Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2012 Co-op City Times
Vol. 47 No. 5
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Councilman Seabrook to be retried beginning June 19th BY BILL STUTTIG Co-op City’s long-time City Council representative Larry Seabrook will likely be retried on the still existing 12 felony counts against him beginning June 19th in Manhattan Federal Court, according to several media reports and sources within the community who have been following the case closely over the past two years. Seabrook was not convicted when a federal jury failed to reach an agreement on any the 12 counts against him related to allegations of corruption, extortion, and money laundering. Judge Robert P. Patterson, Jr. of the Federal District Court in Manhattan declared a mistrial on December 9th after hearing from the jury foreman that the 12 jurors remained hopelessly deadlocked on all charges after more than a week of trying to come to a unanimous agreement on Councilman Seabrook’s guilt or innocence on all or some of the 12 charges. While the mistrial spared Seabrook from having to serve any jail time at
least until a new trial was scheduled and completed with a conviction on one or more of the charges, it also did not clear him of the serious charges he faces. By not reaching a unanimous verdict, the jury neither convicted nor acquitted Seabrook. And although it took nearly 21 months for Seabrook to face his first trial following his original indictment on the numerous charges in February of 2010, the second trial is scheduled to commence a little more than six months after the first trial ended in a hung jury and mistrial. At this trial, a new judge will be presiding—Manhattan Federal Court Judge Deborah Batts. Ever since the mistrial was declared on December 9th, federal prosecutors quickly and emphatically declared their intention to retry Councilman Seabrook before a new jury. The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet (Continued on page 2)
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Electrical substation maintenance for each building to begin this week BY BILL STUTTIG An extensive project to perform maintenance work on the electrical substations, feeders and breakers which serve each of the community’s buildings, shopping and community centers and garages, will begin this week at Building 1. Brain Reardon, Director of Riverbay’s Power Plant staff, who will be performing the necessary tasks at each of the community 35 buildings over the next 16 months, said that recalibration and repairs to each buildings’ electrical substations, feeder and breakers is required under the terms of the interconnection agreement between Riverbay and Con Edison which allows Riverbay to sell excess and unused power to the utility on an as needed basis. The agreement requires that this maintenance work be done in each building every 3 to 4 years. The project will begin next Friday, February 10th with Feeder A-1 being switched off. This will allow Building 1 substation work to begin the following week starting on February 14th. The work should take approximately one week to complete. During that week, residents in Building 1 will experience a loss of power for approximately 30 minutes on Tuesday, February 14 and for
another 30 minutes on Friday, February 17th. This process, beginning with Building 1, will be repeated in every building in the community at some time over the next 16 months. After crews are finished performing the required maintenance work in Building 1, they will move on to Building 2 next and then 3 after that and then 4. After that, it is not definite yet whether the schedule will follow the same numerical order going forth; that will be determined in the coming days and weeks and shareholders will be given ample notification of when the work will be scheduled in their respective buildings and on what day the brief outages affecting their building will take place. Residents of Building 1 have already been sent notices as to the exact schedule and nature of the work that is going to be performed in their building from February 14 through February 17th. Reardon explained that all work is scheduled to begin after 9:30 a.m. on each day to give residents a chance to get through their morning routines without the brief interruption in power. All work (Continued on page 3)
Joint quality of life initiative continues in winter BY BILL STUTTIG A joint-agency quality of life patrol initiative that proved effective during the summer months last year is continuing during these winter months, Public Safety Chief Frank Apollo announced earlier this week. The program involves officers from the Conditions Unit of the 45th Precinct joining Public Safety officers on patrols and building sweeps throughout the community as a way to cut down on quality of life violations, such as unlawful loitering and public consumption of alcohol which often leads to more serious crimes if left unchecked over time. “At community meetings that I have attended in the recent past, the most often heard complaint is about loiterers and large groups congregating in and around buildings, making noise and providing an intimidating presence for residents and visitors alike,” explained Chief Apollo. “This summer, Captain Green and myself came up with this initiative as a way to discourage this type of activity which, as any law enforcement official will tell you, often leads to much bigger problems that threaten not only the quality of life of others residents, but also possibly their
safety.” Speaking earlier about the importance of this program, Captain Russell Green, Commanding Officer of the 45th Precinct, said that he believes it is important to show the community that these two law enforcement agencies work well together at combating the quality of life problems common to this community and most other communities. Apollo added, “In the colder winter time, these problems are less apparent, but they do exist in the tucked away public areas of the buildings and other locations conducive to congregating. Therefore, this program that proved successful this summer has been carried over in joint patrols being conducted sporadically throughout January and patrols are continuing into February.” On January 6th, a joint patrol was conducted by four officers from the 45th Precinct Conditions Unit and officers from Public Safety. Four young men, all Co-op City residents, were found loitering in the lobby of Building 19 and issued citations for loitering. Part of the program involves a Public (Continued on page 2)
Resident’s art featured at the African American Museum of Nassau County Renowned artist, teacher and original Co-op City resident, Robin Miller, will have her works celebrating African American history and culture on display at the African American Museum of Nassau County in an exhibit entitled Restoring My African Soul: My African-American Journey. Robin uses a variety of material and textures to create works that trace the history of African Americans over the last 150 years, from slavery to the White House. A long-time Bronx Public School educator, she also teaches art to students in Co-op City through the NCNW Saturday Tutorial Program. Her students, fellow NCNW members, and other Co-op City residents will be joining Robin next Saturday, February 11th at an artist’s reception at the museum from noon to 4 p.m. All Co-op City residents are invited to join them in celebrating Robin’s accomplishments and art. The African American Museum of Nassau County is located in Hempstead, New York. For more information about the exhibit and further directions, you may call the museum at 516-572-0730.