The end of Estelle Cooper

From the Queens Courier:

Former Queens Parks Commissioner Estelle Cooper passed away over the weekend, according to Sinai Chapels in Fresh Meadows.

The 82-year-old Whitestone resident, who was indicted in July on grand larceny charges for allegedly stealing over $50,000 from a nonprofit conservancy group she helped start, was facing up to 15 years in prison if she had been tried and convicted.

Cooper charged with grand larceny

From DNA Info:

The beleaguered former administrator of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Estelle Cooper, has been charged with swiping more than $50,000 in funds from Unisphere—the nonprofit conservancy group that funds activities at the park, authorities said.

Cooper, 82, of Whitestone, was charged with two counts of grand larceny and could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted, authorities said.

According to the District Attorney's office, the alleged swindle first came to light last November when an internal audit at Unisphere revealed missing funds.

It's not clear how Cooper obtained access to the funds, but she systematically pilfered more than $50,000 dollars during a five-year period starting in 2007, authorities said.

Hey Estelle, where did the dough go?

From the NY Post:

At least $90,000 raised by the nonprofit conservancy that supports Flushing Meadows Corona Park has been misspent, officials confirmed to The Post.

The situation is now the subject of three separate investigations, and has already forced the longtime administrator of the massive city park — who also ran the conservancy Unisphere Inc. — to resign both her positions.

Officials pointed fingers at Estelle Cooper, the 82-year-old Republican leader and one-time candidate for Queens borough president who spent 17 years running Flushing Meadows. She earned $101,500 from the city.

Cooper first came under scrutiny from Unisphere’s board last summer, when questions were raised about a rental arrangement she had worked out between the Parks Department and a camp operated at the park by Cooper’s daughter.

Then, when the conservancy tried to reconcile the year-end books, board members learned that thousands of dollars had been taken out of the group’s coffers without approval, they told The Post.

“Debits were being made multiple times, and being made on the same day, many of them in Atlantic City,” said Mark Scheinberg, who recently quit the board.

“I was very shocked to see what happened,” said Queens Republican boss Phil Ragusa, who does Unisphere’s accounting.

Ragusa insisted he had no clue that money was being withdrawn without approval until last fall, when he alerted board members.

Has April Fools Day come early this year?

From Queens Politics:

The meeting was called to tell the world about the formation of a new political consulting firm repulsed by the unethical conduct permitted under the present system.

Cooper and Company, as it will be called, will attempt to bridge the gap between hyper-partisan factions with a particular emphasize on recruiting candidates focused on constituent services.

The firm’s president will be Estelle Cooper, who presently works as the Assistant Commissioner for Queens Parks – where she makes over 100k a year and is said to be finally retiring sometime next week.

Cooper is the mother of Ilene Balsamo, who had an encounter with Fox 5 this past year regarding a payroll dispute involving teenagers, click here to read it. The contentious incident seems to be swept under the rug as the new firm looks for bigger fish to fry in the name of good government.

I'll try to comment on this one after my tears from laughing so hard have dried.

Estelle Cooper's family runs shady day camp

From A Walk in the Park:

Ilene Balsamo, the daughter Assistant Commissioner for Queens Parks and Flushing Meadows Corona Park Administrator, Estelle Cooper, runs a private day camp on parks property. Arnold Diaz looked into allegations of counselors from Community Day Camp, a camp run by Balsamo, not getting paid. The unpleasant two-part report was broadcast on MY Fox.

The camp - which uses Flushing Meadows Corona Park - charges fees ranging from $ 900 dollars per child for two weeks to $ 2, 675 for eight weeks. The camp however pays the city just $ 1 dollar per child per day according to a source.

According to the report, Ilene had a mother of one of the counselors arrested for assault after they got into an altercation over her daughter not getting paid.

At one point in the footage, a person reported to be Ilene's son, lifts up his shirt, exposing his huge hairy belly and dances around calling himself a bear in an apparent attempt to block the camera from filming his mother.

More vendors have now come forward saying they too have not gotten paid.

The Parks Department did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment. - Geoffrey Croft

Victims include Vallo Transportation and Terence Park!

Estelle Cooper makes $101K?? Damn...

From the Daily News:

The city is setting up increasingly cozy relationships with nonprofit parks boosters - even paying some of their staffers a second salary out of the public till, a Daily News review found.

Critics say the entwined arrangements with conservancies - nonprofits that support individual parks - mean that a handful of well-connected parks are ending up with more attention and money than the rest.

"New York is creating a two-tier system," said Geoffrey Croft of New York City Park Advocates, a frequent critic of the Parks Department.

"The nightmare is that all these deals are going on behind closed doors and that people are taking city dollars away from other parks," Croft said.

The situation is unusual. Although it is not uncommon for the city and nonprofits to hire from the same pool of advocates and experts, it is extremely rare for people to work for both at the same time.

No other agency has as many employees who have been cleared to work for nonprofits while simultaneously collecting a city salary, according to the Conflicts of Interest Board.

The News found seven top-salary city employees working on nonprofits that support specific parks, including four who got money from both.

Estelle Cooper got $101,507 as assistant commissioner of Queens parks in 2009, while she also ran Unisphere, a nonprofit that supports Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Unisphere did not list a salary for her and did not return calls.

In 2008, Stephanie Thayer became director of the Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn - and the Parks Department's director of North Brooklyn Parks.

Records show Thayer got $86,528 from the city. She said her work for the nonprofit is voluntary.

"I'm still fighting the good fight," she said. "I'm just doing it in a different way."

Figuring out which hat Thayer is wearing has created frustration among some park advocates.

Laura Hofmann, a member of Open Space's steering committee, said Thayer spurned her when she tried to find out how many trees would be planted in a new park.

"She basically told me you have to trust the Parks Department and you have no business asking for this kind of information," Hofmann said.

New York has more than 1,700 city parks - but only 58 registered conservancies, which support specific parks by recruiting volunteers, creating programming and funding upkeep with a mixture of public and private cash.

Half of them - 24 - are in Manhattan and most are connected with parks in affluent neighborhoods.