May is around the corner and we have 2 events coming up!! (thanks to Wendy Brawer of GreenMap System)

LES History Month on May 1st or 2nd! People are chalking the sidewalks, sharing the history of community. http://leshistorymonth.org/les-stories/ has a partial list of the events. Ryan Gillian of Downtown Arts is organizing and will provide chalk and a map those days at First Street Green  (Houston and 2nd Ave).

Please feel free to join the effort and chalk our history around the Park. Chinese, Spanish, English, all languages are welcome!

Interested parties should contact Ryan, and she will follow up with them directly. Here’s her email, Ryan Gilliam <ryan@downtownart.org>

Thank you to all of our elected representatives for joining forces to stand with this community: Borough President Gale Brewer, Council Member Margaret Chin, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Council Member Rosie Mendez, and of course our local Community Board Chair Gigi Li .

We can and will stand together on the issues that matter!

Coverage in the Lo-Down: Elected Officials, Community Leaders Keep the Pressure on de Blasio Over Rivington 

“Local elected officials and community leaders stood across the street from the former Rivington House building this morning, calling on the mayor to stop the luxury conversion of the former nursing facility.”

The Good News:

“Rivington House is NOT lost to us – by any stretch. Taxpayers built this former school, the taxpayers paid to have it retrofitted for a nursing facility, and the public is in great need of it. 
The DOB has put a stop work order on the building. We have three investigations to get the full facts: the Comptroller’s investigation, NYC’s and the State AG investigations are in gear. All local electeds continue their focus on this. We need to know of  any actions that might give a basis for nullifying the sale. 
And/or the ‘owners’ – who bought this under circumstances that, in our opinion, no one who ever intends to do business in the U.S. or this city should ever have agreed to – could return the building. With, of course, a full refund of the $16million.”  – K

Photos by Peter Tadao Gee and K Webster

April 12th Tuesday @ 2pm DOT bike lane proposal at the BRC 30 Delancey Street inside the Sara Roosevelt Park between Forsyth and Chrystie.

There will be sign language interpretation and Cantonese language interpretation. Please come.

Give your thoughts on removal of parking spaces, pedestrian safety measures, bike safety measures.

Department of Transportation (DOT) and your neighbors need your thinking!!!

We are grateful that the State Attorney General will open an investigation on Rivington House. We all need a resolution to this mess.

There are important questions for the State of New York. What was the finding from the mandated oversight in this transaction?

Have the funding structures for nursing homes led us here –  is it no longer financially possible for nursing homes to be run by not-for-profit entities?

Has the Medicaid Redesign insured we will be ill prepared for the looming Alzheimer’s epidemic of the baby boomer generation?

Meanwhile, the taxpayer dollars (a $70 million NY State bond) that went for improvements to make this facility code-compliant are lying in ruin. Have the loans been repaid?

http://www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2016/04/state-attorney-general-opens-rivington-house-investigation.html

Hello all,

A press conference:

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, City Council member Margaret Chin and Community Board 3 Chairperson Gigi Li will be holding a news conference tomorrow in front of the former Rivington House nursing home. 11am tomorrow, Wednesday April 6, 2016 at 45 Rivington Street (near Forsyth Street and Sara Roosevelt Park)

http://www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2016/04/news-conference-scheduled-at-rivington-house-tomorrow.html

and an op – ed by K.

http://www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2016/04/opinion-dear-mayor-find-a-way-to-make-things-right-at-rivington-house.html

A few more articles on the Rivington House situation.

http://www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2016/04/lobbyist-james-capalino-speaks-out-on-rivington-house-scandal.html

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20160404/real_estate/160409975

http://www.wsj.com/articles/firm-denies-wrongdoing-in-new-york-city-deed-controversy-1459816460

Thanks everyone who has fought for this building and the neighbors who used to live there and the ones who would have.

WNYC The Brian Lehrer Show: Ed Litvak of the Lo-Down on Rivington House

10am Monday April 4, 2016

Tune in!

We thank the Lo-Down for the original and ongoing investigative reporting.

News articles on Rivington House:

http://nypost.com/2016/04/03/shady-firm-dupes-city-to-profit-72m-in-luxury-condo-deal/

http://evgrieve.com/2016/04/the-growing-scandal-over-45-rivington-st.html

http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2016/04/1/amid-affordable-housing-push–mayor-slams-luxury-condo-that-deal-shuttered-a-health-care-center-on-the-lower-east-side.html

http://www.progressqueens.com/news/2016/4/1/city-hall-issues-another-denial-as-rivington-house-deed-change-deal-worries-de-blasios-aides-reports

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/02/nyregion/city-began-inquiry-into-sale-of-nursing-home-to-developer-before-mayor-de-blasio-knew-of-deal.html?_r=0

http://www.wsj.com/articles/lobbyist-with-tie-to-land-deal-is-worry-to-de-blasio-aides-1459555977

http://nypost.com/2016/03/31/doi-subpoenas-city-workers-over-72m-nursing-home-flip/

http://nypost.com/2016/03/31/doi-subpoenas-city-workers-over-72m-nursing-home-flip/

