Pass, veto, override (repeat)
County Executive Rob Astorino”™s Aug. 19 veto of the Westchester Children”™s Museum”™s 10-year lease agreement with the county touched off a firestorm of criticism and highlighted the ongoing communication problems between the executive and the board, said board Chairman Ken Jenkins (D-Yonkers).
The agreement for the museum to occupy the north wing of the Bathhouse at Rye Playland had been initially approved Aug. 8 by a unanimous vote of the Board of Legislators and the veto was subsequently overridden by the same unanimous margin Aug. 24.
Jenkins said that the particular question of the museum”™s lease, which had been in the works for over a year prior to the official approval by the board, went to show that there are major philosophical issues that separate the executive branch and the board, which comprises 12 Democrats and 5 Republicans.
“We should be doing everything possible to find ways to create jobs and to attract new employers to the county,” Jenkins said. “We should be spending our time doing that instead of arguing over something that”™s going to move forward. The children”™s museum ”“ that was passed unanimously after over a year and a half of discussion.”
Jenkins said that not counting line-item vetoes of portions of the 2011 county budget, there have been roughly 15 pieces of legislation that were approved by the board, vetoed by Astorino, and subsequently overridden by the board.
“Take away the budget vetoes ”¦ and only two of those have been partisan,” Jenkins said. “Every other one has had bipartisan support. That says to me it”™s not the board that”™s not understanding from a communication perspective what has to be done.”
According to Astorino”™s office, the executive decided to veto the lease because of an ongoing request-for-proposal process aimed at finding a long-term solution for Rye Playland, in addition to serious questions about the viability of the museum”™s revenue projections.
“The issue here is that if the children”™s museum is wrong, the county taxpayers are the ones holding the tab,” Astorino spokesman Ned McCormack said. “The timing is just absolutely wrong. We”™ve got to make tough financial decisions ”¦To commit to a piece of this before you know what the whole broader picture is going to be, we just think it”™s foolish.”
$8M newspaper award slashed
Late last month a case pitting the staff of the Westchester Guardian newspaper against Yonkers Mayor Philip A. Amicone took another turn when the U.S. District Court judge presiding over the case Blassberg v. Amicone et al reduced the original penalties rewarded by the jury in favor of the Guardian staff from $8 million to $170,000.
In October 2010, a federal jury ruled in favor of Richard Blassberg, former editor of the Guardian, and the 16 other plaintiffs to the tune of $8 million, finding Amicone guilty of having the newspaper”™s distribution boxes removed after multiple articles sharply criticized the mayor.
Judge Cathy Seibel”™s August ruling to grant a motion of remittitur to the defendants gives the plaintiffs the option to accept the reduced verdict or to submit to a new trial.
Selim “Sam” Zherka, the owner of the Guardian and one of the plaintiffs, did not respond to calls for comments. Amy Bellantoni of The Bellantoni Law Firm L.L.P., based in Scarsdale and representing the plaintiffs in the case, said that her clients have not yet made a decision as to whether to accept the reduced reward or to move to a new trial.
A spokesman for Amicone said that the reversal by the court served as evidence that the jury award was excessive.
“The federal court”™s decision makes it clear that the original jury award for damages had no basis in law or fact,” Amicone”™s spokesman David Simpson said. “And although the court reduced the award by more than ninety percent, the city still has fundamental disagreement with the jury”™s finding. As such, we are assessing all of the legal options available including an appeal.”
