Giving further indication that the Attorney General-instead of forcing a restructuring of EDC-should have simply disbanded this group of brigands is the following from the NY Post:
"A longtime Harlem entrepreneur has a message for the city: Hands off my business! Carmie Elmore, 67, and a partner took over the gas station at the corner of 110th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard in 1981, when shootings, robberies and drugs ruled the neighborhood. Now that Harlem is blooming, the city has put developers on notice, asking for ideas to build on the property — even though the city hasn’t owned it for years. The city’s power play would put more than 20 people out of work."
Of course, this isn't really the city itself, it is the quasi-governmental agency known as EDC-folks who believe that your land is my land:
"The city’s Economic Development Corporation began seeking ideas for the property in June, looking for a mix of retail and residential development. “They just pretended it was still in effect,” Elmore said of the repurchase agreement. “I’ll fight them to the end.”
Someone really needs to step in and support this property owner-and end the "culture of lawlessness" down at this rogue agency:
"A Law Department spokeswoman said the city “strongly disputes” Elmore’s claims, and that the city is reviewing the court papers.The gas station is one of the few left in Manhattan.The business includes a car repair shop, a convenience store, and employs 21 people. Elmore and his co-owner operated on a month-to-month lease for 15 years before buying the property and spending more than $1 million on improvements."
All Mr. Elmore did was to resurrect property in Harlem that had become a hazard and an eyesore:
"When they started, “the amount of robberies and terrible things — shootings on the corner, and drugs galore on 111th Street — was just horrific, and today it’s just a normal atmosphere,” Elmore said. “There are no major problems, a lot of new neighbors have moved in, a lot of new buildings have sprung up. “It’s night-and-day. It is absolutely night-and-day . . . We made the decision to come here when no one else wanted it, and we’ve been there for a little over 30 years, and we want to stay.”
This is all par for the course for EDC's mind over matter philosophy-they don't mind and you don't matter. We'll give Elmore the last word-from an interview with NBC:
"In 1995, Elmore purchased the property as part of an urban renewal plan with a clause the city could buy it back. He said the clause expired in 2008. "They didn't want it when it was a cesspool here," he said. "They didn't want it. Now that things have turned around and it's good, they want it."
"A longtime Harlem entrepreneur has a message for the city: Hands off my business! Carmie Elmore, 67, and a partner took over the gas station at the corner of 110th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard in 1981, when shootings, robberies and drugs ruled the neighborhood. Now that Harlem is blooming, the city has put developers on notice, asking for ideas to build on the property — even though the city hasn’t owned it for years. The city’s power play would put more than 20 people out of work."
Of course, this isn't really the city itself, it is the quasi-governmental agency known as EDC-folks who believe that your land is my land:
"The city’s Economic Development Corporation began seeking ideas for the property in June, looking for a mix of retail and residential development. “They just pretended it was still in effect,” Elmore said of the repurchase agreement. “I’ll fight them to the end.”
Someone really needs to step in and support this property owner-and end the "culture of lawlessness" down at this rogue agency:
"A Law Department spokeswoman said the city “strongly disputes” Elmore’s claims, and that the city is reviewing the court papers.The gas station is one of the few left in Manhattan.The business includes a car repair shop, a convenience store, and employs 21 people. Elmore and his co-owner operated on a month-to-month lease for 15 years before buying the property and spending more than $1 million on improvements."
All Mr. Elmore did was to resurrect property in Harlem that had become a hazard and an eyesore:
"When they started, “the amount of robberies and terrible things — shootings on the corner, and drugs galore on 111th Street — was just horrific, and today it’s just a normal atmosphere,” Elmore said. “There are no major problems, a lot of new neighbors have moved in, a lot of new buildings have sprung up. “It’s night-and-day. It is absolutely night-and-day . . . We made the decision to come here when no one else wanted it, and we’ve been there for a little over 30 years, and we want to stay.”
This is all par for the course for EDC's mind over matter philosophy-they don't mind and you don't matter. We'll give Elmore the last word-from an interview with NBC:
"In 1995, Elmore purchased the property as part of an urban renewal plan with a clause the city could buy it back. He said the clause expired in 2008. "They didn't want it when it was a cesspool here," he said. "They didn't want it. Now that things have turned around and it's good, they want it."
