How To Avoid Looking Silly When Writing A Letter To The NYS-OPRHP

Apparently, the boaters have penned a letter (without the assistance of counsel I am assuming) to Rose Harvey, the Commissioner of the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historical Preservation demanding that she overturn the Town of Irondequoit's recent regulation of vessels along a stretch of Lake Ontario bordering Irondequoit.

Here is the link to the article in the D&C. 

Here is the link to the pdf. of the letter they sent to Rose Harvey, Commissioner of the NYSOPRHP. 

As I was reading and mentally noting all the inaccuracies of the letter (for instance, the lines they drew representing the zone (page 2) are totally inaccurate again - the yellow lines are about 500 ft. out along the pier and not 300 ft.  300 ft. out is approximately a little over halfway to the bend of the pier from the shore....but why let facts get in the way of your agenda....really.....)

Anyways, I happened upon page 11 - where there is a photo of a sign that says "Private Property Stay Behind Fence". 

 Under the picture the person wrote "Image: No Trespassing Signage Place by Homeowner on Lake Ontario Shoreline" 

Imagine my surprise when I looked closely at the sign in the picture of the letter that the boaters sent to the NYSOPRHP, and under the words "Private Property Stay Behind Fence" I saw the words: 

NYS-OPRHP-Genesee Region 


The boaters are claiming that the beach is not private, that it is open to the public and that the residents and Town are privatizing what should be public. 

Too bad the NYS OPRHP disagrees - SINCE ROSE HARVEY, THE COMMISSIONER OF NYS-OPRHP AUTHORIZED THE SIGN TO BE PLACED THERE! 

I have no problem with the boaters trying to challenge this law, as it is everyone's right to challenge legislation that they feel is unfair. But please....consult your attorney that you claim you have retained before sending out letters to NYS departments or releasing statements and letters to the media. 

Seriously. 

My concerns with the accuracy of their letter to the NYS OPRHP are below the fold, and if you click on "read more" you can view them.

Read more »

Medley Is A Golden Cow Too

I just read a not-too-surprising article on Congel Sr. and the Destiny "experience".  What makes this article a little different, is that it directly quotes Marc Malfitano, a former executive of the project for Destiny USA - and it plainly states what their intentions were and are.  

To milk the golden cow of taxpayer money as much as they could.

Here is the link to the article on Syracuse.com  - It is a great article and I recommend that you read it.

Inside planning Destiny USA: It was all about the "golden cow" of tax breaks.

Here are some snippets from the article:

Read more »

Medley - Amended PILOT & $90 Million Milestone Investment

The two following documents were sent to me by Ginny, who was a very vocal critic of the Medley PILOT deal from the very beginning.

The first document is the amended PILOT. You can view the "original" PILOT deal with Congel at this link.

No public meetings were announced by any of the three entities for the public to attend to view or comment on the changes.

COMIDA's public meetings are open to the public, but I have reviewed meeting minutes and do not see any discussion on these changes to the PILOT - I believe this was done during executive sessions, where the public isn't allowed.

You can see that the "milestone dates" have been changed - originally the first milestone was 24 months after the entitlement date (which was April 7th, 2009) - so the first milestone was April 7th, 2011 - it has now changed to December 31st 2013.

Read more »

"New" Boats & Boating Resolution

2012-"New" Amendment To Boating Law


Link to pdf. at Town website.

§91-4. Rules of Operation B does not specify that it is for Irondequoit Bay only - so I'm still unclear on that part.

Read more »

Special Town Board Workshop Meeting...

...to discuss the PILOT for I-Square. (And, apparently, to discuss, amend, and vote on the Boats & Boating resolution...which was stated by the Supervisor at the May 15th regular TB meeting.)

Link to announcement.

 
Workshop meetings are open for the public to attend, but there is no public input...residents can't speak.

Workshops are not recorded either (video or audio), although meeting minutes are taken, and after approval by the board, are recorded and available to view here.

Corporate Welfare Defined

According to an article by Rachel Barnhart at 13Wham, Medley wants $250,000,000 in State Financing.

D&C Meaghan McDermott article on Congel and the sales tax financing.

That's on top of the lower assessment for the Mall, the P.I.L.O.T. tax breaks, and the Empire Zone Credits....all of which enable him to basically pay nothing for the properties as it is right now.

