Saratoga Springs Politics

I received a response from Public Safety Commissioner Peter Martin regarding Chris Mathiesen’s letter expressing reservations about the Lake Avenue bike lane proposal..

The full text is below but I want to offer some observations on his emails.

Commissioner Martin makes a very compelling argument rejecting Mathiesen’s recommendation about an alternative bike route.  Commissioner Martin asserts that a study done on bike usage shows that Lake Avenue is one of the most actively used roads as regards bike traffic.  It seems more than reasonable to assume that bike riders will continue to ride the full length of Lake Avenue even if a safer route along Caroline or York Avenue were available.  If the goal of the bike lane is not only to encourage bike riding but more importantly, to make bike riding safer, it is important to make Lake Avenue as safe as possible.

In fact, Mr. Martin references a study done by Creighton Manning in 2016 that stated that “…adding  5’ bike lanes to Lake Avenue…. would provide traffic calming which will also provide a more pedestrian friendly environment.”

Commissioner Martin also asserts that very few parking spaces will be lost by implementing his plan.  He observes that currently people park along the Eastside Recreational Fields in a haphazard manner and that he is working with the school system that manages the fields to create a more efficient parking pattern.  This could minimize the impact of the lost parking spaces.

Still, while it is regrettable to inconvenience some home owners in removing their on-street parking, Martin points out that all these homes have driveways. In the interest of pursuing the public good, it can be argued that the change would be worth it.

Commissioner Mathiesen’s critique pointed out that Lake Avenue has a narrow stretch.  Mr. Mathiesen explained in his letter that the city’s employee who dealt with traffic control, was concerned about the impact of increasing this constriction by adding two five foot bike lanes to this stretch.   Commissioner Martin did a power point presentation at the last City Council meeting.  In one of the graphics shown this problematic stretch has some lines superimposed on the image indicating where Lake Avenue might be widened by a future road project.  In his follow up email me he simply offers that this will be an area that may need additional work in the future.  While I would have preferred something more thought out, I am willing to accept that if this bottle neck ends up being a problem that the city will invest whatever may be necessary to rectify it in the future.

I applaud Commissioner Martin’s efforts to expand and improve the city’s bike trail system.

I am putting a link to the power point presentation he did for the City Council meeting.  The images show a rendering of the bike lanes along sections of Lake Avenue.  There is also a map documenting the intensity of bike use on the streets of our city.

Unfortunately, if the readers of this blog do not have power point installed on their computer, they will not be able to view the graphics.  I asked Commissioner Martin to provide me with the images of  Lake Avenue and the map of bike use intensity so that I could post them on my site to make them accessible to more of my readers .  I was quite troubled by his response.  He declined my request on the basis that the renderings are tentative and are subject to change once the engineering studies are done.  As you will read in his email, he believed that in order to understand their tentative nature, the graphics had to be presented as part of his power point presentation. 

Power Point Presentation

This excess of caution probably reflects his career as a lawyer.  I think he badly underestimates the readers of this blog.  The graphics include large lettering stating on each image that they are “drafts.”  The substance of his emails also make clear that the bike lanes as proposed are subject to change as the project matures.

One other note, in a joint letter that appeared in the Saratogian today, Sunday, Todd Shimkus who is the executive director of the Chamber of Commerce and Art Holmberg who is the president of Sustainable Saratoga endorsed the Lake Avenue bike lane project.

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From: Peter Martin [peter.martin@saratoga-springs.org]
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2018 8:42 PM
To: John Kaufmann
Subject: Re: Follow up
Attachments: Lake Avenue Bike Lanes Revised 4.pptx

Dear John,
I was traveling on vacation when I saw your first e-mail.  Please pardon the delayed response.  I have attached a power-point which I presented at our most recent city council meeting.
I have reviewed the Reader’s View submitted by Chris Mathiesen, my predecessor as Public Safety Commissioner and was struck by two things:
1.        Every fact that he states is honest and correct; and
2.        His conclusions are flawed because he missed several additional pertinent facts and the analysis of several national experts in this area.
Let me start by stating that Chris Mathiesen is a friend and I respect many of his
accomplishments as he served our city, both on the city zoning board (where he served as chairperson) and on the city council.  This does not mean that I agree with every position that he took in his many years of City service and, specifically, I disagree with his conclusions that resulted in the failure to improve the safety of our City by striping Lake Avenue with Bike Lanes.

