OK, over-reaching for a pun.
Senator Larkin wasn't the only politician who funneled our tax dollars (perhaps as much as $12 Million) into what is, at least partially, a religious use.
We suspect that US Senator Schumer smiled on the largess as well.
More on all that as we dig deeper.
But for now, here's McKenna's story:
'Therapeutic pool' in Kiryas Joel draws scrutiny. Critics claim it's a mikvah
By Chris Mckenna
Times Herald-Record
December 15, 2008 6:00 AM
KIRYAS JOEL— The mothers' rest home this village has labored for years to complete, securing one government grant after another to cover its ballooning construction cost, has begun admitting its first wave of recuperating mothers and their newborns.
But Kiryas Joel officials appear to have concealed one of the building's secondary purposes as the host of a religious bath known as a mikvah, a potentially illegal use of the public funds that were poured into the $11.4 million project.
Village officials insist they're building a fitness center and spa in the basement, not a mikvah. The Kiryas Joel man chosen to run the 55-bed home, known as Aishes Chayil, has rebuffed repeated requests by the Times Herald-Record to tour the building.
Architectural plans for the three-story, 50,000-square-foot structure show little in the basement except mechanical and electrical rooms and open space, plus the outline of what is described as a "future pool" — large enough to be used for swimming.
But Orange County public works employees, touring Aishes Chayil (pronounced EYE-shiss hile) during construction in April 2007 to calculate the building's sewer charges, discovered the beginnings of 22 bathrooms and a "small wading pool" in the basement, none of which was reflected in the 2003 drawings by the firm of Long Island architect John Baumgarten.
'Cleanliness is next to godliness'
Their account was later filed in court as part of a lawsuit challenging sewer bills for Aishes Chayil and two other Kiryas Joel buildings. When the Times Herald-Record asked if the basement work meant that a mikvah was being built with public funds, Village Attorney Donald Nichol initially replied: "I don't see how it differs from any other washing facilities."
"When I grew up," he added, "I was taught that cleanliness is next to godliness."
Minutes later, after making a phone call to gather further information, Nichol called back and explained more emphatically that the basement would hold a fitness center and spa with what he alternately described as a jacuzzi or "therapeutic pool" — no longer a "washing facility."
"You can categorically say that it's not a mikvah," he said.
What makes the "jacuzzi" explanation dubious is a subsequent account about the pool's unusual water supply.
One visitor who has seen the basement observed an interior, concrete duct descending from the roof to a tall, concrete holding tank beside the pool — a conduit for rain water. Such a design is typical for a mikvah, which, under Jewish law, must draw naturally occurring water, such as rain or a spring, and channel it through non-metal pipes.
Ancient Jewish tradition dictates that a married woman visit a mikvah each month after menstruation to purify herself for sexual relations. The ritual — intensely private and conducted at night — concludes with complete immersion in a small pool.
Spiraling costs, more grants
Nichol described the basement's 22 bathrooms as "changing rooms." But they sound more like mikvah "preparation rooms," where women meticulously clean themselves for as long as two hours before entering the pool.
Aishes Chayil's main purpose is to offer mothers a quiet place to recuperate with their babies after giving birth in a hospital. Three similar facilities — each known in Yiddish as a "kimpeturin heim" — already cater to Orthodox Jewish women in the New York-New Jersey region, including one in the Rockland County Village of New Square.
Kiryas Joel officials estimated theirs would cost $3.5 million when they sought their first state grant for it in 2001. But the estimate kept rising as they repeatedly asked elected officials in Albany and Washington for more money, eventually securing $10.5 million in grants. Former Gov. George Pataki and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver were the chief benefactors.
The village's lengthy solicitations briefly mention plans for a "physical therapy/fitness room" on an upper floor, with no elaboration. The architectural plans show none.
Nichol said in July the fitness center would cost about $300,000. But payment forms submitted by the contractor — obtained by the Times Herald-Record obtained through the state Freedom of Information Law — put the cost of the unanticipated "basement development" higher, at $397,500.
That would be a bargain for a mikvah, if that is indeed the cost. The lavish West Side Mikvah in Manhattan, which has four immersion pools and 13 preparation rooms on two floors, cost $10 million to $14 million by the time it opened two years ago, according to its staff.
Aishes Chayil a sight to behold
Construction costs at Aishes Chayil over the last two years, including the basement work, have been reimbursed in two installments through a $3 million state Dormitory Authority grant that Silver secured in 2007. The grant agreement prohibits using any of the funds for "religious worship, instruction or proselytizing."
"If they're making an effort to bill us for a mikvah, we're not going to reimburse them for that," authority spokesman Marc Violette said last week.
But Kiryas Joel has already drawn all but $296,000 of the grant. Contractor payment forms appear to indicate that $147,681 in Dormitory Authority funds have reimbursed the village for basement work done between December 2006 and March 2008.
Village Administrator Gedalye Szegedin, who no longer returns calls from the Times Herald-Record, ignored written questions about the basement construction and other cost overruns at Aishes Chayil, sent to him by e-mail and regular mail.
