Thursday, February 9, 2012

Journal:Ogdensburg Council members upset over use of housing program funds

Never Made Sense!
Everyone is an expert now! Spending that kind of money on two houses may have been within the criteria of the grant but made no sense. I keeping asking why the City continues to purchase houses instead of auctioning off the property. 

Journal Housing Funds

43 comments:

Anonymous said...

The answer lies with Bill Nelson. This is what he wanted and this is what he supported for six years. Regardless of his talk from the side of his mouth this guy more than any other force in this city encouraged and supported Sciorra and Woods. His actions have cost us thousands and thousands of dollars of taxpayers money.. Of course like Ms Stevenson he says if we dont spend it someone else will... When will this insanity quit....

Anonymous said...

This is exactly why the city needs a NEW mayor . This endless loop of fumbles , miscues and lack of leadership while crime and drugs take over starts at the top .


Yet the naieve people of Ogdensburg continually are duped ----Smarten up people !

Anonymous said...

Get to the Point ! All Grants & Programs come and go ! Do they Make Sense ? No !
FOLLOW THE MONEY ? WHO PROSPERED?

Mayor - No
Council - No
City - No
Taxpayers - No
City Staff - ? who hired Augustine and gave then complete power?
CW.Augstine- O'neil & Ashley - YES

That makes sense!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

The author of this blog is ignorant. The city did not 'purchase' these houses, but foreclosed on them for non-payment of taxes. To avoid blight, the city automatically bids when a piece of property goes up for tax sale. If there is no other bidder of record (no private person is interested), the property goes to the city, preferably into the housing program to be demolished or fixed up and sold. This is a good program and necessary in a city that is shrinking and literally falling apart.

The primary problem here is how the program was run by Woods, Sciorra, O'Neill and Cosmo. The secondary problem is that no one on the City Council had the brains to keep after the program, and therefore the council either A: had no idea what was going on or B: knew what was going on but did nothing. I think A is more likely than B. These guys want to get reelected in the long run.

Anonymous said...

OK Jennifer that make sence to you and other realitors that want to get rich off the program. To us the taxpayer this program makes absolutley no sence at all..
By the way the state confirmed that Nelson as a member of that growth fund is illegal. That was two weeks ago.. Has he done the right thing and stepped down and who took his place??

Anonymous said...

Someone doesn't know the difference of 'illegal' and 'inappropriate.' That comes as no surprise, since the same someone can't spell the word 'sense.'

Anonymous said...

Why is it that council person Stevenson always stands up for Augustine Group?

Anonymous said...

Has anyone come up With how much it cost to fire Sciorra yet? Maybe he wasn't so bad afterall.

Anonymous said...

Well, if you add in his pay and benefits, attorney fees, Cosmo's extra pay, and funds to search for a new CM...It will be over $200,000.

Anonymous said...

The reason CW Augustine ( O'Neil & Ashley ) are in business is to make lots of Money. These programs are Ripe for plucking! With the both of then knowing the process its easy! Ones an X SLC housing worker!!!
They made money because they were
1 Paid for the Administration $$$
2 Paid for Delievery of program $
3 Ran the Bidding process.
4 Hired the contractors .
5 They had total control of $$$$
CW Augistine had to burn up all the grants as fast as possible and use high bids to speed the process ..to get paid. Unethical
yup - good business sense for Augustine - yup - A rip off for taxpayers - Yup. Was Scorria, Woods, O'neil, Ashley, etc. smarter than Mayor ,Council and us taxpayers. yup Legal who knows? But We lose again !!

Business 101 Never give up control of the purse strings.

Anonymous said...

1044.. Its the spelling freak again.. He understands regardless if spelled correctly or not but choses to be critical of the spelling and not whats going on...I would guess its an Ogdensburg teacher... That shows what a bad job they do with their subjects..If you dont like my spelling... TOUGH CRAP

Anonymous said...

1:35 - Stevenson doesn't necessarily "stand up" for anyone; she is simply smart enough, and experienced enough to understand how the grant process works.

If any of you morons had even half a clue you wouldn't be advertising your ignorance here.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Jen for clearing things up

Anonymous said...

Jenifer did yo ever work with James O'Neil or with Jen Ashley at St. Law Co. Housing ? How good of friends were you with Justin Woods and did you ever work on any city projects together ?