I have spoken with many residents who live on and near Lake Avenue, as well as many
residents who travel to the schools, churches, and recreation field on that street.  There is no unanimous choice about whether to mark bike lanes on this street, although the large majority of those who have spoken to me, support marked bike lanes here.  This majority includes many residents who currently ride on Lake Avenue on their bicycles – both adults and children.  As explained in my presentation, the attached slide titled “Current Bicycle Traffic . . .” is a STRAVA heat map representing the number of riders who use GPS for their bike trips.  By this measure, Lake Avenue is one of the most heavily traveled bike routes in Saratoga Springs.  In addition to recreational through-riders, I have spoken with students who ride to practice at the Rec. Fields and adults who commute on Lake Ave. to work.  There is, today, a bike-safety issue on Lake Avenue and the proposed bike lanes address this issue.
Many of the residents who have spoken to me about Lake Avenue note the number of large trucks that use that rode as well as the perceived speed with which many vehicles travel.  I agree that both present a challenge to safety as the road is currently marked.  This challenge affects pedestrians crossing Lake Avenue and other drivers as well as bicyclists traveling along the street.  National studies show that designated bike lanes help calm traffic and direct vehicles to the travel lanes, away from pedestrians and cyclists.   In 2016, the Department of Public Safety commissioned a report titled “Pedestrian Safety Audit and Recommendations”, which was prepared by two engineering firms, Creighton Manning and Alta Planning and Design.  In pertinent part, this report recommended “adding  5’ bike lanes to Lake Ave.  This would provide
traffic calming which will also provide a more pedestrian friendly environment.”
It should be noted that only a portion of the parking along Lake Avenue would be lost to
accommodate the bike lanes.  Although we are working with concept drawings until we
commission and receive engineered scaled drawings, we do not anticipate losing parking
between Regent St. and East Ave., and only one side of the street parking between East Ave and Ritchie Place.  The aforementioned Pedestrian Safety Audit states : ” It may require the park’s (East Side Rec’s) parking to be restructured though, in order to accommodate the loss of on street parking.”  This is most certainly an appropriate time to work on improved safety for parking at the East Side Rec because the Saratoga Springs City School District just approved funding for their Great Outdoors Project, which includes significant enhancements to the East Side Rec.  Adding legal, safe parking along the northwestern corner of the East Side Rec. should be possible and would be a very positive improvement.  We expect that improved bike accessability throughout Saratoga Springs will reduce the automobile traffic that is the subject of so many complaints.
In his opinion piece, Mr. Mathiesen suggested that bike lanes could be added to smaller side streets rather than Lake Avenue.  This is not practical for several reasons.  First, many of the recommended streets are not wide enough to support bike lanes.  Also, they cross other major streets at points that are not as well marked, or that lack traffic signals which protect bikers.

Further, bikers, like pedestrians, frequently choose to take the shortest distance between two points, and inconvenient bike routes will not cause them to change their travel patterns.

We will engage surveyors and engineers to design bike lanes on Lake Avenue that improve the safety  for all who travel along this heavily used street.  In my power-point presentation, I included  two pictures from Madison Avenue in Albany, which is State Route 20.  It has been reported that those bike lanes, which were controversial when first proposed, are heavily used by bikers and enjoy great popularity.

John, these proposed bike lanes are just one of several Complete Street accommodations that can improve the lives, the health and the safety of our residents and guests in Saratoga Springs.

Accommodations for alternative modes of transportation are necessary for the success of our city in the 21st century.

