Saturday, February 25, 2017

Report: City official who OK'd Rivington House deed lift fired

Ricardo Morales, a deputy commissioner at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), who approved lifting deed restrictions at the Rivington House on the LES, was fired last night, The Wall Street Journal reported this afternoon. (Subscription required.)

The dismissal came hours after Mayor de Blasio was interviewed by the feds at the office of Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

As the Journal noted: "Mr. Bharara’s office has been examining the Rivington deal as part of a broader investigation into whether Mr. de Blasio’s administration gave special favors to donors."

A DCAS spokesperson said, "These changes have been in the works for some time and have nothing to do with the mayor’s or City Hall’s cooperation with the U.S. Attorney."

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. Early in 2016, 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.

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10 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 25, 2017 at 4:08 PM

    Let's hope more heads roll and this guy does not take the fall for the mayor and his donors.

    ReplyDelete
  2. GojiraFebruary 25, 2017 at 5:22 PM

    Just fired? Why not tried and incarcerated? Unless there is real and lasting punishment, shit like this will continue to happen because there are no real or lasting consequences.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Scuba DivaFebruary 25, 2017 at 7:55 PM

    I hope this is the beginning of the #volcanoofcorruption.

    ReplyDelete
  4. JQ LLCFebruary 25, 2017 at 8:39 PM

    Yeah changes have been at work, that's why this lackey got fired the day after De Faustio met with the D.A..

    If the dope from park slope does throw more people under the bus, he better throw that lobbyist creep Capalino and a few of his deputy mayors Glen from goldman sachs and Shorris.

    I might be the only one, but I think when the mayor gets home now that he screwed over Ellison for DNC chair with his endorsement, the feds are going to be waiting with a warrant at Gracie.

    ReplyDelete
  5. GiovanniFebruary 25, 2017 at 9:14 PM

    I'm just going to repeat the comment I made almost a year ago when it became apparent that DeBlasio may in fact have been lying about his lack of prior knowledge in this sordid affair:

    "If Mayor DeBlasio knew about this, and is lying to the public, then there is only one solution: Impeach DeBlasio."

    April 3, 2016 at 8:59 PM

    ReplyDelete
  6. DrGeckoFebruary 26, 2017 at 8:25 AM

    DeBlasio - bumbling fool, or mendacious bumbling fool?

    Why is no one prepping to run against him?

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousFebruary 26, 2017 at 8:58 AM

    I'd like a little less coverage of Trump and a lot more coverage of this scandal.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousFebruary 27, 2017 at 12:43 PM

    He's a Clinton shill: of course he's giving out favors. Can we now look into who's getting the unneeded fence contract in the park??

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousMarch 2, 2017 at 1:19 AM

    This has been going on for a long time time. Its disgusting that they only fired him now? People should be going to jail. This is criminal. And it does seem like the donors are getting benefits.

    ReplyDelete

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