Bonds Away, Carolina Speaks, Back to School Sales?: Items on the Rye City Council Agenda for July 11, 2012

GET IT WHILE YOU CAN

For those of you not obsessing at your desks about the stats from last night’s All Star Game – or putting a list together before pushing a basket thru Costco – you might want to take note of what’s typically called in business a “window of opportunity” here in Rye.

That Rye’s current government is corrupt – there’s no question –

http://www.lausdeo10580.com/lausdeo10580/2012/05/mayor-issued-bldg-permits-needs-no-variances-for-property-that-does-not-comply-with-zoning-code.html

http://www.lausdeo10580.com/lausdeo10580/2012/06/rye-2010-present-property-owners-variance-applications.html

http://www.lausdeo10580.com/lausdeo10580/2012/01/city-assessor-admits-mayor-french-only-rye-resident-caught-cheating-on-school-tax-exemption.html

http://www.lausdeo10580.com/lausdeo10580/2012/02/whistleblower-ethics-complaint-leaked-to-the-rye-record-laus-deo-has-learned-that-a-letter-written-and-delivered-to-members.html

So given this corrosive climate created and nurtured by Mr. French and Mr. Jovanovich the fact exists that certain individuals in this town – mostly euphemistically called “service providers” – know exactly who to contact at city hall to really “get things done.”

Use Mr. French as your guiding figure. Or attend any social event where a Rye political class person is in attendance and quietly engage them in a discussion about your property – and how to improve its marketability or valuation or any other “impairment” you might imagine – and perhaps they then might mention an engineer, lawyer, architect, appraiser, environmental consultant or whatever – that you might look up and connect with. It’s done all the time and there’s absolutely nothing illegal in “referral business.”

Someday soon there will come a change forced upon this administration and senior city hall leadership by these and other prior felony sized sins of commission and omission. And then all bets will be off. And in the digital era your named association with Rye’s unfolding scandals will follow you around, well, forever. Maybe if you can sell your house quickly in the next few months and get away from here you might not be called to account. I’m not entirely sure.

So take a tip from a born here. This is the calm before the storm. Get it – if you dare – and while you can. Or join those of us who legitimately care about Rye in fighting this spreading stain.

A STORY NOBODY WANTED TO BELIEVE

Penn State probe accuses Paterno of cover-up

PHILADELPHIA (AP) —”The most powerful men at Penn State failed to take any steps for 14 years to protect the children who Sandusky victimized. It is more reasonable to conclude that, in order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity, the most powerful leaders at the university — Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley — repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky’s child abuse from authorities, the university’s board of trustees, the Penn State community and the public at large.”

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/penn-states-sandusky-report-will-draw-scrutiny#overlay-context=users/cjones

A REPORT NOBODY BELIEVES

Dapolite resigns amid Ethics Board non-ruling

“In a vague one-page report submitted to the City Council on July 11, the board viewed an unrelated settlement agreement as resolution to the matter under its review: public tampering charges against the city manager and a Rye TV manager brought forth by Dapolite, a Rye TV employee, back in February. Though the report conspicuously shied away from reaching a conclusion on any of the charges, the report did took the time to chastise unnamed parties for “exaggerating this incident beyond necessary.” The report states, “it is the consensus of the board that the immediate matter has been resolved by the stipulation.” The report further states, “the settlement addressed important issues and evinced goodwill by all parties,” referencing an out of court settlement of a lawsuit filed by Dapolite against City Manager Scott Pickup”

A STORY FOR TOMORROW

Schubert’s Pond – the evidence, the recovered missing documents, the testimony under oath, the secret photographs, the lies, the influence peddling, the names and – the money.

Stay tuned.

TedC,
What are you worried about? Dapolite, Schubert, Hen Island, cheating on star taxes, building without permits, lying to the City Council, out of control legal fees, Taking a hit for a few million on 1037. Don’t sweat it the taxpayers will float the bond or pay for it in their property taxes.
Here is Doug French’s answer to everyone in Rye…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0V8dlPFPyA&feature=player_embedded#!

GREAT ADVICE:

ANOTHER TAX ASSESSMENT AMBUSH SIGNED OFF ON BY HARRIS BEACH TO GENERATE LOTS MORE LEGAL FEES PAID BY TAXPAYERS FOR – HARRIS BEACH

Last years’ property tax assessment ambush launched on John Ambrose’s two businesses at Rye Town Park and Playland Pier by The City of Rye was done with critical consideration given to the professional advice of Harris Beach, Rye City’s politically wired, patronage soaked White Plains law firm.

Harris Beach, as background, was ‘reselected’ as Rye’s outside council despite the recommendations of The Sack/Carey Law Department Report that reviewed city law department operations after The French Administration took office in 2010 and after Kevin Plunkett departed Rye leaving a festering series of legal and moral “controversies” including the Osborn Home Tax Cert Ambush and the environmental messes also known locally as Schubert’s Pond and Hen Island.