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2016/04/8595573/lobbyist-capalino-seeks-clear-his-name-rivington-deal?top-featured-3

http://www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2016/03/more-details-emerge-regarding-those-mysterious-rivington-house-emails.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/city-subpoenas-records-condos-built-nursing-home-article-1.2584636

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20160330/REAL_ESTATE/160339988/two-pols-demand-info-on-deal-to-turn-lower-east-side-nursing-home-into-condos

http://jewishvoiceny.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14127:money-trail-emerges-in-citys-lifting-of-deed-restrictions-on-les-nursing-home&catid=112:new-york&Itemid=295

TOT Jewish consultants http://www.totpi.com/de-blasio-claims-his-administration-unwittingly-signed-off-on-shady-land-deal-for-lower-east-side-property/

http://www.mingtiandi.com/real-estate/outbound-investment/vankes-116m-manhattan-acquisition-now-centre-of-nyc-investigation/?utm_source=Mingtiandi+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=3f4ca25720-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_34ef0efbcc-3f4ca25720-56473589

http://www.wsj.com/articles/developer-faces-more-questions-on-land-deals-1459387754?mod=rss_newyork_news

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2016/03/8595322/nursing-home-deal-and-city-hall-response-raises-questions

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/31/nyregion/nursing-homes-sale-to-condo-developer-raises-questions-for-city.html?_r=0

http://www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2016/03/mayor-received-cb3s-rivington-house-plea-jan-27.html

http://nypost.com/2016/03/29/why-isnt-the-mayor-furious-at-this-rancid-deal/

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/catch-thief-solution-needed-de-blasio-whodunit-article-1.2580512

http://nypost.com/2016/03/29/im-not-happy-de-blasio-admits-fault-in-72m-nursing-home-flip/

Daily News: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/de-blasio-lobbyist-helped-turn-nursing-home-condos-article-1.2578230

Lo-Down: http://www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2016/03/spin-city-de-blasio-administrations-bungling-of-rivington-house-sale.html

WSJ; http://www.wsj.com/articles/manhattan-land-deal-is-examined-1458694201

NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/25/nyregion/new-york-city-turns-over-files-on-building-sale-subpoenaed-by-comptroller.html?_r=0

Politico: http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2016/03/8594873/de-blasio-administration-complies-stringer-subpoena

http://therealdeal.com/2016/03/23/stringer-examining-deal-that-led-to-vankes-116m-purchase-of-les-dev-site/

http://www.habitatmag.com/Publication-Content/Legal-Financial/2016/2016-March/Nursing-Probe

https://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/TDJNDN_2016032214173/manhattan-land-deal-is-examined.html

http://www.boweryboogie.com/2016/03/de-blasio-lobbyist-implicated-controversial-rivington-house-condo-conversion/

http://www.boweryboogie.com/2016/03/comptroller-stringer-scrutinizes-116m-sale-rivington-house-condo-conversion/

“There’s now a money trail possibly helping to explain the de Blasio administration’s mishandling of Rivington House. The former nursing home for AIDS patients was sold for $116 million to luxury developers after the city’s Department of Administrative Services (DCAS) lifted a deed restriction.

The Daily News reports that influential lobbyist James Capalino “steered $50,000 in donations to Mayor de Blasio after pressing the city for a deed change that allows one of his clients to turn a building restricted for use as a nursing home into luxury condos.” And according to the Wall Street Journal, the former property owner, Joel Landau, contributed $4950 to the de Blasio campaign in 2013.”

For further information and with thanks go to the Lo-Down.

Thank you to Ed Litvak and the Lo-Down for an exhaustive reporting job.

“After months of silence from the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio, city officials finally appear to be taking at least a somewhat serious look at the loss of a community facility on Rivington Street.

As The Lo-Down first reported Dec. 18, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) lifted a deed restriction on the former Rivington House nursing home building at 45 Rivington St. The onetime facility for AIDS patients, was sold to the Allure Group last year. The firm briefly operated a general services nursing home from the building but re-sold the property to luxury developers in a $118 million deal that came to light last month.

Last night at a meeting of Community Board 3, a representative of NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer passed out a letter written to DCAS Commissioner Lisette Camilo on March 7. “Based on the facts and circumstances of the sale as we understand them,” Stringer wrote, “this matter requires greater transparency and disclosure to the general public.”

to read more:

http://www.thelodownny.com/leslog/2016/03/comptroller-investigates-citys-role-in-sale-of-former-rivington-house-facility.html

Other coverage:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/manhattan-land-deal-is-examined-1458694201

http://therealdeal.com/2016/03/23/stringer-examining-deal-that-led-to-vankes-116m-purchase-of-les-dev-site/

http://www.habitatmag.com/Publication-Content/Legal-Financial/2016/2016-March/Nursing-Probe

https://www.morningstar.com/news/dow-jones/TDJNDN_2016032214173/manhattan-land-deal-is-examined.html