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Local Issues
Affordable
Housing
As Supervisor of Saratoga Springs, I am continuing
my effort to work with organizations such as the Saratoga County
Economic Opportunity Council, the Saratoga Springs Preservation
Foundation, and local developers to help with rehabbing homes and
building for affordable living. We need to find a way to put the extra
effort into rehabbing to maintain the history and charm of Saratoga
Springs.
As a Geyser Crest resident, I am living in a
neighborhood that was built as affordable housing and it is still
considered that today with the compared assessments in our City. It is a
neighborhood that was built for working families like ours that wanted
to bring children up in a nice house and in a nice neighborhood. In the
70’s these houses were sold for around $17,000. This was a great deal
more inexpensive than other houses sold in the City. This development
gave many people the opportunity to become homeowners and it put many
homes on the tax rolls.
Today is no different from 30 years ago. There are
still people working 40-60 hours a week and looking for the American
dream and we need to help them achieve that dream so they too can become
proud homeowners paying property taxes to help support the services our
City expends on its public.
Our teachers, nurses, firefighters, police
officers, clerks, manufacturers, and many others deserve the same chance
that was given to us years ago.
Our senior citizens who live on a fixed income,
who have lived here their whole lives, have earned the respect to
maintain a home they can afford.
Our children who want to remain in our City
because we brought them up to be proud of where they live and to give
back to their community, deserve to get a helping hand to start out.
We need to maintain a healthy workforce in our City
to make sure we continue to have a healthy economic base. Economics 101
– The low and middle incomes buy the most goods and services.
Please see my testimony for Senator Liz Krueger
for a true NYS Housing Trust Fund under NYS on my website.
Traffic /
Transportation
As a
very successful City, Saratoga Springs will continue to have a heavy
influx of traffic. The only way to alleviate some of this traffic is to
have a bypass just like every other popular city in our country. The
problem is no one wants a bypass going through his or her back yard.
Until the day comes when people are willing to make that sacrifice this
will never happen. And who can blame the person who doesn’t want that?
The assessed value of these homes would drop because they would be
living next to a highway! Or they would lose their homes for fair market
value through eminent domain. I don’t think you will see any local
government official doing that any time soon.
One alternative that I can see is an alternative
means of transportation in our City. That is one reason why I am working
so hard on my transportation committee. The Citizens
Transportation Committee of Saratoga County.
This committee meets every Thursday
at noon at the train station on West Ave., except for the last Thursday
night of the month where we meet in the library at 7PM. These meeting
are open to the public and public input is always welcome. Come see what
we are working on!
CITIZENS TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE OF SARATOGA COUNTY
"A
COUNTYWIDE CLEARINGHOUSE TO PROVIDE EFFICIENT TRANSPORTATION MODES
AND INFRASTRUCTURE THAT WILL CONSIDER BOTH CURRENT NEEDS AND BY
PROJECTING THIRTY YEARS OUT, FUTURE NEEDS USING THE EXPERTISE
OF EXISTING AGENCIES, INFORMED INDIVIDUALS, AND ORGANIZATIONS AS
SUPPORT RESOURCES."
The
other alternative is park and rides on the outskirts of our City. Our
train station already provides that opportunity and it is really quite
simple to park there, hop on a bus and go downtown. There are no worries
about parking this way! The buses are wheel chair/ walker accessible and
they are capable of holding two bicycles on the front! And the bus
drivers are very helpful and pleasant.
There are always taxi’s available at the train station as well and
pretty soon the Saratoga Springs Train Station will become a hub for all
forms of transportation.
Water
Water
continues to be an issue for Saratogians. I believe that Saratoga Lake
is the safest, most affordable water plan that will not jeopardize the
lake’s status as a recreational attraction.
I have been working with this issue for many years
now and I have even had two committees to research this subject with
many experts along the way.
While there are still conflicting reports that,
the water from the Hudson River is unsafe, the County is well underway
in developing a pipeline from Moreau to Malta.
While PCB’s are not capable of flowing upstream,
maps that the DEC has demonstrates how that the PCB’s at the bottom of
the river, in a hot spot, are moving up in the sediment very slowly.
This is the Niagara Mohawk site near Moreau, not the GE site. However, I
would imagine that this site would be dredged along with the GE site
when the time comes. This is a very complicated issue and I would be
glad to sit down and discuss this with anyone.
There was also a lot of mercury dumped in the
Hudson as well as PCB’s years ago and this is just as if not more
dangerous. There are now studies that have linked mercury to autism.
Mercury is used in thermometers, barometers and other
scientific apparatus, though concerns about the element's toxicity have
led to mercury thermometers being largely phased out. NYS tests for this
in the water but I worked with an expert in his field who suggested that
the testing was not being done properly.
A
countywide water system opens up the door for sprawl in our county. That
is why it is imperative that the separate towns and cities abide by the
County’s Green Infrastructure Plan. I would suggest that this plan
become a part of each vicinity’s
comprehensive plan.
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