Already under fire for hiding failing test scores from board members and keeping board members in the dark about dangerous levels of asbestos in city schools, more explosive allegations are being made against Mount Vernon Interim School Superintendent Judith Johnson.
Johnson stands accused of
electioneering and using the school district’s K-12 emergency response system
to get the school budget passed by voters. Johnson even went far as using
taxpayer funded school resources including but not limited to copiers,
computers, and personnel during the last election to get the school budget
passed.
According to sources
familiar with the probe, school board attorneys are investigating the matter to
determine if criminal charges are warranted before the matter is referred to
law enforcement authorities.
The scene of the crime was
Mount Vernon High School, where Jason Pritchard, at the expense of Mount Vernon
taxpayers, printed thousands of flyers and had them put into each and every
child’s backpack in the entire Mount Vernon City School district.
Johnson instilled fear and
anxiety in parents by telling them that a “NO” vote would hurt the kids,
however Judith Johnson did not tell parents that she awarded her crony,
Pennington PTA Vanessa Ritter with a no show $60,000 per year job disguised
under the bogus title of “Web Designer”.
The flyers in question
told voters to vote “YES” for the budget.
Johnson had former school board trustee Delia Farqharson record a
message urging all to vote “YES” for the budget. The recorded message was then illegally
blasted using the K-12 emergency alert system.
The K-12 alert is used to call and notify parents in the event of school
closings or other perilous events.
Johnson’s highhanded
behavior and blatant disregard for the law began long before her arrival in
Mount Vernon. According to a recent
article in the Journal News this past weekend, three guidance counselors
handpicked and hired by Johnson are now facing criminal charges for changing
test scores on standardized tests. As a
result of this flim flam grade changing scandal, Johnson received several
awards, including most improved school district. Johnson was also named superintendent of the
year.
School Board trustees who
are elected at large by members of the public have had a very difficult time
navigating the waters of the Johnson administration. Johnson is deliberately withholding
information, including asbestos reports and failing grades from board
members. To add insult to injury and to
stall board members, Johnson requires that all board members seeking basic
information must file a Freedom of Information request with the clerk of the
board.
Is Johnson fit to continue
to serve as school superintendent? Will
criminal charges be brought against Johnson? Only time will tell. Johnson has failed to realize that she works
for and serves at the pleasure of the school board and the taxpayers and not
vice versa.
It is quite obvious that
Johnson does not believe in transparency.
When it was made public that there are dangerous levels of asbestos
still present in Cecil H. Parker Elementary School, Johnson deployed extra
security guards and even called for a police presence to ensure that reporters
from News 12 did not gain access to inside the school.
Prior to the 9 A.M. press
conference at Parker school, school board trustee Frances Wynn went to the
school to ensure that security was in place to make sure the press did not gain
access to the areas of the school identified in the report that contains mold
and asbestos.
Wynn, who at the time of
the press conference did not see the report, went on the defensive stating that
“the Interim Superintendent hides nothing”. When the News12 reporter asked Wynn about why
the report wasn’t given to board members, Wynn could not answer and began to
speak gibberish. Wynn also admitted to
the reporter that school board members should have been notified and received
the asbestos report.
“I am not employed by nor
do I work in any capacity for the school board,” said Rivers. “The buck stops
with Judith Johnson, she must come clean with taxpayers or resign. It is time
to tighten up or ship out. It is not my
job to inform board members about asbestos when Johnson gets paid over $260K a
year to do what I am doing for free. Taxpayers can no longer afford Johnson’s
arrogance and ignorance of the law.”
Rivers added.
We welcome our readers back to our sixth issue about
Alan. We thank you, our loyal and
dedicated readers for making Mount Vernon Exposed the largest corruption
reporting watchdog blog on the internet today.
You have also made Alan our most successful series ever. To date our series on Alan has received over
17,000 hits. We need your help to reach
one million hits by July 1, 2012. One
million hits will sending a resounding message to the status quo that the
taxpayers mean business and will no longer stand for the corruption, fraud,
abuse, and injustice that Alan and gang of Klansman continue to engage in on a
daily basis. Alan has destroyed the
integrity of the entire NYS Judicial Court system.
Mount Vernon Exposed has learned that Alan has officially
gone crazy. It has been reported to
Mount Vernon Exposed that he is allegedly off of his medication that was
prescribed to him right after his mental breakdown while he was County
Attorney. This can most likely be attributed
to the strange, erratic, and standoffish behavior that Alan is displaying in
the courts these past few days. Alan
fearing that he will get indicted by a Federal grand jury for his case fixing,
kickbacks, and other shady dealings has begun to take steps to cover up his
criminal activities.
