Mr. Johnson......take down that sign!!!

Does it ever pay to give compliments?.  Yesterday I congratulated Mike Toohey and the retiring members of the City Center Board for giving us a larger more effective Convention venue.  Then I saw the sign they erected!!!!

It is an digital neon eyesore; nothing more than a gaudy advertising board constantly flashing its prosaic messages to stroke whatever convention happens to be in town. Could the 9/11 sculpture have been worse?

The City Center* guards the entry to North Broadway, arguably the most notable historic area of a city that prides itself on its Victorian past.  Now thanks to the City Planner who crafted T-Zones, putting them outside of the normal constraints of the Zoning Board of Appeals; thanks to a Design Review Commission carefully appointed by Mayor Johnson to fudge judgments on questionable taste, we have no restraints on that area.  Let’s document that entryway.  We have the above mentioned garish sign, a gas station and a tattoo parlor.  Aren’t we becoming a class act. 

Mayors have the power to appoint members of the three Land Use Boards; the Planning Board; the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Design Review Commission.  When Mayor Klotz came into office although SEQRA (State Environmental Quality Review Act) was nearly 20 years old, it was honored in the breach.  Under Mayor Klotz the Boards started to promote and in the case of the ZBA require training in how to adhere to the State mandated standards that control the Boards.  They became dignified, thoughtful Boards that complied with State law as well as local ordinance.  Their questioning of applicants was demanding, their deliberations detailed but if they took a little more time, their rulings were usually balanced and just.

Under the old zoning code outside neon signs were not allowed in our city.  They were considered antithetical to the context of Saratoga Springs.  Under past Boards, there would have been a motion sent to the City Council to include digital under the prohibition.

Enter Mr. Johnson and his Mayoral mendacity about civility.  .  Through attrition and pressure, he managed to replace almost every one of the 21 Land Use Board members.  Notable is the fact that under Johnson only one party is smart enough to be appointed to the boards.  Preferred are contractors, developers, land owners and people related to the real estate business.  SEQRA handled by the City Council became a joke.  Anything goes.  Voila, the City Center signage.

Now the Mayor is paying an outside firm of attorneys to rewrite our City zoning code without public participation.  “To make it more consistent and understandable” is the word from City Hall.  However, when it is done, we, the public will get a few weeks to read and absorb it.  If we’re lucky we’ll get a few public hearings where our participation will be limited to two minutes.  It will then be passed through by what is left of the current City Council that approved it.  Who knows what is being written behind those closed doors.

What is it with people named Scott?  Is Saratoga Springs Scott, as the Governor of Wisconsin, doing everything in his power to stop citizens from participating in their government?  Is he against city workers?  His main thrust appears to be avoiding benefits to workers.  He is more than willing to spend 4+million dollars on a parking deck while laying off public safety and civil service workers as being too expensive.  Can he really believe that one parking structure will bring an additional $10+ million in sales taxes to pay for the bond on the structure?  Did he tell the truth about his ability to negotiate union contracts?  He has spent a boat load of money on outside attorneys to negotiate them to completion.  I may be incorrect, but to my knowledge only one contract has been signed in the nearly four years since he started paying the outside attorneys. 

Back to the sign in front of the City Center.  We have a government that pays little attention to the needs of its citizenry.  They do parking decks instead of public safety coverage; they pander to business owners; contracts with vendors are sacrosanct while our labor contracts go unsigned; the look of our City is falling prey to the most banal demands of the business segment of the community.  There has to be a more balanced way.

*For full disclosure: my husband is on the City Center Board. We do not agree about the sign. 

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This week we learn that the Supreme Court will hear three interesting cases:

Ø      The Texas redistricting case (that could undermine the Voting Rights Act)

Ø      The Arizona Anti-Immigration Act

Ø      The Federal Healthcare Act. 

We will finally learn if those Bush appointed Judges told the truth when they said they were not activist judges.  And here we thought that the Voting Rights Act was established law, Immigration was an established Federal function and the Federal government had the established right to required us the carry automobile insurance (or health insurance).

Wishing you and yours a healthy, happy holiday season whether you celebrate Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanza or any other faith.  To my atheist and agnostic friends, simply enjoy.