Sneak in the library?!?!

Remember back on December 7th, I had put up the FOI requests that took over 21 business days to get a denial, or the actual information.......and upon speaking to the "foiler", the Supervisor told this person that they "didn't understand Government"? Remember that?............


After that posting there were some back and forth e-mails between the Supervisor and the "foiler" about the FOI request etc. On December 23rd, Supervisor Heyman sent an e-mail that had the following statement: " I am sending you the packet we have as an attachment. Nothing has been finalized or decided, what I am sending is proposed no approved, tentative budget, (additional funding options have not been explored) floor plans, term sheets and my comments to questions. This is all we have. We did not and have not spent any significant time or money knowing that there would be a signature campaign and an attempt to block this temporary project."

Here are the e-mails:





In the above e-mail it states that as of 12/18/08 "There has been no discussion or agreement with anyone about selling Pinegrove at this time."
On 1/12/09 the D&C has an articlethat the West Irondequoit School District is interested in purchasing Pinegrove. "Spang said the West Irondequoit Central School District, which used to own the Pinegrove building when it was a school, has expressed interest in the site."

So, either they knew the WISD was interested, or this was something that "just" came up. How convenient that the WISD would be interested in purchasing Pinegrove all of a sudden......that would mean there would be NO reason to upgrade/renovate Pinegrove, a building the Town now owns, and they would HAVE to move to King's Park.

Here are the rest of the e-mails:







This is the attachment she sent (1st 4 pages, and the other 7 after the fold).

Please pay attention to page 4, the one with the red arrows pointing to the words:
"Sneak in the library - Currently the Library Board has not brought any formalized plan to the Town Board for consideration."

Say what?

Is it a joke? A slip-up? What exactly does that mean, anyways?







Please click on "read more below the fold" to see the other 7 pages in the attachment.

Ellie Haefner - Rep-re-sent-ing at the Town Meeting

Pay close attention to what Ellie says at the 2:38 mark of the video.

A SENIOR is saying this. Not the "small group of people" that Supervisor Heyman would have you believe. Supervisor Heyman has been quoted in the paper as saying that Community Development Block Grant funds CAN'T be used for Pinegrove. That is a lie...........




Link to the above PDF Document.

She also has been saying that she'd "hate to have the Seniors suffer, because a few people don't want her to be successful."

Sorry Supervisor Heyman, as much as you'd like it to be, this isn't about YOU. Please get over yourself and start doing what's best for the TOWN and not your investor friends from Boston.

How many times do the residents have to remind her of this? It's not a "small group of people" out to get her, although she tries to spin it that way to garner support. People want the right to voice their opinions on this, and be INVOLVED in the process.....not blindly following what the majority Democrat Board decides is best for the community.

She's talked the talk about community involvement and "bringing solutions to the table"....well.....start walking the walk and involve the community in the process, and not leave it up to an all Democrat board to decide.

Be honest and tell the people what the plan is, if they have one. Stop playing "the victim" and make it out like a few people are just being negative. LISTEN to the voices of the seniors, since THEY are the ones directly affected by this move.

Let the people have their say on the matter. Hold a Public Input session, separate from the regular Town Board meetings. Gauge the community "mood" on it.

In February, she made the recommendation to NOT go forward with plans to consolidate the two libraries at King's Park, along with a new Gym, and a Senior Center. She was quoted as saying: "Recent estimates for leasing relocation space for our libraries, senior center and construction of a new gym totaled $43.2 million." And: "No one understands more clearly than I that high taxes are a major concern for all of us."

She is now going ahead with just the Senior Center move. Next will be a Community Center, maybe the new Gym. After that will be the Libraries.

Breaking it down into small bits so the project doesn't seem as overwhelming to the taxpayer, who WILL fund this in the long run.

$43.2 million all at once? Or a couple million over the next 10 years to do what was voted down in the first place, a Town Campus with consolidated libraries, a Senior Center, and a Community Center.

THAT, my friends, is an agenda. An agenda you voiced opposition to already. Yet, your elected officials feel differently, and are going to ram this one down your throats.

Enjoy your asphalt jungle at King's Park, with lease money going to investors in Boston, who are not re-investing that rent money into Irondequoit.

Hey, at least you get to vote on it now, thanks to a large group of unique individuals who dedicated their time to go door to door to give you your RIGHT to vote on it, which was promised by your elected Supervisor in a previous Town Meeting. One thousand, nine hundred, and fifty two (1,952) signed that petition to force a referendum. Obviously, there is more than a "small group of people" who want the right to vote on it.

Supervisor Heyman is quoted in this article as saying: "I'd hate to have seniors suffer," she said about the petition drive and potential vote, "because some people don't want me to be successful."

YOUR RIGHT to PETITION YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS FOR THE RIGHT TO VOTE is seen by her as "people don't want her to be successful."

HER words. Your right to vote has been reduced to and dismissed as a "vendetta" - a spin of epic proportions.

