Well first before I enter the world of Saratoga politics let me share some good news. Many have noticed I call myself Ben lives on and wonder why? Well back in the day Ben Arnold of (Dis)utopia of Saratoga Springs fame along with I-Saratoga{since retired by choice} were the two best blogs in upstate NY. Ben first exposed me to the world of NXIVM and he himself was a early ground-breaker for his coverage of the cult in the city. Ben alerted me to their office on Wells St and the rest is history. Ben posted anonymously and was driven deep underground by dark and scurrilous forces. I named myself in honor of Ben and vowed to never to suffer his fate. That is one of the reason I post publicly.Today it gives me great pleasure to announce that Ben Arnold is back if in a limited capacity witha new blog called Capital Aquarium HERE. I for one look forward to his biting and clever sense of humor.
Next; tonight’s City Council meeting was a snooze. The Council seemed to be one big happy dysfunctional family tonight as the agreed on just about everything.The only real excitement came in the public comment period as Al Callucci pointed out the city ambulance contact calls for hard billing and basically the city will be sending grandma to collection
Remegia Foy then eloquently pointed out the complete and utter failure of the Saratoga Housing Authority board to provide safe and decent housing to the cities poor. She urged the Mayor, Scott Johnson to do more and also issued a veiled warning.
That this has been a Housing Authority problem but if drastic changes aren’t made in a timely matter it’s going to be seen as his problem. I must say I concur with my learned friend.
That this has been a Housing Authority problem but if drastic changes aren’t made in a timely matter it’s going to be seen as his problem. I must say I concur with my learned friend.
But perhaps the funniest moment of the night came when Public Safety Commissioner Chris Mathiesen, issued his departments 2011 report that listed 0 crime in the city. Realizing that wasn’t true he rattled some numbers off the top of his head and finally conceded crime in the city
was pretty much flat in 2011 compared to 2010. This of course goes against his stated beliefs that the City is “dangerous” and our streets are “out of control. Then he suggested that the drop in DWI arrests was due to a lack of cops. I wonder if he ever read that DWI arrests are down across the nation.
Causing at least one Lawyer advocacy group to complain that the lack of arrests was bad for Lawyers pockets HERE
Fear not my Lawyer friends the Tooth Fairy has promised to leave no defense lawyer behind this year.
10 comments:
So no health insurance plan has approved our new ambulance service but if you do not promptly pay you bill you will be turned over to collection. This will adversly affect your credit rating. If you try to get a car loan, mortgage or student loan you'll be turned down or pay higher interest rates. Of course because you are seriously ill you may not even see the bill. Or you may be so involved in trying to care for your sick or injured child the bill goes unnoticed. Or maybe you are too sick to work. Maybe Chris has a few extra hundred or thousand dollars in his checking account to deal with unexpected expenses but a lot of people live paycheck to paycheck. This needs to be fixed right now.
The tooth fairy says we can't add random testing to SSFD without including it in the next negotiation. Why don't we start that negotiation by taking away their ambulance until the dept agrees to random testing?
Hello?? Tthis man is a dentist. He should be more qualified than any other person on the city council to negotiate with insurance companies including medicare and medicaid. Why was this so rushed? Why weren't there insurance agreements in place prior to switching to this ambulance plan? Why are we all going to be adversely affected. I am sure that prior to any extensive dental work Dr. Mathieson gets a preapproval from the patient's insurance plan. why didn't he bother to do this for his constituants. This bill will come at a person's most vulnerable point. I think at the very least there must be a moratorium on turning anyone over to collections until mathieson gets his act together and gets these insurance agreements!
JT
Your point was well made at last night's meeting.
Empire Ambulance drug tests its employees, but SSFD does not.
Thanks for speaking up for all of us.
At the very least, the city should allow citizens the choice of receiving medical attention from the secondary provider (empire) until the billing problems and drug testing are handled. Why should the citizens be forced to pay out of pocket for a junkie to attend to them at their time of need?
Yet another blog is following in John's footsteps as regards NXIVM:
http://www.cityandstateny.com/david-soares-pressured-release-cult-documents/#comment-2250
The SSPD had two officers injured, two days in a row, while making arrests for minor offenses (disorderly conduct and trespassing). I'd be interested to know if the dentist can assure us that those officers were not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of those arrests? Having their thought process/motor skills diminished by drugs or alcohol would explain how these trained law enforcement professionals are getting stomped by a couple private citizens.
It seems that the injuries are being inflicted on the younger stud cops. Could it be that we need anger management for these guys.
Are they properly trained (my God, six months training....really!!!!) before hitting the streets of this crime riddled city??.(sarcasm).
Seems like the tooth fairy has been put under a spell by the chiefs of his departments.
DWI's our down is correct. It 's the leadership of the department. Noone wants to due anthing. The place is being run into the ground.
Front page TU story today about the top 10 highest paid Saratoga employees. All cops of course.
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