The pages of a 16-year-old girl's diary changed Bill Bastuk's life forever.

One entry accused the Rochester-area man of rape. Later entries helped convince a jury to exonerate him.

Even though these journal pages were the main evidence against Bastuk, his defense counsel had to wage a legal battle to obtain the documents from prosecutors.

After he was found innocent, Bastuk joined others who had been wrongfully accused or convicted, as well as defense lawyers and other advocates, in a crusade to reform "discovery" in New York. His organization, It Could Happen to You, took their cause to lawmakers at the state capitol last week.

Discovery is the legal process before trial when both defense and prosecution share facts and prepare their arguments. Under state and federal law, the prosecution has a duty to provide certain material to the defendant, whether it was requested or not. This can include police reports, transcripts and other records that would be important to the defense, such as, arguably, the pages of Bastuk's accuser's diary.

The statutes governing criminal discovery in New York are considered to be unduly limiting; even the president of the District Attorneys Association of New York, Cyrus Vance, described New York as one of the "most restrictive states" when it comes to providing criminal discovery.

Over the years, legislators have introduced bills to open the state's discovery process, as prosecutors have lobbied hard against it, saying that such transparency leads to an environment where people are unwilling to cooperate with law enforcement.

Kathleen Hogan, Warren County district attorney and former president of DAANY, said what's needed is a balanced approach. "When looking at whether discovery should be reformed, you need to look with a realistic eye towards the risks of our victims and witnesses," said Hogan. "Without victims and witnesses, forget about wrongful convictions, we won't be able to hold anyone accountable."

New York's Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman has supported expanding New York's discovery laws, and the issue was recently taken up by Lippman's Justice Task Force, a group made up of policy leaders in prosecution, defense, policing and the judiciary, which was created to explore ways to minimize the risk of wrongful convictions. The Justice Task Force is expected to make recommendations about discovery reform in the near future.

Advocates for a more open discovery process say that all too often, prosecutors strategically withhold key information until the last minute, which they are entitled to do with certain types of information under state law, and then dump it on the defense, or as some defense attorneys call it, "trial by ambush."

In Bastuk's case, his defense received a critical diary entry just 24 hours before they went to trial.

"The scariest part is it could happen to anyone," said Bastuk, a former Irondequoit town councilman and county legislator.

Attending the meetings Bastuk helped organize at the capitol last week was William Lopez, a 54-year-old man released from prison this January after spending the past 23 years behind bars for a murder he didn't commit.

The prosecution's case largely rested on the testimony of a woman who had just finished smoking crack when the murder happened. In a secret arrangement with prosecutors, the woman testified in exchange for leniency in her own drug case. The prosecution later claimed they withdrew the deal they cut with the witness, only to quietly reinstate it.

Lopez visited a number of lawmakers on Tuesday to advocate for a bill from Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, representative of Brooklyn's northern district, that would change New York's system to "automatic" discovery, meaning all materials are provided to the defense without a motion.

Because automatic discovery carries with it an ongoing obligation to divulge information, this disclosure might have saved Lopez from prison. That's the type of narrative Lopez and other advocates presented to legislators during their rounds at the capitol on Tuesday; one of their stops was the office of State Senator John DeFrancisco, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

DeFrancisco has experience on both the prosecution and defense side of the courtroom, and said he promised to "review the bill and get back to them" about whether he could support it as is or required modifications.

DeFrancisco proposed his own discovery reform bill in 2007, and said he still supports changing the current system, such as making certain information disclosures automatic, and finding a more affirmative method for the defense to ensure they've received all the evidence they are entitled to.

Evidence that is exculpatory, meaning it suggests a defendant's innocence, must legally be turned over by the prosecution, though "in many instances, it's not turned over," said DeFrancisco.

"A DA will say I don't think this is exculpatory, and the defense will have no clue what's in the DA's file," said DeFrancisco. "I'm not saying DAs are unscrupulous, it's just about fundamental fairness."

The bill's sponsor, Lentol, worked as a prosecutor in an office that practiced open discovery, providing documents to the defense without requiring they file a motion to request it. He said this process can actually be advantageous to the prosecution, since a strong case can encourage a defendant to accept a plea offer rather than going to trial, which can be lengthy and expensive.

But some prosecutors say Lentol's proposal goes too far. Albany District Attorney David Soares called it "the single most dangerous piece of legislation that I have witnessed over the years" concerning criminal justice reform.

He said urban violence is at an unprecedented level, and so is the intimidation of people who cooperate with police and prosecutors. "We have never before in our history had to relocate as many people as we do now," said Soares.

The Albany DA's office is investing in a "case tracking system," said Soares, that would allow prosecutors to electronically pull information from the police department. "Our intent is to then review all that information, upload it as early as possible, and then allow a defense attorney to retrieve that discovery," he said.

As far as what gets released, though, Soares said he believes "that authority should always rest with prosecutorial discretion, and if there is an issue, it's up to the defense to file motions and allow for a judge to engage a review."

In the end, it's about witness safety, said Soares. "I know that once a month I am in a room begging a mother to allow her child to move forward and cooperate with us, because of the fear they are living with, and rightfully so," said Soares.

It's an argument against open discovery that Troy defense attorney E. Stewart Jones called "simply phony" since there is "no risk of harm" in the majority of cases.

"In mob cases, violent gang cases, major drug cases, that's a legitimate issue. But that's not most cases," said Jones. "You can structure it in a way that's witness protective, and clearly there are cases where it's necessary, but to use it as a general rule for denying change in how business is done is not fair and it's not real either."

asanto@timesunion.com 518-454-5008 @alysiasanto

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to how one aspect of the permit parking system works. Anyone can park on a city street for up to two hours. A visitor parking pass allows a vehicle to be parked on a city street for longer than two hours.

Albany

Either the streets around the Empire State Plaza have become a remarkably popular destination spot from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, or dozens of people who work nearby are skirting the city's new permit parking system by using illegally obtained visitor parking passes.

The latter appears to be the case, and city officials say they're trying to prevent such circumventing of the 3-month-old parking system as they field complaints from irritated residents.

The problem was blatantly evident last week. By 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, at least 30 cars on a four-block stretch of State and Dove streets near the Capitol had bright red visitor tags hanging from their rearview mirrors. Seven of the 12 cars parked closest to the intersection of State and Dove had visitor tags.

"You see the same cars with visitor tags here every week, Monday through Friday. They come in the morning, leave at 5 and aren't here on the weekends," said Justin Mikulka, who lives on State Street. "What does that tell you?"

Mikulka said he regularly sees people in suits and ties park, put up the red tag and walk into the Capitol through an employee entrance.

The deluge of cars with visitor passes has rendered the streets closest to the plaza as congested at midday as they were in prior to the permit system.

"It's pretty much the same as it was before the permits," Mikulka said. With the cost of the residential permit, "Now I just pay $25 per year, too."

The visitor passes are supposed to be used for the sole purpose of visiting someone in the neighborhood.

