Ctrl+Alt+Delete The Town Board

Isn't it frustrating when you try to interrupt the operation of a malfunctioning program by pressing ctrl-alt-delete, and it doesn't work? It keeps on malfunctioning? That is frustrating.

I also find it frustrating when I read or hear someone say that the Pinegrove Building isn't able to be expanded, because the Town only owns the building, or the WISD owns the land surrounding the building. I find it extremely unacceptable when Town Government tries to spoon feed me that same rhetoric.

For example:

Supervisor Heyman has stated on the town website, and in her "facts sheet" that the "WISD owns the land around the building." She's had a Guest Essay in MPNnow titled, "Where Do We Go From Here?", where she states yet again that "in fact, the WISD owns the land surrounding Pinegrove."







Debbie Evans has stated in an e-mail to some residents that "we can't enlarge the footprint of the building, because we do not own the land that surrounds it. We cannot expand the parking......."



Bill Domm, assistant superintendent for business in West Irondequoit said in Dec. 2008 that "the Town purchased the building and just 3 ft. all the way around it, plus the parking lot out front for about $185,000 in the mid '70s."



Ted Schoonmaker, a senior center visitor, said in a letter to MPNnow "To expand at Pinegrove, where are you going, with only five feet all around the building to add space? It's impossible."




Folks, it's just not true.

Let me say it again.

It's. just. not. true.

3 ft? 5 ft? Where are they getting this information from? The Town?

The $185,000 purchase price is true, but the claims above about the amount of property the Town owns at Pinegrove is not.

Recently a resident made a visit to the County Offices to view any documents related to the purchase/development/deed etc., of Pinegrove. There were 6 pages, and the clerk assured the resident that this was all they had on file for this property.

The following 6 pages are what the Town has filed with the County of Monroe concerning the property at 154 Pinegrove Ave.







The deed states that the parcel is 275' wide x 300' deep.

That = 82,500 sq. ft.

1 acre = 43,560 sq. ft.

That means that the Town owns 1.9 acres for Pinegrove with the existing building on site.

The deed also states that the WISD retained the right to use the North End room (about 1,000 sq. ft. as an office for the Nature Center) rent free and this continues in perpetuity (or "forever" in 'real people' speak).

The Supervisor has said that the Town doesn't own the property around the building, but the Supervisor has also said that Pinegrove is 1.9 acres. This was on the following document, and on the town website titled "Let's Talk About Our Town.....".




How can the Town NOT own the property surrounding the building (according to the Supervisor) and own 1.9 acres (according to the Supervisor)? In which statement is she lying?


What is most frustrating, is that the option to expand or new-build was never given. Never discussed. The 1.9 acres of Pinegrove is never mentioned in the "Senior Center Facts Sheet" at all!

All we kept hearing about was how the Town wanted to lease 20,000 sq. ft. of space for seniors only at King$ Pork, and how great it is.

Residents have said that the Supervisor has said at previous meetings that the Town only owns a few feet around the building, and that as soon as you walk out the door the town owned property ends, etc.

That is not true, according to documents filed by the Town with Monroe County concerning the property at 154 Pinegrove, and according to the Supervisor herself.

1.9 acres would give you a building with enough square footage for the community (not just seniors) with ample room for parking.

The Town wanted to spend $1.2 million on a five year lease for 20,000 sq. ft. for just seniors.

Since the Supervisor likes to refer to Greece's facilities......

Greece built a two story (elevator!), 35,000 SF building at the Town Campus. The building contains community use rooms, a full service kitchen, a senior’s room, activity rooms, art room, gymnasium, elevated running track, exercise room, locker rooms, staff offices, conference rooms, support and utility areas, and a future expansion office area on the second floor.

That's for the whole community of over 90,000 people in Greece. Not just 7,000 seniors. 35,000 sq. ft. for the WHOLE POPULATION of Greece.

Meanwhile....in Irondequoit.....the Town Board, through a unanimous vote, opted for a lease of over 20,000 sq. ft. for just seniors, and they refuse to fix up the existing building, or even let a resident volunteer who has commitments from businesses for free labor/materials to fix up Pinegrove....for FREE!

Another bit of misinformation that the Town Board likes to float around is that King$ Pork is on a bus line (which is true), therefore easier for residents to access. But what they conveniently leave out is that RTS service runs down St. Paul Blvd. and services Helmer Nature Center too. Read for yourself.







