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Maybe this is why Woods didn't want to rent it to them, but rather used the grant to pay taxes as carrying costs. As more of the story keeps coming out, it becomes clear that Woods and Augustine were the only ones who knew how to do thinhgs w/in confines of program.
Very few may agree with the intent of this grant program but it is now clear that at least Woods and Augustine tried their best to keep the City on the right side of the Federal regulations.
Before Woods, the City had a few grants, and the programs running were lax and thumping along at a snails pace. Woods opened the grant flood gates and knew how to get the money out the door. He used Augustine, outside engineers and others to build a successful team, help the City burn through funds and then get more.
Say what u want about him but he was good at the game - his charisma and the productivity is what the state and federal funders saw and part of why the City was seen as a good investment for the grants.
The question now is whether Phil and Andrea can maintain momentum, develop as effective relationships, and most importantly, figure out how to leverage funds and programs as effectively and creatively.
Rah Rah Woods team is out today. I personally didnt know him but have talked to Mike Morley and Bill Nelson several time when his name come up.. Neither like him much mainly because of his attitude towards most people.. His arrogance showed and certainly his distain for working within his authority.. If he felt his position was being held back by Mr Sciorra he should have approached the council with the reasons and not disobeyed his instructions consistantly. The state report said he worked their program very well and legal within their guidelines why couldnt he have been more cooperative here. It appears now that he and Cosmo had an agenda. Their agenda seemed to be to replace Sciorra and make him look incompetant.. Sciorra is gone, Woods is gone and only Cosmo remains but we all know he certainly isnt qualified for the position. Actually the only ones coming out of this looking incompetant are the mayor and councilors. Now its up to them to sever ties with Augustine and the housing business, sell the houses )at auction_) involved and get back on track of running a city not a private enterprise.
Looks like Chuck Kelly was told to put up or shut up at the newspaper, and decided he'd had enough. It is a shame when a guy who has devoted his whole life to the community is run out of the work he loves by hard-core Republican Liz Graham and the money-hungry, silver-spooning, 1-percenter Johnson Brothers.
Cosmo didn't have an agenda and the only one he made look incompetent was himself. Phil is penny wise-pound foolish - a bean counter, not smart enough to be a CFO. Art new it years ago and wasn't a strong enough leader and manager to make hard decisions.
You are so right about Cosmo. He has no skills as a CFO. He should not even be a acting City Manager. We just hope that our council will make every effort to find a qualified City Manager.
After they hire a city manager they really should take a long hard look at Cosmo. What did he know about 819 Knox St and 2 Grove st and 113 Adams ave.? Did he make any valid suggestions to solve this problem? Or did he just sit back like he does most of the time counting his beans.
1st off, Woods did not write the grants....He did however stretch the rules, and give out the money willy- nilly as much as he could until the Wades got greedy, and Sciorra stopped them and Woods.
Then, for Sciorra anyway, the fecal matter hit the rotating blade. He didn't realize how "connected" the Wades are, what they are like if they don't get their way.
your right in that statement. Sciorra was connected to mostly Nelson for six years but his invite wore out when Nelson new he wasnt going to win this election. He and Morley sprung the trap and they won with their lies.
Correct about Nelson turning on Sciorra to save himself, same way Art sold out Woods for the same reason. Bill knew everything Art was doing and Justin was Art's right hand. None of these assholes have any loyalty, but in my opinion Woods was the one who got fucked the worst. Bill got re-elected and NYCOM, Art got a 100k + golden parachute that he can add to his Canadian pension and ride into retirement.
Phil was the most incompetant if the 3 and now he's in charge... What a mess!
Justin, Art and Chris Robbins have done more for Ogdensburg than anyone from Ogdenburg has done in 30 years. Lets keep that in mind.
Justin - brought in federal and state money when the city was all but written off, moved the waterfront cleanup process further than it had ever moved.
Art - Cut spending and taxes while retaining necessary government services. Ogdensburg is a cleaner, safer and stronger community for his service. When the country bounces back from this recession, the city is in a better position because of Art.
Robbins - exposed a weak and useless mayor, a sloppy staff at city hall, a council addicted to executive sessions, an incompetent city assessor, an incompetent administrator of the housing program, an incompetent city attorney and an incompetent city comptroller.
That having been said, I fully expect Mr. Robbins will be out of Ogdensburg within 6 months to a better job or with money in his hands, because that is what happened to the other 2.
Robbins didn't really expose anything - jim mccoy did and then robbins ran w it. It only became a story because art lied about what was going on and at the beginning it was mostly tabloid journalism he said/he said rather then digging into the facts, but as things unfolded Robbins has been getting better at understanding some of the complex issues in play.
14 comments:
Maybe this is why Woods didn't want to rent it to them, but rather used the grant to pay taxes as carrying costs. As more of the story keeps coming out, it becomes clear that Woods and Augustine were the only ones who knew how to do thinhgs w/in confines of program.
