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Tom: Is there any cause to help the business owners, because some are struggling? Obviously two just shut down recently. Is there any plan to help them from a business stand point as far as insuring them that small business owners have a fair trade because new buildings are going up. Although they have the Architectural Review Board approval they're going to look for larger rent to pay for the cost of construction. Therefore those that can afford it are the chain stores. So how do we protect the small business owners for the future?
Valerie: Well, I think that we can do a couple of different things. First of all I think the community needs to get behind an effort to make it loud and clear that we want to keep the local businesses in our downtown. Whether it's through legislation or whether it just be through our voices we want to make it clear to property owners that we can only tolerate a certain amount of chain owners coming into our downtown area. Now to do that we may need to get under the services of a more national effort and there are national groups out there that provide information for financial avenues to help cities maintain the character of their downtown and keep their encroaching chain store activity from taking over their city. I've actually got people who are trying to get the cities to partner with some of these national efforts to help smaller cities and make sure that's not the future of their downtown.
Tom: What about having some of our local resources who could assist such as foundations or something along that line?
Valerie: Definitely. Absolutely. I'm sure that's something that people will be looking towards using our own resources that we have right here in our own city and tapping that into our own people.
Tom: There are some very special things. You can go to a ballet, NYRA, SPAC, or Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestra. There's so many wonderful things about Saratoga that makes it unique to the rest of the country as well as to Upstate New York. Some of them are having troubles. Are there plans to review those situations?
Valerie: Right. I think historically what had happened is there hasn't been a partnership. There hasn't been a movement to promote all of the things within the city properly. There hasn't been a meeting of the minds in regards to promoting not just what's happening right here in Saratoga but beyond within the county. I think that there needs to be a real promotional effort, whether it's getting business minded people together to help us promote all of the things that are good in the surrounding neighborhoods even in our own backyard. One thing I think that needs to happen that really hasn't happened before and maybe it was because of politics or maybe there some underlying reason it didn't happen but I think we really need to get the county leadership together where by municipalities representing a represent in a county effort, it doesn't just have to be Saratoga you know Washington county is a friend of ours as well we want to promote what's happening in Washington county where they're benefiting directly from people coming to Saratoga Springs we want to be able to push visitors to Washington county to Warren county and have them embrace us while we're benefiting from the people that come to the race track. It's all about partnering and networking and talking to people bringing people together so that we can all just brainstorm and make this work for everybody, so we can all benefit.
Tom: I've been throughout the region and I know that unless I seek it I would not know about it.
Valerie: No, you're right. How are people going to find out about it?
Tom: The dot coms are the world today even my magazine is going to be online. We're going to get to all the other dot coms within the region because that's where the next world is. And Saratoga has so much to offer, it's such a beautiful town and I truly don't believe that enough people know about all of the things there is to offer. Have you met the president of Skidmore yet?
Valerie: Actually, I have not met the president. I have been talking to a lot of people in Skidmore and one of the things I talked about during the campaign is really doing a better job of partnering with Skidmore and I talked early on about trying to develop some possibilities for internship programs with Skidmore. I think we can do a better job.
Tom: Kind of how Harvard is to Cambridge.
Valerie: Right exactly. And if we can move it closer to that, then I think that that's a really positive thing. Again it's kind of like your idea to develop a better relationship with Skidmore. There are people in our community who have lived here all there life and have never set their foot on the Skidmore campus, they don't go to any events there, they don't know what's there.
Tom: They have beautiful artwork there, they have concerts occurring frequently there that we are not aware of.
Valerie: It's terrible, the culture is blocks away from us and we're not taking part in it. I think the people are realizing that Saratoga isn't just a summer place to be. One thing that we're talking about is expanding our City Center because there are a lot of conventioneers that want to be here but because of our limited space and limited accommodations it's hard to accommodate all of those groups. You know we want to be able to embrace those people that want to be here, we're really trying to put our minds together to make that happen. So our city can and expand and grow. You know when we first moved hear it was pretty much the summer you know and pretty much everyone left after the summer and it was quiet and nobody was really downtown and I think that's changing. The residents are downtown now, the residents are going to the restaurants and shopping in the shops. Where I think it wasn't quite that way, it was really seen as a tourist thing. Tourists were the ones that were driving the business and not the residents and I think it's changing and I certainly will be promoting our businesses to the residents.
Tom: People have to be made aware of the situation and they'll support the town because they love the town and because the walk is beautiful and there is so much to offer. Ideally you want other things to attract people.
Valerie: That's the other things. Let's think about what we're missing. What could we bring into the city that we don't have that could attract maybe a different clientele, or something that would be totally different to the city, but is not going to encroach on anybody else's turf. I think there are a lot of people out there and I know many of them that worked on my campaign who really want to explore moving into the 21st century but in a historical way. You know what I mean?
Tom: I don't think the history of the Saratoga Battlefield is being promoted as much as it could be. Look at how Boston plays up their role in the Revolutionary War. It's nothing beyond the battlefields we have here in Saratoga. There is no true likeness to the historical value. It should be developed even further.
Valerie: Right, right. And we could do that in such a fun and entertaining way that could go on all year round.
Tom: Like a revolutionary parade and things like that.
Valerie: Okay, you're hired. We'll put you on the payroll, but we have no money to pay you.
Tom: I'll get you a grant.
Valerie: Okay, get me a grant. There are a lot of people who's salaries are paid by how much money they bring in and that's the kind of creative thinking that you need. You can't be scrounging for revenue that isn't there. You have to be able to generate your own revenue by sheer creativity.
Tom: That's what it's all about.
Valerie: Okay, when can we start.
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