land baron

Dear Nieces and Nephews, in this land of a woeful deficit, we have amassed riches well beyond the scope of the ordinary citizen! How can this  be? Oh! the hue and cry of our elected officials as to how much financial difficulty we have in this once bountiful land; the cry that reaches the furthest corners of the County! But, "What's this Auntie?" you say, "What is this that the County Executive, Stevie Thunder said this week?" Lets take a look.

STEVE SAID: “Orange County is such a big land owner and we are renting properties out, we are leasing properties out, we are sitting on empty properties so we are re-canvassing our whole inventory of properties that we have and last week, we did a walk-through of some of the properties we currently own in Newburgh that are currently vacant that we could move our office space to,”   
                                                                    

County of Orange property in City of Newburgh:

31-2-13.2 office building 54 Grand St  $1,726,300                                                  

31-2-18 Culture Center 48 Grand St    $1,500,000

31-2-19 Office building 62 Grand St $735,000

31-2-20 Office bldg. 1 & 5 Washington Ctr $71,634,800

(here's the property record for this one:)

  
                                                                                                                                                                  

31-2-21 Office bldg. 3 Washington Ctr $7,310,300

31-2-22  - Road/str/hwy Broadway $100

So why is our county government looking at parcels surrounding certain waterways?

And do Dain and Steve even talk to each other?

From the THR Tuesday 12-16-14

"In August, the county’s Real Property Tax Service Agency distributed an inventory of county-owned properties that listed dozens of reservoir parcels in five towns with a combined market value of $17.2 million..."

DAIN SAID: (the County is) "looking at selling any unnecessary real property" He plans on working with the OC Partnership on a marketing plan to sell these lands.

DAIN ALSO SAID:"This won't be a fire sale,We have a fiduciary duty to the taxpayer to get the best price for any asset."

How about a duty to protect our environment and preserve our drinking water? 

Why sell these "reservoir lands" with a full market value of $17 million? Why, when you have developed property in the City of Newburgh worth over $80 Million? Properties which would not require an extensive marketing plan and are more appealing to businesses? And, you could keep some of the properties for County-use. So, WHY?


This reasoning is the same screwy logic used in regard to Valley View. Selling Valley View will not solve the financial problems of the county and has a large detriment but it is being pushed. We know that the reasons presented are not the real ones.

Selling the "reservoir lands" won't help the financial situation and also has drawbacks. Selling property in Newburgh will help. 

So what's the real reason? 

Now is the correct time to say, (to quote an IDA board member): 

Hey, Steve,  "Whats wrong with you people?"




PS. when you consider the threatened action from the State Court System, one of the Newburgh sites is "occupancy-ready" and does not require a $74 Million renovation. so why not Newburgh? And it just may help with the local economy. (Mayor Kennedy who has been fighting on that front, would be pleased.)

Court System Executive Director Ronald Younkins SAID: “I will have no choice but to recommend to Chief Administrative Judge A. Gail Prudenti that she exercise her authority under section 39 of the Judiciary Law to impose sanctions for the failure of the county to provide facilities that are ‘suitable and sufficient for the transaction of the business’ of the courts.”