Dear Readers,
As mentioned in last week's post, Comptroller Maureen Walker and City Council President Yuhanna Edwards, acting in their official capacity on the city's Real Estate Committee, voted to approve the sale of a city-owned East 3rd Street commercial property to a political ally who owes the city over $228,000 in back property taxes. Walker and Edwards votes were the two "Yes" votes on the three member panel. You can read the Journal News article here.
The property, appraised at $125,000, was sold to Henry Solly for the bargain price of $25,000. What the above-mentioned Journal News article failed to point out is that Solly is a longtime political supporter and donor of Maureen Walker and apparently this deal is the payback for that steadfast support. Solly is also the President of the All Islands Association, which is a prominent West Indian/Caribbean organization that has honored and backed Walker for many years.
Besides this outrageous act, which still must be voted on by the City Council, the question that begs to be asked is why Maureen Walker has failed to act to collect the back taxes owed by Solly. Rumors have swirled for years now that Walker has many political allies and friends who also owe past due property taxes, yet they get a free pass when it comes to collection action on those debts. Can this be why Walker enjoys the political support of some longtime City Hal insiders? How many other friends and allies owe back taxes to the city? This would make for an interesting query on the part of The Journal News who to date seems to have largely ignored the lack of financial management within Mount Vernon.
Edwards, along with Councilmembers Watts, Munro and Appuzo, have been solid supporters of Walker since they began the term of this new City Council in January. Walker was also their prime supporter during their election campaign. What is behind this alliance? Walker has been the ringleader in the push to eliminate the position of Inspector General in Mount Vernon and the above-mentioned city council members have supported her to no end. Are we now seeing the real reason behind this attempt to eliminate the only City Hall office responsible for ending fraud, waste and corruption in the city government?
Speak out against this travesty. Send your letters to the city council to the below address:
Mount Vernon City Council
c/o City Clerk's Office
1 Roosevelt Sq.
Mt Vernon, NY 10550
Or, speak at the next City Council meeting on Tuesday, July 13th. You must call the City Clerk's office at 665-2300 to register as a speaker by 12noon on the same day of the meeting.
Finally, forward this email to your friends and family to alert them to the unethical practices of the Comptroller and the City Council President. Spread the word about what is going on.
To catch up on all of the latest goings on visit http://mvexposed.blogspot.com
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Comptroller and new City Council at it again
It's been a little bit since I've posted. However, the sheer audacity of the new City Council and Comptroller Maureen Walker continue on, unabated.
Last week was a perfect example of the perverted sense of public service maintained by Maureen Walker, City Council President Yuhanna Edwards and Councilmember Karen Watts. The first instance of ridiculousness occurred at Tuesday's meeting of the Board of Estimate and Contract. Now a little bit of background is necessary here. In May, Mayor Young filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court against the Mount Vernon City Council over their attempt to eliminate the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The judge gearing the case issued an order preventing all parties involved from partaking in any action that would eliminate the OIG.
Well last Tuesday, City Council president Edwards, acting in concert with Maureen Walker attempted to push a resolution through that would reduce the salary of the IG from $110,000 to just $1, yes one dollar. Reportedly, the Mayor fought this attempt as it would have violated the judge's order. However, Edwards and Walker forced a vote on the matter which passed 2-1 with the Mayor's vote being the one nay vote.
Now what was reportedly perhaps the most controversial part of the meeting occured after a brief recess. In order for this resolution to be voted on and take effect, the City Clerk, George Brown, must sign the resolution in order for it to be executable. Brown refused to sign the document stating that doing so would be in violation of the judge's order and he wanted to operation within the parameters of the court's instructions. Well, after a recess, Brown returned to the room, swithced the audio recorder back on and clearly stated for the record that Councilmember Karen Watts threatened his job if he did not sign and execute the resolution. He alst stated that no matter what threats were made against him or his job, he would not sign the resolution. It is important to know that it is the City Council that hires or fires the City Clerk and Karen Watts, being the leader of 4 of thr 5 City Councilmembers, has considerable sway over the jobs of the City Clerk and the Deputy City Clerk.
It is refreshing to those who are interested in good government that Mr. Brown made a stand against cronyism and the City Council's and Comptroler's attempt to eliminate the one office (OIG) that stands in the way of corruption and fraud.
The second act of outrage happened one day later at a meeting of the Real Estate Committee. The committee consists of Comptroller Maureen Walker, Council President Edwards and Assessor Anthony Debellis. Among the powers of this committee is the decision-making authority to sell city-owned properties. At this meeting, Comptroller Walker introduced a measure that would sell an East 3rd Street commercial property to one Henry Solly. Now again, some background is necessary. Solly is the President of a very prominent West Indian/Caribbean association and is a longtime friend and campaign contributor of Maureen Walker. In addition, Walker has allowed Solly to use the very same city-owned property for free for his auto repair center for many years now. Finally, Solly owes the City of Mount Vernon $300,000 in back taxes. Yes, THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS IN BACK TAXES.
In the end, Walker and Edwards voted to sell Solly this property for the low bargain basement price of $25,000. Debellis voted no. So there you have it folks, a longtime friend and campign contributor who owes the city $300,000 was allwoed to purchase a property likely worth in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for just $25,000. Will Solly now begin to pay down his enormous debt to the city. Will he finally be held to account by his friend and be forced to pay back his tax obligations? Does he even plan on paying any property taxes on his new property? Maureen labels herself as the city's financial watchdog. Do you really believe her?
