With Friends Like These . . . .

Have you been following the 13th Avenue Saga?  That's the story of an

entire block of residents who can't get any sleep at night due to the noise being generated by their immediate neighbor, Verizon.  Doubly vexing is the fact that the building in question is actually located on a little triangular piece of land on the north side of Old Country Road
that is part of the Incorporated Village of Garden City. 

BTW: who drew the boundaries for these villages way back in the day?  Ray Charles?

    

So Verizon embarked on a construction project some months ago with the approval of Garden City.  Depending on who tells the story, hearings were held but the 13th Avenue residents weren't notified since they live in Mineola.  OR, hearings weren't held because they didn't need to be held because everything Verizon planned was within code.  At least that's what GC's Building Superintendent Michael Filipon claims.

http://wcbstv.com/video/?id=138261@wcbs.dayport.com

Apart from the inconvenience any construction causes and the eyesore these folks have to look at, is the racket.  These people are used to noise between the traffic on Old Country Road and the LIRR trains zipping by numerous times a day.  But this is a new din being generated in the middle of the night by air handlers needed to cool the equipment inside the building.  For some reason that has yet to be logically explained, these compressors MUST go into full operational mode at 1 a.m. - sleeping neighbors be damned!  Got a child who has to go to school the next day?  Let him sleep at his desk.  Terminally ill and in need of some peace and quiet as you hopefully try to recover?  Verizon feels your pain but they've got a job to do.  After all, this building "is a key telecommunications site needed by the Department of Homeland Security" and therefore it can NEVER be closed.

Say what ????  First, how thrilled do you suppose DHS is to have this little nugget of information bouncing around the radio waves? Thumbs up to the Garden City rep who let that cat out of the bag.  Second, nobody is asking that the building come down - it's been there for years.  What they want is for you all to apply a little bit of common sense and lower the freakin' volume !  Better yet, there should be NO volume emanating from that location at 1, 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning !!  

Adding insult to injury is the way their concerns have been blown off not only by the tribal elders who run the Village of Garden City (because that's to be expected) - but by the Village of Mineola as well.  Numerous calls to VOM's building department were handled with "That's Garden City - we have no jurisdiction."  Then, when they started complaining at the December public hearings in Mineola, the mayor said they should have come to him first.  Ay carumba !!!

Now it's two months later and the midnight jamboree continues.

To the mayor's credit - and MNYT is not a big fan of Jack Martins - he did give his cell phone number to the residents so they could call him to come out and hear this cacaphony in the middle of the night.  And he did go.  And no doubt he has reached out to Garden City for help.  But who did he speak to?  And what kind of spin are they giving him?

At Mineola's February 3 public meeting, Legal Eagle John Spellman stated that the two temporary air handlers have been taken off line and one has been removed from the site.  The other is permanently affixed to the building but it is enclosed with insulation and baffling.  It will remain unconnected unless an emergency arises and it must be reconnected, but that reconnection will require a permit from Garden City.

Right.

That's why when 13th Avenue resident Alicia Rodriguez got up and very nicely told Mr. Spellman that somebody is lying, he just kept his head down and scribbled away.  He didn't look up even one time.  Scribble, scribble, scribble.  He scribbled through John the Bird Man's complaints and he didn't stop when Ida Ferriera followed.

Let's not forget where Attorney Spellman resides.  Garden City.  Far from the Verizon building.

Mr. and Mrs. Ferriera and Ms. Rodriguez asked the members of the Mineola Board to attend the Garden City public meeting the next night so they might lend support to the residents of 13th Avenue.  Not an unreasonable request.

So who showed up to defend these taxpayers on Thursday, February 4th?  Only one trustee and that was Paul Cusato.  Jack Martins may have still been in Albany.  Larry Werther apparently could not rearrange his schedule to attend.  Paul Perriera was probably boning up for his 2011 mayoral campaign and Tom Kennedy was likely occupied waiting for the ice in his newly legalized illegal pool to thaw.

Paul Cusato - the most unfairly maligned of our trustees - the one who gets shot down every time he dares to swim against the tide and irritates the mayor.  Paul was the only VOM official to stand with the residents of 13th Avenue as they voiced their anger and frustration against Verizon and Garden City.  As a matter of fact, he was the first to speak. 

Several other village residents - who are in no way affected by this noise - also ventured out on a cold, dark, winter night to provide moral support.  Kudos to all of them.  BUT - and this in no way diminishes the importance of neighborly support - why was only one Mineola trustee present?  The one person who has been in contact with the GC trustees wasn't there to put their feet to the fire.  And his deputy - who should be fully informed and ready to step into the fray in the mayor's absence - wasn't.

