Are your customers raving about you on social media? Share their great stories to help turn potential customers into loyal ones.You can listen to Marsha discuss her positions on Glen Cove's financial issues and take caller questions.
Listen to the full interview here: https://soundcloud.com/doublevisionwgbb/double-vision-radion-show-10272017-wgbb-live-stream#t=41:43
August 20, 2017 The Glen Cove Industrial Development Agency will vote Tuesday on whether to give more than $1.2 million in tax breaks to the developer of a downtown apartment and retail building.
Uniondale-based RXR Realty is asking for the tax breaks to build Village Square on 2.8 acres in downtown Glen Cove. The buildings now on the site are mostly vacant. It would include 146 apartments, retail space and a plaza deeded to the city for public events.
RXR Glen Isle Partners, of which RXR Realty is majority owner, is building Garvies Point — with 1,110 condos and apartments, parks, offices and retail — about a half-mile away. That project received more than $200 million in IDA tax breaks.
For Village Square, RXR is asking for $1.24 million in mortgage and sales-tax exemptions. The IDA also will vote on payments in lieu of taxes, or PILOTs, that would start at $183,062 for the first three years and increase 2 percent annually for 15 years. The value of that property tax break is undetermined.
IDA Executive Director Barbara Peebles said the property, which has languished for years, is “the key to revitalizing our downtown. . . . If they don’t get the PILOT, it stays blighted and it never gets developed.”
Frank Haftel, first vice president of RXR, said the $49 million project wouldn’t attract lenders and investors without financial assistance. RXR has yet to come to an agreement to buy a small parcel of the property, and the tax breaks are contingent on RXR owning that land, IDA attorney Milan Tyler said.
Marsha Silverman, a Democratic City Council candidate and one of 105 plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to halt construction of Garvies Point, said she opposes the PILOTs. She said they should be used to lure new job-creating businesses to the city, not “to financially assist a wealthy developer,” which she asserted could build Village Square without the breaks.
“When they don’t pay their fair share of taxes, the rest of us have to make up the difference, and we subsidize this developer,” Silverman said.
Peebles said current property taxes on the site are $154,422, so the PILOTs will reap far more revenue for the city than if the land were left vacant.
Silverman spoke against the PILOTs at an Aug. 9 IDA public hearing held outside the IDA’s regular meeting schedule, which Silverman said showed a lack of transparency.
Glen Cove Mayor and IDA chairman Reginald Spinello said the date was chosen as part of “an aggressive timeline” for developing the site. No public-comment period is expected on Tuesday, but the board will discuss written and verbal comments about the PILOT and take them into consideration, Spinello said.
The IDA meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in the second-floor conference room of City Hall, 9 Glen St.
Marsha Silverman explains the opposition to the IDA overstepping their authority in granting PILOTS (tax breaks) to RXR Corporation.
FOREXTV INTERVIEW WITH MARSHA SILVERMAN - Part 3
The Glen Cove IDA was planning to have a vote in relative secrecy tonight regarding granting tax breaks to RXR Corp until Marsha Silverman uncovered it and forced the IDA to make a public announcement.In my interview with Marsha Silverman, she explains how tax breaks work, in particular, Silverman discusses the PILOT program
Marsha speaks about her involvement in Glen Cove City Council meetings over the past 4 years
Marsha Silverman discusses the state of Glen Cove Politics with ForexTV News Editor, Tim Kelly
“…Silverman regularly attends City Council Meetings, sometimes asking pointed questions of Mayor Reginald Spinello on city spending, the Garvies Point waterfront project and other issues. Silverman, a financial data analyst, also typically is one of few members of the public to attend council work sessions.”
“I have a financial background and I have something to offer the city…and help move the city forward for all residents and taxpayers”
“Our neighborhood has single family homes on half acre to one acre lots that abut that project, so the change in land use is extreme,” Marsha Silverman said.
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"But Marsha Silverman, 44, a Glen Cove resident who works as a financial data analyst, said the city's assumptions are unrealistically rosy. She fears that, far from benefiting from an expanding city treasury, residents will face tax increases to pay for city services the new waterfront residents and businesses would require. "
"Marsha Silverman, a Glen Cove resident who works as a financial data analyst, asked whether there would be enough safeguards in place so a best-value contract "doesn't go to best friend."
"Resident Marsha Silverman said the city needs to develop three-to-five-year financial outlooks to help rein in expenses and prevent overreliance on borrowing."
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"Marsha Silverman, 45, who also lives behind the project, wondered what would happen to residents of apartments and a house on the site. Livingston said about 50 people would be displaced. Silverman also criticized the proposed waiver — granted later in the meeting — to the city’s hillside protection ordinance, which limits development on hills."
"Marsha Silverman, 43, a data analyst who lives on a hill directly behind the property. "The risk of ... foundation damage, soil runoff and destabilization of the hill are not risks that the native homeowners should have to bear."
"But Glen Cove resident Marsha Silverman told council members Nogid is not qualified for the job because he is not a certified public accountant and does not hold an advanced degree."
(Note: Nogid was in the position of Comptroller of Glen Cove for only six months when a new comptroller was hired to replace him )
"A tree-removal company hired by Queens-based Livingston chopped down about 50 trees on a hillside south of downtown until Nassau County State Supreme Court Judge George Peck on Sept. 13 ordered a stop to the tree removal until he could rule on a request for a preliminary injunction against the tree-cutting."