Just recently Alan was brought to public light for ordering
three hit men from the Office of Court Administration and the Inspector General
office to intimidate Hon. William Edwards of Mount Vernon City Court for
exposing on public record Alan and others for attempting to fix cases in the
Mount Vernon City Court. We will provide
details of the case fixing in a later issue.
It has also been reported to Mount Vernon Exposed that over $3M is
missing from the Mount Vernon City Court.
When allegations of corruption were brought to Judge Edwards’s
attention, Alan and his posse started to retaliate against Judge Edwards. So we must ask Alan, where is the money? Did he spend on his sailboat or did he use it
in Anguilla as spending money when he was there with Judge Sam Walker and Judge
Gerald Loehr?
Alan, Judge Seiden of Mount Vernon, Judge Gross of Mount
Vernon, and Larry Darden, Chief Clerk of Mount Vernon, recently met to discuss
filing a bogus complaint against Judge Edwards.
According to source familiar with the investigation the complainant is a
court employee close to Alan.
Alan mental health issues have cost Westchester taxpayers
hundreds of millions of dollars. Alan
has appointed several unqualified individuals to various positions throughout
the ninth judicial district. Alan also
appointed Susan Newman-Loehr with a supporting vote from Westchester County
Court Judge Barbara Zambelli. This gave
Alan and Janet DiFiore that opportunity to rob Westchester blind all while
gunning down unarmed black men by an elite band of rogue police officers. When it comes time to prosecute the officers
for their crimes, Susan Newman-Loehr will be sure to pool an all-white affluent
jury from Pelham, Harrison, and Bronxville.
The next character is Alan’s criminal syndicate is Nancy J.
Barry. Nancy Barry is Chief Clerk of the
Westchester Supreme and County Courts taking in a whopping $118K per year. Nancy’s co-workers describe her as a lazy
failure that is hardly in the office. As
Chief Clerk, Nancy is responsible for managing all aspects of court operations
and non-judicial case processing activities.
But when can Nancy find the time to do all of this when she spends most
of her day organizing outings for Alan and his posse? Nancy is also always on the golf course and frequently
brags to co-workers that her son attends West Point. One can be sure to guess that Nancy’s son is
training to become a General in Alan’s army of criminals.
Nancy is another one of Alan’s best and brightest that
managed to circumvent NYS civil service law requirements. Nancy did not take the test for her current
position as required by law. Some even
question if Nancy, although an admitted attorney, can even pass the test.
Nancy started her career with her law school buddy,
Westchester County Court Judge Susan Cacace as her Principal Law Clerk. The two
went to Pace Law together, and colleagues described them as close until they
had a falling out. Law clerks are
responsible for researching case law that is used in the Judge’s written
decision. Sources said that Judge Cacace
found Nancy incompetent and terminated her.
We applaud Judge Cacace for getting rid of such a useless burden on Westchester
County taxpayers. Nancy would often cite wrong cases. We can only imagine how many innocent people
are in jail due to Nancy’s incompetence.
Judge Francis Nicolai, another lazy, corrupt Judge, then
took in Nancy as his principal law clerk after she was given an express ride to
the unemployment office. When Judge
Nicolai retired and Alan took the reins, Alan made Nancy a Court Attorney
Referee in the Mortgage Foreclosure Settlement Part. Nancy benefited from Westchester homeowners
losing their homes, as she was the one who conducted the auctions, some of
which never made it to the courthouse steps because it is alleged that Nancy
received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from investors looking to
purchase these properties for pennies on the dollar. Sources said Nancy then funneled the cash
payments Alan who the divided the money with the appropriate personnel. Nancy
was then appointed to Chief Clerk, where she remains today. To be continued ><><><
Good Morning: Mount Vernon Exposed has just learned that Judge Scheinkman and Chief Clerk Larry Darden of Mount Vernon have concocted a false complaint against Mount Vernon City Court Judge Hon. William Edwards.
We would like to
welcome our readers back to our third issue about Alan who has already become
the top search item on Mount Vernon Exposed amassing a record 10,670 hits just
this week alone. Please keep the tips
coming in. At this point you should be
very familiar with the sick and twisted mind of Alan Scheinkman, a certified
racist, fraud, womanizer, and cheater.
