Heyman Lies Right To Your Face & 232-1212

Mary Ellen Heyman has been a busy girl - not for calling a public hearing like she is supposed to according to CDBG requirements - but for being at Tim Horton's handing out her glossy card stock lies, and arranging press conferences with Joe Morelle and every Dem in town, plus the two token Repubs from the Chamber Of Commerce.

"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"



She is telling you that the Pinegrove building is unsafe by handing you that political flier that states exactly that.

That is a lie. Mr. Merrick has not declared Pinegrove unsafe, and there are still ongoing activities there.

She has been quoted numerous times in the media that CDBG cannot be used for Pinegrove.

That is a lie. The budget cut to Pinegrove clearly states that repairs could be funded by CDBG.

She hands you the flier that says there will be no new cost to Irondequoit taxpayers.

That is a lie. Grants, (Whether Joe Morelle's or CDBG) come from YOUR TAXES! More grants mean more of your taxes used, means more of your taxes raised. $1.2 million of CDBG being paid as RENT to an out of state landlord is YOUR taxes GOING THERE instead of STAYING HERE.

If the WISD buys Pinegrove, they will need to make improvements, and your school budgets will be raised to pay for those improvements. YOU WILL PAY MORE TAXES. "New" costs for the SD to make improvements at Pinegrove if they buy it.

The only thing that isn't a lie on there, is that she wants you to VOTE YES on February 24th.

That is a no-no. By her handing you that flier that says "VOTE YES" on it......she is telling you how to vote.

232-1212

A resident has claimed they received a phone call from this number that asks if they are aware of the Senior Center issue etc., and if they're for it or against it. I'll try to find out more about this. Guessing that it probably is someone from the MCDC, because their fax number is pretty close to the above number.


Interesting.

The Town Has No Time For Resident Forums Re: Pinegrove-

But tons of time and cash to make up political fliers urging you to vote YES for the King's Park plan, and to hold press conferences with Joe Morelle.

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.

E-mail and a resident follow up

Letter To Supervisor Regarding Senior Center Mailings

Thank You Note = Letter Of Disclosure?

Towards the end of January, I did a blog about a Letter Of Disclosure that the Supervisor was supposed to share with the Planning Board at their following meeting, which would have been June 23rd, 2008, according to this article.


Keep in mind that this article was June 19th, 2008, and the Supervisor was quoted as of June 10th in this article. But, the contents of the "letter of disclosure" were not immediately available at that time.

According to the Supervisor, this letter was to be disclosed at the following PB meeting, but nobody has seen this letter, so a resident had submitted a FOI request.

Here are the e-mails and the actual "Letter Of Disclosure".







This resident seems to be upset about something. I wonder what it is?



Oh.

I don't think I need to add any commentary to this one. Pretty obvious.
Notice the date of the Thank You Note/Letter Of Disclosure is June 9th, 2008.

More Freedom of No Information......

Back in December, there was a FOI request for documents pertaining to Tim Poley and King's Park. You can read that here.

This was the Purchase Orders and Invoices of money paid to Tim Poley, and where the word "temporary" was X'd out with regards to the Senior Center move to King's Park.

It was also stated in a couple of Invoices, that there were e-mails between Tim Poley and the Supervisor and/or Town Board member(s). This information was also requested in a separate foil......and then denied because "no e-mails from Tim Poley for the time period requested."

Impossible.

Here are the Invoices that state that correspondence did include e-mail.



Here are the FOI requests and denial:

Workshop Meeting Tomorrow 2-12-09

Stop by and say "Hello"!

A little early for campaigning, isn't it?

Yes, anonymous me must comment. If you have a problem with my commentary, now would be a good time to stop reading.


"Anyone who has visited Pinegrove knows that this facility is inadequate. It smells, it is small, poorly configured and has been poorly maintained for over 20 years. In my opinion, it is wrong to continue to allow our seniors to have this building as their place to congregate, eat, socialize, exercise and get the help they sometimes need."

Huh? It's been good enough for the Parks Dept. offices until they moved in the middle of January '09, WISD uses 2 classrooms as part of the deal and they even rent another classroom from the Town, Helmer Nature Center uses it, a craft sale was there in Nov. '08, ya got kids going on acorn adventures at the Nature Center, Red Cross babysitting classes are given there, the Macular Degeneration and Low Vision Support Group meets twice a month on Thursdays at the Pinegrove Senior Center, the Irondequoit Art Club meets there, and MPNnow (Irondequoit Post) has listed on the Irondequoit Bulletin Board that in February 2009 you can:
Upcoming
• Irondequoit Parks & Recreation has several openings in the following Winter Programs: Babysitter Training (ages 11-15) 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, at the Irondequoit Community Center, 154 Pinegrove Ave; Safe On Your Own (ages 8-12) 10 a.m. to noon Fri., Feb. 20, at the Irondequoit Community Center, 154 Pinegrove Ave.;Learn At Your Own Pace Computer Classes (adults) 10 to 11 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, March 3-19, at the Irondequoit Community Center, 154 Pinegrove Ave......

I mean, c'mon! If this place is SO dilapidated, then why are all these events taking place there?

If it's THAT bad, why are all these things still going on there?

Supposedly, it's been poorly maintained for 20 years....but it's ok for everyone to use it but seniors and the parks department?

