BILL DUNNE & TURKEY TROT GEORGIE #TroyCrazy

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: lynn kopka <lkopka@earthlink.net>
Date: Sat, Aug 27, 2011 at 10:07 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: 229 4th Street
To: richard herrick <rherrick2@msn.com>, Hilary Lamishaw <Hilary@triponline.org>, Marion Field <Mvf1406@aol.com>, Jim Gorden <jgordon003@nycap.rr.com>, Councilman Mark McGrath <mmcgrath0123@yahoo.com>, Kareem Jandali <kareemjandali@yahoo.com>, Russell Ziemba <russellziemba2004@yahoo.com>, Cara R Manley <cara.manley@gmail.com>, Jack Magai <magai@capital.net>, "Colleen.Goldston" <Colleen.Goldston@troyny.gov>, Marie Gavazzi <mlgavazzi@earthlink.net>, Fama Joe <famajoe@tapinc.org>, sidney fleisher <sidneyfleisher@yahoo.com>, Andrea Daley <adaley6@nycap.rr.com>


There has been some question about taxes - Regan/Friends of Wash Park will pay taxes on the lot
-----Original Message-----
From: richard herrick
Sent: Aug 26, 2011 10:34 AM
To: Hilary Lamishaw , Marion Field , Jim Gorden , Councilman Mark McGrath , Kareem Jandali , lkopka , Russell Ziemba , Cara R Manley , Jack Magai , "Colleen.Goldston" , Marie Gavazzi , Fama Joe , sidney fleisher , Andrea Daley
Subject: Fw: 229 4th Street



----- Original Message -----
From: lynn kopka
To: Ken Zalewski ; dunne4troy@aol.com
Cc: all-members@troycitycouncil.com ; kcrowe@timesunion.com ; cmartinez@troyrecord.com ; rherrick2@msn.com
Sent: Friday, August 26, 2011 9:17 AM
Subject: Re: 229 4th Street

Ken - harry notes that St Onge/Thomas have a track record - so do George Regan and the Friends of Washington Park. george has invested in his property at 231-233 Fourth Street during his long ownership there; the Friends recently completed the preservation of the public street of Washington Place, a $200,000 joint project with the city of troy. Individuals in and around the Park have also completed many costly rehab projects. Lynn
-----Original Message-----
From: Ken Zalewski
Sent: Aug 26, 2011 6:44 AM
To: dunne4troy@aol.com
Cc: all-members@troycitycouncil.com, kcrowe@timesunion.com, cmartinez@troyrecord.com, rherrick2@msn.com
Subject: Re: 229 4th Street

Bill,

I agree with your assessment, and I'd like to give a brief history on this topic, which has now taken on a life of its own.

On Friday, 8/19, the Vacant Properties Working Group requested a copy of the spreadsheet that shows the 85 in-rem properties and all bids received on each property.  I informed the group that the spreadsheet had not been provided to the Council as it has in recent years, and that I should be receiving it from the City shortly.

In the absence of the full spreadsheet, a member of the VPWG then requested the list of 15 awarded properties.  Again, I had no electronic version of this, so I typed it up from the legislation that we were given (last minute, I might add) at the 8/18 Finance Meeting, and forwarded it to the VPWG on the morning of 8/20 (Councilman M. McGrath can verify this, as he is also a member of the VPWG and has seen my responses to their requests.)

Lynn is a member of the VPWG, and she was perplexed as to the logic behind the awarding of 229 4th St to the lowest bidders.  Over the next several days, I received correspondence from several members of the Friends of Washington Park who were troubled by the Review Committee's decision.  They indicated that their bid was four times that of the winning bid, that they would be investing $20,000 into the property, and that they all live in the immediate vicinity of the property (the winning bidders live in Latham).

At that point, I had still not received the in-rem spreadsheet from the City, but it appeared that something was amiss.  When I finally received a PDF scan of the hardcopy of the spreadsheet (!!!) on Wednesday, I was able to verify for myself that the FoWP did indeed have a stronger bid than the winning bidders.

That brings us to yesterday (Thursday).

I have made it clear that I will not vote for the ordinance as drafted, and will plan to amend it on the floor to modify the awarding of 229 4th Street to George Regan and the Friends of Washington Park.

I am disappointed to see that the Mayor tweeted out the following yesterday:

Looks like Troy City Council will play favorites and award City property to a Democratic candidates group instead of taxpayers.

First of all, I'm not sure what a "Democratic candidates group" is, but I have been contacted by both Republican and Democratic members of FoWP, all of whom are offended at being slighted by this administration.

Secondly, these residents are indeed taxpayers.  George Regan is a taxpaying resident of Troy.  Lynn Kopka is a taxpaying resident of Troy.  The other FoWP members are taxpaying residents of Troy (I don't want to use their names, due to this administration's propensity for political retribution.)  The winning bidders (Thomas/St. Onge) are residents of Latham.  They are good people and invested in Little Italy, but their bid did not measure up to the Regan/FoWP bid.

Third, the Regan/FoWP purchase of this parcel is part of a greater plan to reuse and develop St. Mary's church.  Lynn has made those plans available, and the plan includes preserving green space on 4th Street.  In fact, they have offered Thomas/St. Onge the use of the green space as an outdoor artist's space, and included that in their proposal.

This isn't "playing favorites", as the Mayor would like his readership to believe.  This is about selecting the best bid for the city and for that neighborhood.  As usual, the Council's priority is neighborhood improvement; the Mayor's priority appears to be political pettiness.

To summarize, I'll give an abbreviated comparison between the two bids:

Regan/FoWP
Offered: $2,000
Will invest: $20,080
Residency: Troy
Plan: 3 parking spaces in rear, green space on 4th St
Extra: Allows Thomas/St. Onge use of green space; part of larger St. Mary's reuse project

Thomas/St. Onge
Offered: $500
Will invest: $0
Residency: Latham
Plan: Outdoor artist space


This year's in-rem process was the worst that I can remember - a closed-door process with no input from the Council (or the Troy Police, by the way), with last-minute legislation, no spreadsheet being made available in a timely manner, and [for 229 4th St] a questionable selection process that snubbed a long-time and active neighborhood group.

Harry's use of Twitter to disparage both the Council and the (high) taxpaying residents of Washington Park is a poor attempt to deflect blame for this debacle away from the responsible party - his administration.

--
Ken Zalewski
Councilman, District 5


On Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 12:19 PM, <dunne4troy@aol.com> wrote:
Gentlemen:

Please be advised I support the sale of 229 4th Street to George Regan and the Friends of Washington Park.  On their behalf, I am forwarding some information they provided me.  You may have already received it.  Clearly, this is the best proposal providing the broadest benefit to the community.

Thanks,

Bill