Shore Road Park Didn’t Receive the Money Reported
In October 2018, former Senator Martin Golden announced through the Brooklyn Reporter that he was funding Shore Road Park with 8 million dollars from the state. See here
Golden lost the election and it was discovered that the money was never awarded to the park. See here and here.
John Alexander of the Home Reporter was the sole reporter to write about this funding. Did Alexander just take Golden’s word about the funding or did he check the source? In 2018, Alexander shared that he loved Marty Golden – See here.
At the time that article was printed, something strange happened. The paper announced that Chuck Otey had become the executive editor of the Home Reporter. Otey tried to
Now neither John Alexander or Helen Klein updated the story – not even after everyone knows. Doesn’t a paper and it’s editor have a responsibility to the public?
Here’s something even stranger. The Home Reporter has all of their old editions online. That paper isn’t displayed. The cover from the November 16th edition (which won’t have been available when the paper was published) is being used.
Republican Minority Leader, John Flanagan threw out a statement to tell us that NYC Parks didn’t do the paperwork to claim the 12 million for Shore Road Park.
If Kadia Goba was here, we would have had a sizzling good article to read, but she’s gone and I needed the truth.
I contacted NYC Parks Commissioner, Mitchell Silver. I don’t actually know Mr. Silver, but I follow him on social media. He is very responsive, so I knew he would understand my need for the information. (Betcha didn’t think I would check you John Flanagan!)
Mr. Silver put me in contact with Crystal Howard, the Assistant Commission of the Parks Department. Ms. Howard is very fast and efficient. I wrote and she responded right away on a Friday afternoon! The Parks Department didn’t receive anything for Shore Road Park because the money was set to be given to the Shore Road Conservatory, not to the Parks Department as John Flanigan implied. But John Flanagan would know this if the money was allocated to Shore Road Park….it would be in the paperwork!
Now this is even more interesting….The Shore Road Park Conservatory group that appeared on the cover of the paper in October 2018, no longer existed in the Spring. That group said they didn’t receive the money. And of course the state has records, so everyone can see they didn’t receive the money.
John Flanagan would easily be able to produce a paper trail. Twelve million dollars wasn’t decided with a few head nods – there would be plenty of paperwork to show where the funding was going and who had to accept it. Everything is digital, so all letters could easily be followed up upon. Flanagan is the minority leader in the Senate and has access to all of the records and e-mails. Strangely, Flanagan blamed Parks even though the Shore Road Conservatory was supposed to receive the money. If there was a legitimate mistake of a missing paper between NYS and the Parks Department, Flanagan would be able to correct the error.
I’ve even seen some people on social media blame the current senator. Sadly, Marty Golden blamed Gounardes in the article below when Golden knows Gounardes would have nothing to do with this. Gounardes wouldn’t have access to anything from Golden’s time, unless Golden gave it to him. And Golden isn’t saying he gave him any paperwork. This article was on Golden’s Facebook page.
The pointing the finger picture was appropriate.
I’m glad Marty Golden moved on with his life. Promising funding for two parks for kids and then not making sure it went through would seal the deal for anyone. It’s weird that he still uses @SenMartyGolden, because most politicians give up their title when they lose an election. He’s still Marty Golden – just not the senator.
Hugs,
marlene
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