Mayor Phil Amicone's Epiphany is Derived from Councilwoman Joan Gronowski's Initiative Since Stolen from Her and Made His Own
A Press Release issued in the name of Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone, Wednesday, September 1, 2010, entitled “Amicone Launches Effort to Collect Taxes from Seriously Delinquent Property Owners” maintains the mayor has changed course by instituting a new program to “redouble” the City of Yonkers’ (CoY) efforts to collect property taxes from business and home-owners delinquent in paying their taxes. In the almost 15 years in which Phill Amicone served CoY as its deputy mayor, and subsequently and presently as mayor, he has chosen not to collect unpaid taxes. He was advised to do so years ago but chose to dismiss the effort. His agenda was and continues to serve the “Family and friends Network” to the exclusion of hard working, law abiding, taxpaying Yonkersites.
Yonkersites know full well the instances in which homes “legally” sold to unsuspecting buyers who later learned they were saddled with liens on the property they purchased that the city of Yonkers helf them responsible so that the “Friends and Family Network Members could escape such financial burden.
Acid-tongued bloggers often speak of the laxity permitted the “Friends and Family Network" not demanded to pay their share of water fees. Some allegedly pay while others are allegedly permitted their bills to be overlooked or worse still, pay less than they should or their bills are dismissed from ever needing to be paid.
Mayor Amicone explained, "Property taxes help pay for the services that keep Yonkers safe and up-and-running, and every property owner in this city has a responsibility to their fellow residents to pay their fair share. Police, fire protection, sanitation, parks and schools are all funded largely through the property tax. And when people use these services but don't pay for them year after year, they're cheating everyone else who pays their fair share.”
Where has Mayor Phil Amicone been all these years? How long does a problem need to fester before he can figure a way out of the dilemma created under his watch.
Some in Yonkers will look the other way when fraud is presented before them hoping that by knowing but not telling, they will have earned their entrance into the “Friends and Family Network”. Little do they comprehend that the “Friends and Family Network” is a three-tiered caste system in which some will earn their entrance fee with their silence. The return is the expected plumb job. Others will forego paying their business or home-owner taxes, and others will not need to pay or will pay less than their “true" rate for water. The true elite of the “Friends and Family Network” get to have everything from column A, B, and C on the menu.
The Second Floor has yet to conjure up a concept worthy of the immensity confronting Yonkers on many levels. Economic development projects have stalled, worse is the fact that taxpayer funded inducements have created few jobs for residents in need of employment within CoY, and have produced a mediocre revenue stream from such investments that cannot sustain the soon to be recognized third largest city in New York State.
Typical its propensity for hubris, the Amicone Administration has chosen to promote its newly devised concept for collecting back taxes when it chose not to do so for the almost 15 years in whch Mr Amicone was either deputy mayor or mayor. Mayor Amicone maintains his concept is new. Nothing can be further from the truth. He was told to do exactly what he shunned throughout many of those approximately 15 years. Mayor Amicone’s epiphany is his personal realization that Yonkers’ financial woes can no longer be dismissed from his :"must do" list. Mayor Amicone was prodded to look into the issue in a quiet and thoughtful way by Yonkers City Councilwoman Joan Gronowski (3rd District) when she corresponded with the Office of Yonkers Corporation Counsel. Mayor Amicone chose to discard Councilwoman’s thoughtful reflection on the issue. He claimed he “figured” it out. His inability to give and share credit with those who deserve acknowledgmentfor their insight is indicative of his failed administrative focus and lack of comprehension.
Mayor Amicone, having chosen to hire outside counsel to claw for unpaid back taxes, puts into question the credibility and the purpose served by a costly Corporation Counsel. By Mayor Amicone’s own admission, an evidently unqualified staff of minimal and / or deficient expertise in legal fields it has no experience are employed by the Office of Yonkers Corporation Counsel.
Mayor Amicone mentions the landowner of 833 & 843 Nepperhan Avenue who allegedly owes more than $1.8 million in back taxes, penalties and interest over a period of many years despite the city's attempts to collect. Several corporate entities are listed at those addresses.
Is the Press Release a “witch hunt” for one “landowner” who has fallen into disfavor in City Hall’s view or are Yonkersites to infer that City Hall will be clawing back among everyone on the “delinquent” list, including the “Friends and Family Network”?