Talk about disappointing!  Lest you forget, these are the same individuals who gave themselves a 64% salary increase last year without any warning or public hearings on the matter.  Remember?  And isn't it telling that the only trustee who voted against the raise (and was publicly chastised by the mayor for it) is also the only trustee who made it to Garden City's Village Hall on the night of the 4th?  Just the night before, the "other Paul" (Paul Perriera) assured Alicia Rodriguez that the Trustees had her back, and that she and the other 13th Avenue residents shouldn't feel abandoned.  He said "We will support you and if that means going down to a meeting tomorrow that will be it.  If it means calling Garden City again then we will do that as well . . . We're here to protect you."  (Sounds like a mayoral candidate to this blogger!)

Thanks.  Thanks alot.  With friends like these, who needs any enemies?  Certainly not the taxpayers of 13th Avenue.  Certainly not the rest of us. 

Election Day is coming up in March, so remember who your friends are.  Or aren't.  Just because two candidates are running doesn't mean you are required to cast a vote for each of them.  You can vote for one and not cast any vote for the other.  Send a message.  Think about it.

(For an "in-print" article about the Garden City public hearing click on http://wcbstv.com/localbusiness/verizon.verizon.noise.2.1471296.html )

What's A Story, Morning Glory?

Following is a direct quote from the Municipal Code of the Village of Mineola :

70. "Story" shall mean the portion of a building which is between one floor level and the next higher floor level or the roof. If a mezzanine floor area exceeds one third (1/3) of the floor immediately below, it shall be deemed to be a story. A basement shall be deemed to be a story when its ceiling is six (6) or more feet above the average finished grade. A cellar shall not be deemed to be a story. An attic shall not be deemed to be a story, if unfinished and not used for human occupancy.  1

SO - if you've been following the shenanigans involving 217 Horton Highway, VOM's Building Department and Jack Martins, champion of same, you know there has been some debate as to what constitutes a "story."   You see, when the owner/architect/builder of 217 Horton Highway (John Cunha) applied for his construction permit, he sought to erect a 2 story, single family residence.  At least that's what he put in writing.  He went before the Architectural Review Board (what are their qualifications exactly?) and was approved for a 2 story, single family residence.  The design approved called for a gabled roof that would provide unfinished, non-habitable space that could be used for storage - as opposed to a 2 story single family house with a pitched roof that could also provide unfinished, non-habitable space that could be used for storage - or as opposed to a 2 story single family house with a flat roof that would have no attic but might provide a crawl space that could be used for storage.  The ARB did NOT approve a two and one-half story residence at 217 Horton Highway.

Let's repeat.  Mineola's Architectural Review Board DID NOT APPROVE a 2.5 story residence at 217 Horton Highway. 

Why then, did Building Superintendent/Parking Meter Attendant Daniel B. Whalen issue a Certificate of Occupancy for a 2.5 story residence when that isn't even what the owner applied for?  Why was the owner not required to apply for a variance?  The Code stipulates that single family residences can only be 2 stories high.  That's 2 liveable stories with either a flat roof or a pitched/gabled roof with an unfinished attic.  If Mr. Cunha, the owner/designer/builder of 217 Horton wanted two and a half-stories, he should have applied for it in his original permit request.  He then would have been required to not only go before the ARB, but the Board of Zoning Appeals as well.  But that's not what happened.  Is it?

Somehow, somewhere along the way, another 1/2 story appeared on that house.  You can't see it from the outside, so that means it's somewhere on the inside.  Now where do you suppose it might be?  Well since the "attic" has 16 windows and a sprinkler system and since Mr. Cunha had previously told people he intended to establish an office up there, it is safe for any reasonably intelligent human being to put 2 + 2 together to come up with 4.  That is, Mr. Cunha has finished off at least half of the attic space to make it "habitable" and thereby "taxable."  And the tax assessor's records have been updated to reflect the same.

Now it's not uncommon for people to finish their attics to create another bedroom, a study, a playroom, a gym - whatever.  But there are laws to follow and if you are going to take an unfinished attic and finish it off, you have to apply for a permit first and you have to submit plans.  But not Mr. Cunha.  He didn't have to submit plans with his original permit application for new construction, nor did he have to submit a permit application after the fact.  He just finished the space and his pal Danny B issued a Certificate of Occupancy for 2 1/2 stories.

But it gets better because when this was brought to the attention of Mayor Jack Martins, at TWO televised public meetings, his "honor" went into spin mode (as usual when it comes to the mechinations of the Building Department).  He tried to explain away that magic half-story by re-writing state and local building codes off the cuff.  According to Jack, unused, non-habitable space now constitutes a half story.  I'm sure Albany will be happy to hear that.  Not to mention Dan Whalen whose ass Jack is constantly covering.

