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| CORRUPT PASTOR W. FRANKLYN RICHARDSON |
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| CORRUPT SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEE LEN SARVER |
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| CORRUPT SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEE ELIAS GOOTZEIT |
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| CORRUPT SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEE FRANCES WYNN |
Federal Investigators
seeking answers to the back door deal making and corruption that has destroyed
the quality of life in Mount Vernon should focus their attention to Mount
Vernon City Councilman Yuhanna Edwards.
Councilman Yuhanna Edwards made a statement incriminating Rev. Franklyn
Richardson, as a major player in Mount Vernon politics. Richardson is the pastor of Grace Baptist
Church in Mount Vernon.
“Richardson is making
money off this and what not” is what Councilman Edwards told Mount Vernon Exposed
Publisher and Community Activist Samuel L. Rivers. Councilman Edwards must elaborate further and
explain exactly what he meant by his statement pertaining to Rev.
Richardson.
Rev. Richardson,
considered by many to be a poverty pimp, has long been entrenched in Mount
Vernon politics, and is also considered the major force that has destroyed the
Mount Vernon public school system.
Richardson, a resident of Scarsdale, supports and endorses candidates
from the pulpit every election cycle in the City of Mount Vernon.
Some of Rev. Richardson’s
minions that are on the school board that continue to carry out his oppressive
and destructive policies are School Board Trustee’s Elias Gootzeit, Len Sarver,
and Frances Wynn. These three candidates
always vote lockstep and oppose any resolution that calls for audits or
progressive reform of the Mount Vernon City School District.
Richardson, while so
called championing for better public education for the children of Mount Vernon,
is also contributing to the destruction of the City of Mount Vernon. About 20 years ago, Rev. Richardson and
elected officials in the City of Mount Vernon systematically came up with a
plan that would enrich their gang.
Elected officials in Mount Vernon would let the City of Mount Vernon,
primarily on the South-Side fall into disrepair and blighted conditions. Today, many properties on the South-Side of
Mount Vernon are abandoned and boarded up.
Rev. Richardson and his
gang would then go into the community and muster up support from residents telling
them that the affordable housing supply in the City of Mount Vernon was
inadequate and therefore more affordable housing needed to be built. Rev. Richardson also failed to inform
taxpayers that he would be seeking P.I.L.O.T. ‘s (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) for
the various affordable housing buildings he was planning to erect all around
town.
A P.I.L.O.T. or payment in
lieu of taxes is a program designed to stimulate economic activity in a
municipality and is designed to compensate a local government for some or all
of the tax revenue because of the nature of the ownership or use of a
particular piece of property.
P.I.L.O.T’s relate to the forgone tax revenue. Every year the City of Mount Vernon loses
tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue because of the P.I.L.O.T. agreements
dished out by City Officials. Please
also keep in mind that the Mayor and Industrial Development Agency or I.D.A.
has all the power in granting out the P.I.L.O.T. agreement to developers
looking to do business with the City of Mount Vernon.
For example, a landlord
that owns an apartment building that pays its fair share of taxes to the City
of Mount Vernon pays approximately $2,500 per year in taxes per apartment,
while Rev. Richardson through his abuse of the P.I.L.O.T. program only pays
about $500-600 per year in taxes per apartment.
P.I.L.O.T.’s are designed
to create permanent jobs and stimulate economic development. P.I.L.O.T’s were never intended to be dished
out to developers of residential project unless it contained a significant
commercial/retail component. How many
permanent jobs will be created after a low-income residential building is
complete?
The City of Mount Vernon
Industrial Development Agency or IDA approves P.I.L.O.T. agreements. The Mayor appoints all of the members of the
IDA. The is nothing no one can do,
including the City Council once the IDA grants these P.I.L.O.T agreements.
Due to the greed of Rev.
Richardson and elected officials, Mount Vernon has a failing school system,
which makes it unattractive for investors looking to build in Mount Vernon. In
fact, only one large-scale project broke ground over the last 10 years that
didn’t seek a P.I.L.O.T. That project,
The Horizon in Fleetwood formerly known as the Vista, went belly up and the
developer was forced to file bankruptcy on more than $22M in debt. The project was ultimately sold at a
bankruptcy auction for a measly $6M, pennies on the dollar.
Because of these
P.I.L.O.T. agreements, of which Rev. Richardson is a frequent recipient,
already cash strapped homeowners must now pick up the costs that the developer
doesn’t want to incur because the project will not be “profitable”.
To add insult to injury,
Rev. Richardson puts together a slate of candidates to run for school board
every election cycle. The Rev.
Richardson candidates, every budget cycle then make cuts that are detrimental
to the children in Mount Vernon. If Rev.
Richardson’s candidates would simply tell their puppet master to pay his fair
share of taxes, homeowners would see immediate tax relief because of the added
revenue to the City coffers.
Rev. Richardson is so
entrenched in Mount Vernon politics that he even had a few people appointed to
the Superintendent search committee to ensure that the next handpicked Superintendent
candidate continues to keep his gravy train running. Henry Mays, a member of the Superintendent
search committee and a parishioner of Grace Baptist, saw to it that his
daughter, Donna Jackson, was appointed to a cushy, $75K do-nothing position as
the Assistant to embattled Mount Vernon School Superintendent Judith
Johnson.
As we begin to understand
Rev. Richardson’s meddling in school affairs and corrupting the election
process, we must begin to ask ourselves, why hasn’t one elected official publicly contested his
policies. Could it be that these same
elected officials are then publicly endorsed from the pulpit in violation of
Richardson’s I.R.S. 501 (c) (3) status?
Next, the connection
between School Board Vice President Len Sarver, architectural firm Fuller and
D’Angelo, and Rev. Richardson.
