On Sunday, the
Daily News reported that some of the 30 participants who showed up at a City Hall rally to support turning the former P.S 64 and CHARAS/El Bohio community center into a dorm were paid extras.
The organizers — a group called East Village Cares — strongly denied that the extras received money ($50) for their time.
In
a follow-up piece at the
News yesterday, property owner Gregg Singer also denied that any of the supporters were paid to attend the rally on Nov. 17. Singer also blamed those opposing his dorm project.
"You ever heard fake news? I think the people that are against us are twisting it — it's probably the other side that paid the money!" Singer said.
In other Singer news,
The Villager reported:
[A] judge ordered Singer to pay a settlement of more than $8 million to his investors, who have sued him for failing to develop the building while continuing to pay himself management fees of up to $30,000 a month.
Singer bought the property on Ninth Street between Avenue B and Avenue C from the city in 1998. He wants to turn the landmarked building into a dorm, and continues in a holding pattern while the DOB maintains
a Stop Work Order on the building. As previously reported, there's deed restriction on the property, which can only be developed for "community facility use."
Crain's also has
an article, published Wednesday, on Singer and the ongoing issues with the address.
Some excerpts:
Depending on whom you believe, owner Gregg Singer is either the victim of a decadeslong political conspiracy or he has squandered tens of millions of dollars and years of his life pursuing schemes to circumvent the deed restrictions and convert the building into a massive youth hostel.
And...
...P.S. 64 seems destined to remain a fossil from the old neighborhood, a shell petrified for posterity, of no use to the community or anybody else.