Seriously people.  You voted this guy in.  Are you happy with yourselves?  Because what you elected is someone who thinks everybody else is a fool.  He believes nobody is as smart as he is.  He repeatedly insults your intelligence by twisting facts and trying to lay blame where it doesn't belong. 

Take the most recent case of the 13th Avenue residents who have been complaining about the noise emanating from the Verizon building.  These folks, using common sense, did the most logical thing any reasonable people would do.  They called MINEOLA's Building Department to complain.  But did they receive any assistance?  Not at all.  They were brushed off and told to contact Garden City's DOB.  Then when they exercised their right to raise the matter at a public meeting in December, Jack Martins complained that they should have come to him first.  W T F ????  How about this?  How about the Building Department staff does it's job by writing down the complaints and sending someone over to assess the situation while at the same time advising the mayor?  Instead, they did nothing and when the affected residents brought the matter public, Jack put the onus back on them.  Right where it didn't belong!

So THAT'S the story Morning Glories!  Non-habitable space now constitutes taxable living space.  Certain residents, like certain members of the Building Department enjoy "favored nation status."  And you dear taxpayers, enjoy the privilege of bending down to get reamed up your derrieres while having your faces slapped at the same time.  Relish the process!


1. Title III Planning, Building and Zoning Regulations; Chapter 27 Housing Code; Article 1 Residential Premises; Part I General Provisions; §27.7 Abbreviations and Definitions; C  Definitions.

SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

It is said that "silence is golden."  In the case of the January 6, 2010 public meeting, the silence emanating from Mineola's Board of Trustees was deafening.  Not one of these elected officials had anything to say as Village resident Jesse Smith questioned Mayor Jack Martins yet again about the architectural albatross that now exists at 217 Horton Highway.  Even Deputy Mayor Larry Werther - notorious for his diarrhea of the mouth - was uncharacteristically silent.

So to what do we owe this dearth of dialogue on the part of our trustees?  Post-Christmas January blues? Sugar-induced comas?  Your basic, run-of-the-mill ennui?

Is it at all possible these men are starting, however slowly, to recognize the facts of the matter?  Maybe they are beginning to realize that if Jack is going to twist the truth like a pretzel, then it's better he bury himself alone without jumping into the grave with him.  Or perhaps that's giving them all too much credit.

It should be fairly obvious to anyone who was at that meeting or who has seen it on Channel 18 that Jack will do anything to defend the behaviour of his Building Superintendent, Daniel B. Whalen and that of the owner of 217 Horton Highway.  How else to justify Mr. Whalen's issuance of a CO to that property in the absence of properly installed leaders and gutters and a final survey?  If Jack is going to employ the same justification Attorney Spellman used when Danny B issued that illegal fence permit on Latham Road (i.e. it was a "mistake") that would then lead one to believe Mr. Whalen is not qualified for his job. 

And by what or whose authority did Whalen issue a CO for a 2 and 1/2 story house when the Architectural Review Board approved a 2 story house?  Martins' spin has been and continues to be that a completely empty, unliveable space constitutes half of a story, when as a real estate attorney he should (and no doubt does) know better.  A 2 story house consists of two liveable floors having either a flat roof, or a gabled roof with unfinished area such as a crawlspace or attic.  If there is now an additional half-story to that house, it means part of the attic has been finished and is liveable.  That is why Mr. Cunha's taxes have now gone up.  Until recently, the tax assessor's rolls showed a 2-story house.  Cunha was not taxed for the attic space because it was assumed to be unfinished, ergo unliveable.  But now his assessment report reflects an additional, taxable 1/2 story which is not what was called for in the original ARB approved plan.  And THAT friends, is what Mr. Smith is questioning.

Martins is trying to turn this whole thing around to make it sound as if Mr. Smith is claiming that the actual structure of the house has changed;  as if there's a mysterious 1/2 floor sticking out somewhere.  How did Martins put it?  "The house that was built is the house that was approved." (Um, NO.  Check the approved plans and then check the roof line and you'll see it doesn't match.  But let's not split hairs.)

Let's go over it again.  The ARB approved a house with 2 LIVEABLE FLOORS, an UNFINISHED BASEMENT and an UNFINISHED ATTIC.  Dan Whalen issued a CO for a house that has 2 and 1/2 floors of liveable space (1) without requiring an additional permit for a revision of plans (2) despite the absence of state-mandated leaders and gutters, and (3) absent a final survey.  Such actions would lead most reasonable people to conclude that Mr. Whalen is either incompetent and needs to go back to collecting coins from parking meters, or something else is going on.