Peter R. Martin
Commissioner of Public Safety
City of Saratoga Springs
_____________________________________
City Hall, 474 Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Phone: (518) 587-3550 ext. 2627
Email: peter.martin@saratoga-springs.org
_____________________________________

 

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From: Peter Martin <peter.martin@saratoga-springs.org> Date: June 29, 2018 at 2:40:12 PM EDT To: John Kaufmann <john.kaufmann21@gmail.com> Subject: Re: Follow up

Dear John,

The overhead street photos that were incorporated in the power-point presentation represent a concept drawing only.  They are marked draft because we expect that the final engineered drawings will have some differences.  I would prefer that they only be presented as part of the powerpoint, because they should not be interpreted as final plans.  The engineer who prepared these concept drawings has informed me that Lake Ave can support safety improvements for bike riders from Regent eastward past the Eastside Rec. and St. Clements Church.  The exact location of bike lanes and transitions at the East Side Rec. may take one configuration initially, and then be revised if the city and the school district improve the parking situation along the narrower stretch  that you have asked about.  I will request engineered reports that provide alternatives that can further enhance pedestrian and bicycle safety along Lake Ave. over time.

One additional thought about the alternatives on side streets.  As I previously mentioned, crossing a major intersection from a side street is more dangerous than crossing at a signaled intersection along a major thoroughfare.  Further, side streets like York do not connect many of the popular destinations that Lake connects.  Bicyclists would then be left to unmarked streets to reach these popular destinations (e.g. Lake Ave. Elementary).

I hope that the council and the citizens embrace this proposal as good start to the advantages of complete streets in Saratoga Springs.

Thank you for your interest in this proposal.

Peter

 

Peter R. Martin Commissioner of Public Safety City of Saratoga Springs _____________________________________ City Hall, 474 Broadway Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 Phone: (518) 587-3550 ext. 2627 Email: peter.martin@saratoga-springs.org _____________________________________

 

From: “John Kaufmann” <john.kaufmann21@gmail.com> To: “Peter Martin” <peter.martin@saratoga-springs.org> Cc: “Meg Kelly” <meg.kelly@saratoga-springs.org>, “Skip Sciroco” <skip.scirocco@saratoga-springs.org>, “Michele Madigan” <michele.madigan@saratoga-springs.org>, “John Franck” <johnfranck@your-cpas.com> Sent: Friday, June 29, 2018 7:34:04 AM Subject: RE: Follow up

Thank you for your very thoughtful response.  I do have one question.

Mr. Mathiesen expressed concern about the narrow section of Lake Avenue as a problem.  As I read your map, you identify this as a possible area for what appears to be widening of the street to address this issue.  I have no idea as to the cost or other potential obstacles to doing this but as I understand your plan, the striping would be done prior to any project to widen the street.  Could you offer your thoughts about this particular concern.

As  I understand it, Mr. Mathiesen does not envisage the bike lanes along the alternate route he proposes as exclusive but rather he sees them as “sharrows” which would mitigate the issue of limited space.  Still, I take your point that people will see Lake Avenue as the fastest route and tend to continue to use it.

Also, I would like to post the map and the images of the roads that appeared in your power point presentation.  Would it be possible to get a copy of these images?

My plan is to post the text of your email along with the pictures should you make them available on my site with little in the way of comment by me.  As I understand it, the council will be voting on the plan at the next meeting so I would like to get the post up as soon as possible.  Please advise me at your earliest convenience as to the availability of the images.  If they are not available I will post your comments immediately.

Again, thank you for your long and thoughtful email.

 

A sub-committee of the Charter Review Commission invited Bob Turner, Gordon Boyd, and Jeff Altamari to meet with them and offer their views.

In emails to them,  Ms. Bush, the executive assistant to Vince DeLeonardi,s who is both the City Attorney and the chair of the new charter commission, asked them to come “…to discuss your experience with previous Charter efforts and the current review.”

The email asked them to offer some possible dates when they could meet .

Mr. Boyd and Mr. Altamari responded that their schedules were such that they would be unable to participate.  Mr. Turner’s terse email simply stated that he declined to meet.

