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BANKING & FINANCE GUIDE
VOTERS TO DECIDE ON BUDGETS, TRUSTEES
COUNTY GOP SLAMS CASHLESS BAIL
PAGES 35-38
PAGE 2
PAGE 6
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BAIL REFORM
Town withholds pay on Martin pool work Says contractor failed to complete construction BY T E R I W EST Clinton G. Martin Park’s pool reopened last summer in New Hyde Park after a year of renovations, completed under a more than $20 million contract with Wantagh-based Gramercy Group. Now, the Town of North Hempstead’s public works commissioner is alleging that aspects of the project remain incomplete, which Gramercy’s lawyer said is a ruse to withhold paying off debt the town racked up as the project fin-
ished last spring. Public Works Commissioner Paul DiMaria sent a letter May 8 to Gramercy Group informing it that the town plans to declare it in default because the project was not completed on time and offering the company an opportunity to respond with a May 15 deadline. The town is withholding $1.97 million from the contractor because of these claims, said the town’s communications director, Carole Troterre. In his letter, DiMaria presented a list of incomplete
projects that he said had needed to be complete on April 24, 2018. Three of them are what the town and Gramercy Group have come to refer to as the “big three,” Gramercy lawyer Michael McKenna said: domestic water piping, the pool’s overflow system and a sump that was not connected to a drain. Those are the only three projects that Gramercy Group agrees were not completed, and it is because the company Continued on Page 55
Candidate accuses Terry of improper conduct PHOTO BY JESSICA PARKS
Assemblyman Ed Ra (R-Franklin Square) called for the repeal or amendment of cashless bail, joined by Republican legislators, union leaders and advocates. See story on page 6.
Announces bid against Suozzi, levels charges BY JA N E LL E CL AUSEN A Great Neck lawyer has accused Gerard Terry, the former North Hempstead Democratic Party chairman who is serving a prison term for tax evasion, of having propositioned him to have sex when he was a young political activist.
The lawyer, Michael Weinstock, 47, who served as an assistant district attorney in Kings County for five years, made the allegations in a letter made available to Blank Slate Media and interviews. He made the claims in announcing that he would run against incumbent Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) for the
Democratic nomination in the 3rd Congressional District. He said he was running in part over unhappiness with Suozzi’s backing of Terry. Weinstock alleged that the first instance happened in 1996, when Terry allegedly said that as his mentor, “I want to spend lots of time with you. Continued on Page 67
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