It was recently reported that Alan put his hand up the crotch of his
wife Faith Miller in public while in the presence of other sitting Supreme
Court and County Judges.
It is becoming
quite clear during our investigation that Alan does indeed have a mental
problem and is a certified lunatic. Alan
is a failure and his erratic thinking has cost and still is costing New York
State taxpayers millions of dollars per year.
So far we have
exposed the circle of corruption permeating the 9th judicial
district. Alan is the head of the criminal
enterprise operating in the 9th judicial system. He is assisted by Nancy Mangold, James Garfein,
Jennifer Jaffe, J Marshall Mangold, Susan Newman Loehr, several Supreme Court
judges and others. We will expose each
and every person that is part of this criminal enterprise over the next few
weeks.
Today we bring
you another creepy character that is the glue that keeps the money machine
cranking throughout Westchester County.
This shady figure is Susan Newman Loehr, wife of Westchester County
Court Judge Gerald Loehr. Judge Loehr is also looking to advance in Alan crime
family by seeking a New York State Supreme Court Judgeship. We will make sure
that Judge Loehr’s mission ends before it even begins.
It was previously reported that Alan took
plenty of free trips to Anguilla with Supreme Court Judge Sam Walker, County
Court Judge Gerald Loehr, and other sitting judges while discussing open cases. It was also alleged that Alan and other
Judges patronized prostitutes while on these excursions.
Susan Newman
Loehr is currently the Commissioner of Jurors and is handsomely compensated by
taxpayers at an annual rate of $120,626.
Susan is responsible for getting jurors (including cases involving her
husband) for the thousands of cases heard in Westchester County each year.
Alan had a plan
to rape the taxpayers of millions of dollars.
As the saying goes “If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail”. Alan had no intentions of failing. Alan was very instrumental in getting Susan
appointed as the Commissioner of Jurors.
Susan’s appointment was political payback for favors owed to Susan’s
husband, Judge Gerald Loehr. Judge Loehr
is Scheinkman’s hit man. If Scheinkman
wants to screw someone or wants to interrupt someone’s life with a biased
ruling, he arranges to have the cases put in front of Gerald Loehr, another
certified racist and a fraud. We will
report on Judge Loehr’s cases of impropriety in the next few days.
While they were
island hopping Alan would come up with the idea to appoint Susan as the
Commissioner of Jurors. The Commissioner
of Jurors is appointed by the Jury Board that consists Alan, Judge Barbara
Zambelli, and County Executive Robert Astorino.
Mount Vernon Exposed has obtained copies of the transcripts from the
meeting appointing Susan as Commissioner of Jurors. The testimony given by Alan is disturbing and
reeks of corruption.
Alan stated that
during this meeting that there were over 70 applicants that applied for the
position that was becoming vacant because the previous commissioner was
retiring. Alan also said that out of the
70 applicants that only one stood out and that was Susan Loehr.
Alan thought by putting Susan is charge of
Jurors that would further his criminal enterprise. Susan would pool jurors that would be
favorable to Alan and others. Alan is
listed as presiding Judge of the Commercial Division, the division that hears
commercial claims greater than $100,000.
Susan’s high
handed behavior didn’t end with her appointment as the Commissioner of Jurors.
Before she was appointed the Commissioner of Jurors, Susan held the position of
Principal Administrative Assistant for the 9th Judicial
District. Susan currently holds two
positions and wants to get paid for them as well. The Chief Administrative Judge of New York
State disagrees and stripped Susan of receiving two paychecks.
Mount Vernon
Exposed has obtained a copy of the lawsuit and it is attached to this
story. The contents are disturbing. Susan wrote in court papers “At Judge
Scheinkman’s request, I continue to perform the Human Resource functions of
Principal Administrative Assistant for the 9th Judicial District.” How does Susan sue the employer that pays her
salary? Susan too appears to be an individual
that suffers from some sort of mental disorder, and taxpayers are the ones that
will suffer from that mental disorder.
Alan’s criminal
enterprise is deeply rooted and is larger than La Costra Nostra. Alan has no honor. In fact he fully supports Susan is her
lawsuit against the New York State Unified Court System. Susan also wrote in court papers “Indeed,
thecurrent DistrictAdministrative Judge expressedonthepublicrecord, atthe meetingof theWestchesterCountyJuryBoardatwhichIwasappointed
Commissioner,thatmyservicetotheUCShasbeenexemplary.Theminutesof that meetingareattachedheretoas ExhibitB”.
