2021 News Coverage

  By Jennifer Corr 

In an effort to make sure that local families who do not have access to whole and nutritious foods don’t go without, Glen Cove Councilwoman Marsha Silverman and Wells Café & Apothecary in Sea Cliff teamed up with North Shore Food Help, also known as NOSH.

“I am thrilled to connect two women-run organizations, NOSH, a critical resource to feed those in need and Wells Café, a provider of nutritious, organic foods,” Silverman said.

Under this initiative, for every bundle of organic groceries purchased from Wells Café, an equal value will be donated to NOSH.

“It is a privilege to partner with Wells Café to bring organic food to those in need,” said Courtney Callahan of NOSH. “As a vegan, it is particularly important to create access to plant based foods.”

This effort is being done through the Pumpkinseeds Foundation, a private grant-making foundation based in Sea Cliff.

“Food justice has always been an important pillar of the Wells Café ethos and now, more than ever, it is crucial that families in need have access to nutritious, whole foods,” said Lisa Gelsmar, the chef at Wells Café.

Newsday, Jan 2020: Saving Taxpayer Money  

 By Jennifer Corr

The Glen Cove Industrial Development Agency and Community Development Agency need not pay rent to the City of Glen Cove for office space at City Hall, according to an agreement the outside agencies reached with the city on April 28.

The City Council, including Mayor Tim Tenke, voted 6-1 that day to formalize the arrangement. Council member Marsha Silverman was the lone vote against it.

The two agencies have not paid rent to the city for four years, but rather have provided essential services, so city officials said they thought it only right that they would have office space at City Hall. Until recently, however, that agreement had not been formalized.

“What’s happening right now is that we’re formalizing basically what has been the custom and practice for the last four or so years,” said City Attorney Gregory Kalnitsky. “This is an accounting measure if the CDA or IDA is audited. They’re required to have an inter-municipal agreement in place, formalizing our agreement and showing that they are performing certain services and we’re receiving certain services.” 

The CDA, among other services, owns the Glen Cove Senior Center and oversees Section 8 public housing in the city. The CDA issues federal and state grant funding for large-scale projects such as the current waterfront redevelopment.

RXR Realty purchased 44 acres of waterfront property on two parcels from the IDA for $10 million in 2016 in order to construct the $1.3 billion Garvies Point housing and shopping development, which is now under construction. RXR also received a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement.

The IDA had taken over the property in 1999, after the site was contaminated by roughly 47,000 tons of radioactive material and nearly 57,000 tons of chemically contaminated soil. The Superfund site, formerly owned by Li Tungsten, had been a dumping ground for industrial waste since the 1950s.

The IDA worked with the federal Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a $28 million cleanup of the property. The IDA agreed to pay the federal government $100,000, plus a percentage of the proceeds from any sale or lease of the two parcels.

The IDA has had an office at City Hall since 2004, but has never paid rent. In 2016, the IDA gave the city the $10 million it had received from RXR for the waterfront property, effectively paying off the rent it had owed for the previous 12 years. It has remained at City Hall ever since, without paying rent.

Not all City Council members said they were comfortable with the agreement formalizing the no-rent arrangement. Silverman said that the state comptroller’s office recently audited the IDA. The findings are expected this summer. “I wonder if this is premature, and if we should maybe wait a few months,” Silverman said of the vote on the agreement.

“We should take no action on any IDA matter until we have the findings of that report,” Silverman emphasized after the meeting. “In addition, our local economy will be impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, with a good chance that our revenues will be significantly decreased.”

Councilman Gaitley Stevenson-Mathews expressed similar concerns, and asked if the resolution could be rewritten as a six-month contract instead, putting the relationship between the city and the agencies up for further review down the road.

Kalnitsky said the agreement could be changed, and added that he did not believe putting a time limit on it was necessary, but Stevenson-Mathews said he was unsure if he agreed.

Ann Fangmann, the executive director and contracting officer for the IDA and CDA, said the agencies would likely have to move out of City Hall to another office if they had to pay rent. “We work very effectively in City Hall,” Fangmann said, “because we’re right near the mayor and the deputy mayor and the department heads that we need to get the approvals from and the signatures.”

Silverman said that while she valued the work of the agencies, she did not believe the city needed to vote to formalize the no-rent agreement immediately, because the arrangement dated back to 2016. She tried to table the motion to vote on the agreement, but no other council member supported her.

By Jennifer Corr 

A three year contract with Thomson Reuters West Publishing Corporation for a Westlaw Subscription was approved by the Glen Cove City Council at the April 14 Glen Cove City Council meeting. The legal research service would cost the city $850 initially, and there would be a 5 percent increase each year. 

Originally, the subscription would have cost $1,458 a month with a 5 percent increase. 

“After I raised concerns at the City Council last week, our attorney called to negotiate,” Councilwoman Marsha Silverman said. “We were granted a municipal rate that is less expensive.” 

According to Glen Cove City Attorney Gregory Kalnitsky, the Westlaw subscription has many benefits for the city and is in fact used by the state. It has access to a number of local, state and federal legal databases, agency decisions, treatises for government officials, different guidance forms and other products. Westlaw also offers different packages. Packages such as Government Analytics Plus, Westlaw Edge, Litigation for Government and Practical Law for Government will be ordered for the city. 

“From law school through my work in the private sector, through all my work in government, I have used nothing but Westlaw and it is a great product,” Kalnitsky said. “It has excellent support and it offers much more than just looking up case laws and such. There are practical commentaries, there are treatises. And there are products that they have on there that are unique to Westlaw.” 

Councilman Rocco Totino, who also works as a trial attorney for an insurance carrier, echoed the point that Westlaw, along with another legal research resource, LexisNexis, are the top two services that lawyers and legal professionals use regardless of what area of law they’re in. 

“Westlaw is the standard, premiere legal research facility nationwide,” Kalnitsky said. “They have a way or organizing the cases that makes them very easily accessible and allows me to get back to [the mayor’s] office as well as city department heads and the city council much quicker would be able to otherwise.”

Silverman agreed at last week’s pre council meeting that Kalnitsky and other city officials should have access to legal research. However, she was concerned about the original $1,458 a month price tag that came with it, especially after finding other legal research products that cost less. 

“If you want to send me the information you have for these other products I will definitely take a look at them,” Kalnitsky said. “If it helps, I will point out what Westlaw has that they do not.” 

So Silverman did send an email to Kalnitsky, Totino and other city officials citing four other legal research services; LexisNexis, which has three subscriptions for $125 a month, $170 a month and $295 a month; Casetext, which is $65 a month; Fastcase, which costs $695 a year for the Appellate subscription and $995 a year for the Premium subscription; and Casemaker, which starts at $50 a month. 

Over the week, Kalintsky was able to negotiate a lower monthly cost of $850 a month with a 5 percent increase for a three year contract with Westlaw. The original contract would have been $55,152 for three years and the new contract will cost $32,172 over the next three years. This saved the city $22,980 over a three year period. 

“Based on the competitive options out there, this is much more in line with other options,” Silverman said. “I’m just really glad I raised it because we’re saving.”

Mayor Timothy Tenke, along with other council members, thanked Kalnitsky for negotiating a lower price for the city before approving the resolution.

“I know you went out and followed the protocol for the purchase of this through the state contract, you piggy backed on that, but you actually took on yourself to get the additional reduction in the monthly cost of this by almost $1,000 a month,” Tenke said. “I want to thank you for that because those savings are good and our residents will appreciate that.”

  “…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.     

see story

scroll down for more stories