June 19, 2004 |
| Letter to DHCR from Grannis, Maloney, Miller |
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Hon. Judith A. Calogero RE: Westview and Island House Dear Commissioner Calogero: We are writing to express our converns about two critical issues that will affect the future of the residents of the Westview and Island House buildings on Roosevelt Island. Our first and most immediate concern is the waiver being sought by Charles Lucido, the owner of both properties, to bypass the competitive bidding process stipulated by New York Codes, Rules and Regulations, Subtitle S, Part 117829-1.2 (b) in order to change the management company. We strongly oppose the granting of this waiver. It is our understanding that this is being requested in order to remove the Roosevelt Island Housing Management Corp. (RIHMC) as of June 20 and to install J. Christopher Daly’s Sheldrake Organization as the new management company. From comments made by Assistant Commissioner Richard Mc Curnin in the May 29, 2004, issue of The Main Street WIRE, we understand that DHCR has a policy of granting this type of waiver because there is a presumption that there will be new ownership making a substantial investment in the property and that the new owner has an interest in protecting the value of a pending investment. However, based on highly critical stories of the business practices of Sheldrake and its founder, Christopher Daly in the Journal News of March 21 and April 18, 2004, (copies from website attached), we assume you share our concern about having a management/owner that conducts busienss with an appearance of impropriety. Therefore, we believe that graning the requested waiver in this case would not be in the best interests of the tenants or good public policy. According to these articles, in other projects that Sheldrake has been involved in throughout New York State this company has a history of not paying its bills, including honoring negotiated settlement agreements for payments of overdue taxes and utility bills. Again, from the articles, it appears that the company is financially over-extended and has a record of putting off paying its bills in one project as it moves on to another. We find it troubling that DHCR has apparently been involved with Sheldrake in housing projects marred by these problems and is now willing to subject the Westview and Island House tenants to Sheldrake’s less than stellar business practices. In addition, it is not clear that Mr. Daly and Sheldrake will in fact become the owner of record and, until that happens, we do not believe that they should manage the properties. The second issue, which is key to the preservation of affordable housing for middle-income residents, is the negotiated final terms of the ground leases by the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation with Mr. Lucido and Mr. Daly, or any other entity. We see this as the first step toward the removal of these buldings from the Mitchell-Lama program, which inevitably will result in the loss of much needed middle-income affordable housing on the Island. We feel strongly that agreements on revised ground leases with any entity in anticipation of privatization and removing the buildings from the Mitchell-Lama program, at a minimum, should include guarantees that the housing remain affordable in order for the current tenants to remain in place. It would be our hope that the members of the Westview Task Force and the Island House Tenants Association, who have wanted to pursue tenant ownership for years, be provided an opportunity to futher explore this avenue with Mr. Lucido and RIOC. We urge you to take our concerns into consideration, not grant the requested waiver, and open discussions on enant ownership with the designated building representatives. If you have any questions, please contact Anthony Morenzi on Assemblymember Grannis’s office at (212) 860-4906. Sincerely, Alexander B. Grannis, Member of Assembly cc: Richard McCurnin, Assistant Commissioner, DHCR |