[A reader contacted me to advise that the meeting will be at 6:00 PM. It is listed on the city’s calendar. The issues of a proper agenda remain. The agenda is supposed to be headed by the date, time, and place which this blogger has traditionally relied on]
The Saratoga Springs City Council attempted to meet on Tuesday, February 7,2023.
Members of the Black Lives Matter organization disrupted the meeting during the public comment period. They refused to relinquish the microphone. Mayor Kim had to endure what his predecessor Meg Kelly had been subject to. It was impossible to transact the city’s business as the BLM shouting made any semblance of order impossible. Kim adjourned the meeting three times in an attempt to bring order without success.
In the end, he told the BLM people that he would schedule a special meeting to hear their grievances.
He also announced that he would schedule a special meeting to try to act on the city business that their disruption had blocked.
In an all too familiar mess up, the city’s website indicates that there will be a City Council meeting tomorrow (February 9, 2024), but it fails to include what time the meeting will be held. When you click on the icon for the agenda to find out what time the meetings will be convened, you get the exact same agenda that was posted for the February 7 meeting, including the original date, which of course, is the wrong date.
Given the short notice, most of the public will have no idea that the City Council will be meeting on the 9th anyway.
Saratoga Springs Politics 
I was notified by an e mail that the meeting will start at 6:00 PM in the Music Hall tonight. I thought that there is another meeting previously scheduled for the same time in the City Center regarding Union Aenue?
Chris Mathiesen
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There was supposed to be a meeting about Union Ave. on the 9th. It apparently has been changed to the 16th. The Mayor’s office doesn’t make it easy to find any of this out.
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Why are city officials allowing children to run the show?
Someone needs to step up and act like the adult in the room.
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Even as someone who agrees with much of what the larger BLM movement stands for, this local group is really doing a disservice to their cause, especially with their continued references to Daryl Mount. He was drunk and physically assaulting his girlfriend, then fell while running from the police. The death of any young person is tragic, but to ignore all that and paint him as some sort of innocent victim from an alleged crime no one saw happen isn’t going to help bring forward the systemic changes that are desperately needed locally and nationally. Maybe the officers up for promotion aren’t right for the job, but them being related to that case shouldn’t be enough to keep them from even being considered.
https://www.saratogian.com/2022/02/15/public-safety-head-releases-draft-report-on-circumstances-surrounding-darryl-mount-death/#:~:text=%E2%80%9COn%20Aug.,both%20became%20intoxicated%20and%20quarreled.
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As bad as Darryl Mount arguably was, that doesn’t make what happened to him right. And if there was a crime instead of an accident, then there were witnesses who saw it happen-the perpetrators themselves, who definitely aren’t talking. In this situation, the only witness that can tell what happened is the body of Darryl Mount, the injuries (and lack of injuries) that are evidence a 20 foot fall never happened, unlike what Saratoga police have been claiming literally for years. Can anyone really believe that someone fell about 20 feet with reportedly no injuries to the pelvis, sternum, vertebrae, ribs, kneecaps, etc. – that the only injury was basically to one side of the face/skull, as if they’d been clubbed? And would Saratoga police really handcuff the unconscious victim of a 20 foot fall as in news reports they admit to doing – thereby risking a personal injury lawsuit for moving the injured person?
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I’ve read this so many times in the comments here. I saw an interview with the girlfriend. She apparently had gotten into a fight with another girl and Mount was trying to break it up. She said she wasn’t assaulted.
“As bad as Darryl Mount arguably was” etc. seems to be the theme here, at least among the commenters.
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@Mulligan In the Saratogian link provided, it states:
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“At her deposition in the civil lawsuit, McLean stated under oath that there had been a physical incident between herself and Mount around 2 a.m. She said that the two had been quarreling. Mount, who was holding her ID card in his hand, had slapped her across the face with it.
“Later, around 3 a.m., McLean was on Caroline Street near where it intersects with Broadway. She was walking on the sidewalk and talking with an unidentified young man. From the other side of the street, Mount charged after her. He was swinging his arms in the air and shouting, “F—k you!”
“Officers McIntosh and Warfield, who were on the side of Caroline Street opposite that on which McLean was walking, witnessed this. They shouted to Mount and directed him to stop. The officers then headed toward Mount, who was still running toward McLean. Before the officers could reach Mount, he grabbed McLean’s head in both his hands and shoved her into the brick wall of a nearby building. McLean crumpled to the ground from the blow. Though McLean would later deny that her head had made contact with the wall, she ultimately admitted to it under oath. In her testimony, McLean stated that she suffered bruising, swelling, and a cut under her hairline.
“After having shoved McLean’s head into the wall, Mount ran toward Broadway. Officers McIntosh and Warfield gave chase, and pursued Mount, he turned left onto Broadway.”
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Under oath she said nothing about fighting another girl, and witnesses saw him abusing her. I don’t know why she’d change her story, other than pointing out how vitriolic Mount defenders are, despite a lack of any real evidence pointing to police violence.
To Jim C.’s comment, I’m not saying physical abuse should be a death sentence. My point is that Mount is a poor figurehead for the local BLM to keep focusing on, especially with the facts we do know. “As if they’d been clubbed” is a reach given where witnesses say they saw the various officers involved. I don’t know how he died, and as I said initially it’s a shame when any young person passes. We may never know what really happened. But what we do know is that he had a .18% blood alcohol content, had been physically abusive that evening (showing poor judgement and decision making), and died after fleeing the police in a dark alley, one that had multiple ways for him to fall less than the 20 feet you describe.
By no means do I always take the cops at their word, but this whole Mount case seems like a reach, and one that is turning off more potential BLM allies than helping, myself included.
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You! They are currently on the Mayor’s agenda – 6:25pm
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Meant, “Yup”
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Just so it’s known, the comment “as bad as Darryl Mount arguably was” doesn’t come from questionable allegations of drunkenness and assaulting his girlfriend.
https://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Man-charged-in-rash-of-Saratoga-Springs-thefts-2185841.php
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A little off topic, but of interest to me and the creator of this wonderful blog. There has been one video available on the city’s website THIS YEAR regarding our Planning Board meetings and our Zoning Board meetings. Most taxpaying citizens of Saratoga Springs do not have the time, the energy, and in some cases the physical ability to attend these meetings in person. Many plans are already “in the works”, and some are no doubt already approved. Where is the transparency that was promised by EVERY City Council member?
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Thank you, Henry. Very troubling
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