Month: May 2024

Jennifer Leidig has [correction] resigned completed her term on the Saratoga Springs Civil Service Commission, leaving a vacancy. The Commission has three members. No two can be affiliated with the same political party according to the city charter . Currently one is a Democrat ( Joanna Zangrando), one is a Republican (Tim Holmes), and one is a registered voter with no party affiliation (Ms. Leidig) The Commissioners serve six year staggered terms.

While usually it has been the Mayor who nominates individuals to fill vacancies on this Commission, the City Charter gives the Council the authority to vote to appoint the members.

This time Mayor John Safford has put forward Vince DeLeonardis’s name, but Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran is supporting Jeff Altamari to fill Ms. Leidig’s position. Both candidates are registered voters with no party affiliation so both are technically able to be appointed to the Commission. Mr. Altamari, however, has a very partisan history of supporting the local Democrats and has no experience with municipal employment issues. In contrast Mr. DeLeonardis has stayed clear of partisan politics and as former City Attorney from 2014 to 2022 has extensive knowledge of city civil service issues.

The Saratoga Springs Civil Service Commission is responsible for adopting and modifying local civil service rules, classifying positions and adopting job descriptions, administering the civil service examination process, overseeing and authorizing all employment transactions, and maintaining the official employment records for all employees of the City of Saratoga Springs, the Saratoga Springs Central School District, the Saratoga Springs Public Library, the City Center and the Housing Authority. Readers will remember that controversial issues like whether the Risk and Safety Director should have been under the direction of Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran or Mayor Ron Kim were decided ultimately by the city’s Civil Service Commission.

A Titular Independent

The following are the donations made by Mr. Altamari since July 2020. As is clear, Mr. Altamari’s donations are all to Democrats.

In addition to making donations, Mr. Altamari has served as the treasurer for Joanne Yepsen (D), Meg Kelly (D), and Gordon Boyd (D). He may have served other candidates but these are the three I was able to find. Again, the only candidates he has served as treasurer are all Democrats.

This is a picture of Mr. Altamari at a Democratic Fundraiser from 2017. Mr. Altamari is on the left.

Mr. Altamari had a successful career as an executive with an oil company in Texas and has retired to Saratoga Springs.

While technically, Mr. Altamari is eligible for the independent seat on the Civil Service Commission, his records indicate a strong identification with the Democratic Party.

In October 2017, I posted about an intemperate and inaccurate letter to the editor Mr. Altamari wrote attacking then Accounts Commissioner John Franck. Readers might take the time to watch the video associated with his letter and decide for themselves whether my characterization of it was appropriate.

A Real Independent

Like Mr. Altamari, Vince DeLeonardis is an unaffiliated registered voter. Unlike Mr. Altamari, though, Mr. DeLeonardis has not made a contribution to either the Democrats or the Republicans. His only contribution was to the One Saratoga Party. Readers may remember that this party endorsed both Democrats and Republicans, which, to my mind, epitomizes who would be best suited to act as an independent on the Commission.

More importantly, Mr DeLeonardis served as the City Attorney from October ,2014, until he was unceremoniously dismissed by Mayor Kim in January, 2022. During his tenure, he worked collegially and effectively with the elected officials of both parties on the Council. He established a record of fairness and thoroughness. Clearly, his long tenure as City Attorney means that he would have a much greater understanding of our city government’s staffing than Mr. Altamari who’s only experience was in the private sector.

To this blogger, there is no comparison between the qualifications of Mr. DeLeonardis and Mr. Altamari.

Golub Yet Again The Swing Vote

It is my understanding that Mayor Safford approached Public Works Commissioner Jason Golub to inquire which of the two men he intended to vote for. Golub told him he was supporting Altamari. As Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi has reliably supported every resolution brought forward by Commissioner Moran, so Golub’s vote guarantees that Altamari will be the next appointed member of the Civil Service Commission.

I texted Commissioner Golub, asking him why he was supporting Altamari over DeLeonardis. He never responded.

This is all very disappointing. DeLeonardis was an extraordinary City Attorney who would have provided an invaluable voice on the Commission.

The Saratoga Springs Police Department has issued an appearance ticket instructing Lexis Figuereo to appear in court for failing to apply for a “demonstration declaration” for the May Day Rally for Palestine held on May 1, 2024, in the city. The news coverage and editorials shrilly and inaccurately presented this as an arrest and as an assault on Figuereo’s freedom of speech. The editorial in the May 22, 2024, Daily Gazette is emblematic.