I FOILed for the associated documents.  Here is a link to Ms. Bush’s invitations and their responses.  FOIL Re BoydAltamariTurner

 

Recently I was introduced to the podcasts of Preet Bharara.  Mr. Bharara was the Federal Attorney whose jurisdiction included New York.  His podcasts begin with him answering questions submitted by listeners.  The shows then continue with an interview on some area of law and social policy.

I have been gently criticized by friends for the length of many of my posts.  The criticism is not without merit.  I expect I could be clearer and more concise.  Nevertheless, my interest is to explore more fully than the general media, issues that I view as more complex.  Not to compare myself with Mr. Bharara, what I like about his podcasts is that they  take on the complexity of their subject matter.

One of my pet peeves is the ease with which people who are not attorneys decide the merits of cases based on newspaper accounts or on their own reading of a particular statute.  Often people read these laws through the lens of their personal interest.  They may miss the possibility of other ways to read the text.  They also are often unaware of other statutes that may bear on their case and conflict with their interpretation of it.

Mr. Bharara’s podcasts represent a great resource for understanding important public policies in light of both the strengths and weaknesses of our legal system.  I highly recommend them.

The show is called “Stay Tuned With Preet.”  This is a link to one of the media sites that carries his show.  Link to podcasts

 

 

Public policies that appear on their face to be “no brainers” often turn out to be far more complex than first appears.  Such is the case with the proposed dedicated bike lanes for Lake Avenue.  In a very thoughtful letter to the editor in the Saratogian, past Commissioner of Public Safety, Chris Mathiesen, cautions against the currently proposed plan. 

In his letter he make reference to a “bike sharrow.”  This is a “non dedicated” bike lane.  It is marked in a way to advise drivers of the potential presence of people on bikes.  It also shows people on bikes the best area to ride in.  This is in contrast to the more rigorous “dedicated” bike lane where no other activity such as parking or cars is  allowed..

I emailed the current Commissioner of Public Safety, Peter Martin, seeking his assessment of Chris’s concerns.  To date I have not heard from him.  If or when I do, I will post his response.

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Lake Avenue Bike Lanes

During 2017, the section of Lake Avenue east of East Avenue was re-paved. The Public Safety Department is responsible for striping the traffic lanes and a request was made that the striping be done in such a way that would allow for dedicated bike lanes between St. Clement’s and East Avenue.  Traffic regulations consultant and Public Safety Garage foreman Mark Benacquista met with me on site to discuss his options before starting the striping project.

After my discussions with Mark and after going door to door to determine the neighborhood opinions on the traffic and parking regulation changes that would be necessary for bike lanes, I decided that bike lanes should not be placed on that section of Lake Avenue. The factors that I had to consider included the irregular width of the street which is quite narrow in certain areas and the requirement that, without expensive widening of the street, bike lanes  would make necessary the elimination of on-street parking on the north side of Lake Avenue from St. Clements to East Avenue.  There is a heavy demand for parking due to East Side Rec activities.  While some neighbors were in favor of bike lanes despite the loss of parking, others were opposed.  Ultimately, I felt that it was not fair to take away on-street parking from residents and business people who had enjoyed this privilege for many years and to place heavier parking burdens on narrow adjacent streets such as Ritchie Place, Forest Avenue and Pinewood Avenue.

Our department also determined that a bike sharrow would not be a safe alternative because of the heavy tractor-trailer use on Lake Avenue which also serves as state Route 29. It was suggested that Caroline Street might be a safer and more workable alternative for bike traffic.  I also suggested that sharrows on York Avenue from Ritchie Place to Circular Street and ultimately through an alley and on to the major bike trail on High Rock Avenue should be considered.  Hopefully, these and other alternatives can be considered.  Nearly everyone would like to see better accommodations for bicycles.

It should also be noted that the truck traffic on Lake Avenue exists because of the decision of the Town of Wilton not allow trucks from Route 29 to use a small portion of Weibel Avenue and Route 50. The Route 29 truck route for traffic going west to east is posted to avoid Lake Avenue but instead to proceed out the Arterial to the Loudon Road ramp and then on to Weibel Avenue.  Unfortunately, truck traffic going east to west on Route 29 cannot follow a similar route without Wilton’s cooperation.