The silence was even more obvious the second time Mr. Smith took to the podium to discuss the damage done to his property when a lightning strike in October splintered Mr. Cunha's chimney, sending bricks flying in all directions including into Mr. Smith's car.  The car that was parked in HIS driveway.  The same driveway that Cunha cut into without any prior notice.

Each of the trustees in turn looked at the pictures Mr. Smith provided and NOT ONE of these sheep made a peep.  NOT ONE had the courage - let alone the basic common courtesy - to extend any sympathy to this taxpayer for his aggravation and financial loss.  And let's not even consider what might have happened to either Mr. Smith or his wife if one of them managed to be out there when this "Act of God" occurred.

Instead, one by one in their zombie-like states, they shuffled through the photographs and passed them on.  And the only thing our illustrious mayor did was to confirm with Mr. Smith that Cunha had been advised by his masoner to install a clay chimney cap and/or a lightning rod (neither of which this professional architect has done).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do you know sheep are among the stupidest animals on earth?  They will follow their flock leader straight off a cliff - or straight to their slaughter.  Sheep also have no concept of a moral code.  Of course, that can be attributed to their level of evolution.  What excuse do the ruminants sitting on Mineola's Board of Trustees have to offer?

Brain Power + Ambition = Good Customer Service

But if you've been keeping up with the times in Mineola you know that both Brain Power and Ambition are in very short supply at the Building Department.  Ergo, customer service is virtually non-existent.  People have been complaining about the personality issues there for years but the Mayor takes no notice.

If you attended the December 16th public meeting or watched it on Channel 18, you learned that a number of residents have complained to Mineola's Building Department with regard to noise coming from the Verizon building on the border of Mineola and Garden City.  The offending structure is in Garden City's jurisdiction so our Building Department has no authority over the property in question.  However, when residents call  Dan Whalen's office to complain about an issue such as this, the stock answer of  "It's not in Mineola so we can't do anything about it"  is completely unacceptable.  The appropriate answer is "While that property is not in Mineola's jurisdiction, we will send an inspector over.  He can then make a report to the Mayor and the Board of Trustees for their consideration."

Danny B earns over $100K a year.  His gal-pal/secretary's earnings are in the $40K range.  The village residents do not pay taxes to get blown off by the very employees whose salaries they pay. 

All it takes to keep your customers happy is a little bit of professionalism, the ability to think outside the box and a desire to actually earn your keep (it's called a "work ethic").  It's time for the Mayor to stop making excuses for the obnoxious, cavalier behavior of Mr. Whalen and his staff.  Personnel changes are long overdue and there's no better time than the start of a New Year.

IT'S  TIME  TO  PUT  THE  COUNTRY  CLUB  OUT  OF  BUSINESS  !!!!

A HORSE IS A HORSE OF COURSE ~ But What is a Building Superintendent?

Interesting question, that.

The Village of Mineola's job description for the position of Superintendent of Buildings calls for:

"(1) a High School graduate and eight years of experience in planning and construction of buildings, including five years of progressively more responsible experience in all phases of building inspection work, at least three years of which must have been in a supervisory capacity;
OR
(2) completion of at least two years of college, with courses in engineering and six years of experience as described in (1)."

That seems fairly straightforward.  So let's see.  Who would plan and

construct buildings?  An architect. 

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

A structural engineer.  A licensed general contractor.  A carpenter perhaps.  Maybe even a parking meter attendant.

Whoa!  Wait a minute Mr. Postman !!!  Did you read that right?  A parking meter attendant?  Why would anybody hire a parking meter attendant to be a Building Superintendent?  That's as crazy as promoting a former carpenter from the Nassau County Correctional Center to be Manager of a Hempstead town cemetary.  And we know how that turned out:

 ( http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/cemetery-worker-suspended-for-blunder-1.1603789 ) 

OK, so you can expect that kind of tomfoolery from the likes of  Uniondale.  After all, they're just a lowly hamlet, and we know how THOSE places are run what with all the cronyism, the corruption, and the political favoritism that is de rigeur.  But such falderol doesn't go down in an Incorporated Village like Mineola.  Especially with someone like Jack Martins at the helm.  No siree Bob!  Why he's the paradigm of integrity.  He would never put the Village at risk by allowing someone with a questionable pedigree to man the helm of Mineola's Building Department.

Would he?