The Founding Fathers thought that the citizens’ right to gather in public places to air their grievances was so vital to a free society that they included it in the very first amendment of the new nation’s Bill of Rights.

So Saratoga Springs officials – who have a long and negative history dealing with protests and who have been chided for their oppressive tactics — might want to consider the Founders’ intentions before they go pressing charges against pro-Palestinian demonstrators for marching without a permit on May 1.

Daily Gazette

This is from Figuereo’s attorney, Mark Mishler:

“It seems particularly outrageous, considering all that has happened in the past several years, including the blistering report from the Attorney General’s Office, which found a pattern of policy on the part of officials in the city of Saratoga Springs of interfering with the First Amendment protected rights of Mr. Figuereo in particular, as well as other leaders and activists within Saratoga BLM,” he said. “It’s somewhat mind boggling how the city of Saratoga Springs, how anybody in any official capacity in the city of Saratoga Springs, could fail to understand that they are proving again, the truth of what the Attorney General’s Office has found already, which is that they are out to violate and interfere with First Amendment protected rights of Saratoga BLM and others. So I guess we will see where this goes.”

Attorney Mark Mishler To The Daily Gazette

The fact that the demonstration proceeded without any intervention should make it abundantly clear that no one’s rights to gather or to speak were interfered with. Not only did the police not stop the demonstration, but they provided security for the demonstrators by redirecting traffic as they marched down Broadway.

The appearance ticket does not deny Mr. Figuereo his right to free speech or to organize or participate in demonstrations as this news coverage would have the public believe.

It is essential to understand that there is no penalty for demonstrating per se as long as the participants do not violate the prohibitions set out in the city code or other city, state, or federal laws.

The appearance ticket has nothing to do with denying Mr. Figuereo his right to speak or to organize a demonstration.

The Requirement For A Demonstration Declaration

The pertinent city code (Section 2, chapter 98) was established in 2005, long before Black Lives Matter came into existence.

The city code requires a group to provide the city with what is called a “demonstration declaration” if it wishes to demonstrate. This form advises the city of the details of the planned event, such as when and where the demonstration will take place and its duration, so the police and fire departments can be prepared.

If the person responsible for organizing the event fails to apply for the declaration, they are subject to a potential fine of $250.00 and/or fifteen days in jail.

The application for a “demonstration declaration” is free. Council members review it to see if they have any issues or requests for further information. As long as the form is correctly filled out, it is uniformly approved.

This process had never been controversial before the pre-planned Saratoga BLM demonstrations and the pop-up demonstration by The Proud Boys. Groups organizing demonstrations have routinely met this requirement.

Unfortunately, the cover sheet for the declaration form is mistitled Procedures For Demonstration Permit, which contributes to the confusion. There are no permits involved!

If the media had done due diligence, they would have found that the coversheet for the declaration form included the following language:

98.1B: No person, corporation, partnership, or other entity shall hold or cause to be held any demonstration without first filing a declaration required by this chapter.

The declaration is simple and requires only a few minutes to complete. There are no fees involved. While it is true that the prior administrations did not enforce this, it is a reasonable requirement, as will be explained later in this post.

In other words, there was no penalty for the demonstration. The penalty was prompted by Mr. Figuereo’s insistence on ignoring his responsibility as the apparent organizer to submit the form.

The information requested in the “declaration” is not frivolous. The city must plan for staffing and other logistics to ensure a safe event. The event organizers must also acknowledge that they have read and understood all the prohibitions (such as no weapons, alcohol, etc.) and other issues for which they are responsible (possibly clean up after the event, for instance)

Filling out and delivering this form is nothing remotely onerous. Escalating this to an attack on the Constitution is absurd. It is grim that the news coverage of the reckless accusations made by Figuereo and his lawyer was so grossly uncritical.

The Declaration Cover Sheet And Form

As an aside, as a civil libertarian I have questioned the inclusion of the question, “Do you plan on having guest speakers? If yes, what topics you are promoting?” It has been explained to me, though, that this information is helpful in anticipating and preparing for what kind of counter-demonstrations might occur.