As a result of the ensuing controversy surrounding this late December 2010 midnight hour reappointment of Harris Beach, Mr. French touted Law Department Reform in the guise of a fixed retainer agreement supposedly limiting Harris Beach to $100K a year for regular inside corporation council type services. (This in lieu of rehiring a dedicated city employee lawyer who’s advice was beholden to no one other than the Rye taxpayers.) City Hall waste watchers knew this arrangement could not of course prevent Harris Beach from continuing to attempt to create (by their so called “advice”) the kind of community discord, strife and profitable, laugh-all-the-way-to-the-bank resultant litigation their team had specialized in under Mr. Plunkett for years prior.

It was zero surprise therefore that Mr. Ambrose would strike back at his ambushers in the form of a law suit calling them out for their tactics and demanding relief from their nefarious scheme. What is real news here is that the suit against Rye City is being brought by The Town of Rye (headed by Joe Carvin, remember him, right?) and The Rye Town Park Commission – on whose board sit Mr. Douglas French and Mr. Joseph Sack – both rumored to be involved with Rye City Government at some level or in some capacity. It’s like a big family feud – only YOU again get to pay the bills.

And so naturally, in response to this lawsuit, the Rye City Council last week sprang into action and immediately (fired Harris Beach? Nyet!) passed a resolution authorizing, you got it, Harris Beach as “Outside Counsel” to defend Rye City in this litigation in court and exempting the costs of this new “controversy” from Harris Beach’s $100,000 taxpayer funded retainer.

Aren’t you happy fellow taxpayers? Aren’t you comforted that your interests are always first and foremost at Rye City Hall?

No wonder Rye’s Route 76 bus service got cut with zero notice by Astorino on the coldest day of the year this past January. White Plains politicians, and their service providers, have zero respect for Rye because of how we present ourselves to the world – cash cow fools, run by compromised elected officials, ready, willing and able for milking.

Tedc,
Don’t get your undies in a bunch. With the taxpayer’s money, Mayor French is just trying to help Kristin Wilson and the economy get going again.

How about Scott Pickup? Why can we get an annual report out of him? Why did the controller leave so abruptly?
http://www.lausdeo10580.com/lausdeo10580/2012/07/city-manager-fails-to-complete-2011-annual-report.html

How about Larry Lehman quitting because of the great job Mayor French and Mr. Pickup is doing for the City on flooding? Mr. Lehman was PO because French was playing politics with the Flood Committee and didn’t even have the decency to return a call to Mr. Lehman. French forfeited the most talented member on the committee. Someone who had the capability of saving the City thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXEW4XU2ZJw

It appears to me Scott Pickup and Doug French are covering for each other. French knows he is a one term Mayor and Pickup knows that when French is gone he will be right behind him.

French surrounds himself with a few “yes” people that blow smoke up his *ss, telling him he is doing a great job. People like “NOBODY CARES, Philippi”, who believes that “NOBODY CARES” that the Mayor stole money from the school system. “NOBODY CARES” that the Mayor renovated an entire home without permits, and “NOBODY CARES” that the Mayor did not pay his fair share of tax increases on those improvements.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PElKxshhruw

Ray the subject of the missing report(s) got some detailed coverage earlier this week by LausDeo10580.

CITY MANAGER FAILS TO COMPLETE 2011 ANNUAL REPORT; IN VIOLATION OF CITY CHARTER FOR 138 DAYS NOW
http://www.lausdeo10580.com/lausdeo10580/2012/07/city-manager-fails-to-complete-2011-annual-report.html

For those who know about audits and managerial reporting issues of municipalities (your humble commentator here was once part of the City of Rye’s outside audit team) I for one am getting pretty concerned. But maybe it’s just me. But couple this with the oblique non-disclosures in the financials of the highly material sized sources and uses of funds used to complete the very questionable purchase of 1037 Boston Post Road (The Otis Building) in the prior periods and it all has me, well, California Dreaming. As in –

City of Compton may declare bankruptcy by September: officials

“S&P cited a decision by Mayer Hoffman McCann, the city’s independent auditors, to resign rather than sign off on Compton’s 2011 financial statement. Mayer Hoffman McCann did not return phone calls and e-mails seeking comment.”

http://news.yahoo.com/city-compton-may-declare-bankruptcy-september-officials-084555526.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

San Bernardino: Bankrupt city’s auditing firm defends work

“Partners in the accounting firm responsible for checking San Bernardino’s fiscal practices said they don’t know what City Attorney Jim Penman was referring to when he said that city financial documents were falsified.”

http://www.pe.com/local-news/politics/politics-headlines-index/20120713-san-bernardino-bankrupt-citys-auditing-firm-defends-work.ece

Years of Unraveling, Then Bankruptcy for a City

“While Stockton’s bankruptcy troubles can be traced in part to the collapse of the housing market and the subsequent erosion of the city’s tax base, for years city leaders also mismanaged and overspent funds, pushing the city into financial peril, analysts and current city officials say.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/19/us/years-of-unraveling-then-bankruptcy-for-a-city.html?pagewanted=all

Mammoth Lakes, California, Seeks Bankruptcy Protection

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-03/mammoth-lakes-california-files-for-bankruptcy