WHAT IS WHAT?

On May 28 I received this letter from Alan Goldstein which I had not posted although the  contents are significant because of its potential impact at a late date on the elections.

"Yesterday I went to the opening of bids for the final cleanup of 117-125 North Avenue, held in the Purchasing Dept.  The City received three proposals, Yannuzzi ($75.8K), Caravella (83K), and Two Brothers (263.1K).  If the Yannuzzi bid is finalized, and adding to it the $77K that was billed by Yates, the City will have saved over $60K from the tab Eric Watson was willing to stick the residents of the city with.  Of course there is still liability for the damages incurred by the destruction of Mi Buenaventura restaurant next door, but that may something that Yates and B&B (its subcontractor) may face, perhaps leaving the City in the clear.

After the proceedings, which only took a few minutes, I had the opportunity to speak with Cory Palmer of Caravella.  He said he had met with Yates at the site on a Sunday in March.  Yates, obviously unable to do the work himself, was looking for a subcontractor for the demolition, making it clear that Watson had given Yates the work despite this glaring shortcoming.  This was compounded by Yates’ lack of proper insurance.  Palmer recounted explaining to Yates that the party wall between the two buildings would need to be shored up by scaffolding and the wall taken down by hand.  Despite this advisement, Yates subcontracted the job to B&B, and no precautions were taken to protect the adjoining building.  Palmer also told me of his firm’s experience with emergency demolitions (often in the wake of fire).  Considering the rapid response to a real emergency and an official notice of imminent hazard, I am left to wonder why nothing was done after the demolition order was issued on January 6^th.

The City has not been forthcoming about the circumstances surrounding this negligence and what seems to be a rigged bidding process.  The entire timeline of events corresponds to Frank Cretella’s purchase of the first lien in April 2014 and the move to foreclose on the property that began in August.  Watson’s and Izzo’s calls to contractors coincided with Cretella’s motion for default filed on March 3^rd.  Watson and Izzo have been especially vague (early March they say) about when the calls went out.  There is a strong likelihood that aside from A-1 Demolition (Rufus) which may have been used to ballpark the cost, no one other than Yates was privy to the immediacy of the project.  There is the Watson-Robinson-Yates connection.  The City says it received two bids, A-1 and Yates, but has yet to make public the Stilo bid.  It was deemed to be late but was $21K less than Yates’.  In any case, real demo companies know the quick turnaround in an emergency, but everything about this one belies any emergency.  (Why would Stilo wait until March 20^th to respond?)

Finally, why did the administration choose this controversy to try to turn it into a story about the 2010 demolition of 187-191 North Avenue?  The City has owned the paramount lien on that property since 1997!  With the newly added lien for the demo costs added, there is roughly $900,000 in outstanding liens currently.  There is no way to recoup much of that.  So here is what I expect-  Cretella, who has voiced an interest in 187-191, and owns the building next door (with John Stewart), will get the property at auction for a pittance once the City forecloses and sells it.  And Cretella will get title to 117-125 before the City adds the demo costs and attaches a new lien.  Meanwhile, Mi Buenaventura has conveniently been relocated from its demolished quarters to occupy a portion of the retail space on the first floor of the Cretella-Stewart building.

I am all for economic development, creating jobs, building new structures, and rehabilitating old ones, but this sort of sordid behavior and rank profiteering engineered by public officials casts a long shadow.  We may learn from the past, but when the past comes with no accountability the future is open to the same problems.  Mayor Mapp, who has great difficulty admitting mistakes, needs to recognize the mistake he has made entrusting any business of this city to Mr. Watson.  His years at the helm of PMUA cost city residents millions.  If that wasn’t enough, this demolition surely is."

In view of the aborted special Council meeting to replace Mitchell, one must wonder what is Watson's  power  and influence in the Mapp administration. 

The potential change in the City Committee is welcomed and needed, however Mapp's motives are open to questioning. Is he just another politician who does not believe  what he says?