Duplicitous Cries from Lex

“It’s disgusting,” Figuereo said. “If we were openly committing a crime in front of the police, why didn’t they arrest us then?”

Lexis Figuereo in the May 22, 2024, Times Union

Readers may be familiar with BLM’s previous complaints that the city fails to de-escalate situations involving their interaction with demonstrators. It should be evident that trying to issue a citation (there is a distinction between an arrest and a citation, which will be discussed later in the post) to Figuereo during the demonstration would have risked a confrontation, which the police prudently wanted to avoid.

There is also much to be said for the prudence and caution shown by Chief Tyler and his officers. As there was no immediate danger, they took the time to carefully consider what violations, if any, were appropriate to prompt a citation.

Rather than allowing Figuereo and his colleagues to exploit their respective news organizations to vilify the city, the media needed to consider all the issues properly in their reports and commentaries.

Arrest Versus Citation

Wendy Liberatore’s Times Union report repeatedly sensationally and incorrectly claimed that the Saratoga Police were going to arrest participants in the May 1 demonstration. No such action was planned nor executed. A custodial arrest involves taking the alleged perpetrator into custody. A citation, or appearance ticket, notifies an individual that they must appear in court to answer whatever violation they are charged with. The police action was to issue a ticket, not an arrest. The TU has not printed a correction.

A violation does not constitute a criminal act. A speeding ticket is a violation. Illegally parking is a violation. Failing to apply for a “demonstration declaration” is a violation in this case. It is considered to be a minor matter. A person who commits a violation can answer truthfully on a job application that they have never been convicted of a crime.

A judge might not even fine or jail Mr. Figuereo but could merely admonish him to apply for declarations before organizing future demonstrations.

No Leader?

The city code makes the individual organizing a demonstration responsible for submitting the “demonstration declaration” form. In the news stories, Mr. Figuereo and his colleague Samira Sangare deny that Figuereo was the event organizer. I don’t know what constitutes legal proof of who the organizer of the event was. In the case of the Daily Gazette, the photos accompanying the stories show Figuereo prominently leading the marchers, addressing the participants with a bullhorn, and leading them in chants. The Saratoga BLM Facebook page also featured a post, “Calling all students workers and community members….to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people” in Congress Park on May 1. Figuereo has repeatedly been identified as the leader of Saratoga BLM. I am not a lawyer, but it does appear there is plenty of documentation of his role in organizing and leading the demonstration.

The Court Will Decide

When Mr. Figuereo finally appears in court, there will be no room for bravado and drama. Ironically, he will find himself in a situation eerily like Donald Trump’s, where he will have to sit uncomfortably as the court reviews the facts and the law. We will have to wait to see the outcome.

Never shy, former Saratoga Springs Mayor Ron Kim issued a press release on October 18, 2023, touting a new software package to archive text messages from city phones. On February 22, 2024, Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi went to the media (WRGB) to tout the program’s implementation to capture texts from city officials’ phones. As of today, May 20, 2024, Commissioner Sangvi, the project manager, still has not deployed this software, wasting over $6,000 of the public’s money.

Readers will remember that Sanghvi has repeatedly alleged(as she suggests again in this news clip) that past elected officials had somehow tampered with their phones in response to the Attorney General’s investigation regarding the Saratoga Springs Police Department even though there has never been any evidence of this happening. Former Mayor Kim, Sanghvi, and Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran frequently maintained there was an urgent need to archive text messages sent by city officials.

The contract with the winning proposal from SMARSH was signed on October 17, 2023, for $12,942.12. According to the contract, it would take effect the day it was approved. For some reason, Sanghvi waited until February to get approval for the archiving policies, and even then, the software was not deployed.

As of today, the archive software has not yet been implemented. By my calculations, Sanghvi has been unable to implement the software for seven months. It has been three months since she told WRGB it had been implemented.

It is true that the head of IT who Sanghvi hired quit months ago during this period . The Police Department’s IT specialist has been filling in as Sanghvi still has not hired a replacement. All reports attest to his skills, but the IT department needs a full-time head. This disruption in leadership of the department should have made little difference, however. The SMARSH software is web-based. After a few configuration entries, the software simply requires the telephone numbers to be tracked. SMARSH has an agreement with Verizon to capture all incoming and outgoing texts in real-time. All this should have been done months ago.

