The only businesses that need to be open after 2 AM are New Way Lunch and Steve’s Place.
Congratulations to our rep on eking out a decent and honorable vote on occasion. Still waiting to see if and when this is going to be walked back. Until it is, I’m getting a boatload of enjoyment from it.
"I am proud to endorse Donald Trump for president in 2024.”
This is the respose I received from Ms. Sanghvi after I emailed her with my recommendation to close bars at 2am. It seems well thought out.
Minita Sanghvi
10:22 AM (44 minutes ago)
to me
Dear David,
Thank you for writing to me. I absolutely support 2:00 am bar closing time too. And I supported various measures to ensure we get there. But not one that would harm our city in the long run and open us up to lawsuits because of creative lawyering. Here is my detailed explanation.
In the city council meeting it was clear that members of the community, and bar owners - we all agree Saratoga Springs should be a fun and safe place to enjoy with friends and family.
1. Bar closing time: The process is that we send a letter to the county and the county asks SLA (state liquor authority). The city has done that at this point.
2. Safety Committee: The second item that was on the agenda was a downtown safety committee with members of city council and members from bars, Saratoga chamber, and downtown businesses association. I strongly supported that committee.
The only issue that was identified was that commissioner of accounts, Dillon Moran who has identified that he is a partner in a bar, should recuse himself from the committee. It was offered he check with the ethics committee but he refused.
I am happy to serve or support the committee in any way. I support the security audit that has been proposed that would have an outside body do an audit and give recommendations on steps to be taken to make Saratoga Springs night life safer.
3. Amendment: The third item was an amendment that was called creative legal work that said if the bars stayed open beyond 2 am and if there was any incident after, the bars would get closed down. However, this resolution was very broad. For example, if someone left the bar and then wrote a bad check, the bar would be closed down by city council.
This option would politicize bar closing which would become at the discretion of city council on which, as we already discussed, sits a person with a conflict of interest.
I spoke to many people and almost everyone agreed it would open the city to many lawsuits. As the finance commissioner, I thought this was not a fiscally wise move and I thought it would make sense to try others things first.
I commend the efforts of Mayor Kim and Commissioner Montagnino in trying innovative methods. As I explained at city council, I think we should do this AFTER the security audit and working with county and state to limit bar closing time.
Please feel free to reach out to me at any point to discuss this further.
All three articles were good today. Especially hope Saratoga cuts it bar hours at least til 3 a.m., it makes such a difference. They must read the papers more.
The only businesses that need to be open after 2 AM are New Way Lunch and Steve’s Place.
Congratulations to our rep on eking out a decent and honorable vote on occasion. Still waiting to see if and when this is going to be walked back. Until it is, I’m getting a boatload of enjoyment from it.
"I am proud to endorse Donald Trump for president in 2024.”
Well, she is certainly not bragging about those votes.
This is the respose I received from Ms. Sanghvi after I emailed her with my recommendation to close bars at 2am. It seems well thought out.
Minita Sanghvi
10:22 AM (44 minutes ago)
to me
Dear David,
Thank you for writing to me. I absolutely support 2:00 am bar closing time too. And I supported various measures to ensure we get there. But not one that would harm our city in the long run and open us up to lawsuits because of creative lawyering. Here is my detailed explanation.
In the city council meeting it was clear that members of the community, and bar owners - we all agree Saratoga Springs should be a fun and safe place to enjoy with friends and family.
1. Bar closing time: The process is that we send a letter to the county and the county asks SLA (state liquor authority). The city has done that at this point.
2. Safety Committee: The second item that was on the agenda was a downtown safety committee with members of city council and members from bars, Saratoga chamber, and downtown businesses association. I strongly supported that committee.
The only issue that was identified was that commissioner of accounts, Dillon Moran who has identified that he is a partner in a bar, should recuse himself from the committee. It was offered he check with the ethics committee but he refused.
I am happy to serve or support the committee in any way. I support the security audit that has been proposed that would have an outside body do an audit and give recommendations on steps to be taken to make Saratoga Springs night life safer.
3. Amendment: The third item was an amendment that was called creative legal work that said if the bars stayed open beyond 2 am and if there was any incident after, the bars would get closed down. However, this resolution was very broad. For example, if someone left the bar and then wrote a bad check, the bar would be closed down by city council.
This option would politicize bar closing which would become at the discretion of city council on which, as we already discussed, sits a person with a conflict of interest.
I spoke to many people and almost everyone agreed it would open the city to many lawsuits. As the finance commissioner, I thought this was not a fiscally wise move and I thought it would make sense to try others things first.
I commend the efforts of Mayor Kim and Commissioner Montagnino in trying innovative methods. As I explained at city council, I think we should do this AFTER the security audit and working with county and state to limit bar closing time.
Please feel free to reach out to me at any point to discuss this further.
Minita Sanghvi
Commissioner of Finance
Saratoga Springs, NY
518-587-3550
All three articles were good today. Especially hope Saratoga cuts it bar hours at least til 3 a.m., it makes such a difference. They must read the papers more.