I keep pressing Ctrl-Alt-Delete, but the program keeps malfunctioning.

Frustrating!

Final Tally, Including Absentee Ballots

The Town has put up the final tally of votes on their website. You can click this link to go to the website, or click the image below.



Total number of votes cast: 5,264 (5,024 + 240 absentee ballots = 5,264)
Total number of YES votes: 2,398 (2,205 + 193 YES absentee ballots = 2,398)
Total number of NO votes: 2,866 (2,819 + 47 NO absentee ballots = 2,866)

Do you wonder why the number of absentee ballots for YES votes seems to significantly outweigh the number of absentee ballots for NO votes? By over 4 times?

You need look no further than the recent article in the D&C from Sunday's paper to know the reason why.

"Heyman acknowledged spending $500 of her own money on a mailer to absentee voters."

Heyman used her position as Town Supervisor, accessing a mailing list that nobody from the opposition had access to, in order to send a mailer to the absentee voters pushing her agenda. You can clearly see what happens when only ONE side is allowed to share information.

The majority of those absentee voters only heard one side. Her side.

This is the "open government" you voted for?

WWGD?

What Would Greece Do?

In reading the comments over at the D&C articles, (and people wonder why I don't enable commenting on here.....the morphing alone is business as usual - it was expected that the "crew" would morph as "vote no" people with the most ridiculous comments to make the "no" people look bad......like I said, so transparent that scotch tape is jealous......but, I digress.) I noticed that people keep bringing up Greece's leasing of a senior/community center while they studied other options.

And, that's true. They did lease. From a company in NY, in the Rochester area, not out of state. What is different, is that Greece never owned a building specifically for community/senior activities until the new one was built on town campus. Their "senior center" was in the old Town Hall on Ridge Rd. and in the basement of Bethany Presbyterian Church on Dewey Ave.



That wasn't working too well considering the increase in needs for services.
So, they decided to lease 8,150 SF at the West Ridge Community Center, 300 Chesterton Rd. for about $145,000 per year. That was in 1990 (I think).



It wasn't located in the "geographic center of town" though, and they leased space for the whole community to use....not just seniors. In other areas of the building, it also provided space for St. Joseph's Villa, BOCES II and a Montessori school.



So, Greece leased this space until the PLAN to build the new center at Town Hall campus was completed - PLANNED accordingly to be done when the lease for the West Ridge facility was up.

An old article from Greece Post tells the "goings on" then.


Why spend all that money and raise the property taxes of the residents to build a new senior center?

Kathryn Firkins, director of constituent services for Greece at the time explains:

"The town now spends $145,000 a year to lease the current community center space from Christa Construction, so owning a building would save the town money in the long term, she said."

What? OWNING A BUILDING SAVES THE TOWN MONEY IN THE LONG TERM!?!?!?!

No way!

Way.

Since Irondequoit already owns a building (Pinegrove), doesn't it make sense to put some money into this until you come up with a better plan than leasing at King$ Pork?

Especially since you can't guarantee that there will be CDBG funds to pay that lease with? The way the economy is, that federal money could go to bail out another bank or something..... and the way the State is cutting budgets......you can't rely on that money for the future.

Owning is better than leasing.

Putting money into a building that you own.....10 years down the road, you still have a building you own.

Putting millions into a lease.......10 years down the road, you have nothing but leased space, and landlords from MA are laughing all the way to the bank.

Might as well put those millions in a pile and burn it

This Is The Propo$al With A Triple Net Lea$e In The Deal!

Here's the resolution the Supervisor and Board passed in November, without any public hearings, or vote on the issue:





Here is the proposed lease agreement:



Notice that this proposal says, "Landlord will provide a lease to Tenant net of Building expenses (i.e. triple net)"

Triple Net Lease?

"What Does It Mean?

A lease agreement that designates the lessee (the tenant) as being solely responsible for all of the costs relating to the asset being leased in addition to the rent fee applied under the lease. The structure of this type of lease requires the lessee to pay for net real estate taxes on the leased asset, net building insurance and net common area maintenance. The lessee has to pay the net amount of three types of costs, which how this term got its name.

This type of lease can also be referred to as a "net-net-net lease" or a "hell or high water lease".