One visitor pass is issued to each person who holds a residential permit. Permit holders may dole out the pass to anyone they wish, as long as the people who receive it use it to visit the permit holder. The visitor passes can also be given to contractors. The passes are only allowed to be used only in one-week intervals.

The city acknowledges that many of the visitor tags are being used during the weekdays illegally by state workers or others looking to snatch up a spot close to their offices.

Albany City Clerk Nala Woodard said his office was prepared for that potential misuse of visitor passes, but said the situation is "worse than what we had anticipated."

"It's something we tried to plan for, but we have to revisit how we're going to handle this," Woodard said. "These passes are not intended for people to park and walk to work. That is way beyond the scope of their intended use."

Woodard said the system is working well in other parts of the city. The problem gets worse the closer the streets get toward the plaza. While parking spots in the Center Square and Hudson Park neighborhoods are scarce, daytime spaces are usually available near the west end of Washington Park.

It's unclear how state workers and other non-residents are getting their visitor passes. Residents with permits could either be selling the passes or simply handing them out to friends or coworkers. Woodard said a portion of the parked cars with visitor passes may be from homes with one residential permit but multiple cars.

Currently, the method for enforcing the visitor permits is somewhat loose and only punishes the residential permit holder whose pass is being illegally used.

If someone repeatedly spots a car parked with a visitor pass that they believe is being used improperly, that person can either call the clerk's office or register a complaint online. The complainant will need to provide the car's license plate, the street on which it was parked and the number on the visitor pass. Each visitor pass is coded and can be traced back to the resident's account.

The clerk's office will then send out a warning letter letting the resident know about the reported violation and giving a chance to respond.

If a visitor pass is found to be misused repeatedly, the permit holder can be fined up to $250 or have the permit privilege revoked for up to six months.

Common Council member Richard Conti, whose 6th Ward represents neighborhoods near the plaza, said the city is looking at ways to help parking enforcement trace illegal visitor tags electronically. Enforcement officers will soon be able to scan a license plate, see if it is registered as a permit holder and then enter the car in a database if it is not already there.

If a car with a visitor pass repeatedly comes past the one-week limit, the vehicle could be ticketed for being illegally parked. The permit holder could be fined as well, or have the permit revoked.

Conti said similar problems arose during the city's last permit system in 1987 and 1988. Back then, people would whip up phony permits or visitor passes to park wherever they pleased.

"It would be awfully hard to do that today," Conti said. "But people are still finding their way around the system and we need to resolve this to maintain its integrity."

bfitzgerald@timesunion.com • 518-454-5414 • @BFitzgeraldTU

Visitor pass rules

One visitor pass is issued to each person who holds an Albany residential parking permit. Visitor permits may to be used as follows:

by visitors to the permit holder or by contractors

in one-week intervals

Source: City of Albany

New York

The Manhattan prosecutor gaining a reputation for collaring crooked government officials pledged on Monday to fight what he described as New York's political corruption culture by adding more staff and recruiting local prosecutors for the effort.

"We are redoubling our efforts and will seek to be even more aggressive than in the past," said Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He was the featured speaker of the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City at a breakfast gathering of 150 that included many law enforcement investigators.

In a 30-minute address, Bharara said he's beefed up his public integrity unit and explained why: "It seems that a culture of corruption has developed and grown, just like barnacles on a boat bottom."

He catalogued many of the campaign finance and financial disclosure loopholes that have helped public officials stay in office and maximize their finances, even if their behavior is ethically questionable. He said the public should support measures being discussed in the Legislature regarding reform.

"The scandal isn't what's illegal, it's what is legal," he said, referring to politicians who use campaign funds for criminal defenses, hide behind outside posts as lawyers or consultants to conceal what they do and keep their public pensions despite convictions.

"Does anyone who is not drunk on power or addicted to self-dealing think this is remotely rational?" he asked.

As representatives of some of New York's biggest district attorneys' offices took notes, Bharara said he could not explain why there seems to be an unending line of indicted and convicted politicians, particularly in high state office. However, he provided a guide: "The best way to find Albany on a map is to find the intersection of greed and ambition."

He said he has been talking with the FBI and district attorneys about ways to continue to work together using telephone taps, body wires, undercover agents, cooperating witnesses and stings. He said others must help, including politicians who suspect wrongdoing by colleagues. He also encouraged journalists to take on independent inquiries.

"It takes an unrelenting, collective effort," he said.

He said some elected officials must have heard or seen suspicious behavior that has led to recent arrests of Sen. Malcolm Smith of Queens and Assembly members Eric Stevenson and Nelson Castro from the Bronx as well as the two dozen state politicians charged or convicted before them. "A deafening silence," Bharara said. "No one made a call."

He added that newsroom leaders should be hiring reporters to bolster investigative efforts. "Figure out ways to break new ground," he said.

Commission President Richard M. Aborn said the scope of wrongdoing unearthed by Bharara and his team of federal investigators is "quite shocking It sends an awful message in an age of cynicism."

Bharara cited surveys to emphasize the problem, referencing a Quinnipiac poll from a week ago that said 87 percent of New Yorkers identified corruption in the state at least "somewhat serious" or "very serious."

"When a New York state senator is more likely to be arrested by the authorities than defeated in an election, people lose faith," he said.

A poll released Monday by the Siena Research Institute found 81 percent of New Yorkers surveyed expected more lawmaker arrests. The poll gauged various proposals to combat public corruption, but found 82 percent favor imposing term limits on legislators. That idea is not under serious discussion among lawmakers.

jodato@timesunion.com • 518-454-5083 • @JamesMOdato Jimmy Vielkind contributed to this report.

Watervliet

A fight over a phone may have prompted a dispute that left one man dead of stab wounds and another man hospitalized, police said.

Police on Monday identified David Hochsprung as the man who died in Sunday's fight inside 1618 Fifth Ave. Police went to the apartment to answer a 4 p.m. call about a possible stabbing. They found Brandon Burritt, 30, at the bottom landing of the second-floor apartment with stab wounds to his upper torso and neck. Burritt told police to check the second-floor apartment.

Hochsprung, 51, was found on a couch with stab wounds to his head, neck and torso. Emergency medical technicians went to the apartment, but Hochsprung was declared dead.

Burritt was taken to Albany Medical Center Hospital. Police said his condition was not available Monday afternoon, though Watervliet Police Chief Ronald Boisvert said Burritt was to undergo surgery Sunday night.

The two men lived in the apartment and, each armed with a small knife, began fighting, possibly over "phone usage," Boisvert said.

The bloody fight produced a grisly scene that was visible to the dozens of bystanders who gathered outside the home Sunday afternoon: a shattered second-story window and a thick trail of dried blood ran from the windowsill, down the side of the house and onto the sidewalk.

