Legal and financial update

A set of questions was submitted to us recently by Barbara McShane and Maryann Lattanzio regarding the money raised and spent for the shelter fight, which we are happy to answer. We are posting the answers publicly so others with the same questions may also be better informed.

• The total amount paid to the attorneys was addressed in a previous post. The retainers are on file at Enchanted Florist. We will not be providing copies, but you may view them in person. We ask that if you wish to do this, then please call ahead as this is an active business. We will post an update each time a future bill is paid as well as quarterly spending reports.
  
  
• The article 78 for the FOIL information was sent out for service on March 16th. Our attorneys need the information contained in our FOILs of DOB and DHS in order to determine whether or not there are grounds to proceed with a zoning lawsuit against the hotel owners and the City of New York.
  
  
• Under NYS law, an article 78 proceeding must be brought 4 months, or 120 days after a final agency determination. In order to prevent the statute of limitations from expiring on us and to preserve our ability to file further action down the road should the need arise, we needed to file now.
  
  
• Our attorneys requested that the City pay our legal fees as it withheld public information from us in violation of the Freedom Of Information Act. The judge, at his discretion, will make a determination as to whether or not that happens.
  
  
• The landowners have a lawsuit pending, but the next court date is not until August and although we are optimistic about it, there is no guarantee that this suit will be successful. In order to not put all our eggs in one basket, we began our own legal action just as we promised to do at the August 31 hearing at the Knockdown Center. The legal fight can always be stopped if the land owner emerges victorious and/or DHS vacates the hotel.
  
  
• The Maspeth-Middle Village Task Force and Juniper Park Civic Association do not feel that the more recent protests were productive and are advising against making further trips at this time. They may participate in another City Hall protest this spring. This issue will most definitely be decided in court, and legal fees are the priority right now. As announced at the October 8th fundraiser and the nightly protests, any and all unused transportation money will be put toward the legal fight.
  
  
• We will not publicly post the total cash that remains on hand as it gives the City an advantage, but donors may request our current account balance by inquiring at Enchanted Florist, which has our monthly bank statements on file.
  
  
• Any money remaining after the conclusion of the legal fight will go toward community projects such as graffiti removal, plantings and/or cleanups in Maspeth. There was a suggestion made by Michael Coyne and others that we hand over the money we raised to the property owners to help their lawsuit against the hotel owner, but as they are multimillionaires and stand to gain an $8M building should their lawsuit succeed, we decided not to go that route.
  
  

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.