Happy New Year & Happy Three Kings Day from the Co-op City Times!
Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2014 Co-op City Times
Vol. 49 No. 1
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Prosecutors seek court order to seize Seabrook’s pension The U.S. Attorney in Manhattan wants to take the pension money owed to convicted former City Council Member Larry Seabrook and seize it to pay for the fines that Seabrook owes following his corruption conviction last year. Earlier this month, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara filed court applications for orders forfeiting pension benefits and permission to find benefits already paid to Seabrook and three other public officials convicted of corruption offenses. State law protects pensions for convicted officials, but Bharara announced in September that he would pursue the pensions when corrupt officials are convicted but don’t pay their fines. He’ll have to win a judge’s approval to take the pensions to pay the fines. “We aim to prevent corrupt elected officials from continuing to benefit from pensions paid for by the very people they betrayed in office,” Bharara said on Dec. 17. “As I announced this fall, we are committed to using every BY JIM ROBERTS
legal tool to take the profit out of crime, and that includes preventing public money from being used to fund the comfortable retirement of corrupt officials. This is what justice and common sense require,” he said. According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Seabrook is currently a vested member of the New York City Employment Retirement System and is now receiving a pension. The prosecutor’s office has filed applications for orders forfeiting Seabrook’s right to pension benefits until his forfeiture judgment has been fully paid. Seabrook, the former Co-op City political leader, was sentenced to five years in federal prison and ordered to forfeit $418,252 on Jan. 8, 2013 by federal Judge Deborah Batts following his conviction on nine counts of conspiracy and fraud at his July, 2012 jury trial. Federal prosecutors asked that Seabrook serve nine years in prison. He is now finishing his first year in federal (Continued on page 2)
Fireworks cause huge explosion in Pelham Bay Park
Thousands of Co-op City residents along with thousands more in the Bronx communities surrounding Pelham Bay Park were startled by a huge explosion at approximately 11 p.m. Monday evening emanating from the vicinity of Pelham Bay Park. The explosion blew out windows in three homes adjacent to the park. It was loud enough to be heard in some Westchester towns and across Eastchester Bay on City Island. The NYPD said that the explosion, which luckily did not result in any injuries, was caused by the detonation of commercial grade fireworks placed in a metal mesh garbage container which was placed on top of a pitcher’s mound on a baseball diamond in the park and then remotely detonated. Investigators combed through the debris left behind to try to find DNA evidence which can be linked to the arsonists who set off the potentially deadly blast. A Faithful Journey into African Culture … Co-op City resident and acclaimed artist Robin J. Miller will have an exhibition of her acclaimed mixed media quilts celebrating African-American history on display at the New Rochelle Public Library from January 12th through February 28th. Many of the works on display were published in her recent book “Rhythms of a Faithful Journey,” which she coauthored with her husband James. The book recounts the couple’s self-revealing journey into African culture. Mrs. Miller will speak on her work and read poetry from the book at the exhibits opening reception beginning at 4 p.m. on January 12th. The New Rochelle Library is at 1 Library Plaza near Memorial Highway in downtown New Rochelle.
25¢
2014 begins with an Arctic blast of snow, wind and cold Mother nature rang in 2014 with a nasty mixture of wind, extreme cold and more than nine inches of snow which began falling late Thursday night and stretched well into Friday, keeping Riverbay crews on duty in the early morning hours yesterday and into the afternoon trying their best to keep the community’s walkway’s clear despite blowing snow continuously covering
BY BILL STUTTIG
up much of their clean-up efforts. Co-op City General Manager Vernon Cooper said clean-up plans began being formulated as early as Tuesday, as soon as it became evident that a major storm would likely be here by later in the week. “We employed an all hands-on-deck strategy knowing that not only was the (Continued on page 2)
2013 in Review: July to December
Nine inches of snow and 10-degree temperatures didn’t deter this resident from getting around the community on his bicycle early Friday morning thanks in part to the snow clearing efforts of Riverbay staff. Photo by Bill Stuttig
The following is an account of the major events occurring in or affecting Co-op City during the second six months of 2013 as reported by the Co-op City Times.
JULY Officials from Riverbay reiterated that they were willing to hold talks with Verizon about having the telephone and communications giant discuss offering their services to Co-op City residents. “We want to help facilitate the best quality of life that we can for the residents of this community. That’s really the bottom line for us,” said Vernon Cooper, General Manager of Riverbay. Citing the exploding rate of commercial development around Co-op City combined with a lack of planning of additional infrastructure and/or public transportation alternatives, Community Board 10 passed a resolution asking several city and state agencies to coordinate a comprehensive study of the present and future transportation needs of the Co-op City community. Co-op City’s state of the art, 40megawatt cogeneration plant was rec-
BY JIM ROBERTS
ognized as a “Sandy Success Story” by a coalition of New York City civic organizations promoting environmentally sound sustainability initiatives for keeping power running in Co-op City during the devastating storm last year while others nearby went without electricity for days. Co-op City community leaders and Riverbay officials urged residents to be part of a rally on July 24 outside MTA headquarters in midtown Manhattan to help convince the massive agency to restore the service cuts made in 2010 in Co-op City and many other communities throughout New York City. Newly elected Riverbay Board President, Bill Gordon named the chairpersons and cochairs of the 2013-2014 Board Committees. Chairs named include Al Shapiro, Audit; Othelia Jones, Budget Committee of the Whole; Tony Illis, Sales; Eleanor Bailey, Youth; and Khalil Abdul-Wahhab, IT. (Continued on page 3)