* * * * *
Inquiry by Yonkers Tribune of Councilwoman Joan Gronowski's take on Mayor Amicone's Press Release gave expression to the following thoughts: "I am very pleased to see that the City of Yonkers seems to be finally taking a pro-active step in pursuing property owners who have failed to pay property taxes to the city – in some cases for decades – which has cost the city untold millions of dollars in tax revenue. I wrote to the city's Law Department on August 5th, asking what steps the city was taking to pursue these delinquent property owners, and also referenced to the subject and issue in an August 6th Press Release [read: “Councilwoman Gronowski Cites Mayor Amicone for Lack of Police Presence in Lawrence Street Corridor" over the loss of foot patrols in the Lawrence Street area, due to budget shortfalls, excerpted below: “Making the situation worse in the area is a long-abandoned overgrown lot which poses a chronic safety and health risk. Unbelievably, the property owner owes the city more than $200,000 in taxes not collected for two decades, with no action taken by the city. How many millions of dollars have we lost because of the city’s failure to be pro-active in going after these property owners who don’t live in the city, abandon their properties and create blight, with no penalty imposed?” – August 6, 2010
The inquiry by Councilwoam Joan Gronowski of Yonkers Corporations Counsel and their resonse is delineated below:
________________________________
From: Joan Gronowski
Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2010 4:07 PM
To: Alain Natchev
Subject: Abandoned Property
Alain, I attended a community meeting at the Living Transformation Center, 28 Lawrence Street, and was asked to check on a seemingly abandoned piece of property located at 34 Saratoga Avenue. This property is overrun with weeds and overgrowth and is increasing the blight in the Lawrence Street corridor. I checked out the property and found that the property owner, David William of 91 Cortlandt Avenue, New Rochelle, owes property taxes to the City of Yonkers in excess of $200,000, dating back to 1987. Can you tell me what, if anything, the city is doing to address the millions of dollars lost due to these delinquencies, and what, if anything, can be done in this instance.
Joan Gronowski
Yonkers City Council – District Three
* * * * *
From: Alain Natchev
Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2010 11:50 AM
To: Joan Gronowski
Cc: Mark Blanchard; Ed Dunphy
Subject: RE: Abandoned Property
Councilmember Gronowski: I have briefly discussed your matter with Deputy Corporation Counsel Ed Dunphy. However, Corporation Counsel Mark Blanchard is away until next week. I will bring your matter to his attention as well and I expect our office will be able to properly respond at that time. In the meantime, I will review the specifics of the property in question.
Alain M. Natchev, Esq.
Senior Associate Corporation Counsel
City of Yonkers,
New YorkCity Hall, Rm 30040
South BroadwayYonkers, NY 10701
(914) 377-6245
* * * * *
The promised follow-up from Yonkers Corporation Counsel as is deemed by Senior Associate Corporation Counsel Alain Natchev, Esq., after bringing the matter to Corporation Counsel Mark Blanchard, Esq., has yet to be “properly responded”. Furthermore, a review by Mr Natchev, Esq of the “specifics of the property in question”, if ever undertaken, have not been revealed.
Comments 14
FROM THE 05-13-10 HAWAII REPORTER
YONKERS #6 MOST BANKRUPT CITY
Honolulu: One of the Worst Deficits in the Nation
Brassmagazine.com
Would you believe it that Honolulu has one of the worst deficits in the nation?
We all know about the national deficit. It’s not a pretty picture and with trillions added for bailout, stimulations and heath care, the whole has gotten a lot deeper.
Many states have deficits but Hawaii has balanced budget so state deficit is close to zero. But only at the surface because the state’s retirement system deficit is about to explode.
Least known is the Honolulu city deficit. See list below and read more here:
Hannemann/Caldwell Administration Mismanage the City & County of Honolulu
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?81b3fd77-70fb-4c01-a4ad-75a3beb17d50
Honolulu has the fifth highest debt per capita of America’s larger cities (See list below). Note that this debt does not include our inevitable shortfall in rail taxes, the $1.2 billion liability for secondary sewage treatment (the city lost both the suit and the appeal to EPA) or the funds needed for our roads which are some of the worst in the nation and will require billions for restoration (as opposed to the wasteful two inch overlays currently done in a hurry in order to “buy votes”).
