Tuesday, November 27, 2012

does SPAC get any of the money for the cell antenna?

Cell antenna planned at SPAC

Device to benefit Verizon customers

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

By Lee Coleman (Contact)
Gazette Reporter

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SARATOGA SPRINGS — A second cellphone communications antenna will be erected on the top of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in the Saratoga Spa State Park within the next four months, a state official said Monday.
One 4-foot cellphone antenna already is located atop the SPAC amphitheater, said Randy Simons, a spokesman for the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. This antenna provides cellphone coverage for AT&T customers.
He said these antennas are typically 4 feet high and 6 to 8 inches wide.
Another antenna is located on top of an old smokestack in the Spa State Park, behind the Lincoln Baths building on Route 9.
Simons said the cellphone antennas are not “cell towers.” In fact, the smokestack antenna is just a circular band around the top of the stack, he said.
“There are no cell towers in the park,” he said.
Verizon applied to have a second antenna system erected on the SPAC amphitheater to improve its telecommunications in the Saratoga area,
“That one is going up in the first quarter [of 2013] between January and March,” Simons said.
The state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, which owns the buildings in the park, receives a host benefit for allowing the telecommunications companies to locate an antenna there.
The state has an agreement with a company called Crown Castle, which describes itself as “one of the country’s largest independent owners and operators of shared wireless infrastructure.”
Simons said the state reviews and approves the cell antenna placement, and then Crown Castle works out the details with the customer. Crown Castle’s customers include the country’s major wireless carriers: Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.
The state and Crown Castle typically share the lease revenue from the wireless company. For the new antenna on the amphitheater, the split will be 50-50.
Simons said that by the end of 2013, the state will receive approximately $1 million in annual revenue from telecommunications antenna lease agreements in parks across the state.
Louise Goldstein, co-founder of Save the Victoria Pool Society and a supporter of Save the New York City Ballet movement, said she hasn’t noticed the antenna on top of the amphitheater or on the smokestack at the other end of the state park.
Michael Greenslade, Saratoga Spa State Park manager, said the antenna is attached to the top of the SPAC amphitheater in such a way that it is not easily visible.
“Most people don’t even know they are there. It’s not a big tower,” he said.
Goldstein said she would like revenue generated by the cell antennas to be used to extend the New York City Ballet summer season at SPAC.
The New York City Ballet will perform for only one week next summer rather than the two weeks it has been performing the past four years.
Two other ballet companies, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada, will also perform at SPAC during its 2013 summer season.

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Monday, November 26, 2012

New Chairwoman of SPAC Board cannot fundraise. Outrageous while they cut NYCBallet to 5 days.

New leader of SPAC's board of directors discusses opportunities, challenges for the Saratoga Springs venue

Published: Monday, November 26, 2012

By PAUL POST
ppost@saratogian.com
Twitter.com/paulvpost

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SARATOGA SPRINGS — In May, Susan Phillips Read, a justice on the New York State Court of Appeals, took over the reigns of Saratoga Performing Arts Center’s board of directors, succeeding chairman William Dake.

Recently, the Averill Park resident talked about her career, her love for the arts and SPAC’s future.

Briefly describe your legal, education and family background.

Growing up in small-town Ohio, I was taught ballet by a refugee from New York City who filled my head with visions of George Balanchine. I studied piano and voice and spent hours listening to my dad’s classical recordings of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

I graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University and the University of Chicago Law School, where I met my future husband, a native upstate New Yorker. After a short stint at the State University of New York, I worked for almost two decades in the private sector, first at General Electric and then in private practice. I joined the governor’s staff in 1995 and have been a judge since 1998, first on the Court of Claims. I’ve been on the Court of Appeals since 2003.

Judges are not allowed to fundraise for political campaigns. Are you allowed to fundraise for SPAC? If yes, do you see that as part of your job, and how will you do it?

Judges may serve as members or officers of a not-for-profit cultural organization such as SPAC. While judges may assist in planning fundraising, they may not personally participate in the solicitation of funds or other fundraising activities. They may not use or permit use of the prestige of judicial office for fundraising or membership solicitation, but they may be listed as a member or officer, including on letterhead.

Although I may not ask for donations to SPAC, there are 23 other board members and a staff who are not similarly constrained.

What was your first SPAC experience? What do you like best about SPAC?

Given my love of the New York City Ballet and Philadelphia Orchestra, I was naturally attracted to SPAC after moving to the Albany area as a young married woman in 1973, when I attended my first performances. I became a member in 1977 and have donated every year since then, always anonymously until 2012 upon becoming chairwoman. I have a separate history of significant giving to the New York City Ballet and its affiliated School of American Ballet. Continued...