Someone is suing to get Fat Boy back

From the Daily News:

A Queens-based filmmaker has sued the city over its hastily-enacted plan to pluck a deteriorating statue off Queens Blvd. and move it to Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

Robert LoScalzo claims the city has refused to turn over emails and other communications involving the removal of the Triumph of Civic Virtue from its longtime perch outside Queens Borough Hall.

“There are still too many unanswered questions,” said Jon Torodash, a Kew Gardens resident who led a campaign to keep the statue in Queens and is working with LoScalzo on the legal action. “How was a heavy construction project like this done in quick secrecy?”

Plans to move the statue were unveiled during a little-known Design Commission meeting in November, when most civic leaders and lawmakers were focused on recovery efforts after Superstorm Sandy.

One month later, the statue was moved to Green-Wood.

Cemetery officials said all of the conservation work on the statue has been completed and it is awaiting a new granite base.

Great, now you can bring it back to where it belongs.

They're out to get Mary Ann

Dear Crapper,

Mary Ann Carey has been the target of a secretive attempt to pressure her into retirement from Community Board 9's executive office. Last night, many whom she has helped in the community came forward to speak on her behalf. The board decided not to vote on the dismissal measure, and instead put her on probation. Blenkinsopp emerged as the ringleader. In 2012, he was featured by the Courier.

Quite interesting that he is quoted as saying "It’s a struggle to try to make government bodies responsive and accountable, and to help them do their work better."

Mary Ann Carey has been one of the most responsive public servants I have ever met, going above and beyond the call of duty (such as staying after hours, instructing me about other agencies, and finding contact information) to help me with the Triumph of Civic Virtue issue and other local government matters. I never found her to be lacking in “technology” or “with accountability” as he states here.

Sincerely,
Jon Torodash

Yeah, they're out to get Mary Ann. I suppose someone else wants her job so they can run for office one day.

Questioning Peralta's campaign contributions

Dear QC,

At the Borough President Candidate forum (4/10/2013) in Maple Grove Cemetery Center sponsored by the Queens Civic Congress, I asked a question of Senator Peralta regarding news that broke recently on his involvement in the "At Rest" law for wine and liquor distribution in NY State, and his reception of campaign contributions over the last 3 years from Empire Merchants LLC, which has been noted to be one of the two biggest wholesalers in the state.



Now, I really disliked having to interrupt the senator when he's giving his response, but he was engaging in a deliberate distortion of the truth, and I felt overwhelmingly compelled - I apologize for that. But the NY State Board of Elections definitively shows that Senator Peralta received $2500 over the last 3 years from Empire Merchants, LLC.

I had this information on hand. To say that he received $2500 in contributions OVER the 11 years suggests that he was given some amount of it 11 years ago, which is not the case.

Empire Merchants is cited as owning facilities in NYC, which would give it a distinctly unfair competitive advantage against smaller stores that use cheaper facilities in NJ in order to bring city residents a wider variety of alcohol at prices NYers can afford. Now of course, almost any law will inevitably help some parties more than others. What I find particularly troubling here is that this legislation confers no productivity benefit: it simply requires that goods have to sit idle before sale. The industry will likely be more consolidated into fewer, larger hands, and small businesses that shed jobs will neutralize union gains. Organic Wine Journal has already spoken out about how this type of legislation will be harmful.

Senator Peralta has tried to push this legislation in the past, too.

That Senator Peralta does not see this as a conflict of interest to even vote on, let alone co-author the legislation, is troubling. Pointing the finger at other politicians doing the same thing is besides the point: neither Klein nor Cuomo are running for BP - only Peralta. Receiving less money does not exonerate him from the responsibility to abstain from taking part in this. Suggesting that 33 other states having this same onerous law means it would be a good idea for NY to do so too makes no sense as the economy struggles to get its footing. These should be troubling facts for anyone concerned with corruption of political office by special interests, and the future of Queens.


Sincerely,
Jon Torodash

Civic Virtue cover up!

Dear Queenscrapper,

In our continual pursuit of the truth behind the circumstances of the removal of Triumph of Civic Virtue, we have received some tangential documentation from the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) in response to our FOIL request, but not the information that we actually asked for. Among these documents are the Request for Proposals (RFPs) for services related to preservation of the statue and construction of the armature used for its transport to Green-Wood, in which we have found something quite unusual.

As a former intern with NYC Small Business Services, I had the opportunity to post several dozen RFPs. All of them were posted 3-4 weeks before the submission deadline for interested contractors, and often longer when addenda were involved. On DCAS' own open list of RFPs, this 3-4 week period is also followed. The RFPs related to Triumph of Civic Virtue however, were posted only 7 and 8 days prior to the submission deadline. This quick window is bewildering, especially given the intricate nature of the construction work involved. Furthermore, the required time period for public notice of RFPs appears to be set at 20 days by the Procurement Policy Board. DCAS has also not provided any communications pertaining to the removal of the statue that might have occurred with contractors prior to this time, and refuses to provide any of the communications that took place between itself or any other city agencies and Green-Wood cemetery related to the removal, citing attorney-client privilege.

We spoke to attorneys at the Committee on Open Government in Albany regarding this situation, and their assessment is that DCAS does not have the right to deny these records. We are considering what legal course of action to take at this point in order to receive what we have still not received months ago, namely, all records of communication. Some generalist attorneys have already expressed interest in representing us, but we are still looking for counsel with experience in matters of preservation, records access, procurement, or other NYC municipal procedure to examine documents, research the city and state statutes, and determine other help precedent that might better advise city or state legal authorities reviewing our case.

Please read more here:

http://triumphofcivicvirtue.org/2013/03/18/major-updates/

-Jon Torodash