Susan is a key figure
in keeping the money flowing throughout Westchester County. She pools jurors
from areas and neighborhoods that she thinks would return verdicts favorable to
her fellow members of the Alan criminal syndicate.
We would like to
welcome our readers back to part 2 of our series on Alan. Alan has no respect for taxpayers. Alan could care less if you were able to put
food on your table or if you had a roof over your head. Alan doesn’t understand because Alan is not
like us, the 99%. Alan is part of an
elitist group of folks whose only mission is to further the corruption, fraud,
and abuse in the New York State Unified Court System.
As reported
earlier, Alan was and still is a very lazy man.
Lazy people who are in power are afforded the luxury of using our tax
dollars to finance their lavish lifestyles.
The Alan being referred to is Alan Scheinkman, Administrative Judge for
the 9th judicial district, long said to be the most corrupt judicial
district in the State of New York.
While families
were starving and getting kicked out of their homes via foreclosure (cases that
pass through Scheinkman’s court), Alan went on a multi-million dollar taxpayer
funded shopping spree. Alan decided to
hire all of his friends and build a system that would allow him to spend more
time on the golf course and on his sailboat.
Alan hired Nancy
Mangold who is currently making $144,574 per year and her title as listed on
the New York State Unified Court Website is “District Executive”. Just what exactly is a “District Executive”?
According to
SeeThroughNY, Mangold’s job is listed as “Ast Dep Chf Admn” This does not look
anything like the title given to her by Alan.
Alan changed Mangold’s job description because the position as listed on
SeeThroughNY, is a civil service position. What does that exactly mean?
According to NYS Civil Service law, Nancy Mangold’s should have taken a competitive
examination that was advertised to the public.
Mount Vernon
Exposed was told by a source that Hon. A. Gail Prudenti’s office is directly
handling matters pertaining to an investigation in the 9th Judicial
District. Hon. A. Gail Prudenti is the Chief Administrative Judge for New York
State and is responsible for running the New York State Unified Court
System.
The issue of
Alan’s mental fitness again comes into play.
It was earlier reported that Alan had a mental breakdown while he was Westchester
County Attorney. Is Alan mentally fit to
be on the bench? We must not take
lightly that Alan may have a mental illness.
The thoughts that go on in Alan’s head affects well over a million
people in the counties of Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Orange
counties. Would a truly sane person
behave as Alan has publicly displayed? In our previous issue we broke the
exclusive news that Alan put his hand up his wife Faith Miller’s crotch in
pubic while in the presence of other sitting Supreme Court and County Court
Judges.
While unconfirmed
until Freedom of Information Requests are fulfilled, it has been said that
Nancy Mangold went from a grade 12 to a grade 29 overnight and received a raise
of tens of thousands of dollars as part of this multi-million taxpayer funded
shopping spree. Nancy Mangold hired her
son who also went up the ranks pretty quickly.
J Marshall Mangold in 2008, was a
Sr Court Office Keyboard making $33,079.
Today, J Marshall Mangold is a
court attorney making $64, 834. It would
not be complete without Jennifer Jaffe, Nancy Mangold’s daughter in-law who is
Alan’s principal secretary. Does this reek
of corruption and nepotism?
By keeping a
close knit family, the corruption is able to continue. Alan is not really running the courts because
he is never there. Jennifer Jaffe covers
for Alan by deflecting calls of extreme importance to her mother in law who
then deals with the situation. All legal
work is done by James Garfein, Alan’s top tiger in the office. It was told to Mount Vernon Exposed that a
majority of the judges in the 9th Judicial District are not happy
because they are forced to deal with Nancy Mangold who is in her position
illegally because a test was never called for. Nancy Mangold was only legally
allowed to serve in her position for 9 months without taking a test. It was reported that several court employees
in Alan’s building are not happy with Nancy Mangold who is often referred to as
the “Black Widow”.
Sources have
told Mount Vernon Exposed that Jennifer S Jaffe and Nancy Mangold’s son are
married. Is this a conflict of interest?
Jennifer S. Jaffe makes $59, 183 per year.
Nancy Mangold also has quite an ambitious agenda. Sources have told Mount Vernon Exposed that
Nancy Mangold wants her son to become a Judge and take Alan’s position as
Administrative Judge for the 9th Judicial District.