If it's been in such a state of disrepair, why didn't they apply for CDBG funds years ago to rebuild the Senior Center at Pinegrove, and use the money from the Housing/Rehabilitation to move them temporarily while a new facility was built? The Town OWNS this property.....why lease? Rebuild!!! 2 floors, elevator, work out a deal with the school district to acquire more land or use more land for parking. I'm sure they'd be willing to work something out.

The "excuse" that Pinegrove is difficult to drive to is ludicrous!!! The seniors have no problems driving on busy E. Ridge Rd. to get to the Medley Centre for snacky time and walky time, right? Why is a residential street so hard to navigate? Less traffic. Better/safer neighborhood. Visually stimulating. Pleasant atmosphere.

King's Park? Asphalt Park maybe.....but it's certainly not a park, nor is it fit for a king let alone my senior relatives.

Let's say there are a few seniors who don't like to drive, who may want to get to someplace.......guess what? The Town has a helpful page on their website to assist you in getting to your destinations:

Medical Motors can get you to Pinegrove if you don't drive.

"We are using Community Development Block Grant funds to pay for this and it is not taking away from necessary programs that I have been so proud to support."



Um......you are "re-allocating" CDBG money ($331,508.15) from the Cooper/Titus Improvement Grant, the Home Improvement Grant, and the Commercial Facade Grants to the
Mortgage Relief Grants ($33,429.15) and the Lease/fixing up of King's Park ($298,079 - this year). You are taking away from necessary programs (not the Commercial Facade grants-but the Cooper Titus Improvement, and Home Improvement Grants).

"Another issue is that we will be using “town taxes” to pay for this lease . This is absolutely incorrect! As I said above we will be using CDBG dollars which are federally funded and we receive them every year."

Well, that money for those Federal Grants must come from the Grant Fairy, or fall off the Grant Tree, right?

Noooooooooooooo.......they come from TAXES!!!!! More grants used, means more taxes wasted or taxpayers pay more.

"Rumors say it can only be for things we own; again not true. We give money to Faithlink, the Housing Council, grants to help low income Irondequoit residents to fix up their homes, and yes the Irondequoit Community Cupboard has even received funds from this source; none of which the town owns. In the past , CDBG funding has also been used for studies, slope failures, St Salomes housing project, etc. Projects the town does not own."

Again....all of these things are not "free"....it is Federal money that comes from taxpayers.

"We can rebuild it but we cannot enlarge the footprint of the building because we do not own the land that surrounds it. We cannot expand the parking and we cannot make it more centrally located where it sits. Currently in our town, on the east side, we have Cranberry Landing, Providence Housing, Hobey Creek and now St Salomes; all senior housing and 3 of the 4 are for low income seniors. Kings Park is much easier for these residents to access."


"You can't enlarge the footprint?" RU SERIOUS? Look, I know this is difficult to comprehend, but this thing called an ELEVATOR can get you a 2nd floor, enlarging your footprint! Greece has a 2 story Senior Center on it's Town Campus, and they use that new fangled gizmo called an elevator for their seniors.

You can work out a deal with the school district for more land, temporarily relocate everything while it is being built, and CDBG will cover most if not all of it.

The seniors that have difficulty accessing Pinegrove can have Medical Motor transport them, according to the Town Website. Most of them can drive to the mall to walk, so, I don't see it as being difficult to drive on a pleasant residential street to get to Pinegrove.

Maybe, if there's a concern for parking, you could work out a deal with Congel to provide a shuttle from the mall to Pinegrove......he could use some of the gajillions he has, or maybe some of the thousands and thousands he's going to save on property taxes from COMIDA and PILOT tax breaks. Right? That's the least he can do since his breaks will eventually raise the property/county/school taxes of the residents (a majority of whom are seniors) with these corporate goody-bag giveaways.

"Pinegrove will NOT be sold during this evaluation time."





"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. The district owns land on the site, including the Helmer Nature Center, which Spang said should remain there no matter what happens to the Pinegrove building"

So, when Mike Spang said that the WISD has "expressed interest in this site", that means you aren't in discussions about selling it? Also, even though the building is disgusting, and falling apart, and not good enough for the seniors, it IS good enough for WISD and the Helmer Nature Center and all the other programs that go on there? Really?


Seriously?

More e-mails about PILOT

C.O.M.I.D.A. Meeting From 12-29-2008

C.O.M.I.D.A. had an Informational Public Hearing back on 12-29-2008. You can read the transcript of the meeting here.

If you have the time, read through the transcript, the resident concerns and questions, and the board's answers are interesting.

One gentleman who got up to speak at this hearing was the Commissioner of the Ridge Culver Fire District, Mr. Campanella.

He was disappointed that the COMIDA board didn't know what district the mall was in, and brought up some very good issues to consider. Increase in services and the underground parking. Mr. Campanella said that after the mall was built, the calls increased 10%, and he expects it to increase another 10% if this project is built. He has concerns about more volunteers needed to handle increases in calls - yet they are losing volunteers due to their call volume. He didn't seem so concerned about the height of the hotel - they are well trained in that area (St. Ann's etc.) and building codes do address fire safety issues for tall structures, plus, he states nobody has equipment that can reach more than seven stories from the outside. What he was concerned with is the levels of underground parking. The training for this, and it needs to be addressed. He also states that he really doesn't know much about the details, but the town has been helpful and giving them information as they find out. He seemed more concerned that the developers have not contacted them at all to let them know what is going to happen with the mall.

Here is the part of the transcript where Mr. Campanella speaks:

More Letters On Medley

One on the main page, and if you click on "read more below the fold" you can view about 25 more.