"The residence clearly indicated a violent altercation between the two subjects," Boisvert said.

bfitzgerald@timesunion.com • 518-454-5414 • @BFitzgeraldTU

Niskayuna

Many of the wall panels are already up, but that didn't stop Walmart and local officials on Monday from holding a ceremonial groundbreaking for the new Neighborhood Market at Route 5 and Balltown Road in Niskayuna. The market, Walmart's first in upstate New York, is expected to open in October and will employ 90 full- and part-time workers, said Jason N. Klipa, a Walmart spokesman.

As union members picketed outside the fenced-off construction site, officials talked about the competition the new store would bring.

"We look forward to the 90 jobs," said Town Supervisor Joe Landry. "We look forward to the more affordable prices."

Walmart has about 250 of the smaller Neighborhood Markets — about a quarter the size of a typical Walmart supercenter — already open, but most are concentrated in the southern and western parts of the country, Klipa said. "Three or four" are operating in the Northeast, although none are yet open in New York state.

Klipa said at least one is being built on Long Island, and that the Niskayuna store will be the first upstate.

It will feature a full-service grocery line and pharmacy, with a smaller assortment of general merchandise and health and beauty items, he said.

Walmart in recent weeks came under scrutiny after reports surfaced that it was having difficulties keeping up with restocking of store shelves, with some news reports blaming a shortage of staff.

But Klipa said that "as far as staffing, we don't anticipate any issues," at the new market in Niskayuna. "As customer demand increases, we try to keep up with staffing."

He expected that hiring for the new market would begin sometime this summer.

eanderson@timesunion.com • 518-454-5323

Albany

In Albany County, Democrats are used to having the upper hand.

But the party's website appears to have been the target of a group of overseas hackers with a reputation for defacing thousands of websites to spread their pro-Palestine message.

The site, http://www.albanycountydems.org, was apparently forced offline by the attack and remained offline Monday. In place of its normal headline in Google's search results was this: "Hacked by Anonymous Algeria," followed by the Twitter accounts of activists associated with the group.

Party Chairman Matthew Clyne said the problem was brought to his attention late last week and that the party is working to get the site running again.

As for why the Democrats' site was hit, Jim Hendler, head of RPI's Department of Computer Science, said the vandalism has the hallmarks of an increasingly common though unsophisticated type of attack and probably has one of three explanations.

Because the group is known for targeting hundreds of sites at a time, Hendler said it's likely its members were exploiting a flaw in a certain type of program and victimizing sites that use that software.

Alternatively, Hendler said, some hackers will target sites that include certain keywords — or, in the case of the more widely known Anonymous hacker collective, take aim at high-profile sites for specific political reasons.

Earlier this month, Anonymous attacked sites run by the Israeli government.

Anonymous Algeria, however, has a reputation for seeking out softer digital targets, Hendler said.

Last month, the group took credit for defacing more than 1,000 sites in the name of the Palestinian cause, many of them Chinese, which Hendler said suggests they're not being specifically targeted based on keywords or content.

"It's sort of like robbing liquor stores vs. robbing banks vs. robbing Fort Knox," Hendler said. "This would be the equivalent of liquor stores. It's an easy target and there are lot of them."

jcarleo-evangelist@timesunion.com • 518-454-5445 • @JCEvangelist_TU

Troy

The Troy City School District's proposed $97.42 million budget for 2013-14 maintains programs while dealing with the transformation of two schools.

In September, Troy Middle School, formerly called Doyle Middle School, returns to its Burdett Avenue campus from School 12 on First Street. And School 2 will seek to change itself under a $4.25 million federal grant.

"Turning around School 2 is the key component to a bright future for the district. It has the greatest need," said Superintendent Brian Howard, who leaves the district June 30 after two years as an interim leader.

The proposed $97.42 million budget for 2013-14 increases spending by 4.59 percent or $4.27 million over the 2012-13 budget of $93.15 million.

The proposed tax levy rises by 2.99 percent, which is under the state tax levy cap of 4.01 percent for the district. The levy would rise to $34.2 million from $33.2 million.

"We put together a budget that will maintain our programs and help move us forward," said John Carmello, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. He will succeed Howard as superintendent.

The district's budget, which goes to the voters May 21, eliminates four teaching positions through retirement and one non-instructional position through retirement. The district also is ending its German language program, which currently has seven students.

The strengthening of School 2's academic programs and the reopening of a modernized middle school through a $56.36 million renovation project is expected to bring back students to the district's classrooms from charter schools, Howard said.

The returning students means $16,000 in additional revenues for the district that otherwise would have gone to a charter school.

The move back to the middle school location after a complete rebuilding will begin in June. Some savings are expected when the sixth grade moves to the middle school instead of being spread across five elementary schools.

The district will begin a review of its bus routes this summer.

kcrowe@timesunion.com • 518-454-5084 • @KennethCrowe

Ballston Spa

A former accounts clerk is suing the city and her boss, saying she was suspended, denied a fair labor hearing and fired after she brought charges of wrongdoing to law enforcement officials.

Mary Zlotnick, who last year questioned how some property assessments were lowered, filed a lawsuit against Saratoga Springs and Accounts Commissioner John Franck in state Supreme Court.

The Article 78 action filed last week aims to annul a New York Civil Service officer's decision that found Zlotnick guilty of misconduct and/or insubordination on the job. The December ruling led Franck to dismiss Zlotnick. She wants to return to the job with back pay and attorney fees.

"The penalty of termination shocks the conscience," Zlotnick's attorney, Mark Walsh of Albany, states in the suit.

In her lawsuit, Zlotnick claims whistle-blower status protection under state Civil Service law. She alleges Chris Nicolino, a Suffolk County attorney who presided over her disciplinary hearing, shouldn't have judged the case because his wife had business dealings with Harris Beach, the law firm that represented the city in the case.

Zlotnick began working in the accounts department in 2010. Last year, she told reporters that Malta businesswoman Diane Young, who condominium owners pay to challenge their property tax assessments, had gained special access to Assistant Assessor Anthony Popolizio that resulted in reductions.

Zlotnick reported "improper governmental action" to the district attorneys of New York and Saratoga County. She says city officials took disciplinary action against her once they learned of her complaints.

Franck called Zlotnick's charges unfounded and misguided. He said the accounts office had overassessed condominiums before he took office and that the department started lowering assessments for those who applied for reductions in 2010. Many condominium owners hired Diane Young to correct their assessments, he said. Young is a private city resident who works to lower land assessments in return for cash payments. Condo units in New York are valued based on their rental income potential, not sale prices.

Franck placed Zlotnick on unpaid leave. The city said she did not understand her job, gave untruthful allegations to the media, removed tax records from the department and spoke on the job about matters she was not authorized to. Those accusations formed the basis for an administrative hearing in September before Nicolino. The hearing officer ruled in December that Zlotnick had violated three of the five charges the city had lodged against her.

City Attorney Matt Dorsey declined comment on Monday. Walsh could not be reached. Franck directed inquiries to Harris Beach, which provided a statement by email.

