Riverdale Review, March 31, 2011

Page 1

Riverdale’s ONLY Locally Owned Newspaper!

Volume XVIII • Number 17 • March 31 - April 6, 2011 •

FREE!

Park for Sale: $100 an acre gives outsiders control

Perez Cassino and outsider cronies could dispense millions in jobs By BRENDAN McHUGH The $100,000 to $200,000 the city said they would put into improving electrical infrastructure for the proposed ice-skating rink in Van Cortlandt Park will not be coming from the parks department, but actually from the 34th Street Partnership, a business improvement district. It is unclear why the Manhattan group would fund a project in The Bronx. At last week’s Community Board 8 parks committee meeting, a representative of the Department of Parks and Recreation answered questions from the board and the public and said the city is putting forth no money—it will all come from the partnership and the concessionaire. A parks department representative confirmed the source of the money, saying, "We received a generous contribution of approximately $120,000 from the 34th Street Partnership, which is also sharing advice and expertise regarding the challenges of establishing a seasonal skating rink similar to the one in Bryant Park." The connection between the partnership and Van Cortlandt Park is through

the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy. Dan Biederman is the head of the partnership and a member of the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy. He is also the chairman of the Bryant Park Conservancy, where an ice-skating rink already exists. The New York Post reported last month that he earned over $440,000 as chair of the two organizations. Charles Kloth, director of concessions for the department, and Davita Mabourakh, project manager of revenue, attended the community board meeting to explain how the project will come to fruition and to field concerns from the community. However, they notified the community board only three hours prior to the meeting that they would be there, a move that parks committee chairman Bob Bender called "disturbing" and "frustrating" because more members of the community would have shown up to learn about the rink. The ice-skating rink—scheduled to open this November—will be a temporary facility run by a private company. The parks department will soon issue a

Daniel A. Biederman: half million $ man request for proposals. Community Board 8 member Robert Press and representatives of City Councilman G. Oliver Koppell and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz voiced concerns over the lack of public input and lack of willingness to negotiate details in a public setting. In the two community board meetings the parks department has attended, representatives took very few notes. Community Board 8 did send a page-long list of requests, concerns and stipulations they would like to see in the RFP. "Once again, the public had no oppor-

tunity to comment," Dinowitz said. "They are turning a possibly worthwhile project into something bad and dangerous for the future. There’s a reason we go through public processes with major projects." Dinowitz recently sent a letter to Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe asking for any discussion of the rink to be part of a more open, democratic process, and not something "conceived in the proverbial ‘smoke-filled room.’" Also raised was the involvement of the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy. Kloth said the conservancy’s only involvement was pointing out a location that might be suitable for an ice-skating rink. It was discovered last month that the conservancy chairman Anthony Perez Cassino had been talking with Houston-based Ice Rink Events and Con Edison about the feasibility of creating a skating rink in the park. For years, Community Board 12 and the 161st Street BID have been asking for their own respective ice-skating rinks. The parks department continued to deny their Continued on Page 10

At the eleventh hour, it appears Blue Bay will get a reprieve

By BRENDAN McHUGH Blue Bay Restaurant has reached a tentative agreement with their landlord, Friedland Properties, which will keep them in business. The agreement will be finalized later this week.

"We’re very close to a deal," co-owner Steve Catechis said. "We want to thank the community." "But it’s not a lease, it’s an agreement," he warned. The Review reported the possible closing of the diner in February,

and what followed was a strong wave of support from local officials and community leaders. "We noticed a lot of support from the community. They came out in full force. They rallied behind us," Catechis said, com-

School experts convene for an education forum organized by State Senator Adriano Espaillat. Panelists included UFT President Michael Mulgrew and Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch. Story on page 2,

menting on the reaction to the Review’s exclusive story back in February. "I’ve never seen anything like it." Community Board 8 land use chairman Charles Moerdler has threatened to alter zoning regulations on Johnson Avenue if Friedland continues to neglect Johnson Avenue, which is littered with empty storefronts. Blue Bay’s new lease, which will be redone over the next two to three months, will run for 10 years and have more protective measures, preventing rent from escalating too quickly. "I think we have resolved Blue Bay," said Blue Bay’s attorney, Robert Rubinstein, of Rubinstein and Rutkin, LLP. "It’s not signed yet, but an agreement is pretty much in place." Blue Bay was unable to afford a 5 percent hike in rent that went into effect over the summer. In November, the restaurant came into a verbal agreement with the landlord, but Friedland backed out of the agreement and told Blue Bay either to pay the back rent or vacate the store.

But if everything goes smoothly—they hope to finalize the agreement by the end of this week—Blue Bay will continue their 35-year reign as the longest-operating store on Johnson Avenue. The negotiation could signal a new era for Johnson Avenue merchants, who have complained that Friedland was unwilling to negotiate or work with them when they encountered problems. Thoughts that Friedland was attempting to clear the entire west side of the street to make room for a high-rise apartment building forced Moerdler to take preemptive measures. At the upcoming April 4 land use meeting, Moerdler will discuss the possible rezoning of Johnson Avenue to prevent Friedland from building over a certain height. Rubinstein never thought it was an issue of zoning, however. "They just rented out a building to the Mexican place," he said, referring to the Mexican restaurant Metate that will open up later this year. "The land use thing has nothing to do with this." Friedland did not respond to calls for comment.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.