Let's take a gander at Daniel B. Whalen's employment history with the Nassau County Department of Civil Service.  He started as a seasonal park worker in June 1994 at $10 per hour.  He continued along this career path until April 15, 1998 when he took the position of part-time parking meter attendant with the Village of New Hyde Park.  The pay was better - $17.68 an hour - but maybe it wasn't good enough because he resigned his position on August 20th that year.

Now you may be wondering - how could he support a family on a part-time salary like that?  According to urban legend, Mr. Whalen had an interest in a bar - or two (as in drinking establishments).  So maybe civil service was a way for him to earn some steady scratch.  Who knows?  But he was climbing that career ladder because six months after he left New Hyde Park, Whalen was hired by the Village of Westbury as a bonafide, full-time Complaint Investigator at $32,500 yearly.  Congrats Dan!  Momma's got a brand new bag!

Here's the catch.  The CI post was a competitive position, and Whalen was hired on a provisional basis meaning he had to pass the Civil Service exam within nine months of his hire date.  Clarification:  he not only had to pass, but he had to obtain "reachable" status.  In other words, he had to score high enough to be among those at the top of the list in order to be considered for the limited number of jobs.  But he didn't.  The Village of Westbury was thus required by law to terminate his provisional employment as a Complaint Investigator.

So what did the Trustees of the Village of Westbury do?

Effective November 15, 1999 they promoted Dan Whalen to Building Superintendent - an EXEMPT position requiring NO TESTING - at a salary rate of $49,000 per year!  That's a 50% salary hike for someone who couldn't even qualify to be a Complaint Investigator!

Were I a resident of the Village of Westbury, I'd be mighty pissed off.  But it seems those good people have been doing the Happy Dance since 2002 because as of that September, DW became Mineola's problem.  A $100,000 a year problem by now.

That's right friends.  When he left Westbury, Whalen's salary was up to $67,000 per annum.  When he joined VOM in September 2002, it was at an hourly rate of $43.13 which works out to $78,496.60.  That's more than a 17% pay increase in one fell swoop.  As of June 2008 his hourly pay rate was $54.70 for an annual salary of $99,553.14.  Just in case anybody's counting, that works out to nearly a 4% annual increase every year.  No civil service test required.  No customer service skills required.  Sound judgement not required.  The ability to ascertain where to draw the line in terms of personal relationships with subordinates? Not required.

So what are the taxpayers getting for their money?  Well, over the years a number of complaints have been filed with the employees' union against Mr. Whalen.  He has issued permits for non-conforming structures in violation of both the Village Code and NYS code.  He has allowed a certain property owner to take years to construct a house without requiring a single permit extension.  He issued that same owner a final Certificate of Occupancy despite the fact that there are no leaders, gutters or downspouts on the house - another violation of NYS law.  Nor had a final survey on the property been done at the time as is also required by law. 

He allowed another already non-conforming house to be expanded without requiring the owners to go before the Board of Zoning Appeals so the public could comment on the proposed construction.  Now this matter has gone to court.  And there are so many other examples.

In the interest of full disclosure, Whalen received certification as a NYS Code Enforcement Officer on August 31, 1998.  So he's got book learnin', which is a plus.  But the job description calls for PRACTICAL CONSTRUCTION  EXPERIENCE. 

As in: does he know the face end of a hammer from the claw end?

Prior to being appointed as Westbury's building superintendent, had he ever installed or repaired plumbing other than plunging the toilet in his own house?  Had he ever overseen or otherwise participated in a concrete pour or the shoring up of a foundation?  What prior supervisory experience did he have in the construction field?  (Looking over your bartender's shoulder to ensure he's not being too generous with the whiskey in the highballs doesn't count!)  What does his college transcript show?  Did he take any engineering courses?

Here's an experiment for you.  Go to the Village of Mineola and submit a request under the Freedom of Information Law to review Dan Whalen's Curriculum Vitae or job application.  See what response you get.  He's a civil servant paid with taxpayer dollars, but according to Mineola's Board of Trustees the taxpayers don't have a right to review his qualifications. "Unwarranted invasion of personal privacy" is what they'll tell you - even though he's a public servant and the courts have ruled time and again that public servants are not entitled to the same level of personal privacy as those who work in the private sector.  The Committee on Open Government has offered opinion after opinion about the right of the public to have access to the employment history and job credentials of their employees.  But Jack Martins doesn't give a rat's ass.  He's hell bent on protecting Dan Whalen despite the complaints he's heard from village residents, contractors and Whalen's fellow employees.

And that says it all.

So, getting back to the original question:  What is a Building Superintendent?  Go to your Webster's to look it up.  But DON'T expect to see Daniel B. Whalen's picture next to that definition.