Anonymous said...

Oh yes.. Now I get the idea.. Shes the new housing czar in Ogdensburg. she going to promote the housing program so she gets her cut..
I know the answer is yes to at least two questions above..
What a winner, and shes only been in for a month...

Anonymous said...

Earlier this week I aske a question that I was hoping for an answer to... Mike Powers made a resolution to hire the Syracuse based attorney to find out who leaked the Sciorra report to the media.. Whats up with that?? Who leaked it??? How much is it cost us so far????
Most of us feel we know who did it and our opinions vary must mostly one side thinks Skamp or Vaugh leaked it and the other thinks Nelson leaked it.
Regardless who did it this is still an issue we are entitled to an answer to. We need to ask this question at city hall and often until we get answer.. If they clled off the search it would have had to been voted on as the resolution was made and passed.. It hasnt been voted on so its still alive.

Anonymous said...

841-- The best answer I can give it was BURIED ALIVE !!! Since they all swore they did not do it we have at least one big liar in that group. Mrs. Bouchard should have been interviewed ? Who had the chance to photo copy it? My best guess was Little Nicky - it was his and Uncle Arts Style of doing things! Kick also had a person in the press in watertown to cover the 5th for leaking!

Anonymous said...

Ogdensburg is full of morons, and this blog is the proof.

Anonymous said...

If Sciorra and/or his supporters leaked it, why DIDN'T it have the section that exonerated Sciorra?...

Remember, it was Nelson and Morley who wanted to hire another investigator even BEFORE the entire Silver report was made public...They didn't want ANYTHING positive to get out about Sciorra.

Also remember, The Journal wouldn't give Vaugh any press (Thus, the robo calls)...So, if you are saying HE leaked it to The Journal, You ARE either Nelson or Morley blowing more smoke at us.

Nelson, and especially Morley, had their side of the story constantly in the paper...1st as Quotes, and then as facts...

Let's cut through the B.S., and find out how much it cost the taxpayers of Ogdensburg to fire Sciorra, so Nelson could be re-elected by 11 votes, and become the President of NYSCOM.

Anonymous said...

1259 Is the moron..thanks for telling the bull! thats a cute story. In la-la land ..You should have an awards dinner and give trophys to nick and dan. Art's advaiable for the master of you cermonies.

Anonymous said...

O'Boy 12:59 dosen't like Mr. Nelson, Mr. Morley and any GOP menber? Loves Art Scorria? Is a sore loser of an election? Has a problem with the Journal ? Thinks he can cut through BS as he flings it! Its got to be the character whitness of the month the famous Dan the Scamp.

Anonymous said...

I think hes right on the nose on that one.. Nelson and Morley wanted this to look as bad as possible.. Public hearings that the public was allowed to shout down any support for Sciorra.. Nelsons ex wife supporting him against her cousin who already had resigned from the council and was no threat to anyone.. Did you notice Nelsons approach after that was quiet and let Morley run the show...
Bill Nelson is a phony as they come but somehow he got elected. People like Steve Rose hated him but in their fear that Sciorra might not get canned turned support towards him..
Nick Vaugh is an empty suit and always was. He is a wannabe and useless as a politican but that didnt make him wrong nor did it make him the one that leaked the report... Nelson did it without a doubt...
Hope the spelling freak isnt reading

Anonymous said...

I ALSO WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO WHO LEAKED THE C-14 TO THE REPORTER AND THE COUNCIL PASSED A RESOLUTION TO INVESTIGATE THIS AND TO GIVE THE PUBLIC AN ANSWER TO WHO DID IT. THIS PERSON SHOULD BE KICKED OFF THE COUNCIL. WE ARE WAITING MR.MAYOR FOR AN ANSWER AFTER ALL YOU WERE THE ONE WHO PROMISED THE TAXPAYER'S YOU WOULD GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS WELL WHERE ARE WE IN THE INVESTIGATION WE DESERVE TO KNOW WHO THE DISHONEST ONE IS!!!!

Anonymous said...