Investopedia explains Triple Net Lease
For example, if a property owner leases out a building to a business using a triple net lease, the tenant will be responsible for paying the building's property taxes, building insurance and the cost of any maintenance or repairs the building may require during the term of the lease. Because the tenant is covering these costs (which would otherwise be the responsibility of the property owner), the rent charged in the triple net lease is generally lower than the rent charged in a standard lease agreement."

This Town proposal states:
Tenant shall pay its proportionate share of Building operating expenses and real estate taxes. The real estate taxes and CAM for 2008 are currently estimated to be $4.93 per square foot. That prorate share of expenses include the following:
- Common Area Utilities
- Elevator
- Real Estate Taxes
-Common Area Maintenance and Repairs
- Landscaping and Grounds
- Real Estate Taxes
-Management Fees
- Insurance

So, if this is the proposal that would be agreed upon for the lease to Kings Pork, then the Supervisor lied on camera to Rnews that the Town would not be responsible for snow removal and taxes would be paid by the landlord - the Town DPW won't be plowing it, you'll just have your taxes pay the landlords to contract out to plow and remove snow.

It says quite clearly in the lease proposal that "real estate taxes" and "Landscaping and Grounds" is part of the payment the town will make for CAM, so, the Town is still "responsible" for it. They're just paying through a lease with your taxes.

Did she even read this proposal?

What's The C.A.M.?

I was watching Rnews this morning and they had an interview with Supervisor Heyman:


I highlighted a couple of things.

"With more than 71,000 visitors to the senior center last year,"

I thought it was 64,000? That's what the Town Website stated under the Senior Center header towards the bottom of the page.

What are the true numbers? Nobody knows, because they didn't hold a public hearing to get that information out to the public, like they are supposed to when using CDBG funds.

"The move to Kings Park could eventually save the town some money. Heyman points to snow plowing as one cost saving measure as the town will not be responsible for snow removal there. She also said the town would save on taxes as they would be paid by the landlord."

Is the snow plowing deal included in the Common Area Maintenance (CAM) agreement?

Is it a flat rate or variable rate CAM?

What is included in the CAM?

Nobody knows, because they didn't hold a public hearing to get that information out to the public, like they are supposed to when using CDBG funds.

A landlord may include a wide range of expenses simply listed as “CAM Fees” or “Administrative Fees” on the basis that these are expenses the landlord pays for the benefit of all tenants. If CAM fees are not clearly listed or explained in a lease, you could be paying for:

# Security systems or salaries or other costs associated with on-site security personnel;

# Permits, taxes, insurance, or any legal costs;

# Advertising, signs, or other general overhead expenses incurred by the landlord for operating or promoting the building (i.e., salaries or benefits for on-site or even off-site employees);

# Repair and renovations of the property maintenance of the property, including landscaping additions or redesigns, exterior painting, exterior or parking lot lighting fixtures, paving or resurfacing, roofing, or repairs and upgrades to central plumbing, electrical, sewer, and HVAC systems; or

# Utilities, rent, or any other costs of maintaining separate leasing office spaces either on- or off-site.


Is this a "Triple Net Lease"? Are they paying for maintenance, taxes, and insurance in this lease?

That's the worst lease of them all.


Again, nobody knows because they haven't seen the lease agreement and all the details of this lease.

For all we know, part of the lease agreement is taxes and maintenance (plowing) are included in the $18,000 a month rent the Town is using our tax dollars for. CAM rates could fluctuate greatly.

# CAM is an acronym for “Common Area Maintenance.”

# CAM expenses are allocated to tenants on a pro rata basis: the more square footage a tenant rents, the greater percentage of CAM expenses it must pay.

# CAM fees are paid by the tenant (lessee) to the owner (lessor) to help cover the cost of overhead and operating expenses and landlords may try to include a wide variety of their expenses as CAM fees.

# Common areas generally include space accessed, used, benefited by, or shared by all tenants, and almost always include hallways, elevators and stairwells, lobbies, and public restrooms.

# CAM fees can also be charged for external spaces, like sidewalks and parking lots, and, in some cases, even for off-site facilities.

# Administrative fees may be charged, based on a percentage of the CAM fee rate, for operating and maintenance costs associated with non-common areas or salaries – things that are not truly common expenses and expenses most tenants will object to contributing to.

