I was never sent a new lease to sign, except the time I had to call the Buffalo HUD office to force ED to actually send one since he refused to allow me in the building to sign it as well as refused to send one.
When he LIED and said he sent one, obviously I never received this non-existent mail (never once had problems getting mail,EVER, while living there), he told me "Oh, it got lost in the mail, not my problem" in a cocky tone. He was unwilling to solve the issue, he kept wanting to argue, bully, and lecture despite my efforts to just get him to handle the problem that was his fault.
Heather Mabee left Ed Lewi and Company and went to the Girl Scouts of Northeastern New York as the Director of Fund Development.
Wonder how mush $$ she is credited in raising for them...
From Linkedin:
Heather Mabee
Director of Fund Development at Girl Scouts of Northeastern New York
United States | Nonprofit Organization Management
Current:
Director of Fund Development at Girl Scouts of Northeastern New York
Past:
Director of Special Events at Ed Lewi Associates
Education:
American College of Switzerland, Sayre School
Summary:
Team player with excellent leadership and interpersonal skills. A relationship-builder. Extremely organized, highly motivated self-starter, computer proficient. Possess strong budgeting skills. Experienced fund raiser and event organizer for national and local non-profit organizations.
To;7:04 AM
You are rite Jason Gross is a very smart DPW Worker.
He has a free apartment at stonequist,has free healthcare,free foodstamps,Free heat,Free everything.
He even has a free job at DPW which is spending money.
For him to say he works hard ,means he works hard at looking like an asshole most of the time.
Rikki Geri George are just like bedbugs ,noone likes them but what are you going too do ,,fire them....
Teresa and J from Stonequist and Jefferson -- I wonder how they decide who gets new leases and who doesn't. The only common denominator I've heard consistently so far is that it seems to happen most often with tenants who have Katie as their tenant relations worker, not Jill.
7:19 PM - Katie was my tenant relations worker both times. When I spoke to her (once was while Ed put me on speaker) about the issue I had, she was yelling over me, argumentative, and unwilling to fix this issue. All I did was call up to see about why we were getting the letter,why we were lied to about the amount of our rent, and what we could do to fix it, instead I got greeted with hostility.
She was also unwilling to let me speak unless I was singing their praises. I tested it multiple times in the conversations where if I tried to speak about the issue, she talked and yelled over me, but when I would talk about her and kathy knowing how to do their jobs and how nice they were before, she let me speak uninterrupted.
".... Eric Weller. Weller was Skyped in from Florida. He was condescending, arrogant and evasive."
Is this the same Eric Weller from Skidmore College ? If so, it sounds like he has not has changed.
yes it is
Isn't there an attendance requirement to be on the HA board?
How many meetings has Weller missed? He may be automatically off the board.
they have skyped people in, so that may count as a "present" (?)
I don't think people should be thrown out. I also think that the city is sitting pretty well due to VLT money. Perhaps the city should just acquire the property and then turn it over to some of the non-profits or use them in a LAND BANK scenario.
http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/about/conplan/foreclosure/pdf/lbauthguide.pdf
or http://www.umich.edu/~econdev/landbank/
The city would keep many of the parcels for a later date or could put them in with community development and offer them to non-profits for emergency shelters, domestic violence shelter or part of affordable housing (without Ed Spy at helm). I am on Community Development Block Grant Panel and some of the agencies could write a proposal and have the land/partnership with the city...just a winning scenario
Monda Monday; I stayed in the Lobby long enough to read a new message on one of our state of the art TV's purchased with your moneies: anyone wanting a copy of their lease is to submit a request in writing to the office. Thank you..Hmmmm Tomorrow & Wednesday every tenant is getting their place exterminated; the Management will be serving refreshments in the Commmunity Room, which I like to call the Great Room, since we have lost ALL sense of community here at Stonequist;people still walking past me this morning in silence, not even looking at me. That's ok, because they're not worth my time anyway. They got some Mickey Mouse exterminators (Town and Country?) - has anyone checked if there are Spychalski relatives in this group that are going to be in our apartments all alone WITHOUT US PRESENT?! I'd rather stand at the door & know they aren't going through my "delicates & expensive things" while they exterminate.EESH, makes chills run down my spine just to think of some strangers in here alone looking at who knows what. but let's see how this "extermination" turns out. I would have preferred a TRUSTED, KNOWN name, and I wonder if these guys are even bonded?? I sure hope so!they should return in one month to check us out, so they said. MY GOAL HAS BEEN ACHIEVED! Now...you guys do the rest!
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