"The firm views this as silly on its face," the statement said. "The issue seems to be a desperate tactic."

dyusko@timesunion.com • 518-454-5353 • @DAYusko

Rotterdam

After killing Tammy and Jessica McCormack, Brice Rivenburgh returned twice to their Rotterdam home, started a fire in one of the bedrooms and then burned the shirt he was wearing and a business paper with his name on it in a bid to get rid of evidence, Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney said.

The district attorney revealed the chilling details into the strangulation deaths of the mother and daughter during a news conference Tuesday at Rotterdam Police Headquarters about four hours after an indictment against Rivenburgh was made public.

The top counts, which could land Rivenburgh, 28, in prison without chance of parole for the rest of his life if convicted, charge him with four counts of first-degree murder under two legal theories.

The Rotterdam man is also charged with two counts of second-degree murder and one count of rape, sexual abuse, burglary, robbery and attempted arson— all felonies — plus three counts each of misdemeanor petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property, arson and six counts of tampering with physical evidence.

Carney said Rivenburgh had a years-long intimate relationship with Jessica McCormack "and something happened during the course of that relationship just prior the deaths of Tammy and Jessica, which angered him." He declined to elaborate. Family members have said the pair had an on again, off again relationship to which Tammy McCormack objected.

The McCormacks were murdered between April 9 and 10, according to the indictment, which was handed up Tuesday to Schenectady County Judge Karen Drago.

Rivenburgh is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday morning on the offenses.

On Tuesday afternoon, his public defender, Sven Paul, said he had not yet seen the indictment but said his client is innocent.

"We will plead not guilty to whatever charges they bring," said Paul.

Though Carney on Tuesday declined to discuss how Rivenburgh got into the McCormacks' home at 1142 Inner Drive, he said there was no forced entry and that the man stole food and food storage containers from the house the second time he went back before 2:30 a.m. April 10.

The fire involving a mattress and bedding material, which occurred in Jessica McCormack's bedroom, was quickly extinguished by firefighters responding to Brad McCormack's 911 call. The call was made after he entered his mother's home and noticed that things were in disarray, Carney said.

Brad McCormack went to the dwelling after a co-worker of his mother's called him to say Tammy McCormack, 52, hadn't shown up for work at her job in the Schenectady school district, authorities said.

Rivenburgh is accused of raping and sexually abusing Jessica McCormack, 22, who was found in her bedroom. Tammy McCormack was found in her bedroom.

The criminal probe is ongoing, and authorities are continuing to pore over the trove of forensic evidence, Carney said.

Carney also said that Rivenburgh sent Jessica two text messages after she was dead that read: "Do you want to hang out today?" and "Are you still mad at me?"

Carney credited an alert Rotterdam patrol officer who, after discovering the burning shirt and papers on nearby Outer Drive, put out the fire and noticed Rivenburgh's name on the papers. He went to Rivenburgh's home at 2501 Oaklawn Ave., where the officer found Rivenburgh sitting in his car without a shirt about 6:15 a.m. April 10, Carney said. The burning shirt and papers, which had been discarded, also caught the attention of neighbors on the block, he added.

Until Tuesday, Rivenburgh was being held without bail, accused of burglarizing the McCormack residence.

The case was handled jointly by Rotterdam police, several departments of the State Police and the district attorney's office.

"Our personnel worked throughout a roughly four-day period almost continuously with painstaking skill and evidence collection and diagramming and note-taking, and that played a pivotal role in this particular case," said State Police Troop G BCI Capt. Tim Monroe.

pnelson@timesunion.com • 518-454-5347 • @apaulnelson

ALBANY -- Ringling Bros. clowns Joel Jeske and Rob Lok entertained students Tuesday at CloverPatch Elementary School of the Center for Disability Services.

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus presents "Dragons" May 2-5 at the Times Union Center in Albany.

Besides stops at other Capital Region schools and day care centers this week, Lok and Jeske will display a "genuine" dragon egg from 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Empire State Plaza. The first 95 people to find the golden dragon egg (located somewhere outside The Egg on the plaza level) and correctly identify the four themes of this year's show -- Courage, Wisdom, Strength, and Heart -- will win tickets to the opening night of the show.

For tickets, go to Ticketmaster.com or call (800) 745-3000.

—

Albany

A city tow garage owner will retract the explosive accusations he made in a federal lawsuit last year that Mayor Jerry Jennings personally demanded his friends' cars be returned to the downtown parking lot in exchange for a credit to the firm's account with the city, lawyers in the case said Tuesday.

Under the terms of the settlement, Joe Gimondo, the owner of Joe's Osborne Street Garage, has agreed to retract the allegations, withdraw the lawsuit with prejudice — which means it cannot be refiled — and pay the city $15,000 in legal fees, said Stephen Rehfuss, the lawyer representing the city.

"I was never provided any support for any of the allegations or statements that were made in the complaint," Rehfuss said of the 29-page lawsuit filed in November against the city and a half-dozen current and former officials, including Jennings, former Police Chief James Tuffey and Jeffery Jamison, the head of code enforcement and a former city lawyer. "I think the settlement speaks for itself."

Notice of the unusual settlement, in which Gimondo is promised nothing, was filed April 17 in U.S. District Court — before the city even formally sought to dismiss the case.

Gimondo accused the city of dumping his firm in 2009 from the list of companies approved to tow cars on behalf of the police department in "political retaliation" for his work on private tow contracts.

He sought reinstatement and $4 million in damages.

The city dismissed Gimondo's claims as those of "a disgruntled contractor" who was booted from the list for allegedly overcharging people.

Rehfuss said the garage is still free to apply for reinstatement to the list but with no guarantees.

Gimondo's attorney, Lewis Oliver, said the retraction might take the form of a written statement, but stressed the settlement isn't a concession that Gimondo's claims were untrue.

"I don't think it's an admission by either party of anything," Oliver said. "Mr. Gimondo formerly was part of the towing contract for 20 years, and it's my hope and expectation that he will be reinstated."

The most potentially troubling of Gimondo's claims were that Jennings promised to credit his garage on its city contract for cars belonging to the mayors' friends that were towed from a parking lot on a private contract — effectively forgoing public money to deliver a favor. The complaint offered no proof.

Even while banished from the city's police tow list, the garage has still been allowed to tow cars from private property in the city.

It is on behalf of those clients that Gimondo is embroiled in a separate state lawsuit against Albany County challenging the constitutionality of a nearly 6-year-old law intended to rein in so-called predatory towing. The law was passed to make it harder for tow companies to snag cars from private lots for minor infractions like having one tire on the white line.

Gimondo sued in January 2012 to have key provisions struck down. Nine months later, he became the first tow garage owner targeted under the law when officials lodged a complaint against him in state Supreme Court seeking the maximum $10,000 fine.

That complaint has been withdrawn, Oliver said. County Attorney Thomas Marcelle could not be reached for comment on the status of that case.

While few tow truck operators endear themselves to the unlucky motorists whose cars end up on their flatbeds, Joe's Osborne Street Garage has long been controversial in Albany. The firm was dropped from the city contract at least once before in 1992 amid complaints about its practices.

jcarleo-evangelist@timesunion.com • 518-454-5445 • @JCEvangelist_TU

Albany

The Albany school district's proposed budget raises taxes by 2.95 percent and cuts 60 positions.

