Our Electeds Challenge the Commish

The ball now appears to be in the court of the Commissioner of Parks. Our elected officials – Congressman McMahon with Councilmen Jim Oddo, Vin Ignizio and Ken Mitchell – have sent a letter to Commissioner Benepe asking him to delay the eviction order for a minimum of a year.

I wanted to share their request with you. As you can see in the following letter our electeds are in vehement disagreement with this action. Here is their letter:


December 9, 2009

Mr. Adrian Benepe, Commissioner
NYC Parks Department
Central Park – The Arsenal
830 Fifth Avenue
New York , NY 10065

RE: Cedar Grove Beach Club

Dear Commissioner Benepe:
We would like to take this opportunity to address the termination of the license agreements for our constituents in the Cedar Grove Beach Club. As you may or may not remember, we had written you on August 11th requesting a five year extension for the inhabitants. We received your written response on September 18th in which you stated that “once you received a briefing from your legal department you will be able to more fully address this situation”.

Apparently, that briefing has taken place because our constituents received certified letters dated December 1st from Staten Island Parks Borough Commissioner Thomas Paulo informing them that their license agreements have been terminated effective December 31st, 2009. Additionally, New York City Parks is mandating that they remove all of their personal belongings no later than the end of this month.

While we vehemently disagree with your decision to terminate these agreements at this time, it is even more outrageous that the Parks Department is essentially evicting these families with less than one months notice. It is patently unfair to demand that they be expected to remove their personal items during the holiday season. Our constituent Edith Holtermann summed it up perfectly in today’s edition of the Staten Island Advance:
“They are Scrooges to do this at this time of year, when we are so busy and it's so cold there. To go and try and get everything out at this time is so difficult," said Edith Holtermann, who has spent all her 72 summers at Cedar Grove Beach .


As you well know, this community has existed for over 100 years and many of these homes have passed down from generation to generation. You just cannot expect them to pack up all of that history without ample notice. Additionally, we would like to know what exactly NYC Parks has planned for this site. These property owners have maintained these grounds impeccably at their own expense. NYC Parks has been maintaining the adjacent properties ( New Dorp & Oakwood Beach ). We encourage you to go take a look and see who has done a better job. In the same article I referenced above in the Staten Island Advance; a NYC Parks spokesperson stated, “The plans are not ready to release. I do not have the details”.

Therefore, we would like to request that you rescind your termination of these license agreements. The residents should be granted an extension at a minimum of one year with the understanding that NYC Parks is planning to open this property up to the general public in the future. NYC Parks simply needs to communicate with our offices and these residents in a much more open fashion regarding the future of this property. The families that have invested so much to that community deserve a certain level of communication and honesty in return.

We would like to thank you for your re-consideration of this matter and would welcome the opportunity to speak with you regarding the future of this property in greater detail.

Sincerely,

Michael E. McMahon Vincent Ignizio
Congressman, NY-13 Councilman, 51st District

James S. Oddo Kenneth C. Mitchell
Councilman, 50th District Councilman, 49th District

CC: SI Borough Commissioner Thomas A. Paulo

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How will the commissioner respond?

Share your comments with us.

Comment on this blog, call us at 718-979-6011 and leave a voicemail or email us at newdorpcentralcivic@yahoo.com.

> Joe Markowski