Headlines from 2/11 Council Meeting

Here are the news headlines from the portion of the Common Council meeting we attended tonight:

Foster to Local Business Owner: I'm as Brain Dead as the Paramount Board

A local business owner asked Mayor Foster and the Council to encourage the Paramount to turn on its lights more than 60 nights a year, since business owners and taxpayers aren't getting a good enough return on their investment, paying Paramount's mortgage. Foster put the blame for the Paramount's slim schedule and lackluster contribution to our community on taxpayers and business owners. Foster responded, "I want someone to give me 5 specific recommendations about how the Paramount could improve its business, then I'll take it to the Paramount Board. It's up to you. I have no idea how to make it work."

Taxpayers are already paying the rent of the Paramount. Why should taxpayers have to write its business plan as well? If the current Mayor, Board, and Director can't come up with a better business plan, why not fire the whole lot and hire people with the ability to maximize the value of one of Peekskill's most outstanding cultural assets?

It's not personal; it's business.

At the end of the day, the Paramount should be run like a business, not a democracy, as Mayor Foster suggests. (Does she even have experience in the for-profit world???) Peekskill taxpayers subsidize the Paramount, and deserve a decent return on their investment.


Foster Tongue-Tied when Confronted By PHA Chair Lee Brown

Peekskill Housing Authority Chairman Lee Brown showed extreme dignity, grace, and class by confronting Mayor Mary Foster about Foster's underhanded political moves to oust Brown from her post because Brown supported wrongfully-imprisoned Jeffrey Deskovic, who served 14 years for the murder of a girl whose dead body was found clasping a love letter to Drew Claxton's son. Foster and the Democratic Party leadership decided to go for Brown's jugular after Brown told the Journal News on 3/8/2007 that “[Councilwoman] Claxton impeded the investigation [of Angela Correa's murder] by not allowing police to take a DNA sample from her son, Freddie.”

From that day forward, the Democratic Party united in a long and dirty campaign to destroy Brown, which one local news source aptly described as a "high tech lynching."

Yet Brown had the grace to rise above the Democrats’ smear campaign. She came to the Council asking for permission to help make Peekskill Public Housing the best that it can be.

Brown frankly confronted Foster with these words: "Stop throwing rocks and hiding your hand... The HUD report is out. You know that we did the right thing by firing the Executive Director... Let us do our job and you do yours... Stop telling people you're going to fire us because we did the right thing."

Foster batted her eyes in embarrassment as she secretly wished she still had Beacon resident Quamie Madden on her campaign payroll. Last year, Foster and the Democratic Party enlisted Madden to stalk and continuously insult Brown. Madden relentlessly heckled Brown at a Common Council meeting last Spring – a fact conveniently unrecorded by Mary Foster’s personal cameraman – which instigated an understandable outburst by Brown. Unfortunately, Foster and her surrogates submitted the heavily-edited video to Fox News, which ran it out of context, one of Fox News’ few hit jobs done on behalf of bleeding-heart tax-and-spend liberals.

Foster and her political handlers are reportedly quivering in fear now that an unprovoked Brown has appeared again on TV, and certain local residents have contacts high in the Fox News hierarchy who have the ability to demand payback for the Democrats’ purchased hit-job against a woman Peekskill widely regards as a public hero.


Foster Hides Behind Consultant When Defending Closed "Charettes" Process

A very articulate and photogenic Peekskill resident by the name of Emily Cunningham asked for an explanation as to why Mayor Foster was selectively using an alleged "charettes process," which excludes public input, for certain development projects, when the ideal charette process as decribed by the national governing "charette" authority gives public input paramount importance.

A taken-aback Foster began by hiding behind a consultant, whom she said told her that she had to exclude the public. Then Foster said, the public was only being excluded from zoning and planning aspects of the plan, and the public's opinion would be solicited when it came time to choose trivial details like paint color etcetera.

Cunningham politely thanked Foster for her response, but we hope she drops the politeness.

Foster's motivation for excluding public input on the zoning of Lower South Street is that the public largely favors Lowe's and Target in that area. This would require a zoning change. Foster is dead set against Target, and therefore won't let the people be heard. This is an abuse of power, and a retreat from her campaign promise to bring Target to Lower South Street.

Foster is selectively using charettes to exclude the public from influencing the disposition of taxpayer assets. (Taxpayers have an option on the Karta property, so public input should be required.) Past administrations did not exclude public discussion about the zoning and planning aspects of the redevelopment plans.

We need more people to enter the arena like Cunningham to stand up for what is right.