The $213 million spending plan is a $5.3 million, or 2.5 percent, increase from last year. The district will receive $71.19 million in state operating aid for the 2013-14 school year — a 5.2 percent increase from 2012-13 — but the proposed budget also draws nearly $7.5 million from the district's reserves to balance the books.

Forty-two of the positions being cut are substitutes, which can be eliminated by improving teacher attendance and scheduling professional development outside of regular school hours.

Board of Education President Alexandra Streznewski said the district is hurt by state aid levels lower than they were in 2008 and by the 57 percent of city property that is tax exempt.

"We've made prudent cuts while preserving programs," she said. "It's still a lousy budget but it's the best we can do. Nobody wants do a budget where you're cutting positions for some of the neediest students in the Capital Region."

The district has cut 300 positions in the last five years in an effort to balance its budgets. Other positions being trimmed include a GED teacher, a foreign language teacher in middle school, a data entry clerk, two security supervisors and two maintenance jobs. Superintendent Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard proposed an increase in some class sizes and reductions in those that are underenrolled, including some music, arts and health courses.

The spending plan adds three new high school teachers who will work with freshmen, including one who will work with students who speak English as a second language. Most students who drop out of the school leave during freshman or sophomore year, and about half of Albany High School's students do not graduate in four years.

The budget adds five days of professional development for teachers and updates the district's technology by replacing 200 computers and adding wireless Internet connections in all buildings. District officials also backed off a plan to cut Chinese classes from the high school.

The district will send just under $35 million to the nine charter schools expected to operate in the city next year.

The 2.95 percent tax levy increase is below the 3.36 percent allowed under the state's property tax law.

The state's so-called 2 percent tax cap does not actually limit district tax levies to that amount but is one part of a complicated eight-step formula that limits school district spending, though the actual allowable growth rates varies widely among districts.

The school budget vote is May 21.

Albany

When Sheila McCaffrey set out for her normal daily commute Monday, she never expected it would make her an hour late for work.

Normally, her commute from her Latham home to her job in the financial aid office of the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences takes half an hour. On Monday, McCaffrey and many other commuters were caught by surprise at just how much a road reconstruction project on 787 southbound tied up traffic.

"It took me about an hour and a half," she said. "We were going about 10 miles per hour. I think a lot of people had no idea it was going to be that bad, that delayed."

Carol Breen, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation, acknowledged the horrendous backups Monday, but said the morning commute eased Tuesday. She is hoping drivers will adjust their commutes, finding alternate routes or staggering their trip timing.

The concrete driving surface, bridge bearings and joints are being replaced in a $20.8 million project.

Unlike on the Twin Bridges and other locations where decking is being replaced, Breen said the 787 project does not involve precast pieces that can be made elsewhere, cured and installed at the site. The top layers of the road are being replaced on site, she said, and they need to be kept free of cars until they cure. That means lanes cannot be opened up during rush hour.

"(Monday) was the first morning commute that people saw two lanes instead of three," Breen said. "The peak morning hours are going to be when we see backups."

But she said the lengthy delays seen Monday should not be the norm as the work continues.

"It's going to be all summer," she said. "People should be aware of it."

The DOT hopes delays won't usually be for more than 15 minutes.

Another commuter, Lynn Belz of Green Island, said she has to travel to Latham to drop her daughter at day care before driving to downtown Albany.

"Once I drop off my daughter, it's usually a 15-minute commute," Belz said in an email conversation Tuesday. "It took me almost 50 minutes on Monday. (Tuesday) wasn't as bad, but still took over 30 minutes."

She said alternate routes would be worse, so she is leaving earlier to get to work at Empire State Plaza in time.

Kay Scott said it normally takes her 50 minutes to get to her state job from her Saratoga County home. It took about 25 added minutes Monday. She chose to take a bus Tuesday, but said it was still delayed.

"I prefer to drive my car because it's usually shorter, but it's frustrating sitting in traffic," she said.

Breen said the DOT placed electronic signs on 787 and Interstate 90 last week warning drivers about the impending roadwork.

"A lot of times, it's easy to tune that out," she said. "I think a lot of people didn't expect the delays. We hope it smooths out."

In June, the southbound Clinton Avenue off ramp will close to traffic for repairs.

The project began in April 2012 with work on northbound 787. Road crews from local contractor D.A. Collins of Mechanicville are working two shifts to get the work done faster.

McCaffrey said she took another route to work Tuesday to avoid the delay. She traveled down the Northway to I-90 then to Route 85.

"They said to seek alternate routes but for some people, if you're coming from Troy, you really don't have much choice," she said.

tobrien@timesunion.com • 518-454-5092 • @timobrientu

Albany

Skies over the Capital Region have been getting cleaner every year, thanks mainly to stricter federal air pollution rules, according to the latest annual air quality report released Tuesday by the American Lung Association.

Air pollution sensors in Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady counties are finding fewer days with unsafe ozone levels, also known as smog, which causes lung damage and aggravates respiratory illnesses such as asthma.

Ground-level ozone is an oxygen molecule formed through a combination of fossil fuel exhaust, which when combined with sunlight and temperature can form smog. It is worse on hot days and often dissipates at night. Ozone in the upper atmosphere helps protect Earth from solar radiation.

There were 10 such unsafe ozone days combined from 2009 to 2011 in the Capital Region, about a quarter of the total days cited from the 2011 annual report. "We are seeing many improvements in New York's air," said Michael Seilback, a vice president of the American Lung Association of New York. The report, now in its 14th year, the report is based on air quality data from monitors run in the four counties by the state.

From May to September, the Department of Environmental Conservation issues ozone alerts, which advise people to limit strenuous outdoor work or exercise. The state also urges people to use mass transit or carpool instead of driving because automobile emissions also contribute to pollution that causes ozone.

Seilback credited the lifting of smog from Capital Region skies to stricter rules adopted under the Clean Air Act during the Clinton administration that required coal-fired power plants to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide, a prime ingredient of ozone. Many power plants are concentrated in the Ohio River valley, where emissions can drift over the Northeast.

Also helping clean the air in recent years, he added, is the decreasing use of coal in electric power plants. Some older coal-fired plants are closing, while others are adding more pollution control equipment to meet stricter federal rules. Falling natural gas prices have also encouraged some plant owners to switch from coal to natural gas, which burns more cleanly.

In New York state, for example, coal now provides about 3 percent of all electricity generated in the state, down from about 15 percent just six years ago.

"We are seeing the mothballing and retirement of older coal plants, like Danskammer in the Hudson Valley," said Seilback. "We are starting to see the effects of these closures, and will continue to see them as long as the price disparities between coal and gas exist."