Its apparent that council feels a need to sell these houses and sweep this affair under the carpet. I think they should be sold to the highest bidder so obviously I feel auction is the way to go..
The next step is to get out of the real estate business.. Augustine group has taken advantage of the taxpayers long enough. Jennifer Stevenson would have you believe she is the messiah and knows all the ins and outs of this business so she will want to be the obvious one to oversee this project... Bad Idea.. Keep the politics out of it..
My personal feelings is the city tend to the business of running whats left of the city without trying to generate revenues by competeting with the private sector.
Mr. Krol is offering a very unique service to Watertown for manager search so I assume he would offer it to our council as well for at least the same price.. Ten thousand is a lot of money but the fifty thousand spent on the Sciorra search was a disgrace..
Get to the public hearing and express your feelings. Also ask the question on how they are coming on finding out who leaked the report on Sciorra to the papers. Its never been voted on to drop it...
Ask the spelling freak who visits our blog to come also so he can help with our grammar....

Anonymous said...

Thats right who cares about grammer.. we want peoples actions to be acountable to the voters!
How about it??? Some one did answer blogers Feb. 10 9:54 - 10:44 -1:35 - 4:10 etc.
Questions that make sense on the housing debacle and people like Augistine,O'Neil, Ashley and Stevenson. A cozy group?
Bloger on Feb.10 3:01 and 6:10 seem to seen to have some answers or a connection to these people. Let them answer or get in touch with them. We want answers ??????????????????.

Anonymous said...

I think a previous blogger identified where the money goes. If thats true its to excessive. I think another thing is in the job bidding process. I have had family go through the county housing and purchased a house. They allowed my family five thousand dollars in improvements. The problem laid with the administering of the improvements. The council said electrical would be the improvements. Handy man from Madrid got the job.. Basicly what happened was they got about six new outlets, and two new ceiling fixtures and a extension to their electrical service.. Seemed awfully high so I had a local contractor give them a quote for the same job. His quote for what they did came in at 1900 dollars less than who did the job. I then had a independant electrican come in an stated he would rewire the entire hous for that amount then give them back some... They charged forty two hundred dollars for a three thousand dollar job and only did half of the work they said.. The remainder of the money, eight hundred dollars they wanted to apply towards work around their kitchen but the contractor insisted on putting in a new banister to the second floor. My family pointed out to council they had a one story house.. Found out later he wanted to put a nw rail to the garage attic or storage area.. Instead they fixed up an area of the dining room. What happened there was they come in and put up three sheets of sheetrock and mudded the area . No other work was performed. They also bought enought moulding to cover this area for eight hundred dollars we could have done the entire room plus some... Again no inspection of the work nor bidding on the job done..
They later needed a roof but had to take out a loan themselves and match what the council put into it. Again the bidding was tainted. The low bid was ignored and they paid seven thousand dollars to put a roof on. This is a job that I,ve had estimated at twenty five hundred and thats buying some wood for bad areas..
This is what is so outrageous about the way these programs are run.. They dont inspect the work properly nor do they make the bidding process equal..
This is the part the city must oversee real close. Its our money whether or not its grant money its our tax dollars and we deserve to have it spend in a proper manner.

Anonymous said...

I think a previous blogger identified where the money goes. If thats true its to excessive. I think another thing is in the job bidding process. I have had family go through the county housing and purchased a house. They allowed my family five thousand dollars in improvements. The problem laid with the administering of the improvements. The council said electrical would be the improvements. Handy man from Madrid got the job.. Basicly what happened was they got about six new outlets, and two new ceiling fixtures and a extension to their electrical service.. Seemed awfully high so I had a local contractor give them a quote for the same job. His quote for what they did came in at 1900 dollars less than who did the job. I then had a independant electrican come in an stated he would rewire the entire hous for that amount then give them back some... They charged forty two hundred dollars for a three thousand dollar job and only did half of the work they said.. The remainder of the money, eight hundred dollars they wanted to apply towards work around their kitchen but the contractor insisted on putting in a new banister to the second floor. My family pointed out to council they had a one story house.. Found out later he wanted to put a nw rail to the garage attic or storage area.. Instead they fixed up an area of the dining room. What happened there was they come in and put up three sheets of sheetrock and mudded the area . No other work was performed. They also bought enought moulding to cover this area for eight hundred dollars we could have done the entire room plus some... Again no inspection of the work nor bidding on the job done..
They later needed a roof but had to take out a loan themselves and match what the council put into it. Again the bidding was tainted. The low bid was ignored and they paid seven thousand dollars to put a roof on. This is a job that I,ve had estimated at twenty five hundred and thats buying some wood for bad areas..
This is what is so outrageous about the way these programs are run.. They dont inspect the work properly nor do they make the bidding process equal..
This is the part the city must oversee real close. Its our money whether or not its grant money its our tax dollars and we deserve to have it spend in a proper manner.