This Wednesday, the City Council will take a vote on whether or not to approve this real estate sale/giveaway. Show up at the City Council Chamber and speak out against it. In order to speak before the council, you must call the City Clerk's office by 12 noon on Wednesday. The number is 665-3000.
One last note. It is no secret that Maureen Walker was holding back a substantial portion of the city Chief of Staff's annual salary. Why she did so was a mystery as noone could find a good reason for it. For the first three months of the year, the withheld amount totalled $7,500 according to the Journal News. It turns out that the Chief of Staff, Yalonda Robinson sued Walker personally for the withheld portion of her salary. Reportedly, within minutes of being served with court papers notifying her of the lawsuit, Comptroller Walker called Robinson's boss, Mayor Young, whining about the lawsuit and promised to have a check cut for Robinson the next day. Sure enough that check was in the Comptroller's office waiting for Robinson the very next day - clear proof that Walker was playing silly political games and withholding Robinson's pay for no reason whatsoever.
Good readers, these shenanigans are typical of the new City Council and their alliance with the Comptroller. Unless we start to speak up and make some noise about this behavior, it will continue.
Last week was a perfect example of the perverted sense of public service maintained by Maureen Walker, City Council President Yuhanna Edwards and Councilmember Karen Watts. The first instance of ridiculousness occurred at Tuesday's meeting of the Board of Estimate and Contract. Now a little bit of background is necessary here. In May, Mayor Young filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court against the Mount Vernon City Council over their attempt to eliminate the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The judge gearing the case issued an order preventing all parties involved from partaking in any action that would eliminate the OIG.
Well last Tuesday, City Council president Edwards, acting in concert with Maureen Walker attempted to push a resolution through that would reduce the salary of the IG from $110,000 to just $1, yes one dollar. Reportedly, the Mayor fought this attempt as it would have violated the judge's order. However, Edwards and Walker forced a vote on the matter which passed 2-1 with the Mayor's vote being the one nay vote.
Now what was reportedly perhaps the most controversial part of the meeting occured after a brief recess. In order for this resolution to be voted on and take effect, the City Clerk, George Brown, must sign the resolution in order for it to be executable. Brown refused to sign the document stating that doing so would be in violation of the judge's order and he wanted to operation within the parameters of the court's instructions. Well, after a recess, Brown returned to the room, swithced the audio recorder back on and clearly stated for the record that Councilmember Karen Watts threatened his job if he did not sign and execute the resolution. He alst stated that no matter what threats were made against him or his job, he would not sign the resolution. It is important to know that it is the City Council that hires or fires the City Clerk and Karen Watts, being the leader of 4 of thr 5 City Councilmembers, has considerable sway over the jobs of the City Clerk and the Deputy City Clerk.
It is refreshing to those who are interested in good government that Mr. Brown made a stand against cronyism and the City Council's and Comptroler's attempt to eliminate the one office (OIG) that stands in the way of corruption and fraud.
The second act of outrage happened one day later at a meeting of the Real Estate Committee. The committee consists of Comptroller Maureen Walker, Council President Edwards and Assessor Anthony Debellis. Among the powers of this committee is the decision-making authority to sell city-owned properties. At this meeting, Comptroller Walker introduced a measure that would sell an East 3rd Street commercial property to one Henry Solly. Now again, some background is necessary. Solly is the President of a very prominent West Indian/Caribbean association and is a longtime friend and campaign contributor of Maureen Walker. In addition, Walker has allowed Solly to use the very same city-owned property for free for his auto repair center for many years now. Finally, Solly owes the City of Mount Vernon $300,000 in back taxes. Yes, THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS IN BACK TAXES.
In the end, Walker and Edwards voted to sell Solly this property for the low bargain basement price of $25,000. Debellis voted no. So there you have it folks, a longtime friend and campign contributor who owes the city $300,000 was allwoed to purchase a property likely worth in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for just $25,000. Will Solly now begin to pay down his enormous debt to the city. Will he finally be held to account by his friend and be forced to pay back his tax obligations? Does he even plan on paying any property taxes on his new property? Maureen labels herself as the city's financial watchdog. Do you really believe her?
This Wednesday, the City Council will take a vote on whether or not to approve this real estate sale/giveaway. Show up at the City Council Chamber and speak out against it. In order to speak before the council, you must call the City Clerk's office by 12 noon on Wednesday. The number is 665-3000.
One last note. It is no secret that Maureen Walker was holding back a substantial portion of the city Chief of Staff's annual salary. Why she did so was a mystery as noone could find a good reason for it. For the first three months of the year, the withheld amount totalled $7,500 according to the Journal News. It turns out that the Chief of Staff, Yalonda Robinson sued Walker personally for the withheld portion of her salary. Reportedly, within minutes of being served with court papers notifying her of the lawsuit, Comptroller Walker called Robinson's boss, Mayor Young, whining about the lawsuit and promised to have a check cut for Robinson the next day. Sure enough that check was in the Comptroller's office waiting for Robinson the very next day - clear proof that Walker was playing silly political games and withholding Robinson's pay for no reason whatsoever.
Good readers, these shenanigans are typical of the new City Council and their alliance with the Comptroller. Unless we start to speak up and make some noise about this behavior, it will continue.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)