I leave it to the reader to consider why Sanghvi told WRGB that she had implemented this software when she spoke to them in February and why it has taken so long and still not been implemented. It is also unclear why she has been unable to fill the IT director position.

This talk was given at the Methodist Church In Saratoga Springs on Monday, May 13, 2024. It is a thoughtful exploration of the roots of the horrendous violence of October 7 and the Israeli government’s response.

For Immediate Release

A Public Speaking Event On The Israeli/Gaza Crisis

 

Dr. Aaron Berman to speak on the history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.  Dr. Berman is professor emeritus of history of Hampshire College.  Dr. Berman has written extensively on the modern history of Jews and oppression.  He is the author of the book Nazism, the Jews and American Zionism: 1933-1948.  Among his other writing are reviews of Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy Toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt and “American Zionists, the Drive for a Jewish Commonwealth and the Holocaust,” Holocaust Studies Annual I (1983).

Dr. Berman will be focus on the pre-October 7, 2024 events.  

John Kaufmann who has organized the talk observed that “many of us are devastated by the violence of the Hamas raid in October and by the violence of the Israeli state in response to that attack.  For us, the central question is where did this catastrophe come from?” Rather than focusing on the current events, Dr. Berman will be discussing how the conflict between the two peoples attempting to share the same space came to this point.

The talk will take place on May 13, 2024 at the Methodist Church on Hemming Road, Saratoga Springs at 7:00 PM.  All are welcome.

 

John Kaufmann

(cell) 518-281-2173

44 White Street

Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

 

According to the Daily Gazette, the Saratoga County District Attorney has initiated a probe related to on-call pay for Saratoga Springs Deputy Commissioners. On April 24, 2024, Saratoga County Judge James Murphy III authorized subpoenas that were served on the city on April 25, 2024.

The subpoena seeks all on-call pay forms, payroll records and approval of on-call forms and records that “note the amount of on-call pay” for Crocker, Rella, Connors and O’Neill.

The subpoena also request the vacation and leave requests for the three deputy commissioners and deputy mayor, as well as “emails to or from Brook Vanbuskirk, Lisa Ribis, and Stacy Connors discussing Section ‘E’ of the ‘on-call’ pay resolution that was passed by the City of Saratoga Springs Council 02/09/2023.”

Daily Gazette Website May 10, 2024

The Gazette has declined to report on the story in the past, and the article seems somewhat confused about what the investigation is about.

Based on the items reported as being sought by the DA and Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi’s comments, there seem to potentially be two aspects.

The first concern seems to be whether the Deputy Commissioners improperly applied for and received bonus money designated for being on-call outside of normal city business operation hours. I speculate that this could also include whether their respective bosses are culpable for approving their payments.

The second concerns the changing of the wording of the resolution that authorized payments for on-call. The version approved by the Council was at some point later altered adding the word “event” to broaden the description of the circumstances that would make a Deputy eligible for the on-call pay. Tampering with official public records is a potential felony. Earlier this year, the City Attorneys determined that the resolution had been altered but did not identify who did this or how it was done. In an earlier post, I reproduced a document indicating the resolution had been altered on the computer of Stacy Connors, the Deputy Commissioner of Accounts.

Sanghvi told the Gazette that “as far as I know, the City Council voted on it twice with the word in it.” There was a second vote on the resolution to correct a typographical error regarding the vacation benefits for deputies. By that time, the resolution had been altered. The Gazette article, however, contains the original language of the resolution that the Council, including Sanghvi, voted for, which does not contain the altered language. Regrettably, the reporter did not follow up and point this out to Sanghvi.

Commissioner of Finance Minita Sanghvi told the Daily Gazette that the investigation “seems like a fishing expedition to me.” It is important to note that her office had to approve the payments to the Deputies and that she personally approved the bonus pay for her own Deputy.

Moran’s Timing

It does not seem coincidental that Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran issued his Request For Proposals for law firms to act directly as attorneys for his office along with Public Works and Finance on the same day the city received the subpoenas. Moran had previously denounced the opinion issued by the two city attorneys, Tony Izzo and David Harper, that had confirmed the doctoring of the on-call resolution and raised doubts as to the legality of payments for on-call. In addition to the subpoenas, he received notice that Caron Schermerhorn was suing him on the same day.

