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MINUTES COMMITTEE ON COMMUNITY AFFAIRS JANUARY 6, 1997 AT 1:00 P.M.
PRESENT: Chair Bronz, Legs. Spreckman Stewart-Cousins, Carsky, Mosiello Wishnie
ALSO PRESENT: Ms. Slaatten, Ms. Curtis, Ms. Midler Ms. Ruddy, Ms. Scienza, , Mrs. Gorski, and Mrs. Keating
ITEMS DISCUSSED:
Chair Bronz called the meeting to order at 1:10 P.M. The Committee informally discussed the Rory O’Moore Park property in the City of Yonkers for affordable housing.
Chair Bronz asked what we need to do if we did want
Ms. Slaatten stated that she only know what she has read in the papers, but suggested that we see the State Legislation and find out the specific meets and bounds and do a title search back to the original deed in the 1920’s to find out the specific use
Ms. Slaatten did state that a quick claim deed would be the fastest way to handle this situation.
Mr. Oros asked if that meant we were not subject to previous agreements and Ms. Slaatten said no.
Mr. Wishnie felt it was important to know what was originally agreed upon and was it originally parkland.
Ms. Slaatten stated that a title search needs to be done to find that out. There is no way of knowing how they did things back in the 1920’s.
Mr. Oros asked how we go about getting one and Ms. Slaatten stated that it could be done through Planning and would take a week or two. Page 2
Mr. Mosiello stated that another site was being considered - one in Mrs. Carsky’s district, so there is an alternate site and we do not need to do this on parkland. He felt that a quick claim deed is a way to get around this and he also stated that he was not happy that this was discussed before it was on the agenda.
Mrs. Bronz explained why we were having in informal discussion today.
Mr. Mosiello also that he felt this item was ram-rodded through Albany.
Ms. Slaatten stated that there are three parcels involved and me must be sure which parcel it is by the meets and bounds and which one has a reverter clause.
It was agreed that Mr. Oros would contact the City of Yonkers and ask them to come to a meeting next Monday, January 13, at 10:00 a.m. to discuss this item. They should have in writing what are the actual meets and bounds and the chronology of the reverter clause.
At this point the Committee went on to meet with members of the Northridge Equestrian Center. The ladies represent over 40 people who use the facility. Since 1993 they have been trying to have Comm. DeSantis respond to them and have the current lessee thrown out. They had a copy of the RFP and Ms. DeSalvo is clearly not following it. They state that she is verbally abusive to the boarders and to the children that take lessons. She was granted a five-year lease in October of 1992 and shortly after she took over the care, feeding and protection of the horses deteriorated. There is no basic fee schedule. She bills people based on the means.
There are only 65 stalls and she has over 80 horses there. She and her partner, Carolyn Nigro, are now in the horses buying and selling business and she abuses long time boarders in order to make room for those she is selling horses to. .
There is also a trailer on the property, that should not be there , and she was receiving Medicaid money for rent until Comm. DeSantis stopped that. Also the trailer is heated by a propane tank and that is not allowed on the grounds because it is too close to the stable and the horses.
They have been requesting a meeting with Neil and Mr. O’Rourke to no avail until they found out that they were meeting with the Board, now they will be having a meeting with Neil on Friday. There is no consistency in the pricing and it states that any changes in the fees must come through the Parks Department and again the Comm. does nothing about it.
Several people have written letters of complaint and no one has received responses.
Ms. Midler stated that she questioned why her boarding bill when up and was called at home that evening and told in abusive language, to have her horse out of there the next morning.
The Committee listened intently to the ladies for quite a while. They have several documents and outlined several complaints.
It was agreed that the Committee will have in Commissioner DeSantis of January 27 to discuss this issue.
On motion of Legislator Stewart-Cousins, seconded by Chair Bronz, the meeting adjourned at 2:50 P.M.
TAPE ON FILE
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