 Now he wants the taxpayer to help build his dream, financing it through sales tax from the mall. If they do approve this, and the sales tax doesn't generate enough money to pay the bonds....the general fund of the NYS budget will have to pay for it.

That means you and me and Joe/Jane Schmoe from anywhere in NYS - their taxes will help finance this project.

Read more »

The Sidewalk Is For Everyone

Today, I think I'll try an experiment.  I'm going to ask a few of my friends to join me.

We are going to park our vehicles on the public street in front of some random house.

Some of us are going to exit our vehicles and walk onto the public sidewalk in front of the random house.

We are going to set up grills and lawn chairs and barbecue some food.  We'll have our radio on full blast.  We'll get drunk and have a good ol' time.  Maybe I'll even poop on the sidewalk.

Some of us will stay in our vehicles and turn the music on full blast.  We'll curse and fling beer cans out our windows.  Maybe we'll take our clothes off, and have sex in our vehicles.

Afterwards, we'll drive off and crash into something.  Hopefully not you.

The sidewalks and streets are for everyone, right?

Stick to your guns, Town Board.  It's the right thing to do. (I agree with your proposal.)


Here's a link to the Proposed Town Resolution.

Here's the resolution: Proposed Boats and Boating Resolution

Read more »

Irondequoit Is # 1 in 2012

For the highest Town Tax Rate and School District Tax Rate.  Congratulations!

Monroe County 2012 Tax Tables.

Latest Victim....

....of Bersin Properties.

Turbovac, (I think the company has something to do with parking lots), filed a mechanic's lien against Bersin Properties on January 11th, 2012.  Congel owes them $38,343.00.

Rochester Business Journal listed it in "The Record" section of their online news site on February 10th, 2012.  (Go to RBJ's archive, and select "The Record" from the drop down menu in the window, and pick your dates and hit "search".  Click on the links you want to read.  You might have to log in or create an account.  It's free.)

Read more »

Fundraising Efforts

Link to YNN article.

Mendon, a town of maybe 10,000 people, have raised over $300,000 for their new addition to complete their library project.

Link to MPL's website.

YNN article from last year about their fundraising efforts.

Irondequoit, a town of over 50,000 people, have raised less than $10,000 for....whatever it is they're going to do with the libraries.

Link to IPL's website.

Mr. Congel - Don't Forget!

Your Special District taxes are due today. Either in full, or the 1st installment for the following properties:

092.05-1-85.111

092.05-1-85.2

092.05-1-87.1

Read more »

Medley P.I.L.O.T. Payment

According to City News, Congel has made his PILOT payment on time. Yay.

Link to City News article.

In the article, it says "Last year, Congel pushed off the $90 million investment milestone using two six-month extensions."

Read more »

Here's An Opinion

It's a guest essay in the opinion section of the online D&C website.

There are a couple of facts in there.

Like, the quote from the Supervisor about Congel doing something.....ANYthing...at Medley.

"It should get going this year if all the stars align. It will be fabulous for Irondequoit"

I think the planets are aligning with the center of the galaxy this year....I don't know about stars....but I'm not so confident that he'll do something before we all die on December 21st, 2012!

The other fact is this quote from the Supervisor about getting a lot of comments about the libraries.

" she gets an awful lot of pressure from residents to consolidate Irondequoit's library branches."

The writer asks that she substantiate these requests.

It is a fact that this guest essay appeared on the D&C's website on February 1st, 2012 - but it is now an opinion that this letter appeared there today because I wrote about it on the blog.

If you want to know if it is a fact that this letter appeared on the D&C website today, please call the library at (585) 336-6060 or (585) 336-6062 to get the facts.

Thank you.

Dangerous Precedents

 The Town Board meeting on Tuesday, December 20th, 2011 - during the Public Input portion at the beginning of the meeting - Barone went up to speak, finished his input, then the board called Tamara D., but she wanted to speak about the MP at the Public Hearing. Then the board calls "David Allen" - and Barone says that he is there to read a letter from David Allen because Mr. Allen could not attend the meeting.

MJD says "I don't think you can do that, sir."

Read more »

Psychics Among Us

These letters were from early in the year - apparently, (according to the letter) a certain someone knew that the PB would give a referral for the Legacy to the TB after their February meeting - the meeting in which they did not mention the master plan or the Town Code at all, and the application they had before them at that time was for property that is less than 5 acres, which goes against Town Code for R-7 zoning.

Read more »