The declining price of natural gas is being driven by an abundance of gas derived from hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, which is being done by drillers in Pennsylvania and other states. Seilback said while natural gas may be helping to create cleaner air by discouraging the use of coal, the lung association remains opposed to allowing hydrofracking in New York unless it can be shown not to pollute the air. "New York should not lift its moratorium on hydrofracking unless it can be shown that air quality will not get worse," Seilback said.

Nationally, air quality also continues to improve, the report found. Since 1970, the "air has gotten cleaner, while the population, the economy, energy use and miles driven have increased greatly," the report found. "Even after the economy continues to recover after the recession, overall air emissions ... continue to drop."

bnearing@timesunion.com • 518-454-5094 • @Bnearing10

Federal air pollution rules are leading to increasingly cleaner air in the Capital Region, which is good new for people with asthma and other breathing disorders. The number of unsafe smog days in the region — Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady counties — continues to plummet, according to an annual report by the American Lung Association.

Years ... Number of Unsafe Days

2009-11 ... 10

2008-10 ... 24

2007-09 ... 42

2006-08 ... 44

2005-07 .. 53

SOURCE: American Lung Association

Schenectady

The city school district could raise the tax levy by a little more than 5 percent in its 2013-2014 budget and still be under the state property tax cap.

But instead, Superintendent Larry Spring has presented a $158.4 million budget to the school board that has a 1 percent tax levy increase — and along with it the closure of a prekindergarten building and increased class sizes for all grade levels — as a way to appease voters in a city in which property values are in decline. The board is expected to vote on the budget Wednesday.

Meanwhile, next door in suburban Niskayuna, the school district is passing on what might prove to be one of the largest proposed tax levy increases among Capital Region school districts — 5.76 percent — as a result of what it says is a community that wants to keep all of its buildings open and full-day kindergarten running. Its budget proposal is $76.3 million.

The reductions Spring proposes in Schenectady's budget, to keep taxes as close to status quo as possible, would result in the elimination of 110 staff positions.

"How do we provide students with what they need to be successful and still deal with fiscal reality?" Spring said. "The taxpayers are struggling as it is."

The district proposed to close the Katherine Burr Blodgett building, a former Catholic school used for prekindergarten and special education classes. The building, originally leased to handle the overflow created by the closing of the International Charter School of Schenectady in 2008, had already been closed as a regular elementary school in June 2010.

Classes in all grade levels might also go to the maximums allowed in the Schenectady Federation of Teachers contract, which is 25 students per class for elementary grades and 30 for middle school and high school. But Spring said some grade-sharing will occur in elementary levels instead, such as combining third- and fourth-grade classes. Other cuts would include switching middle-schoolers from an eight-period to seven-period day and reducing art and music education for kindergartners from one hour to 30 minutes a week.

Some cuts might be added back in by Wednesday, however, as Spring said the school board is considering adding another 0.5 percent increase on the levy to restore staffing positions.

Schenectady voters passed the last two budgets, which carried no tax levy increase. But between 2009 and 2010 — during the scandal involving Steven Raucci, the district's facilities director who is now serving 23½ years to life in prison for placing explosives at the homes of his enemies — budgets failed three times. Whether the controversy made residents vote no or proposed tax increases above 4 percent turned off voters cannot be determined.

In Niskayuna, the district previously considered either shuttering one of its two middle schools next year or one of its five elementary buildings to close a $6 million budget gap. Superintendent Susan Kay Salvaggio said the district had four community meetings and asked if the public would support higher taxes in exchange for keeping existing services.

In the end, the district got more than it expected in state aid but still decided to go above its 4.66 percent state property tax cap.

"We worked to contain costs in the budget and I tried to keep in mind the community's desire they clearly expressed," said Salvaggio, who will need 60 percent of voters to say yes on May 21 to get the spending plan passed. "We're hopeful that our community will support this budget."

lstanforth@timesunion.com • 518-454-5697

Albany

A string of rotten luck left Jason Scutt, a maintenance worker and 34-year-old father of two from Stillwater, homeless.

His mother's death by a heart attack, an electrical fire that destroyed his house and a flare-up of his biopolar disorder set him on a bumpy road that ended in the parking lot of the Greyhound bus station.

"I had no cash, no food, just the clothes on my back," Scutt said. He shivered through two cold nights last fall, barely sleeping, curled on the asphalt beside a light stanchion, wary of the night denizens of the South End.

"It was cold and scary," he said, struggling to finish the sentence. His words get all bottled up.

He's had a severe stutter since he was 5. He tried various programs and treatments, but nothing cured his stammer. High school kids were the worst.

"They called me retarded," he said. "From the time I got to school to the time I left, they picked on me. It gave me a hard shell."

Maintenance work suited him. He didn't have to talk much. He didn't mind mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms. He worked as a cleaner at the McDonald's in Mechanicville. One day, a smart-mouthed teenager started in on him, hurling the kind of taunts he'd usually managed to ignore. A black rage welled up inside him. "Something just snapped," he said. He felt like he blacked out. When he came to, a police officer was handcuffing him. Scutt was convicted of second-degree assault and spent a year in jail. He learned a hard lesson.

"When people pick on me now, I just walk away," he said.

After the bad stretch that sent the twice-divorced man over the edge, he wound up in the psychiatric unit of St. Mary's Hospital in Troy. Lithium helped smooth out his manic mood swings. After a month, he was discharged. But he had nowhere to go. The Homeless and Travelers Aid Society referred him to the Capital City Rescue Mission. He chose the Greyhound parking lot instead.

"I had a lot of pride," he said. "Stupid move."

For the past eight months, Scutt has lived at the mission's homeless shelter on South Pearl Street. More than 7,000 people have spent a night or more there over the past three years. Scutt sleeps on the top bunk in the corner of a dormitory. He takes deliveries and sorts donated clothing at Blessingdale's, the mission's thrift shop. He starts at 7 a.m. and works for eight hours, even though he only gets paid for five. He then goes to his second job, working maintenance at the Times Union Center.

"He's our go-to guy," said Donna Drum, Blessingdale's volunteer manager. "He's an all-around nice guy who does everything we ask."

"We love Jason. He has a good heart," Tim Messer said. Messer stayed at the mission for six months in 2006 and now lives in an Albany apartment, aided by a monthly disability check. He volunteers at Blessingdale's in gratitude to a place that helped him get back on his feet. He can relate to Scutt's hard journey.

So can Paul Bailey, who got laid off from his job at Office Max in 2008. He couldn't find work, ran through his savings, got evicted and slept two nights in his Ford Taurus in the parking lot of the Capital Hills Golf Course before turning to the mission. He has worked the past four years as a paid supervisor at Blessingdale's and lives in an apartment nearby. He thinks Scutt will be another success story.

"He's well-liked, he's a self-starter and he works hard," Bailey said.

If all goes as planned, Scutt will leave the shelter next month and move into a two-bedroom apartment in Albany's Pine Hills.

He'll be able to have his two sons, Jason, 10, and Tommy, 9, stay with him regularly. Right now, he takes a bus to see them on Saturdays at an ex-wife's house in Latham.