The May 7, 2024, Saratoga Springs City Council meeting was yet another unwelcome trip down memory lane as Accounts Commissioner Dillon Moran and Finance Commissioner Minita Sanghvi tried unsuccessfully to block paying a bill the city was legally required to pay. Readers will sadly remember similar attempts by these and other members of the last administration to avoid fulfilling the city’s financial obligations.

At issue at this meeting was paying a bill for approximately $4,800.00 from former Mayor Meg Kelly’s lawyer for work done regarding the New York State Attorney General’s report on the Saratoga Springs Police Department’s Response to Protests in 2021.

In a previous post, I published the opinion issued by the city’s two attorneys, which made clear that the city is required to pay the legal bills of elected officials arising from actions performed in carrying out their duties.

As the attached video documents, Moran and Sanghvi simply ignored any inconvenient documents, laws, or regulations that might expose the fallacies in the narratives they crafted for the benefit of what they hope is a credulous public. They launched a full-throated attack on former Mayor Kelly in an attempt to block the payment of her lawyer’s bill.

The Attack

Readers will remember that this attack on Kelly was launched by comments made by Kristen Dart at the last Council meeting. Dart’s attempt to stop the payment of Kelly’s lawyer because, she argued, the Mayor had allegedly acted outside the scope of her role as Mayor, was refuted in a legal opinion from the city’s attorneys. Moran and Sanghvi now abandoned that tactic and launched a panoply of new and different arguments at this meeting.

Moran’s and Sanghvi’s first arguments focused on part of the Attorney General’s report which falsely claimed that former Mayor Meg Kelly had failed to comply with the AG staff’s requests. Moran and Sanghvi purported to be morally outraged at the possibility of paying lawyer fees for someone who had failed to comply with the AG’s investigation.

Inconveniently for Moran and Sanghvi, however, Kelly’s attorney, Karl Sleight, had provided the city with correspondence thoroughly documenting his communications with the AG’s office, clearly refuting their allegation of non-cooperation. Sanghvi had crafted a fancy slide presentation containing the text from the AG report, and out of malice or incompetence, she found no need to acknowledge Sleight’s correspondence, let alone refute it. [This link to an earlier post explores all this in detail.]

More importantly, and indicative of how myopic Moran and Sanghvi are, even if the false information in the AG’s report had been accurate, it still would not have absolved the city of its obligation to pay Kelly’s attorney’s bill.

Public Works Commissioner Jason Golub and Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll patiently tried to explain all this to them, but it did not deter Sanghvi from continuing her flawed arguments.

One part of Sanghvi’s slide show compared the number of texts Robin Dalton had provided to the AG to Kelly’s. Sanghvi saw this as proof of Kelly’s non-compliance. As the video documents, Golub, who, as he points out, is a lawyer, was especially effective and clear in his attempts to explain to her the problems with this argument.

Sanghvi and Moran next became focused on what they saw as a contradiction in Mayor Safford’s comments. Safford had said he understood that the bill from Sleight would be the last, yet the resolution, they complained, said the city would pay future bills. Sanghvi and Moran claimed they had been told by the City Attorneys that the AG report was closed, so how could there be future bills? Sanghvi wanted a friendly amendment to cap the bills.

Here again, Golub, in his quiet style, repeatedly explained to them that nothing prevented the AG’s office from reopening their investigation, which is why both things could be true, i.e., that the investigation was over, implying there would be no more bills, but that further legal action and more bills which would have to be paid were possible.

Coll attempted to explain the danger of this stratagem to Sanghvi. He reminded her that it was hard enough to attract candidates for office given the $14,500.00 salary. However, it would be disastrous to leave open the idea that the city would not fully indemnify city officers with whatever it took to defend them.

Sanghvi, apparently in an attempt to save face, suggested that they cap the current bills with Kelly’s, and if there were more legal issues in the future, they could fund more then. If she’s ok with funding future bills, what was the point of opposing that language in the resolution?

In the end, Sanghvi voted not to pay the bill, even after noting that her job as Finance Commissioner was to pay bills. Moran abstained, while Coll, Safford, and Golub voted yes to pay the bill the city was legally obliged to pay.

The ignorance of Sanghvi and Moran displayed at the meeting, along with their foolish intransigence, only adds to the concern that if they could be so out of touch with the law on this matter, what is going on in their offices daily.