Very few may agree with the intent of this grant program but it is now clear that at least Woods and Augustine tried their best to keep the City on the right side of the Federal regulations.
Before Woods, the City had a few grants, and the programs running were lax and thumping along at a snails pace. Woods opened the grant flood gates and knew how to get the money out the door. He used Augustine, outside engineers and others to build a successful team, help the City burn through funds and then get more.
Say what u want about him but he was good at the game - his charisma and the productivity is what the state and federal funders saw and part of why the City was seen as a good investment for the grants.
The question now is whether Phil and Andrea can maintain momentum, develop as effective relationships, and most importantly, figure out how to leverage funds and programs as effectively and creatively.
Rah Rah Woods team is out today.
I personally didnt know him but have talked to Mike Morley and Bill Nelson several time when his name come up.. Neither like him much mainly because of his attitude towards most people.. His arrogance showed and certainly his distain for working within his authority.. If he felt his position was being held back by Mr Sciorra he should have approached the council with the reasons and not disobeyed his instructions consistantly.
The state report said he worked their program very well and legal within their guidelines why couldnt he have been more cooperative here.
It appears now that he and Cosmo had an agenda. Their agenda seemed to be to replace Sciorra and make him look incompetant..
Sciorra is gone, Woods is gone and only Cosmo remains but we all know he certainly isnt qualified for the position.
Actually the only ones coming out of this looking incompetant are the mayor and councilors.
Now its up to them to sever ties with Augustine and the housing business, sell the houses )at auction_) involved and get back on track of running a city not a private enterprise.
Mayor and Council embody the living example of the Peter Principle: Aloof , Asleep and Underwhelming talent
Looks like Chuck Kelly was told to put up or shut up at the newspaper, and decided he'd had enough. It is a shame when a guy who has devoted his whole life to the community is run out of the work he loves by hard-core Republican Liz Graham and the money-hungry, silver-spooning, 1-percenter Johnson Brothers.
Cosmo didn't have an agenda and the only one he made look incompetent was himself. Phil is penny wise-pound foolish - a bean counter, not smart enough to be a CFO. Art new it years ago and wasn't a strong enough leader and manager to make hard decisions.
You are so right about Cosmo. He has no skills as a CFO. He should not even be a acting City Manager.
We just hope that our council will make every effort to find a qualified City Manager.
After they hire a city manager they really should take a long hard look at Cosmo. What did he know about 819 Knox St and 2 Grove st and 113 Adams ave.? Did he make any valid suggestions to solve this problem? Or did he just sit back like he does most of the time counting his beans.
Ouchie!!
1st off, Woods did not write the grants....He did however stretch the rules, and give out the money willy- nilly as much as he could until the Wades got greedy, and Sciorra stopped them and Woods.
Then, for Sciorra anyway, the fecal matter hit the rotating blade. He didn't realize how "connected" the Wades are, what they are like if they don't get their way.
your right in that statement. Sciorra was connected to mostly Nelson for six years but his invite wore out when Nelson new he wasnt going to win this election. He and Morley sprung the trap and they won with their lies.
Correct about Nelson turning on Sciorra to save himself, same way Art sold out Woods for the same reason. Bill knew everything Art was doing and Justin was Art's right hand. None of these assholes have any loyalty, but in my opinion Woods was the one who got fucked the worst. Bill got re-elected and NYCOM, Art got a 100k + golden parachute that he can add to his Canadian pension and ride into retirement.
Phil was the most incompetant if the 3 and now he's in charge... What a mess!
Justin, Art and Chris Robbins have done more for Ogdensburg than anyone from Ogdenburg has done in 30 years. Lets keep that in mind.
Justin - brought in federal and state money when the city was all but written off, moved the waterfront cleanup process further than it had ever moved.
Art - Cut spending and taxes while retaining necessary government services. Ogdensburg is a cleaner, safer and stronger community for his service. When the country bounces back from this recession, the city is in a better position because of Art.
Robbins - exposed a weak and useless mayor, a sloppy staff at city hall, a council addicted to executive sessions, an incompetent city assessor, an incompetent administrator of the housing program, an incompetent city attorney and an incompetent city comptroller.
That having been said, I fully expect Mr. Robbins will be out of Ogdensburg within 6 months to a better job or with money in his hands, because that is what happened to the other 2.
Robbins didn't really expose anything - jim mccoy did and then robbins ran w it. It only became a story because art lied about what was going on and at the beginning it was mostly tabloid journalism he said/he said rather then digging into the facts, but as things unfolded Robbins has been getting better at understanding some of the complex issues in play.
There is only one thing dumber than reading The Ogdensburg Journal, and that is paying to read it. Get your news for free at "North Country Now".
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