Mark Benacquista has recently retired after 29 years with the Department of Public Safety. During my tenure as Commissioner (2012-17), I found Mark to be a great source of information on traffic regulations as well as an effective and knowledgeable manager of the Public Safety garage.  He also advised the City’s Planning Department and land use boards.  Many thanks to Mark Benacquista.

Christian E. Mathiesen

In its June 23^rd edition, the New York Times reported  that a worker at Belmont Park Racetrack died from hantavirus.  The illness is typically contracted by “inhaling air contaminated with rodent droppings in confined spaces, or, in rare cases, via a bite”

The New York Racing Association runs Belmont as well as the Saratoga racetrack.  NYRA had been taken over by the state and more recently re-established as a private organization.  The conditions described in the article in which the mostly immigrant workers live are appalling.  Inspectors from the New York State Department of Health ordered that 32  workers be moved from  existing housing due to “dangerous conditions”.

Here are several quotes from the article:

“Drawn by the feasts of horse oats and refuse, rats often pass unimpeded from the barns through holes visible in the sides of the cinder-block dorms and small clapboard shacks where the workers live, according to workers who reside there. Rooms are often shared, and many are squalid, with mattresses or pallets on the floor, some with punched-out windows covered by cardboard. The workers asked not to be named because they feared reprisal for criticizing the facility, which is state-owned and operated by the racing association.”

And

“One worker, who said he has lived in the barracks on the racetrack grounds for 20 years, showed a reporter the roughly 10-by-12-foot room he shares with another man: Blotches of blood from crushed bedbugs stained the walls. Next to a pillow was a can of repellent with which his roommate sleeps.”

A spokesman for NYRA told the New York Times that they were working on addressing the problems.  The question is how did they allow these conditions to develop and to continue for years.

Link to NYT article

This is a  link to an interesting article in Saratoga Today which is a follow-up to my earlier post on John Witt’s efforts to build a huge development that critics say threatens the water table and Saratoga Lake.

Link to Saratoga Today story

 

 

Interesting article in Saratoga Today  by Marissa Gonzalez on the city shutting down Gary Stone’s driving range on Weibel Avenue.  What I find of interest, but not surprising, was that Mr. Stone could ignore the zoning laws of our city for so long.  In the article he asks, “If there were no permits, how could it be running for twenty years?”  The answer is that the city has done an appalling job of enforcing the zoning laws.  The city’s Zoning Board of Appeals has set the tone by forgiving pretty much every land owner/developer who comes before them asking that they approve a variance after the fact.  In Mr. Stone’s case a court upheld the city’s determination that he had 79 violations.  In fact fifteen years ago, a court found Mr. Stone in contempt for his violations.  He is the poster child for the utter failure of administrations both Republican and Democratic to enforce the city’s land use laws.

 I will happily credit Mayor Kelly’s administration for doing what other administrations simply ignored. 

Link to Saratoga Today story

I received the following note from a friend who attended a recent mass at St. Peter’s Church:

“At the 11:00 AM mass at Saint Peters Church yesterday (June 17, 2018), Father John Kirwin,  retired priest, resident of Lincoln Avenue and former member of the Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee, said mass as a substitute for the pastor.  Father Kirwin started his homily on the topic of Father’s Day and quickly progressed to the issue of children at the Mexican border being separated from their parents.  As he developed his theme and mentioned the policies of the present administration, more and more people began leaving the church, apparently in protest of Father Kirwin.  However, once he finished, the  parishioners who remained (the majority of the congregation) gave him an enthusiastic applause for nearly a half minute.  This was all very unusual for a Catholic service.”

Father Kirwin was kind enough to send me a copy of his notes for the service:

11^TH Sun B ’18                   (Mark 4:26-34)

‘O God. . .at whose bidding the seed will sprout and the shoot grow toward full stature. . . . . we wait for God’s kingdom NOW growing in our midst. . . ‘

Earlier this morning, across the street getting my nytimes,  the young woman serving me wished me a Happy Father’s day, if I was a Father; and she said Yes I was,  as I had my puppy waiting for the treat she always has for him.