His boys have kept him going through what Scutt calls "a lot of hurt." When they call him, they say, "You're our hero, Dad."

Scutt said he will finally feel like the hero his sons believe he is when he gets the keys to his new apartment.

"I'm going to be the happiest man alive," he said. "I'll cry a lot that day."

pgrondahl@timesunion.com • 518-454-5623 • @PaulGrondahl

Schenectady

Tearful relatives of Tammy and Jessica McCormack sat on the edge their seats and caressed each other's shoulders Wednesday inside Schenectady County Court.

The emotional gallery watched as the shackled man accused of strangling the mother and daughter was led into court to plead not guilty to the killings of their loved ones.

During his arraignment before Judge Karen Drago, Brice Rivenburgh spoke only to answer "yes" to Drago's questions. As he passed the grieving survivors while entering and leaving the courtroom, the 28-year-old Rotterdam man looked down at the floor.

"It's what I expected. He's a coward," said Doreen Pitsas, a cousin of Tammy McCormack. Other members of the family declined to speak with reporters. Of seeing Rivenburgh in court, Pitsas said: "It was awful. I hope no other family has to experience it. ... I can't imagine this one person can affect so many lives, hurt so many people."

When Rivenburgh entered his not guilty plea, some of the McCormacks' relatives wept. Others shook their heads.

Rivenburgh was indicted Tuesday on a sprawling indictment that accuses him of four counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, rape, sexual abuse, robbery, burglary and attempted arson. If convicted of the top counts, he'll likely spend the rest of his life in prison.

On April 9 or 10, prosecutors said Rivenburgh raped Jessica McCormack, his former girlfriend, and then strangled her and her mother inside their 1142 Inner Drive home.

Both Tammy McCormack, 52, and Jessica McCormack, 22, were found dead in their bedrooms. In an attempt to cover his tracks, the district attorney's office said Rivenburgh set fire to a mattress and bedding in one of the bedrooms, and also his shirt and a piece of paper with his name on it that were found burning on nearby Outer Drive.

Rivenburgh also allegedly sent text messages to Jessica McCormack after killing her.

Pitsas said she never met Rivenburgh and never heard of any concerns about Jessica McCormack's relationship with him.

"Jess was great fun to be around," Pitsas said. "Tammy was wonderful. She took good care of her family. They were so loved."

The family is still reeling and in shock, Pitsas said.

"It still feels like we're living in a nightmare," Pitsas said. "It's like we're still waiting for something to wake us up."

Minutes after Rivenburgh was arraigned, several of the family members made the short trip to the city's Central Park Rose Garden for an annual ceremony to remember local homicide victims.

Tammy and Jessica McCormack were the newest names on a list of more than 200 victims of murders, drunken-driving accidents, fatal domestic disputes and other grisly deaths. As part of the ceremony, every victim's name was read aloud by the large audience of grieving friends and relatives.

Everyone in attendance could relate to the pain the McCormacks' loved ones were feeling.

Patricia Gioia's daughter, Schenectady native Mary Regina Gioia, was murdered in California 27 years ago. Patricia Gioia and her husband joined the support group Parents of Murdered Children one month after their daughter's death and are still members today.

"We know what they're going through," Gioia said. "We've been there. Maybe some of us are still there."

Asked what she would tell the McCormacks' relatives, Gioia said, "Someday they will smile again."

bfitzgerald@timesunion.com • 518-454-5414 • @BFitzgeraldTU

Albany

The Mallozzi family is being sued for $1.5 million by the landlord of its failed Brown Derby restaurant on Clinton Avenue in downtown Albany.

In August, the Mallozzis, Capital Region restaurateurs whose holdings include the 48-year-old Schenectady bakery Villa Italia, closed the Brown Derby after a nearly four-year run. Earlier this month, the family opened a new restaurant, Johnny's, in downtown Schenectady across the street from Proctors theater.

The Derby building's landlord, University Development of Latham, is suing the Mallozzis' restaurant company for more than $1 million in rent due for the remaining term of the 10-year Derby lease. The lawsuit also claims that the Mallozzis took fixtures and other equipment from the Brown Derby for the new Schenectady restaurant, some of which may not have been their property.

The lawsuit was filed on April 16 in state Supreme Court in Albany. It says that University Development spent $435,000 readying the premises, which previously was the Salvation Army's Albany headquarters, for the Mallozzis. Their 10-year lease was originally signed for $11,500 a month, increasing to $14,000 monthly early last year.

However, the landlord claims that the Mallozzis vacated the property on Aug. 30 "without direct notice of any kind," while notifying the news media that they intended to open a new restaurant in Schenectady that would become Johnny's. The lawsuit alleges that the family has not paid rent since August and used the remaining assets of the Brown Derby to set up Johnny's, including equipment from the Albany restaurant that may have been owned by the landlord.

Lawyers for the Mallozzis have not yet formally responded to the lawsuit.

Bobby Mallozzi, who with his siblings runs the company founded by their parents, and the Mallozzi Group's operations director did not return calls seeking comment on Wednesday afternoon.

On March 29, a New York City attorney who has won tens of millions of dollars in lawsuits against restaurant owners filed suit against the Mallozzi group, also in state Supreme Court in Albany, alleging that the company kept more than $1 million in tips intended for banquet waitstaff. Bobby Mallozzi called that suit meritless and vowed to fight it.

lrulison@timesunion.com • 518-454-5504 • @larryrulison

Cohoes

Downtown is the next place where growth could soar as the old Cohoes Armory and the former St. Joseph's Church are put to reuse.

Ravens Head Brewing expects to be operating in the armory by the end of the year and St. Joseph's rectory is now student housing and the church is slated to become an event and community center.

"It's exciting. We're looking at two businesses that want to invest here and are very city friendly," said Mayor George Primeau, standing outside the armory at Hart and Main streets within view of the church on Congress Street.

That has the city looking at transforming the block formed by Congress, Hart, Main and Howard streets into St. Joseph's Square.

It's part of a five-year development envisioned in the city's Cohoes Boulevard Brownfield Opportunity Area Plan that includes downtown, said Ed Tremblay, the city director of community and economic development.

The proposed square would require the acquisition of several residential properties and business parking lots and buildings. It also would require extending Howard Street from Main Street west to Congress Street.

The plan would ease congestion; get rid of boarded up buildings; supply additional parking; and provide green space. "It would be like Washington Park in Troy," Tremblay said.

The city would need a developer to invest in order to undertake the project. The city has not estimated a cost for the land acquisition and demolition.

Primeau grew up in the neighborhood, attended St. Joseph's School and was an altar boy at St. Joseph's Church.

"We took a step backward. We're going forward. I can only see it getting better," the mayor said regarding the neighborhood.

Tom Brennan, who owns T and T Towing and the parking lots, said. "It could be great for the area. It would help my property values."

Brennan pointed out that the park has been discussed before. He said he would wait to see what happened.

As part of bringing the neighborhood back, the city is seeking to encourage home ownership. The city also is stepping up code enforcement downtown.