Don't let the spin out of Town Hall deter you from exercising your RIGHT to vote on a matter that WILL end up costing taxpayers in the long run. The Supervisor herself expressed concern over taxpayer monies funding King's Park in this press release. "Recent estimates for leasing relocation space for our libraries, senior center and construction of a new gym totaled $43.2 million. Even if the Town issued 30-year bonds, we felt the cost was too high, particularly given uncertainties over the economy. No one understands more clearly than I that high taxes are a major concern for all of us."

The King's Park move, all at once, or in bits and pieces, is going to cost taxpayer money. Do you want to invest your tax dollars with investors from Boston, or put that money back into your community via a building that the Town owns?

Voice your concerns at meetings, and make your vote count!!!!! It's your RIGHT!!!

Richard Barone at I-Town Board Meeting 12/16/08


My guess is that the current grant money that has been redirected to fund the "temporary" move to King's Park HAS to be used, or they will be denied future CDBG funds. According to the CDBG site:

Requirements

To receive its annual CDBG entitlement grant, a grantee must develop and submit to HUD its Consolidated Plan, (which is a jurisdiction's comprehensive planning document and application for funding under the following Community Planning and Development formula grant programs: CDBG, HOME Investment Partnerships, Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA), and Emergency Shelter Grants (ESG). In its Consolidated Plan, the jurisdiction must identify its goals for these programs as well as for housing programs. The goals will serve as the criteria against which HUD will evaluate a jurisdiction's Plan and its performance under the Plan. Also, the Consolidated Plan must include several required certifications, including that not less than 70% of the CDBG funds received, over a one, two or three year period specified by the grantee, will be used for activities that benefit low- and moderate-income persons, and that the grantee will affirmatively further fair housing. HUD will approve a Consolidated Plan submission unless the Plan (or a portion of it) is inconsistent with the purposes of the National Affordable Housing Act or is substantially incomplete.

Following approval, the Department will make a full grant award unless the Secretary has made a determination that the grantee:

* has failed to carry out its CDBG-assisted activities in a timely manner;
* has failed to carry out those activities and its certifications in accordance with the requirements and the primary objectives of Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended, and with other applicable laws; or
* lacks a continuing capacity to carry out its CDBG-assisted activities in a timely manner.

Citizen Participation

A grantee must develop and follow a detailed plan which provides for, and encourages, citizen participation and which emphasizes participation by persons of low- or moderate-income, particularly residents of predominantly low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, slum or blighted areas, and areas in which the grantee proposes to use CDBG funds. The plan must:

* provide citizens with reasonable and timely access to local meetings, information, and records related to the grantee's proposed and actual use of funds;
* provide for public hearings to obtain citizen views and to respond to proposals and questions at all stages of the community development program, including at least the development of needs, the review of proposed activities, and review of program performance;
* provide for timely written answers to written complaints and grievances;
* and identify how the needs of non-English speaking residents will be met in the case of public hearings where a significant number of non-English speaking residents can be reasonably expected to participate.

Latest FOI Requests......

The first page is the denial for information regarding the $400,000 improvements/repairs to the Town, and the 2nd page is the actual FOI request. According to the Comptroller, John Bovenzi (he denied the FOI request) this information is "not maintained by this agency". That is odd......

The 3rd page is a request for information regarding King's Park. It's been over 21 business days since the FOI request, and by law, a denial or the information must be given within that time period. When asked, "Supervisor Heyman gave no denial no information on that one. She said she's been busy." the person who submitted the foil said, "she was told that it's been over 21 business days which is the FOI law." Supervisor Heyman told the person who submitted the FOI request, that they "don't understand government."

Nice.

Guest Essay 12/4 I-Post

King's Park vs. Pinegrove for Senior Center

These 3 pages are of a hand out from the last Town Board meeting. Supervisor Heyman, during the meeting, said this handout would go up on the town website. That was 12 days ago and as of this afternoon, it still wasn't up. (Update: It is on the Town website-you can read more about that below the fold...)

At last months Town board meeting, the board members voted unanimously to lease King's Park and put the senior center in there. They would borrow Community Block Grant funds for this move. The first year it would cost around $250,000 for the lease and $251,069. to move and improve King's Park - a building the Town doesn't own (Total over a half a million). The Town would still own and maintain Pinegrove. The lease/move/improvements would cost over 1 million dollars (from grants, which costs taxpayers from NY State as a whole instead of just Irondequoit taxpayers) in 3 years still not owning the building at King's Park. This supposedly is a temporary move with a 5 year lease. Way back when King's Park was cropping up in discussions Supervisor Heyman and board members always promised a referendum (vote) on this subject from the residents. There wasn't one.

Political activists in the town have taken matters into their own hands and are gathering 1,000 signatures in 30 days from when the resolution passed to petition a vote. A permissive referendum.

Please click on each page to view the numbers.









Town Website
Click "news and events", then click "major development projects", then click "King's Park senior center" and then at the bottom of that page is the link to the handout pages that are posted.

Or, click here to go directly to the page.