Anonymous said...

I think a previous blogger identified where the money goes. If thats true its to excessive. I think another thing is in the job bidding process. I have had family go through the county housing and purchased a house. They allowed my family five thousand dollars in improvements. The problem laid with the administering of the improvements. The council said electrical would be the improvements. Handy man from Madrid got the job.. Basicly what happened was they got about six new outlets, and two new ceiling fixtures and a extension to their electrical service.. Seemed awfully high so I had a local contractor give them a quote for the same job. His quote for what they did came in at 1900 dollars less than who did the job. I then had a independant electrican come in an stated he would rewire the entire hous for that amount then give them back some... They charged forty two hundred dollars for a three thousand dollar job and only did half of the work they said.. The remainder of the money, eight hundred dollars they wanted to apply towards work around their kitchen but the contractor insisted on putting in a new banister to the second floor. My family pointed out to council they had a one story house.. Found out later he wanted to put a nw rail to the garage attic or storage area.. Instead they fixed up an area of the dining room. What happened there was they come in and put up three sheets of sheetrock and mudded the area . No other work was performed. They also bought enought moulding to cover this area for eight hundred dollars we could have done the entire room plus some... Again no inspection of the work nor bidding on the job done..
They later needed a roof but had to take out a loan themselves and match what the council put into it. Again the bidding was tainted. The low bid was ignored and they paid seven thousand dollars to put a roof on. This is a job that I,ve had estimated at twenty five hundred and thats buying some wood for bad areas..
This is what is so outrageous about the way these programs are run.. They dont inspect the work properly nor do they make the bidding process equal..
This is the part the city must oversee real close. Its our money whether or not its grant money its our tax dollars and we deserve to have it spend in a proper manner.

Anonymous said...

9:29 Blogger Thank You - this is what happens and it is very sad that programs are run this way. Art and Justin- wanted the power to go to Augistine Group-
O'Neil, Ashley ,Stevenson.
The more in public session and in private they speak the less crediable and believable they become. Questions need to be asked!
This group has to spend all the money as fast as they can to make a big profit! It leaves out
the fair low biding process,and has to take the high bids. Inflation to burn the grants faster. Then hurried work and no inspection puts speed into the job for a finish date. The group simply made money and left the city holding the overblown price of these houses. Grants are a taxpayers nightmares if not supervised with people of integrity.
Your story and others NOW have to come to the surface and be told to the council , newspaper or any that will LISTEN!!
Thank YOU ...please persue .

Anonymous said...

It must have been OVER $200K to get rid off Sciorra, and get Nelson Re-elected!!

Notice how Morley avoided the question, and started name calling (i.e. 2:37 and 3:27).

He is right about one thing though. We ARE idiots to let them spend...Is it $1/4 million now Mike?...to accomplish nothing except cover their lies, and get Nelson re-elected.

Anonymous said...

Somebody shut this guy up. I know the city council reads this blog. Will anyone come forward, and say how much is spent so far, or are all of you guys in on this, and you are just trying to cover it up? The taxpayers have a right to know how much was spent.

Anonymous said...

Sorry 2:59 that ia not Mr. Morley . Im a person that has read the blogs. Mr. Morley uses his name! Art,Scamp and Nick are the ones that hide facts.These blogs are full of their comments. So boys.. Anonymous is all you are! Keep hiding .. one thing Mr. Morley has never done right or wrong he voices his opinion. So at least we all have to respect hom for that.

Anonymous said...

Again,the council is still in the dark, and one specific man on the council has wanted CW Augustine out since the beginning. No one has looked at what CW Augustine group has done for the city this blog has only made negative comments.

Didn't the state come in and do a review that was requested from Woods? What was the result from the state?