In Praise Of Meg Kelly

I am particularly disturbed by Commissioners Sanghvi and Moran’s callousness in their gratuitous and cavalier attacks on former Mayor Meg Kelly. It is not clear to me what their purpose is in continuing to launch these attacks, particularly on a fellow Democrat who is not going to run for office again. Does Sanghvi somehow think this will help her run for the NY State Senate in which she is currently engaged?

Our elected officials are paid a meager $14,500.00 a year. This inadequate salary has not been adjusted since its establishment thirty years ago. While the positions are ostensibly part-time, many who serve, such as Kelly, devote more than full-time to the duties. For all intents and purposes, these officials are virtually volunteers. Let me emphasize this last point. They virtually dedicate their lives to serving the citizens of this city for two-year stints. In Kelly’s case, it was four years.

I cannot think of any Mayor who achieved more than Mayor Kelly during my almost 50 years as a resident in this city. As just a few examples:

• This city had been trying to build an EMS/fire station to serve the eastside plateau for decades. Finding an affordable plot of land had eluded administration after administration. As Mayor, Kelly negotiated a deal with the New York Racing Association for virtually nothing, making the project viable.
• The city had secured grants to build a bike path in the Geyser Crest area, but the project had languished for years due to conflicts with property owners and the town of Milton. Kelly patiently and persistently worked with all the players to resolve the outstanding issues, and today, the community benefits from her efforts.
• When Kelly took office, the building inspection department was a dysfunctional mess. Michael Biffer, who had done outstanding work in a thankless job as the former head, had retired, and there was a leadership vacuum. The backlog of building permits and inspections was disgraceful. Kelly reformed that department and radically improved its productivity.
• During the COVID epidemic, the county’s Department of Social Services refused to provide lodging for the homeless. This was not just a moral issue but a threat to public health. Through Kelly’s efforts, generously supported financially by Scott Earl of Twin Bridges Waste and Recycling, she arranged for them to be housed at the Holiday Inn.
• Construction of the City Centre parking facility had also languished for years due to what appeared to be intransigent litigation. Kelly worked successfully with all parties to resolve the conflict.
• Kelly ended the gun show at the City Centre. [Something I actually opposed doing but which had wide spread public support]
• Kelly did an extraordinary job of leadership during the crisis of the city hall fire. Moving the city operations to other locations, working with Commissioner Skip Scirocco to facilitate the rehabilitation the building, and maintaining unity among the Council members was quite an achievement.

Mayor Kelly could be tough. When she ran for her first term as Mayor, she refused to take my calls. She also ran a tight ship. If I wanted to meet with her, I had to first provide her with a memorandum outlining my issues.

She strictly limited the public’s input at City Council meetings, limiting speakers to two minutes. Her sometimes imperious style offended many. Like every other speaker, I was sternly cut off at the end of my allotted time. I felt, though, that the important issue was that the City Council’s deliberations were efficient during her tenure.

The most revealing thing about Kelly has been her work with the homeless after she left office. It reflects her compassion and her take care of business persona. Meg Kelly walks the walk.

Dr. Aaron Berman

Public Talk On the Israeli/Palestinian Crisis

Dr. Aaron Berman to speak on the history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.  Dr. Berman is a professor emeritus of history at Hampshire College.  Dr. Berman has written extensively on the modern history of Jews and oppression.  He is the author of the book Nazism, the Jews and American Zionism: 1933-1948.  Among his other writings are reviews of Frank W. Brecher, Reluctant Ally: United States Foreign Policy Toward the Jews from Wilson to Roosevelt and “American Zionists, the Drive for a Jewish Commonwealth and the Holocaust,” Holocaust Studies Annual I (1983). 

Dr. Berman will focus on the pre-October 7, 2024 events.   

John Kaufmann, who is organizing the talk, observed that “many of us are devastated by the violence of the Hamas raid in October and by the violence of the Israeli state in response to that attack.  The central question for us is where this catastrophe came from?” Rather than focusing on the current events, Dr. Berman will discuss how the conflict between the two peoples attempting to share the same space came to this point. 

The talk will occur on May 13, 2024, at the Methodist Church on 175 Fifth Ave., Saratoga Springs, at 7:00 PM.  All are welcome. 

Contact Info:

John Kaufmann