We encourage you
to look at the video attached to this article and to follow our video series of
“Judicial Review”. To be continued>>>>>
INVESTIGATORS AS THEY RAID THE OFFICES OF ATLANTIC DEVELOPMENT
Mount Vernon taxpayers will now have to pay additional costs because of the reckless and negligent actions of the administration of Mayor Clinton Young, The Mount Vernon City Council, The City of Mount Vernon Planning Board, and Atlantic Development.
On Thursday, August 12th, 2010, an Article 78 proceeding was commenced in New York State Supreme Court against the above mentioned defendant-respondents. On September, 28th, at 9:30 a.m. an application will be made to the court for the following relief:
(a)Annul, vacate and set aside the following interrelated approval ordinances adopted by Respondent City Council of the City of Mount Vernon (the “City Council”) concerning property located at the intersection of Gramatan Avenue and Oakley Avenue (Map Page 165.54, Block 1122, Lots 1, 19 and 20) on Oakley Avenue (Map Page 165.54, Block 1135, Lot 10) and on Crary Avenue (Map Page 165.54, Block 1135, Lot 1) (collectively the “Property”) approving zoning text amendments to the PUD-2 Zone to allow residential and non-residential mixed use development within one-half mile of the Mount Vernon East Train Station subject to certain restrictions;
(b)Annul, vacate and set aside the ordinances adopted by Respondent City Council which established the PUD-2 District (as amended) for the Property;
(c)Annul vacate and set aside the Resolution of the City Council adopting the SEQRA Environmental Findings for the proposed development;
(d)Annul, vacate and set aside the Resolution of the Planning Board of the City of Mount Vernon (the “Planning Board”) approving the site plan for the Project and any environmental findings in connection therewith;
(e)Enjoin Respondent City of Mount Vernon (“Mount Vernon” or the “City”) from issuing any building permits in furtherance of the challenged Ordinances and Resolutions; and
(f)Enjoin Respondent Atlantic Development Group, LLC (the “Applicant” or “Atlantic”) from taking any action in furtherance of the challenged Ordinances and Resolutions.
Bob Dadarria, a Mount Vernon resident, and community activist, was one of the aggrieved parties that retained counsel to bring the Article 78 action against Mount Vernon officials and Atlantic Development. Dadarria and others retained high profile attorney, Albert Pirro Jr, who is perceived by many to be one of the best land use attorney’s in New York State. Albert Pirro is also the ex-husband of former Westchester County District Attorney Jeannine Pirro.
The lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court contains numerous explosive allegations of incompetence and corruption of Mount Vernon City Officials. One of the allegations contained therein, is that City of Mount Vernon officials did not make public many of the documents pertaining to the Atlantic Development project as required by law. There have also been allegations that Mount Vernon City Council members were bribed in exchange for a favorable vote for the Atlantic Development project. The lawsuit as filed with the court validates this theory. This lawsuit comes as no surprise as Mount Vernon taxpayers were skeptical of Atlantic Development, a company under criminal investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office for hiring undocumented workers and bribing City officials.
Atlantic Development also retained Kenneth Plummer of Kensworth Consulting as a lobbyist for the massive, controversial low income skyscraper recently erroneously approved by incompetent Mount Vernon City officials. It has been reported that Mayor Young is a financier and silent partner of Kensworth Consulting.
Mount Vernon taxpayers must remain vigilant in the fight against corrupt Mount Vernon officials. Just today, August 15th, 2010, the was an article in the Journal News about another Mayor Young crony looking to steal 8 city owned properties valued at over $2M dollars for $150,000.
The City Council failed to take a “hard look” and simply approved the project as presented by the Applicant without regard to multiple adverse environmental and economic consequences. The Planning Board members did not review, or have a reasonable opportunity to review, the most recent revisions to the proposed site plan before voting to approve that site plan with the most recent revisions to that site plan. When questioned following the vote, only one member of the Planning Board acknowledged having reviewed the site plan as then proposed on July 7, 2010 prior to voting on that site plan on July 7, 2010. Due to the last minute submission of the site plan, the Planning Board did not and could not properly review and evaluate the final site plan prior to voting to approve that site plan on July 7, 2010.
Based on the foregoing, The Planning Board’s approval of the site plan on July 7, 2010 was arbitrary, capricious, contrary to law, without any rational basis and not based upon the record before the Planning Board.
One of the most significant issues presented to the City Council as part of the SEQRA review of this project is the potential impact on the public schools should the proposed project be constructed and occupied.
