We at The Spotlight are big fans of shared services.
Whether it’s in the realm of school districts, municipal services like infrastructure maintenance or emergency services, we feel that centralized services are a boon to municipalities in the sense that they pool resources and reduce administrative costs.
Saratoga Springs is one of three municipalities in the county that handles its own dispatch services, the other two being Mechanicville and Waterford. The Village of Ballston Spa switched to county dispatch in May...
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 Aug 06 Share and share alikeeditorial, Spotlight's View CATEGORY: General Society
Aug 06 Piping hoteditorial, Spotlight's View
We at The Spotlight would like to congratulate the members of the Scotia-Glenville Pipe Band for making it to the Piping Live! Glasgow International piping Festival and The World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.
Scotia-Glenville Pipe Band is considered a Junior Pipe Band by restricting its membership to pipers and drummers between the ages of 8 and 18, to allow young players to achieve a far greater potential than they would in a mixed-age band. SGPB is the only competing juvenile band in this area and within the entire Northeast. These young men and women epitomize everything that is good in the communities we cover... Continue Reading CATEGORY: General Society
TAGS: Scotia-Glenville Pipe Band, worlds, competition, Glasgow Aug 06 Lies, damn lies and statisticseditorial, Spotlight's View
The Capital District is coming out of its economic slump — or it will in upcoming months — or it won’t — or the slump that occurred/is occurring in the Capital District is/was merely a divot as compared to the enormous pothole that has engulfed the national economy.
You pick one. There is a saying that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but no one is entitled to their own facts. Statistics, however, are unique in the regard that, for the most part, they are facts that are coaxed and massaged to toward a particular end. Consider them facts with good PR agents. Last week, we reported that consumers in the Capital District are feeling a bit more confident, at least according to Siena Research Institute... Continue Reading CATEGORY: General Society
TAGS: siena, poll, economy, consumer confidence, statistics Aug 06 An exercise in barn raisingeditorial, Spotlight's View
The Town of Bethlehem wants your input tonight on farmland preservation, and you should give it to them. At 6:30 p.m. at Bethlehem Town Hall, Senior Planner Rob Leslie will present a plan for farmland preservation. A public hearing will follow.
We at The Spotlight make this entreaty because the last time the town asked for your input on this matter only a handful of people showed up — and not only are we big proponents of community participation, but we’re also big proponents of the notion that your participation buys you the right to complain about town matters. You should care because farmland is a finite natural resource... Continue Reading CATEGORY: General Society
TAGS: Bethlehem, Delmar, agriculture, land, farm Jul 24 Two cents on two buckseditorial, Spotlight's View
Faced with declining revenues, the Saratoga Springs City Council is looking to place a $2 surcharge on Live Nation events held at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. In other words, rock, pop and rap concerts would be taxed, classical programming would be exempt.
The motive, said Finance Commissioner Ken Ivins, is to cover any additional cost incurred by the city in public safety measures taken during those events... Continue Reading CATEGORY: General Society
TAGS: Saratoga, Spotlight, editorial, SPAC, surcharge Jul 24 A matter of degreeseditorial, Spotlight's View The public rarely notices when the right thing is done in half-measures. Last week, the Colonie Town Board did right by its citizens by adopting a more stringent noise ordinance than the town previously had on the books. The ordinance, passed at the Thursday, July 16, Town Board meeting, provides for an enforceable limit of 65 decibels from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. from Sunday to Thursday, and 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. The town’s previous ordinance had the decibel level at 75, and the new ordinance originally had the noise curfew at 11 p.m. on weekdays. Despite the drop in decibel level and the last-minute amendment to change the weeknight curfew to 10 p.m., residents came away from the meeting disappointed. It’s understandable... Continue Reading CATEGORY: General Society
TAGS: Colonie, Spotlight, editorial, noise Jul 24 Party politics leave us feeling zoned outeditorial, Spotlight's View
Last week, The Spotlight brought you news of some flap over the makeup of the Town of Guilderland’s zoning review committee. (A story, by the way, in which the last line was dropped somehow during production. Our apologies. For those of you wishing to satisfy the cliffhanger ending, Garry Robinson is the owner of Robinson’s Ace Hardware.)
The issue is this: Councilmen Mark Grimm and Warren Redlich — The Republican minority of the Town Board — are upset because they were only allowed to handpick one of the two registered Republicans on the zoning committee. Democratic Supervisor Ken Runion, who has no obligation to compose the committee in any fashion, had the nerve to reach across the aisle and pick his own Republican... Continue Reading CATEGORY: General Society
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