The home finally began taking in mothers and newborns some time in November, although its administrator, Naftuli Oppenheim, couldn't specify which week it opened or how many women were staying there; his head count used the numbers 19, 20, 25, 30 and 35 in a single, brief conversation. The village says in court papers that Aishes Chayil opened Nov. 2.
According to a recorded phone message, beds are going for up to $185 a night — comparable to the top rates at mothers' homes in New Square and Freehold, N.J. That price for a private room has come down from the $200 rate village officials had planned.
Oppenheim never responded to the Times Herald-Record's tour request. One visitor has called Aishes Chayil a sight to behold, fitted with such opulent touches as marble floors and a giant chandelier.
rising costs
The $7.4 million contract signed in October 2003 to build Aishes Chayil incurred $2.2 million in cost overruns through March 2008, according to payment forms submitted by the Kiryas Joel contractor who built the mothers' home.
Some $340,000 in savings slightly offset those additional expenses, leaving the total construction cost as of March at $9.3 million - or $1.9 million above the original contract price.
Among the biggest overruns listed by A.R. Construction Co. of Kiryas Joel:
• $485,000 for additional rooms
• $397,500 for basement development
• $230,000 for tile upgrades
• $135,000 for moldings
Village officials have placed the total project cost, including road construction and consultants' fees, at $11.4 million, or more than triple the $3.5 million they estimated in 2001.
In September, state Assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun of Blooming Grove asked Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to investigate the inflated cost, much as authorities did when construction of the Ulster County Jail went awry.
DiNapoli has since declined to investigate. A Cuomo spokesman says his office is reviewing Calhoun's complaint.
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33 comments:
once again, our tax dollars at work. they're always 10 steps ahead of us.
Instead of cursinging their cleverness, maybe we should curse our stupidity.
Maybe they should not be allowed to do what they do. If any other village tried what KJ does, that village would be prosecuted!
It's not our stupidity that we should be cursing, nor their cleverness. We should be appalled at their lack of a moral compass. Apparently, following the rules lends credence to the expression, "Nice guys finish last." And KJ wonders why people don't like them? It's not antisemitism. It's blatant lies, misinformation, misdirection, rape of natural resources, lack of a conscience, no remorse, and a sense of entitlement in the name of religion. Unfortunately, very few of the residents of KJ benefit as much as their money-pocketed developers do. Instead of bucking the system, they should be giving back to their own residents so that we on the outside do not have to subsidize their living expenses in the many forms of public assistance. Whatever happened to separation of church and state?
Yeah, If public tax dollars paid for it, then it should not be restricted to religious purposes, Jewish, Christian, Moslem or whatever!!!!
Give back to their own residents? Our own Town does not do that. They decide to waste hundreds of thousands of dollars on a pool that they were told would not work, and then to save a few dollars, they vote away our refuse collection, to go with a lesser service. Imagine now five garbage cans and lids blowing around the streets every week. What a step backwards. This is a direct assault on our quality of life and maybe our safety and health as garbage around is going to attract animals ( some of which may be rabid) etc etc. Penny wise and pound foolish. Residents are rightly upset over this foolish decision and will definately show their displeasure come election time.
You will have to wait a while to vote out the idiot that led the charge on the garbage switch!
Re: next to last inputer - I'm curious...who said the initial rebuilding of the pond would not work??
Answer: At least one group of old-timers who used to swim in the pond as kids and know that being spring-fed, there is constant motion at the bottom. No matter what they do to the walls or the bottom, earth movement cannot be stopped, and that darn hole in the ground will NEVER be filtered correctly. But alas, this is Burke's pet project, and he is going to see it through no matter how much it costs, and no matter how many times it fails. Perhaps he would just consider a name change from Central Valley Pond to Central Valley Money Pit!
This was project was started before Burke got into office. Sort of like Kennedy inheriting Vietnam from Eisenhower with apparently the same disasterous results.
Burke could have put the brakes on, yet he appears to be full steam ahead. And the ridiculous reason behind spending even more money is that they already spent a lot last year???Does that make any sense at all, especially if this "fix" fails as well??
I want to know if John Burke and the rest of the town board is going to come and clean the mess that will be all over mine and my neighbors lawns and roads? Did they not even concider all the pros and cons? Before the automated service, we had garbage in the streets, animals tearing apart the cans, unsightly, mismatched garbage cans all up and down the block, lids blowing away everyday, and the quality of life was awful. Then we get a service that just about eliminated all of the above. We had containers that didn't blow away, lids that stay put, no garbage to pick up all over the place, uniformity throughout the Town, and if a container broke or a wheel fell off, it was replaced at no cost to the tax payers. I think John Burke and the other board members should have asked the tax payers if saving 25.00 a year for each household on the tax line verses paying 100.00 in garbage cans, and having to shell out even more when they break, and cleaning up the mess left behind was worth it.
Now, now, Mr. Bo Haviland, ACE Procurement Officer worked very hard (NOT) to bring us this grand savings into one pocket while taking three times as much out of the other. Are you saying that HIS math doesn't add up (damn straight it doesn't)??