# Not all landlords charge CAM fees, but most still do, especially in commercial industrial space and retail leases.


Does anyone have any clue what the CAM agreement is on the lease for Kings Pork?

I've seen the proposal, and it's not good!

"Heyman says proposed move to Kings Park isn’t something she just pulled out of a hat."

It certainly wasn't her hat that she pulled it out of.

Ugh......Who Collected The Data For This?!?!

The Town has updated their website recently, and I thought it was very informative.......until I got to a certain part under "Senior Center Background".

Visit the town website and link here.

A lot of numbers being thrown around, and I assume they are all correct.....just because I give them the benefit of the doubt that they did their research.

Well, I was wrong to assume.

This is just a number that jumped out at me right off the bat:


"Pinegrove currently serving approximately 64,000 seniors in 2008"

Really?

"that is over 10,000 more seniors being served since 2006"

Are you SURE about that?

I know the population of the whole town is around 50,000. So, I look up the census data, and population trend data and here's what I found at the U.S. Census Bureau.

Population in 2000:


Population trend:


So, the population of Irondequoit in 2000 was 52,354.....and the population trend for Irondequoit for 2007 was down to 50,021.

But the Town is telling us that Pinegrove is currently serving 64,000 seniors in 2008. 10,000 more seniors since 2006.

How can they serve 64,000 seniors when the population of Irondequoit is only around 51,000 people? How is that possible?

Here is the 2005-2007 American Community Survey 3-Year Estimates for Irondequoit with an age breakdown......and according to the estimates, there are about 10,235 seniors aged 65 or older. Add about 3,000 more to that number if you want to count ages 60-64. So, give or take, around 13,000 seniors in Irondequoit.

U.S. Census Bureau Age Breakdown For Irondequoit:


Here's another link to social/economic/housing etc. breakdowns for Irondequoit.


64,000 seniors served at Pinegrove in 2008?
If they got this number wrong......what other numbers are incorrect in this "facts sheet"?

"Since 2006, the demand for services at Pinegrove has increased substantially."





How much?

Where are the studies?

The documents supporting this statement?

If they can't even get the number of seniors being serviced at Pinegrove correct, how can we be sure anything else is correct?

What I really want to know is......who the heck wrote this part? Who did the research? Who hit "publish" before checking the numbers and putting this crap on the website?!?

Don't you KNOW what your town population is? How many seniors you service? That the amount of seniors serviced can't possibly be MORE THAN THE WHOLE POPULATION OF IRONDEQUOIT?!?!?!!

I mean C'MON! That was just ignorant! Geez!

Who Owns King's Pork?

King's Pork is owned by HRPT Properties Trust. Their company profile states, in part;

Company Profile

HRPT Properties Trust is a real estate investment trust, or REIT, which primarily owns office buildings located throughout the United States. We have a large concentration of properties leased to the U.S. Government and other tenants with good credit characteristics. We also own approximately 17 million square feet of leased commercial and industrial lands located in Oahu, Hawaii.

HRP was founded in 1986 and went public on the New York Stock Exchange as a REIT that owned healthcare related properties. In the 1990’s we transformed into an office REIT by selling healthcare assets and buying office buildings. During this time, we also formed two subsidiary REITs: Hospitality Properties Trust (HPT), a REIT that owns hotels, and Senior Housing Properties Trust (SNH), a REIT that primarily owns healthcare properties. HPT and SNH became separate public companies in 1995 and 1999, respectively.

HRPT Properties Trust is managed by Reit Management & Research LLC (RMR).

What is an REIT?

" Overview of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)

A real estate investment trust, or REIT, is a company that owns, and in some cases, operates income producing real estate such as offices, hotels, healthcare facilities, apartments, shopping centers, etc. In order to qualify to be a REIT, a company must distribute annually at least 90% of its taxable income to its shareholders. REITs generally pay little or no corporate income taxes because they are able to deduct dividends from their taxable earnings.

The United States Congress created REITs in 1960 to make investments in large scale, income producing real estate accessible to smaller investors. Investors in REITs may benefit from greater diversification through investing in a portfolio of properties, rather than a single building, and by having their investment managed by experienced real estate professionals.