Here’s Business Insider’s list of “America’s Most Bankrupt Cities.” Honolulu is 5th worst in the nation.
1. Harrisburg PA Mayor Linda Thompson – per capita debt $1500
2. Detroit Mayor Dave Bing – per capita debt $780
3. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom – per capita debt $600
4. NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg – per capita debt $590
5. Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann – per capita debt $370
6. Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone – per capita debt $300
7. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake – per capita debt $190
8. Chicago Mayor Richard Daily – per capita debt $180
9. Reno Mayor Bob Cashell – per capita debt $180
10. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa – per capita debt $180
11. Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon – per capita debt $150
12. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman – per capita debt $140
13. San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed – per capita debt $120
14. Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim – per capita debt $110
15. San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders – per capita debt $20
(http://www.businessinsider.com/americas-most-bankrupt-cities-2010-4)
The debts and obligations are mounting, yet Hannemann and Caldwell appear to be oblivious to reality and are engaged in legacy politicking, self preservation and servitude to the special interests that have bankrolled them.
Isn’t it time for honest, rational and fiscally responsible governance?
You got that correct. This whole cuntry is a WELFARE STATE for the RICH.
let us summarize, in short, what this mayors action mean.
-registers as Republican. But really he is a tax & spend liberal
-Pro-small business. But not really, more like Pro-small business that I personally approve of and who help me put up my Dog & Pony show so I am really a Communist in my approach to capitalism
-Loan, loans, loans, this mayor will LOAN anyone of his friends or developers who dont have to pay it back, be worried about tax liens, etc…This is called WELFARE STATE for the RICH.
“Yonkersites know full well the instances in which homes “legally” sold to unsuspecting buyers who later learned they were saddled with liens on the property they purchased”
Really?
Hezi, let me introduce to a new concept, one that banks use if their is a mortgage, and any lawyer, and really any buyer with a first grade education knows about:
TITLE SEARCH
If there are liens against the property they will show up and will be known/addressed before closing. If the liens are not filed against the property they are not enforceable. Tax liens are always filed, even Yonkers does that.
Speaking of Nepperhan, how much full taxes are being paid by 470 Nepperhan ie nValley? I bet nothing, or peanuts, just like the taxes on many of the friends and family bank.
http://www.examiner.com/business-of-sports-in-national/ramapo-supervisor-continues-quest-for-baseball-park …….IDA BOE …..
you would think!
Homes for America doubles that $4million amount plus some for the Main Street stage prop known as “Station Plaza”.
These bastards need to be dragged out of city hall…yesterday.
$8 million folks—right here.
Even more so, wouldn’t the money “Loaned” to Capelli be called to get paid back? $4mill plus others Im sure.
Also, what happened to the Maypor sticking Yonkers raceway with a $20,000,000 tax bill? Where does that one sit?
the mayor is an inept imbecile and has given yonkers away hook sink and line.
… and you have no credibility.
anon said…blah,blah,blah,blah
does this mean x20 has to pay back the 7 million that the city of yonkers used to build it.
anyone want to play pick up down at the nepperhan community center? – hahahahaha ch.12 is becoming a comical reality show about yonkers. what a bunch of idiots.
y.o. til i die fool!
frankley i think that the approach to be taken by
the mayor should be a bit different..to the extent
that the owner of a property which is under water
and whose owner has lost a job is delinquent i believe
that the mayor should be pro active in attempting to
extend the ability of the owner to stay in his home
however at the same time to the extent that owners
of property have simply taken advantage of the city
by not paying their taxes the city should come down
hard on them…;
For all of our sakes WHO are these Family & Friends people who have been allowed to slide all these years for these large amounts. Names and lots should be easily obtained through the City’s computerized land records.
Hezi, please name names.
I have always paid and paid on time so I an pissed off and clearly not a part of this network.
Yonkers IDA’s and CDA’s may be the largest property holder in the city sitting on dozens of properties that never pay taxes and control non-existent development…
https://imo.yonkersny.gov/,DanaInfo=imo.yonkersny.gov+viewlist.aspx?sort=printkey&swis=5518&ownernamel=yonkers