According to the calculations conducted by the City Council, its consultants and the consultants for the Applicant, the projected student generation from the proposed project is sixty-two (62) school children and, significantly, thirty-five (35) of those children would attend elementary school. Upon information and belief, the designated elementary school for the children who reside in the project area is Lincoln Elementary School. Upon information and belief, the designated elementary school for the children who reside in the project area is Lincoln Elementary School.
However, upon information and belief, Lincoln Elementary School is currently approximately one hundred forty-five (145%) percent of capacity and cannot possibly accommodate an additional thirty-five (35) students without severely adversely impacting the school’s ability to properly educate its student population.
The City Council, while aware of the potential severe impact on Lincoln Elementary School, failed to either avoid or mitigate the significant over capacity the construction and occupation of the proposed project would generate.
Instead, the City Council’s only response to this severe and adverse impact was to require that, as a condition to the issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy, the Applicant use its “best efforts” to work with the Board of Education to change the attendance zone for the project area so that children living in the proposed project will attend either Pennington School, Columbus School, or Traphagen School.
However, upon information and belief, while these alternate schools are not as overcrowded as Lincoln Elementary School, they are also over capacity.
In addition, no study was undertaken as to the potential impacts to these proposed alternate schools, which are a significant distance from the project area, which is less than a half mile from Lincoln Elementary School.
No review was done to determine how the shift of attendance zones would impact bus routes or the increase in number of children requiring busing or the overall impacts such a disruption of established attendance zones would cause.
Further and more significantly, there is no provision in the findings or any of the approvals in the event the Applicant’s “best efforts” to work with the Board of Education do not result in a resolution of this issue.
The City Council has effectively abdicated its responsibility and obligation as lead agency to study and mitigate this significant, adverse and far reaching impact that could potentially cause seriously detrimental consequences to one or more elementary schools and the education of hundreds of young school children who attend those schools.
Rather than address this significant problem, the City Council has shifted that responsibility to the Applicant and to the Mount Vernon Board of Education to determine how to avoid severe impacts to the children who attend these schools from both existing residences and those who will reside in the proposed project.
The City Council, as lead agency, has for all intents and purposes washed its hands with respect to this significant adverse impact and told the Applicant and the Board of Education to resolve a situation the City Council refused to address.
The City Council not only refused to take responsibility for this severe impact, the findings, as adopted, allow the project to move forward without any mitigation to address the overcrowding issue at these elementary schools should the Applicant and the Board of Education be unable to resolve the issue.
Even if a resolution is eventually reached, the findings are fatally flawed because the lead agency did not address this severe impact, and the City Council has not and will not be able to study whatever solution is reached, if any solution is ever found.
There is now no way to determine what secondary or unanticipated impacts will result from any resolution of this issue if some solution is worked out and, more concerning, what impacts there will be if no solution is ever agreed upon. The City Council has clearly failed to take a ‘hard look” at this extremely significant adverse impact.
Once the Applicant demonstrates “best efforts” the project will go forward and only time will tell what significant impacts will result in the absence of mitigation or what impacts will result from some unknown agreement between the Board of Education and the Applicant.
Based on the foregoing and the City Council’s complete failure to meet its responsibility as lead agency, the Findings Statement adopted on June 29, 2010 is arbitrary, capricious, contrary to law and without a rational basis and must be annulled, vacated and set aside.
Upon information and belief, some of those documents, studies, reports and reviews that the City Council relied upon were and are not included in the public record maintained in connection with the review and approval of the proposed project.
The failure to include all relevant documents relied upon by the City Council in the review and approval of the proposed project in the records available for public review constitutes a violation of SEQRA and the regulations promulgated thereunder.
Based upon the failure to include all relevant documents, studies, reports and reviews in the public record, the findings and approvals were adopted in violation of law and lawful procedure and must be annulled, vacated and set aside.
In connection with the review and approval of the proposed project, the Applicant and the City on June 11, 2009 entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) governing the process and procedures to be followed in connection with the environmental review and development of the proposed project.
The MOU, among other things, set certain deadlines in connection with the environmental review of the project which unreasonably restricted and limited the City Council’s review of the project and the public’s ability to participate in and review the SEQRA process undertaken by the City Council.
The MOU was made in violation of applicable law and constitutes a violation of SEQRA and the regulations promulgated thereunder and illegally committed the City to a course of action without required environmental review.
The MOU also contains numerous terms and conditions not included or studied as part of the environmental review of the project in violation of law and lawful procedure.
Based on the foregoing, the findings and approvals adopted in connection with the proposed project must be annulled, vacated and set aside.