Fact is, all of us who had seen Bo in action warned of his incompetence BEFORE he was elected, but all of YOU who put him into office decided not to listen. Now we're all stuck with his incompetence...unfortunately this is probably just the tip of the iceberg as to what it will end up costing us by the time we can kick his butt out of office! And shame on the remaining board members for not speaking up and throwing out the whole tainted bid to begin with! What were you all thinking?
What was Queenan thinking? Try selling some real estate in Woodbury NOW, since it will end up looking like a shanty town with garbage & garbage pails blowing in the wind!
If you all handle your cans (or in this case your asses) properly, you won't have a mess.
To the last poster- if the old cans haven't even been picked up yet because the old company is challenging Bobo's bid process, just where to you expect the new ones to go? Just admit that our old process wan't broken, so why the hell mess with it?
Why don't you send all the cans to KJ, they could use them to pick up all the garbage that blowing around in the village and we would look like good neighbors!
I have a place you can shove the cans, it's the same place the your heads are up! Idiots!
To the last poster- you may want to proof read your comment before posting....idiot!
This is shameful.
Young mothers deserve good facilities for their actual care. Not a government that violates our religious freedoms with religious facilities they should have spent out of their own pocket- and evidently blew our taxes on opulent interior's to boot.
They deserve a government that actually meets real needs, not misappropriation of funds that continues to violate the public trust.
This should be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent appropriate- but I fear apathy and political strings will just let this stuff continue.
Though clearly, between finals and distance I'm out of the loop on all the trash in town. Seriously Uncle Betty, can we get a synopsis? I'm dissapointed that you left some of us out of the loop on cutting edge news on Woodbury filth. :P
Whatever's up, hope they fix it before the bears wake up. Ouch.
Ah, found more info on an earlier post. So are they actually taking away the existing animal-resistant cans, or just not replacing them when they wear out?
Guess someone forgot that we have hungry coyote packs and bears roaming town now. This is going to be interesting come spring.
Looks like the annual after-hibernation dismemberment and dragging away of our neighbor's barbecue may become a weekly show. Could we at least try and cash in on some of those funny animal-video shows?
Maybe it would help cover the costs of going back to the better service. :P
Kieran,
Suggest you back to your sciences. Your writings show that you are definitely suseptible to the extreme biased thinking of a FEW people who think this medium is read by all residents of Woodbury. You are being misled down the road of sleeze by "uncle" and his/her/it small minions.
Sometimes it is good to get the perspective from someone who is NOT in the middle of it all. We must look very sad to outsiders. We have hardly any quality people running our government and the majority of the people in office locally only care about securing thier own power base. Few of them seem to be using any sense at all.
Garbage cans and the pond are only small examples. The Water tower is a big example and there is more to come to light in this ideal town/village of Woodbury.
WHO is going to run for the village positions? I will support anyone as long as they are not associated with Neil Krause. Nice guy but He has turned out to be the biggest bumbler to ever hold office.
You'll support "anyone"?? Does that mean if Ralph is fool enough to run yet again, you'll vote for him? Talk about bumbler!!
Actually I mostly came on to joke about the bears- though I'm admittedly working off an all-nighter from finals so don't give guarantees for how much sense I made over the past 24 hours.
Well, I didn't mean to assume its all a scam or jump 100% on his bandwagon- why I called for investigation into this. I'd like to believe things were on the up an up, but not talking to journalists, and a history of "build-first and ask permission later" doesn't lend itself to a community's trust. This is the 3rd issue (water tower, sidewalk mess) in 2 years.
Personally my first reaction was sadness, I was just reading about the Mikva traditions for a class, and its rather beautiful. Just not fair if taxes WERE going to it.
Unless you were talking about the trash- which I freely admit to being rather uninformed at this point.
Neil is not only a bumbler, he gets real interesting with his big yapper when he gets drunk, funny for such a little guy!
This is it: the current village board does not have the balls to stand up to KJ!!!! Can anyone say water tower????
Here we go again- another un or misinformed anonymous poster. Check the records- the whole tower fiasco was due to the Town board's inability to finish what they start. So it gets plopped in the Village board's lap, and they have to scramble to figure out the best resolution to the problem. Legal advice prevails ( but oops, I forgot, in Woodbury we're not supposed to listen to legal advice) and the Village board opts to negotiate with KJ rather than to throw taxpayer dollars away in a battle that is lost already, thanks to Burke & company.
Oh, and since we're on the topic of not standing up, why didn't Queenan think it was necessary to go after Brodsky for building a house and retaining wall on Town property??? Where was he & the rest of the Town board on that one??? Perhaps they too listened to sound LEGAL advice???HMMMMM???
You mean where was the Planning Board? Aren't they the ones who are to supposed to review, approve, and monitor such actions?! Looks to me that the previous writer is trying to pass a buck that is rightfully theirs.
WRONG on both accounts. #1)Go Ask Mr. Burke about the history of the Towers, then you can type your apology. #2) You infer that I am on the board- sorry pal, I'm not.
What I am apparently,is more aware of what has happened than you!
Neil is a bumbler, and Swiller is a (you guessed it)..... a dick!
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