REITs are total return investments and they typically provide high dividends plus the potential for moderate, long term capital appreciation. Generally, long term total returns which can be realized by ownership of REIT stocks are likely to be somewhat less than the returns of higher risk high growth stocks and somewhat more than the returns of lower risk bonds. "

They own some property in the Rochester area.



Their business "strategy" is to lease primarily to government or medical tenants, because they lease longer, are more likely to pay on time, and are less affected by economic changes etc. Basically, they lease to these entities to guarantee they make a profit.

Part of their investment "strategy":

"We do not seek “turn around” or “reposition” properties and we generally do not invest in joint ventures or off balance sheet entities. We generally do not undertake speculative development, but we sometimes do build to suit projects to accommodate existing tenants or for new tenants on land we own. Although we sometimes sell properties, we generally consider ourselves to be a long term investor more interested in diversifying our investment portfolio than to sell properties for short term gains."

HRPT Properties Trust is managed by an REIT, who answers to shareholders. They are in this to make money, like most landlords. Only....they don't operate in our state - their corporate headquarters are in Newton, MA. They just lease properties to governments that use taxpayer money to pay the rent.

They are making a large profit, not because you as a citizen decided to patronize them, but because your government decided to patronize them. You don't have a choice, apparently.

Joe Morelle thinks this move is "financially viable". So much so that he is generously giving away $125,000 of taxpayer money in the form of a grant for the move.

Isn't that nice of him?

Ever wonder who donates to campaigns? Ever wonder who was a big contributor to Morelle's campaign?

Why, it's Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate. Isn't that great?




Awwwwwwww, friends should grease each others palms like that. The world would be a better place, wouldn't it? Gives me the warm fuzzies -n- stuff.

CDBG Performance Profiles New York

The profiles include the following information for each grantee:

	Available program funds, including program income
	Expenditures by major program categories
	Timeliness ratio for entitlement communities
	Program targeting, including the use of NRSAs and CDFIs
	For activities that provide direct benefits to individuals, the number of beneficiaries served by race/ethnicity group and by income level
	Accomplishments achieved during the program year

Here are Irondequoit's numbers for Program Year 8/1/2007 to 7/31/2008



Irondequoit Program Year 8/1/2006 to 7/31/2007



Irondequoit Program Year 8/1/2005 to 7/31/2006




You can access more information on any county in New York State, including Monroe through this link.

I believe a resident of Irondequoit has called/written to the CDBG office to inquire about the "rule" that anything funded for a lease through CDBG has to have a lease of 15 years - I will try to find any wording that states this on the site and refer you to a link when I find out.


Here is the link to more CDBG reports. Some files are in PDF format, and some are in an excel format. If you don't have excel, you can download an Excel Viewer here.


CDBG Expenditures & Accomplishments:

The Office of Community Planning and Development has developed profiles that show how each entitlement community expended CDBG funds during its most recently completed program year. These profiles provide information on grantee expenditures by the type of activity carried out. Since CDBG funds may be used for a wide variety of housing, community and economic development activities, the use of those funds may be identified in these profiles by as many as 90 different categories (matrix codes) depending on how an entitlement community has chosen to use its funds to meet local needs. With these profiles, you can quickly and easily become more informed on how CDBG funds are being spent by any one of the entitlement grantees to which funds are awarded or at the national level.

PDF's - Irondequoit Expenditures:

Use of CDBG Funds by IRONDEQUOIT, NY FROM 08/01/2007 TO 07/31/2008

Use of CDBG Funds by IRONDEQUOIT, NY FROM 08/01/2006 TO 07/31/2007

Use of CDBG Funds by IRONDEQUOIT, NY FROM 08/01/2005 TO 07/31/2006

Use of CDBG Funds by IRONDEQUOIT, NY FROM 08/01/2004 TO 07/31/2005

Use of CDBG Funds by IRONDEQUOIT, NY FROM 08/01/2003 TO 07/31/2004

Use of CDBG Funds by IRONDEQUOIT, NY FROM 08/01/2002 TO 07/31/2003

These profiles provide information on grantee accomplishments by the type of activity carried out. The accomplishments appearing in these profiles were reported by grantees in the Integrated Disbursement and Information System (IDIS). Profiles for grantees will vary, grantees have flexibility in determining the housing, economic and community development activities they carry out with CDBG funds.

Excel- Irondequoit CDBG Accomplishment Data:

Click on the excel link next to Irondequoit for each program year.