NYT New York City Council Delays Scrutiny of Deed Changes
How does this move forward to prevent this from happening elsewhere?
NYTimes
Rivington House…sold at great profit to a condominium developer — leading to questions about the arrangement, a moratorium on new deed changes, and state and federal investigations.
….Melissa Mark-Viverito, the Council speaker, suggested there would be a hearing specifically addressing the city’s handling of deed restrictions.
“There’s room here to do some oversight,” Ms. Mark-Viverito…
But the hearing, which was tentatively scheduled for this week, was postponed until the fall.
…several Council members said they were recently told by Ms. Mark-Viverito’s office that when the hearing does occur, the Council would not be delving into the events surrounding how the nursing home came to lose the deed restriction, which had prevented any use for it other than nonprofit residential health care.
…the speaker’s office was concerned that the hearing would give renewed attention to an issue that has been problematic for Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat whose administration approved the deed change that allowed the Allure Group, a nursing home operator, to sell the building to the condominium developer for $116 million. Each requested anonymity in order to discuss the private exchanges.
“I want to get to the bottom of what happened at Rivington, St. Nicholas and other sites,” said Councilman Ben Kallos, an Upper East Side Democrat whose committee oversees the Citywide Administrative Services Department, which grants deed restrictions. “The Council has a responsibility to hold an oversight hearing on deed restrictions.”…