Condolences to our trustee, Alicia Vaichunas, on the death of her father, Alfred Talalay, this past Thursday. Funeral arrangements are as follows: Wake at Kodis Funeral Home 63-03 Flushing, Avenue Maspeth, NY 11378 718-326-1658 Saturday 2/11--7-9PM Sunday. 2/12--2-4 PM, 7-9 PM Funeral Mass Monday 2/13. 9:45 AM St Margaret's RC Church 66-05 79 Place Middle Village, NY 11379 It was announced at last night's COMET meeting that the Maspeth Jewish Center's congregation has decided to use the building as a school. They will teach 15-20 students starting in September. The kids will be brought in daily via van. We wish them much success. The town of Maspeth was officially founded March 28, 1642. Festivities will be conducted throughout 2017 to celebrate Maspeth's 375th anniversary. The first planned event takes place on Tuesday, March 28th at Maspeth Federal Savings. More details will be announced as the date gets closer.
The above photo has been making the rounds on Facebook, with the description removed and the photo cropped. It shows a Diwali celebration that took place back in November, which the local elected officials were invited to as honorees. Harshad Patel, owner of the Maspeth Holiday Inn Express and 2 hotels in Bellerose that were used as shelters last year but as of January 2017 were no longer housing homeless (thanks in part to our protests), was also invited. The honored guests were called up to the stage and presented with flowers. Patel was not honoring Avella nor vice versa. They were all being honored by an Indian senior citizen organization. The fact that Council Member Barry Grodenchik himself was the source of the photo and publicly posted it is evidence that no one was attempting to hide their participation in the event.
Some people are alleging that this photo somehow "proves" the electeds are in cahoots with Patel to screw over Maspeth which is one of the more preposterous conspiracy theories to have come out of this fight. Avella was the one who wrote the explosive letter to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara alerting him to the fact that the city was doing business with someone who admitted to past bribery of an elected official. As soon as that hit the press, it was announced that the permanent shelter plan was off. He attended one of the nightly protests at the Maspeth Holiday Inn Express and participated in the March for Maspeth. The bottom line is that he has worked on resolving Maspeth issues for more than a decade and has done everything asked of him with regard to the shelter issue. He is running for mayor against the person responsible for this mess and deserves our consideration in the September primary. We'd like to thank Brian Barnwell for joining the conference call today between CBM and our attorneys and offering his opinion and assistance. We look forward to working together throughout the Article 78 process.
Our organization's role in the Maspeth homeless shelter fight since August 2016 has been to fund-raise for legal fees and transportation and hire an attorney. All bills issued have been paid in full. Below is a report of the expenses incurred through December 31, 2016. Any donor with specific questions about the spending may call us or write to us. Info at bottom of page. The Juniper Park Civic Association paid for the sound permits, organized most of the protests and is handling the public relations efforts. If you have questions regarding those issues, please contact JPCA.
Upon examination of the DOB records obtained by CBM for the Maspeth Holiday Inn Express, our attorneys discovered that there were several key items missing. The Department of Homeless Services has also repeatedly delayed the release of records or outright denied our requests. Our attorneys, Klein-Slowik, are contemplating an article 78 action to force the city to release this information to us as well as possibly filing a lawsuit based on a violation of the zoning code. We will make a decision on whether or not to proceed with the article 78 next week. Of course, a lot is riding on the outcome of the property owner's action vs. New Ram Realty, the hotel owners. Our attorneys did not see a way that we could join that suit as it was between two private parties involved in a private transaction. We'll post additional information as it becomes available.
As of today, the only legal fees paid out have been for the original $10,000 retainer. |