A New Addition: This Is Not A Joke (But It Should Be)
In order to snuff a crime spree of people parking in elected city officials’ parking spaces, Saratoga Springs Public Safety Commissioner James Montagnino has taken decisive action…regarding his parking space. The picture above is not photo-shopped.
Also, apparently, the current City Council has added a new perk for their deputies. They too now have special reserved parking spaces.
This is progressāļø
An Understaffed Police Department Faces A Difficult Summer
The latest video from Talking Saratoga discusses the problems faced by the Saratoga Springs Police Department growing out of the problematic management of Commissioner Montagnino. The new patrolman promised by Commissioner Montagnino due to his elimination of one of the three police lieutenants has apparently not happened and the police force now has twenty vacancies as the department continues to lose sworn staff.
Here is the link: https://fb.watch/doKBStNeIf/
Saratoga Springs Politics 
The deputy jobs are full time, meaning they should be working something like 9-5 or whatever city hall hours are, right? If so, this is a boneheaded use of power. There are always spots on surrounding streets at that time, which would allow the parking lot spots to be open for city residents to use as they go in and out of City Hall or shop on Broadway. Are the deputies too lazy to walk a block or two?
Council members having dedicated spots makes some sense as they come in at irregular hours, could be called in for emergencies, and get paid a pittance, but this decision is another disappointing one by this group, who consistently put themselves and those close to them over the citizens they represent.
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I have patiently waited all day and am frankly a bit disappointed, only because you and your readers are so astute when it comes to local issues. Despite the fact that Commissioner Montegnino is the smartest attorney heās ever met (well, when alone in the menās room)ā¦ā¦.. in order to enforce a city ordinance you must post it. And I have Mark Benequisto to thank for teaching me āIāll do whatever the Commissioner says after he follows the lawā. So, El NiƱo does not own the city of Saratoga Springs, its streets or parking lots – he is merely employed by us mortal tax payers and the much fewer voters. He can hang all the signs he wants but According to city code 225-87 Schedule XXII: Time-Limit Parking āhisā designated spot and the rest of the parking spots aligned to the City Councilā¦.let me quote [Added 5-18-2004] Southernmost portion of municipal parking lot between Maple Avenue and High Rock Avenue (165.52-4-45) is a 2 hour lot. With no exceptions. So this is the equivalent of residents that live on Nelson Ave and put NO PARKING SIGNS in front of their houses during the racing season on city streets. Canāt do it. Wonāt work. Anybody can park in those ādesignatedā spots for 2 hours at least until we have a politician that has the balls to say Iām worth more than these parking spots (we have 2 the āRonJim show) so now by decree, via public comment and vote, I now own this spot. Which not one has done since 2004. Why? Whatās the value of that spot? Well letās rough that out. Parking lot on the corner of Henry and Caroline – very close – appraised by the city before sale approximately 2 years ago for $500,000 (sold for much more) with 19 parking spots. Obviously the lot El NiƱo is commandeering is bigger, paved and probably worth more but lets go with this. 19 parking spaces/$500,000 $26,315 per parking spot. And he wants 10 spaces. Donāt you think the tax payers have the right to weigh in on whether or not they think our elected officials are worth $250,000+? As a tax payer would you rather have someone (a resident or tourist) go shopping or have lunch or dinner (spend money) for 2 hours or have our part time elected officials and 9-5 deputies āownā $250,000 worth of parking spots 24 hours a day 7 days week, when they could park for free in the City Center Parking Garage according to the contract that has been in place since it was built?. As long as those parking spots have existed nobody questioned because nobody cared because we trusted we had public servants serving our interests parking in them. Now we must question. Now we really must care. Pay attention to everything. Our future depends on it. The brave ones will stand up to RonJim.
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So interesting that Minita claimed that she couldn’t “afford to pay for parking in the beautiful parking deck” . She apparently knows so little about her job or the city that she didn’t know as you pointed out that she could park there for free. As I recall that surface lot behind city hall was exclusively for city hall personnel parking. When the city center garage was built one of the arrangements was to allot free parking spots for city employees in the garage so the parking lot behind city hall could become a public lot. I see Mayor Kim has an item on Tuesday’s (6/7) agenda entitled “announcement Employee Parking in City Center Garage.” So maybe he will bring these newbies up to speed. Or maybe he will try to take credit for making this arrangement which has in fact been in place since the city center garage was finished. So will the now 10 spaces taken up by council members and their deputies be released to the public and will the strange tow zone signs (which are now up on not only Montagnino’s spot but also on the Deputy Accounts Commissioner spot) come down?? Stay tuned…..
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