I said no, I wasn’t Charley’s father, I was his master,

I HOPED I WAS CAPABLE OF MORE THAN BEING A DOG’S FATHER!

Nothing wrong with dog’s, but, we should keep things in perspective.

The past few days I’ve been thinking about fathers whose children have been separated from them and put in detention facilities, due to their undocumented status,    

in this GREAT COUNTRY OF OURS. 

Separating children from parents,

And basically imprisoning them?

How GREAT IS THAT?

I saw a FACEBOOK item inviting people to update their profile picture with a frame stating:  

FAMILIES BELONG TOGHER 

my screen showed a friend and his first born and only son, out fishing.

 

Another facebook item claimed that

DOCTORS were CONCERNED ABOUT irreparable harm to separated migrant children.

It spoke of the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics flying to Texas and visiting a Rio Grande valley shelter for migrant children, where she saw a young girl in tears. 

“SHE COULDN’T HAVE BEEN MORE THAN 2 YEARS OLD, JUST CRYING AND POUNDING AND HAVING A HUGE, HUGE TEMPER TANTRUM.

The child was just screaming, and nobody could help her. 

And we know why she was crying. 

She didn’t have her mother or father who could soothe her and take care of her.”

Can’t we do better than that?

The number of migrant children in US Government custody is soaring, as a result of a policy decision by the current administration to separate children from their parents, who are being prosecuted for unlawful entry.

Hundreds of children being held in shelters are under age 13.

The current occupant of the white house and the top justice officer of the country, claim the administration is enforcing immigration law.

Are such laws just, and must we obey them?

The speed with which news spreads in our day, leaves us stunned and bewildered.

What can one do when faced with so much suffering?

What can we do to change this situation?

The call in the gospel is addressed to all.

It consists in sowing small seeds of a new humanity.

Jesus does not speak of big things.

WHAT SHALL WE SAY THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS LIKE,

OR WHAT PARABLE SHALL WE USE TO DESCRIBE IT?

Perhaps we need to learn to appreciate little things and small gestures.

We do not feel called to be heroes or martyrs every day, but we are called to put a little dignity into each corner of our world.

We can all sow little seeds of the kingdom of God, in  a complex and sad world that has all but forgotten the joy of things small and beautiful,  

like children separated from their fathers and mothers on this Father’s day 2018.

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 This is a link from the Catholic News Agency on Pope Francis’ recent pronouncements on the issue at a recent gathering of Mexican politicians and diplomats at the Holy See:

Catholic News Link

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This is a link to a CBS story on the Catholic Conference of Bishops taking a position that the Trump policies are immoral:

CBS Story

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These issues tend to be abstract for many of us.  For a heart wrenching description of the way our country is dealing with the children here is a link to a story from the news site “Democracy Now.”  A staff member of a not-for-profit organization that houses these children describes incidents of children who have been taken from their parents clinging to each other and crying as staff attempt to separate them.  He resigned in protest.

Democracy Now Link

 

 

 

Amazon Amazon has plans to build a “Fulfillment” center in the town of Schodack which is just south of Albany.   The building would be 1,015,740 square feet.  It would be about a third of a mile long.  It is claimed that it will employ 800 people full time.  It would have 30,500 square feet of office space, 95 loading docks, 300 tractor-trailer spaces and more than 1,000 employee parking spaces.

According to the Albany Business Review:

“The request seeks a deviation from the usual formula in which the property tax exemption gradually declines every year until the entire value is taxed. Scannell Properties [Amazon’s agent] wants a 50 percent reduction for the entire period, with the assessment frozen at $55 million, said Bob Pasinella, executive director of the IDA. The terms are being negotiated.”

“The project would generate more than $1 million in property taxes [JK: They claim] during the first year, considerably more than what the town, school district and county get now, according to Amazon representatives.”

 

There was a fun story in the Saratogian about an invitation only event at the City Center at which Justices Ruth Ginsberg and John Roberts spoke.  Very much worth the read. 

Link to Saratogian story