Thursday, December 22, 2016

Sen. Squadron calls for False Claims investigation against group who sold Rivington House for condos

Via the EVG inbox...

State Sen. Daniel Squadron released a letter (see the PDF here) to letter to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Corporation Counsel Zachary Carter urging an investigation into the Rivington House deed restriction removal and purchase by the Allure Group under the State and City’s False Claims Acts.

At the City and State level, the False Claims Act provides authority to take civil action against those that defraud the government. The City has indicated it was misled by the Allure Group during the deed restriction removal and sale of the Lower East Side nursing home.

“The closure of Rivington House stunned the community and highlighted major flaws in the process that governs deed restrictions,” he wrote. “The role of government is to protect the public interest and to be transparent; but that role is undermined if government is misled, as may have been the case at Rivington House. But, it is also vital that we hold those who violate the public trust accountable.”

The Daily News has more on Squadron's press conference from yesterday here.

In February 2015, the Allure Group paid $28 million for the property, promising that 45 Rivington — the former Rivington Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation — would remain a health facility. In November 2015, a city agency lifted the the deed in exchange for the Allure Group's $16 million payment to the city. Earlier this year, Allure then reportedly sold the property for $116 million to the the Slate Property Group, a condo developer who plans to create 100 luxury residences in the building that overlooks Sara S. Roosevelt Park.

Last summer, the Department of Investigation released the results of an inquiry, which didn't reveal any corruption, but rather inattention and incompetence by the de Blasio administration.

Previously

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

"didn't reveal any corruption, but rather inattention and incompetence by the de Blasio administration"

That's going to be a hard sell this election year. The knives are out for deBlasio and there will be the Post-Fox-driven media machine and endless money pushing the national far right agenda on local levels.

deBlasio is generally developer friendly but is far and away the best we can hope for right now. Unfortunately deBlasio has made enemies and many mistakes and can't run exclusively on "hey, my wife's black" this time.

Yes! said...

Thank you, Mr. Squadron. Look at the emails that were dumped over Thanksgiving break! What happened is criminal! This is a litmus test for where you stand on corruption and what constituency you really support.

Anonymous said...

I'd feel better if it were just garden variety corruption. We survived with Shelly Silver for years. It's not great, but we got by. He was a crook, but a competent crook.

DiBlasio is just a whining simp. He's just useless.

cmarrtyy said...

I think this issue may turn into a case of the cover-up being worse than the crime. The crime aspect of this case may never come near Mayor Bill. But the cover-up is back to back and belly to belly as the saying goes wth Mayor Bill.

Anonymous said...

I have to disagree with 4:43 PM, since the crime or gross negligence cost the city $60 or $70 million dollars.

Gojira said...

If "de Blasio...is far and away the best we can hope for", then it's time to start sowing the streets of the city with salt. A more talentless, egotistical, narcissistic, corrupt, useless hack would be hard to find, and with him at the helm NY will continue apace to lose the very things that have made it NY.

JQ LLC said...

good luck getting anything from Zack the redactor Carter.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/de-blasio-officials-covering-deed-restriction-memos-article-1.2727068

De Faustio is all we got? He's our only hope, what is he Obi Wan Kenobi? Has anyone learned anything from the Manifest Hillary campaign? You people are spoiling for another demogogue billionaire shit talker to take over a major seat in office.

This stupid asshole mayor needs to get indicted, stat. I don't condone this, but it's a safer bet having Letitia James at the helm for the rest of the year.

Anonymous said...

> Letitia James at the helm for the rest of the year

And then some small time Trump clone walks all over her. If you've got a better idea for Mayor let's hear it. I guess Occupy could run Aaron Kaye and no doubt the Brooklyn Greens would get on board with a few puppets and floats.

On a different blog Scott Stringer keeps getting mentioned.

Propone said...

Im usually pro landlord and pro developer but this is ridiculous. Keep this property a medical facilty and community space.

This is its intention. Also it needs to reopen back up. Lots of trash out front.