SARATOGA SPRINGS- Before a standing room only crowd at the Saratoga Springs City Center, Mayor Joanne Yepsen delivered her first State of the City address on Tuesday, January 28. The Mayor characterized the state of the city as “busy” and pointed to some accomplishments and campaign promises that were kept during the first month of her new administration as Saratoga Springs’ 20th mayor. Chief among these was the establishment of a Code Blue facility prior to taking office on Christmas Eve. The mayor asked that the recently established Code Blue steering committee stand to be acknowledged by the assembly. While other dignitaries and office holders were also acknowledged and asked to stand throughout her speech, perhaps nothing signaled the fact that her administration was going to stand for some different principles more strongly than this acknowledgement of the community coming together to help it’s most unfortunate members. Mayor Yepsen also cited two campaign promises that have already been kept. Her daily schedule is now on-line (visit the Mayor’s office page at saratoga-springs.org) as well as posting weekly open office hours where any citizen may drop in to talk to the mayor or her staff about any concern they may have. Going forward, the Mayor cited broad initiatives in five major areas: • Open government and transparency • Economic development and business • Sustainability and comprehensive planning • Constituency Service • Horseracing and sports tourism The Mayor established some advisory council’s that will advise her on some of these broad areas. She also spoke about the expanded gaming issue and acknowledged, “this community is divided” on it. Mayor Yepsen did note that because of the passage of Proposition 1 last election day, a full casino somewhere in the eight-county Capital Region is a fait accompli, and urged that the pro and con factions in Saratoga Springs unite on common principles that they all can agree on, such as not wanting a “Vegas-style” casino, so that they may have an active role in determining the eventual characteristics that such a casino might have if it were to locate in the city. The complete transcript of the Mayor’s State of the City speech has been posted online. Visit saratogatodaynewspaper.com.