"Cohoes is being recognized," Primeau said. "We're going to keep pushing ahead."

kcrowe@timesunion.com • 518-454-5084 • @KennethCrowe

Schenectady

Two sisters cope with an abusive father and a broken, bruised mother in denial. A young man gets passed around from foster family to foster family, acquiring parents but never a home. Another one, a decent kid, winds up dealing drugs because his crackhead mother can't pay off her debt. And there, slouching into class, is the angry, wounded, molested teen who won't tell a soul until it's almost too late.

Rough stuff, tough teens. So it goes in "Fast Life," a feature-length drama conceived, acted and scored by Schenectady High School students in Revolution Studios, an after-school video-and-music club run by the district's energetic and enterprising multimedia specialist. They came up with the stories from their own lives and the lives of kids they knew.

Shot on a dime with exactly four pieces of equipment (camera, tripod, boom mike and field light), the film is a complex, hard-hitting ensemble work with huge ambitions and a sleek finish that belies its amateur origins. It looks good. It sounds good. And it has a lot to say: about life, death, hope, pain, the forces that shape teenagers and the need to go beyond the walls of high school to help them.

"Kids are not monsters. They can be created to be that way according to their environment, but they're not born animals. They're not born monsters. They're not born as troubled kids. No kid is a troubled kid," says Prince Sprauve, the 28-year-old director, multimedia guru and mentor who has guided the film from its first inklings in the fall of 2010.

At 7 p.m. Thursday, "Fast Life" will have its big-screen premiere at Proctors. It's noon on a recent Monday, and Sprauve is sitting at Newest Lunch, the venerable hot dog mecca on Albany Street. A confrontation scene between a sleazy drug lord and Anthony, the kid with the crackhead mom, was filmed in the booth behind him. He credits the folks at Newest with letting them shoot there, just as he credits Holiday Inn for lending a room, Daly Funeral Home for lending a casket and Price Chopper for donating flowers. Schenectady Police Department helped out, he says. Vale Cemetery. New Bethel Community Church — that's where Sprauve worships — and its pastor, Vincent E. Teague. Parents pitched in. Teachers. The list goes on.

Interest and participation in the film grew gradually, he says. The first year, only 19 minutes were shot, as Sprauve and his charges figured things out on the fly — and won over plenty of skeptics. "People were kind of incredulous," he says, "kind of, 'Uhhh, I don't know if I want to give my free time to something that's gonna be cheesy.'" But in the second year, everything clicked. "Then all of a sudden I had this swarm of people, like, 'Yo, can I have a role? Can I be in the movie? I wanna be in the movie!'"

The idea for the movie started, simply enough, when Sprauve gave the kids some beats he produced and suggested they write raps to lay over them. A couple of students came up with a song called "Fast Life." "This is pretty good," he told them. "I think I wanna shoot a music video."

He suggested they add a story line to make it more cinematic, like Michael Jackson's "Thriller." So they added scenes. Then they added more scenes. Then more. Sprauve told them to stop. "Eventually, one day, I had about 70 kids right in front of me, and I said, 'Look, we have to stop making scenes!' And everybody just started saying, 'Sprauve! Why don't we just make a movie? Turn it into a movie!'"

That's what they call him — "Sprauve."

"He's awesome. He. Is. Awesome. He's not only a teacher — I consider him my older brother," says Akiti Hazard, who plays one of the sisters struggling with an abusive dad. "Aside from teaching video production or doing this movie, he gives us great advice on life."

Confirms Deasia Mayers, a junior at Schenectady High who wrote one rap for the soundtrack and co-wrote another: ''He's like everybody's older brother."

In the booth at Newest, Sprauve pores over the poster for "Fast Life." That mature-looking guy at the left with the beard: He's a student who plays a cop. The fellow next to him, playing the drug lord: a Schenectady High social worker. That serious-looking boy in the middle, the one in the yellow hoodie: He's Ashante Davis, who plays Anthony. Davis made up three years of high school in one, graduating on time.

As Sprauve talks, his enthusiasm never sags. He speaks wicked-fast, in passionate, articulate surges that swell with the rhythms of a sermon and illuminate his unflagging faith in life. He talks about his present (he's rearing two kids alone, one his own, one his ex-wife's little sister) and his past (he grew up in the Brooklyn projects).

Eleven years ago, he says, he came north with a history on the streets and an attitude to go with it. He had planned on staying with his grandfather in Schenectady for two weeks, "and my grandfather, he's from down south, so he hates grown boys sleepin' around the house." Get a job, he told the kid. Sprauve did. Discovered he liked working. Got churched. Got his GED. At 21, got hired at Schenectady High School. Went back to school, planning to become a teacher. He's now in his last year at Schenectady County Community College.

He was tough on the kids during shooting, he says. "I said, 'Don't come to my set late.' I said, 'Be on time. You don't have a ride, walk. Because I want to show you how to go get something, something that you love.'" Keeping them on track wasn't always easy. "It was almost like I had to keep convincing them. I kept saying: 'It's gonna work out. Just keep going. Don't stop. Whatever you do, life has a way of working itself out, if you just stay on the right path.' "

There were nights that went on forever. "Three. I was up till three. Three! I saw the daylight," says Schenectady High junior Saidah Jackson, who plays one of the sisters struggling with an abusive dad. Wee hours notwithstanding, the "Fast Life" movie shoot inspired her to become a director, she says. And she's proud of the message it sends: "This movie was necessary. This movie was very, very necessary — just the awareness," Jackson says.

At the same time, the film itself — just in getting made — illustrates the upside to Schenectady High, which is often at the butt end of bad publicity. "A lot of things happen all around the world, and at so many different schools, and I just think that it's very unfair to be thought of as That School, you know?" she says. "Because our school is great."

Adds Mayers: "We're gonna be able to perform and show people, not just Schenectady but basically America, that there's good in teenagers."

The film pulls no punches and lands a few that hurt; when Sprauve talks about the "10, 15 bottles of blood" he purchased from a costume shop, take heed. All is not sweetness and light on the streets of Schenectady, but that's just the point: to turn an eye on the real problems of real kids in real cities across the country.

"The problems that are going on in the movie are happening around America — not just Schenectady," says Mayers. "It's just shedding a light on it, and letting people know that these problems are real and we need to deal with them."

Next up for "Fast Life": A screening this September at the Williamsburg International Film Festival in Brooklyn. "I've been telling 'em, 'Stay humble, because you're gonna get a lot of accolades,'" Sprauve explains. "'This is not the time to become big-headed, because fame leaves. Just as well as it comes, it leaves.'"

As for that other little movie shot in Schenectady — something about pine trees, starring someone named Bradley — Sprauve and his charges heard about it. "They shot a scene at Schenectady High School, so we were very aware of it," he says. "But I told the kids, 'Stay focused!' Don't worry about the competition.'"

abiancolli@timesunion.com • 518-454-5439 • @AmyBiancolli