WHEN IT’S A WHITE ELEPHANT.
Because we argued that a decision on accepting the Gouveia property should wait until it was clear what the financial impact on the village would be—not to mention the secretive, duplicitous negotiations behind the entire process—the Wiegman Dems have pathetically portrayed us as opposed to parks.
The sad reality is that we were trying to ensure that the Wiegman Dems didn’t burden Croton taxpayers with an expensive white elephant—as other Westchester municipalities have done when they accepted gifts from wealthy residents who wanted to donate property as parkland to take advantage of estate tax deductions.
The Wiegman Dems dismissed our warnings and they also ignored a cautionary July 21, 2014 article in the Journal News which concluded that “it’s simply too expensive to maintain the donated properties, even when the gift includes a multimillion-dollar endowment.”
As we predicted, the costs so far greatly exceed the estimates and the park isn’t even open to the public. Click the link to learn how the Wiegman Dems saddled Croton taxpayers with an expensive, unnecessary white elephant.
SEE THE NUMBERS--SEE THE FACTS--HERE http://www.crotonunited.org/gouveia-park/
And don't forget to check in often at the Croton United FB page https://www.facebook.com/crotonunited
So grateful for all the letters and foil requests that residents have taken the time to do. Without them, we'd know very little about this white elephant and the initial headlong rush to acquire it. Thank you all.
ReplyDeleteDid we do the $200,000 bond yet instead of taking it from the million?
ReplyDeleteI went to go see this 'park' the other day and the way in was chained. Is it a park or not?
ReplyDeleteYou were only allowed to go to the "park" on three or four ocassions and under strict village supervision. You had to take their bus and could only stay a few hours, like just about 3. This isn't a park. It's a house in need of a lot of repair with a big yard that isn't even usable for the average person. By the way the other Gouveia "gift" of the bank building in Ossining continues to deteriorate with no takers for the so called museum, housing, jazz club, art gallery, bed and breakfastetc. Last time I checked it was going to need more than a million and half just to get up to snuff. Ossining has their white elephant. No we have have one too.
DeleteThank you Don and to Croton United for all they have done. Thank you to everyone who submitted freedom of information letters. My decision is easy on this one. Linda
DeleteThe last plan for the Gouveia "gift" of the bank building to Ossining was for a jazz club. The prospective people walked away.
DeleteClaims that these "gifts" were useless are incorrect. The "gifts" resulted in substantial tax benefits to the Gouveia family, and if Laurel Gouveia had not passed prematurely, she would be getting lifetime exemption from taxation.
ReplyDeleteCroton benefits as well. Other towns have plaques saying "George Washington slept here" and they preserve the house. Now we have a "John & Lauel Gouveia slept here" sign, and a deteriorating house which taxpayers shall maintain in perpetuity as a monument to the ego of one politically-connected woman.
The whole point of the scheme was never to benefit the residents of Croton. The purpose was to memorialize a wealthy supporter of the party machine, and in that it has been a resounding success.
So sad it came to this. Thank you to all the foilers. Don't know if that is the right word but you know who you are.
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