This is a blog full of acqusations and no truth. Don't forget the City of Ogdensburg is being watched by the State, and by Washington, maybe you all should grow up and shut up!

Anonymous said...

Ha! The Republicans on this blog want to connect Jen Stevenson, who works for C.W. Augustine's competitor, to Jim O'Neal and Jen Ashley?

You guys are just retarded enough to be from Ogdensburg!

Anonymous said...

I do know for a fact that 929 is right as I followed up with some questions to their family.. Senator wrights office was contacted back when he was in office and they looked briefly into it refering her to Scozzafa office who also refered to some agency in Albany. Right after their complaints were logged the housing council sent someone to inspect some of the work. Also the bids were investigated but everyone in office was refereing them to the other guy..
The roofer was reliable and came back a couple of times with no problem to fix some minor things. The questions with the electrical went unanswered..
Its the responsibility of these people to protect our tax dollars and accept the lowest bids and not pay until work completed. A final withheld payment could be made within say ninety days after completion.. These jobs also should be well advertised they are not as only a select few are let in on the thievery thats why bids are high..
Basicaly its government at its worst.
Hope the spelling freak approves and gets the message.

Anonymous said...

Ha!! 9:32 WHAT ??? Parties have nothing to do with it. Jen Stevenson worked for SLC housing
( on the board) and with CW augistine ( o"Neil - Ashley)as a realator. Now she is on the city council. .. A competitor.. what to hell you talking about ? Check your facts! Stop the playing party politics.... it is a connection.

Anonymous said...

Facts: Stevenson on housing council board - current.. Ashley fired from housing council for? grant problems?- Augustine fired from housing council for? grant problems? Stevenson makes lots of money from grants as a "realtor". The City should really do some homework.. How about work references, who says O'Neil and Ashley are qualified to run the City grants, were the references O'Neil, Woods, Stevenson? When you lie with dogs you get fleas.. There is more to see here and Stevenson is not a competitor, she is the best friend of whomever will give her all of the business, legal or illegal.

Anonymous said...

Bingo 6;40 IS ON TRACK .....

ETHICS and INTEGRITY are certianly in Question ???

Big question is legal or illegal?
This has to be Chalanged and by someone independent!!! Not a player in the group!

Players are Scorria - Woods -Silver-O'Neil-Ashley-Stevenson.
OR any of council of 7 that voted to hand power to Augistine Group!!

This will take leadership and you have to be powerful.

The journal is not the enemy it keeps things alive ,beware of the papers critics. Live debate will uncover the truth and this is what we want. RIGHT?

Anonymous said...

Are you talking about the same paper that totally mislead the public on the Sciorra deal...
They print what they want and in the fashion they want. This paper is politically biased and will always be as long as Johnson aquistions own it..
I have some questions that need answers
A. What become of the investigation about leaking the Sciorra report.. We paid for an investigation and no one person could cancel it....

B. Jen Stevenson was being investigated by Atty Generals office.. What about the outcome??

C. Whenis the public hearing about the housing problems and the selling of the housses....

Sorry spelling freak...

Anonymous said...

I AGREE WHICH CURRENT COUNCILLOR OR THE MAYOR LEAKED THE REPORT WE THE PUBLIC WANT TO KNOW AND WERE PROMISED AN INVESTIGATION BY YOU MR.MAYOR BILL "CROOKED" NELSON WHERE ARE WE IN THE INVESTIGATION.

AND THE STEVENSON INVESTIGATION WE ARE ALL HEARING ABOUT AS THE ABOVE PERSON STATED IS SHE GUILTY AND IF SO SHOULD RESIGN FROM COUNCIL!!!!!

WHERE IS THE HONESTY AND INTEGRITY THE MAYOR PREACHES I THINK IT IS WORSE NOW NOT BETTER.

Anonymous said...

A) The council never approved an investigation into the leak. The case is closed, it is old news.

B) Stevenson was never being investigated by anyone.

C) The public hearing was yesterday at 7 p.m.

Anonymous said...

A. true, B. false C. true..

Anonymous said...

SUBJECT GRANT MONEY !!!

checkout......

www.constructionmismanagement.org

READ entire site -form your opinion! Add in the homes in Ogdensburg . HOLY CRAP !!