Prevention Council

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Saratoga Springs’ Commissioner Mathiesen still pursuing earlier closing time for city bars

July 7, 2012
By LUCIAN McCARTY
The Saratogian

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Even though a Saratoga County committee this week shot down the Saratoga Springs City Council’s proposal to close county bars an hour earlier, city Public Safety Commissioner Christian Mathiesen says he’s not ready to give up on the downtown bar scene.

“I don’t think it’s ever really dead in the water,” he said of the prospect of changing last call. “If we don’t deal with it now, it’s just going to get worse.”

In an effort to address problems caused by revelers in the downtown bar district, Mathiesen has been working to change last call from 4 a.m. to 3 a.m. But according to the New York State Liquor Authority, any change to bars’ closing time would have to be implemented countywide.

In a 3-1 vote in June, the City Council forwarded the proposal to the county’s supervisors.

But on Monday, a county Board of Supervisors committee rejected the proposal outright and voted against sending it to the full board.

Mathiesen said he thought the committee would just be discussing the proposal Monday, not voting on it, and that he now intends to go before the full board himself.

“I plan to go to the Board of Supervisors during their public comment period and make sure they understand why we brought this to them and why they should have taken it more seriously,” he said. “I was obviously disappointed that we were not able to present before they took a vote.”

The issue could still be brought to the floor of the Board of Supervisors if a supervisor sponsors it, but neither Saratoga Springs supervisor Matthew Veitch or Joanne Yepsen have said they intend to do so.

Yepsen said she will still present the board with the three years of research collected by Mathiesen and city Accounts Commissioner John Franck, who also unsuccessfully tried to roll back bar closing times in 2010.

“Whether you believe in the issue or not, it wasn’t properly discussed by the Board of Supervisors,” she said, adding that the supervisors should have discussed it “out of respect.”
Despite the lack of legislative support at the county level, Mathiesen said he believes most people in the county would support a change in last call.

“We’re exploring other avenues,” he said.

One of those will be a future meeting with the state Liquor Authority.

“We’re jumping over the county and going to meet with them directly,” said Yepsen, who will also attend the meeting she said will take place sometime this month.

Mathiesen said he hopes to talk to the Liquor Authority about making a change to last call city-specific. The authority just issued a declaratory ruling earlier this year stating the change would have to made countywide.

“I don’t know if it’s possible, but it doesn’t hurt to try,” he said. “It’s here every weekend. It’s worse in the summer months, but it’s here all the time. It’s an atmosphere that can lead to bad things.”

County leaders reject proposal to close bars earlier

July 2, 2012
By Michael Cignoli
The Saratogian

The city of Saratoga Springs’ request to change last call to 3 a.m. was dealt a crushing blow Monday afternoon when a key county committee declined to support the initiative.

The City Council voted in June to send a resolution to the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors urging the board to ask the New York State Liquor Authority to roll back last call throughout the county from 4 a.m. to 3 a.m. as a way to improve public safety and reduce police costs.

The state Liquor Authority, which would have had the final say on the issue, has previously said the county Board of Supervisors is the only legislative body that can formally request to change last call.

On Monday, the county’s Legislative and Research Committee voted 5 to 1 against advancing the proposal to another county committee and then to the full board, effectively killing the initiative.

A supervisor could still technically make a motion to bring the issue before the full Board of Supervisors later this month, but the chances of such a motion being approved are slim.

The county’s tiered committee process is designed to vet out ill-fated resolutions or requests.

“If it has merit, they move it forward,” Saratoga Springs Supervisor Matthew Veitch said. “If they don’t believe it has merit, they don’t move it forward.”

Veitch said he has “no plans to bring it up at the full board,” and Saratoga Springs’ other supervisor, Joanne Yepsen, the lone Legislative and Research Committee member to vote for the proposal, said she would speak to the City Council before deciding.

The council is scheduled to meet tonight.

City Finance Commissioner Michele Madigan was the lone City Council member to attend the county committee meeting Monday.A supervisor could still technically make a motion to bring the issue before the full Board of Supervisors later this month, but the chances of such a motion being approved are slim.

The county’s tiered committee process is designed to vet out ill-fated resolutions or requests.

“If it has merit, they move it forward,” Saratoga Springs Supervisor Matthew Veitch said. “If they don’t believe it has merit, they don’t move it forward.”

Madigan, who voted for the change in June, and Yepsen said they were both under the impression that city Accounts Commissioner John Franck and Public Safety Commissioner Christian Mathiesen, who both endorsed the last call change, would be allowed to make a presentation to the county committee in August. They thought Monday’s meeting would just be a discussion.

Yet Edinburg Supervisor Jean Raymond made a motion to not back the proposal, saying there was nothing that would change her vote. She said she believed it would take money out of the pockets of business owners and that it was not up to the government to dictate business practices.

“There is no way I’d vote to put businesses in my town or businesses anywhere in this county out of business,” Raymond said. Four other supervisors agreed.

Reached by phone Monday, Mathiesen said he was “flabbergasted and very disturbed” by the vote.

Malta Supervisor Paul Sausville, the committee chairman, noted the City Council didn’t attach any monetary data or evidence to its resolution requesting the change.

Madigan said Mathiesen and Franck were getting ready to prepare that data for the committee’s August meeting.

“It really doesn’t serve the interests of the people of the county or of the city,” Mathiesen said of Monday’s “surprise” vote. He remains steadfast in his position that the city’s downtown late at night is an ongoing problem, particularly Caroline Street, which requires a heavy police presence.

Saratoga Springs City Council votes to send last call resolution to Saratoga County Board of Supervisors

June 5, 2012
By Lucian McCarty
The Saratogian

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The City Council voted Tuesday night to send a resolution to the county urging them to restrict last call county-wide to 3 a.m.

The Council’s resolution essentially requested the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors, as legislative body with the sole authority to change last call in the county, to take up the issue.

If approved by the Board of Supervisors, the State Liquor Authority Board will ultimately decide whether to close bars in Saratoga County earlier. They have already ruled that the city cannot have a different last call than the rest of the county.

In a split decision, commissioners Michele Madigan, John Franck and Christian Mathiesen approved the resolution and Anthony “Skip” Scirocco voted against it. Mayor Scott Johnson recused himself from the vote because he has financial ties to two bars in the city.

Madigan said it is not up to the city to set last call. “I have no problem sending this to the county to decide,” she said.

All of the members of the City Council who voted on the resolution lauded recent efforts by city bar owners and the city’s Public Safety Department to address some of the issues downtown.

Earlier this year, city police, representatives from the Saratoga County District Attorney’s office and the New York State Liquor Authority met with bar and club owners in the city to go over laws requiring bouncers at bars to be certified security guards and for anyone serving alcohol to get Training for Intervention ProceedureS (TIPS) certified.

Since the meeting earlier this year most of the bars have sent their servers to be trained said Prevention Council Executive Director Heather Kisselback, whose organization administers the TIPS training.

She spoke in favor of a change in last call during public comment at the City Council meeting.

“It’s bigger than bar closing times,” she said. “I think it sends a strong message to the community that we’re really looking at the atmosphere and reputation of the town as a party town.”

Some people urged the City Council to vote the measure down, though.

Jeff Clark, president of the Downtown Business Association, said bars are not the only source of issues, pointing to Saratoga Performing Arts Center concerts, such as the Dave Matthews Band, which are “sources of hooligans.”

“Are we going to tell SPAC ‘You can only have chamber music?’” he asked.

With the resolution passed, the issue will now go the the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors to decide whether to restrict last-call county-wide.