Who needs stinkin' forums for public comment anyways? Phooey!
Of course you can give your opinion at public input during the Town Board Meeting, but you have a limited time to speak and you don't always get questions answered. You can be heard there, but it's not the same as public hearings for the use of CDBG funds, and you're not guaranteed to get answers or be shown studies and power point presentations etc.
Anyways, this particular flier was acquired at the House Of Bacchus, where they put it in the bag with your purchase of alcohol. Printed, according to the little mark in the bottom right hand corner, by the Union Label, and not at taxpayers' expense.
That's great. Thanks.
Instead of a public hearing or public meeting where residents could get some answers to some questions before this move is made - we get glossy card stock to read.
According to the CDBG site "A grantee must develop and follow a detailed plan which provides for, and encourages, citizen participation" and the plan must: "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"
This was not done in this case, and when people realized the Town Board was voting unanimously to move the Senior Center without public hearings, they organized a grassroots, (during the busy holiday happenings between Thanksgiving and Christmas during that very cold couple of weeks...) door to door petition to force a referendum on this. Not to vote yes or no, but to have your voice heard! 1,952 people signed that hoping that this would force the referendum, and give the Town time to hold meetings and share their info and hear the public concerns etc.
Not done.
Granted, the people who petitioned and signed the petition don't have the Assembleyman/Chairman of the MCDC at their beck and call. They can't call press conferences with the media. They don't have a union behind them willing to pay for a print up of glossy card stock that takes advantage of the "guilt trip" spin. "Hey, our seniors sacrificed for you. Don't you think you should say THANK YOU to them and VOTE YES on February 24th?"
And if you don't VOTE YES? What does that mean? Do the seniors not care about kids when they VOTE NO on school budgets because they are sick of paying outrageous taxes in this town? If you really cared about the seniors, you'd give them way better tax breaks instead of giving them to Congel, don't you think? I mean, their kids already went to school and they've paid their dues, right? Why does Congel get to pay less to the SD through PILOT, and seniors don't?
King's Park.....heart of town.....enhance the seniors' quality of life......
It is exactly 3 miles from King's Park to Pinegrove. King's Park is not in "the heart of town". It's not even really "centrally located" at King's Park either. 3 miles difference is going to enhance the quality of life for seniors? I haven't seen any studies, or documentation that shows there is a "higher concentration" of seniors around King's Park, but if we're using that logic for why the Senior Center should move there......there's a high concentration of seniors at St. Ann's and maybe the Senior Center should go there, right?
8,000 additional square feet means better services for seniors, but it also means more staff, ergo more tax money to pay them. They aren't covered under CDBG, right?
The outdated and unsafe building at Pinegrove? Outdated, maybe. Unsafe? That is a lie. First of all, there's been tons of activities from numerous groups in the past years, and there
are activities going on now, and in the future. It's so unsafe that 8-12 year olds are invited to the classroom at Pinegrove for Helmer's Heroes. 4th - 6th graders can do crafts there. Adults can "come inside and have hot beverages by the fire" after a Moonlight Snowshoe. Winter Fun Day with some activities in the classroom. Pancake Breakfast is coming up. 2nd - 4th graders can learn about sharks. Irondequoit Art Club meets there. Red Cross has babysitting classes there, and a Macular Degeneration Support Group meets there too.
But it's unsafe. Uh huh. When did Mr. Merrick declare that Pinegrove is unsafe? I don't seem to recall him saying that, ever.
No new cost to Irondequoit's hard working taxpayers.... What? It's from GRANTS which can be federal or state-doesn't matter-and they come from.........wait for it........TAXES!!!
More square footage means more staff, and more taxes to pay them. If you sell the building to WISD they are going to need to repair/renovate, and where do you think that money is going to come from? A nice increase to the WISD budget is what I'm thinking.
Good grief.
Let's Put Seniors First In Irondequoit....Hello? Where have you been the past 3 years and more? "We" have been begging to get the libraries and Pinegrove fixed for a while. The Town just sat on it, hoping everyone would embrace paying for a lease at King's Park with no other alternatives. They are giving no one any choices here. It's either King's Park or the seniors sit in a building that the Town refuses to renovate or fix. They tried to sugar coat it by reallocating CDBG funds from a couple of other grants to pay for the move and a "temporary" lease for up to 5 years - that could cost well over 2 million dollars put into this when all is said and done, on a building the Town doesn't own, rather than spending half that on rebuilding or renovating a building they do own.
A lot of people have a lot of questions still.
Questions like;
I thought this wasn't political?
Is King's Park truly in the "heart" of town?
Where are the studies that show the highest concentration of seniors are in the King's park area?
Why is it more fiscally responsible to pay more to lease a building temporarily until you find a permanent one instead of fixing up Pinegrove or even rebuilding it, which can be funded through CDBG as well?
Joe's gracious "gift" of $125,000 today is a grant. State Funds. (Again, and I don't know why I have to keep repeating this, but grants and state funds come from taxes.)
Also, if Joe can pull the money out of his magic hat for this, can he do it for the libraries too? I mean, they need fixing up now. Leaky roof, mold, etc. Or, are we going to sit on that one too until it's "too late" and you "need to move forward" and put those libraries at King's Park? The seniors use those libraries. Don't you care about those seniors too?
And, where were these state funds years ago to fix up Pinegrove? Or, is that not the agenda?
Can you use this $125,000 grant to fix up Pinegrove now instead of giving it to the landlords at King's Park? (According to Mr. Morelle's answer to a resident at the Press Conference today, yes, they can use this money for Pinegrove.)
Why should our grant money go to Landlords in MA?
And let's talk about how much the Town cares about the seniors when they cut funding for Pinegrove in the budget. It clearly states that they cut the budget for Pinegrove, in which the repairs could be funded by CDBG funds.
Vote YES or NO, whatever YOU think is best. But remember when you pull that lever, that the ONLY REASON you had a chance to vote on it in the first place is because about 40 concerned residents went out to collect the signatures of 1,952 concerned residents to give you that right. It's not a privilege, it's a right. The Town is upset that you wanted that right. They didn't hold any public hearings on this at all during this time, even though when using CDBG funds, they are supposed to.
