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February 22, 2012
FCR's Bender mentioned in first day of Ridge Hill trial testimony: he was at two key meetings regarding defendant Annabi's changed vote
Atlantic Yards Report
Former Yonkers Council Member John Murtagh, testifying yesterday in the federal corruption trial involving Forest City Ratner's Ridge Hill project, described the presence of (recently departed) Forest City Ratner executive Bruce Bender at a couple of key meetings before then-Council Member Sandy Annabi, a defendant in the trial, changed her vote to approve the project.
...The first Bender meeting
According to the report, Murtagh described a May 18, 2006, meeting at Westchester Country Club with Annabi, Council Member Dee Barbato, Forest City Ratner's Bender, and FCR lobbyist Albert Pirro:
“They weren’t conceding any of our positions, what we needed,” Murtagh said. “It kind of went nowhere.”
In the parking lot afterward, he said, Annabi told him and Barbato that if they stuck together they could get much more from the developer.
But a few weeks later Annabi had changed her mind in exchange for an extra $10 million the developer would give the city.
Lobbyist Pirro, he said, had previously made a similar proposal, which he thought inadequate. The "extra $10 million," of course, was Annabi's public rationale, while prosecutors say she was taking money from her distant cousin, Yonkers Republican Chair Zehy Jereis, who later got a no-show job from Forest City.
The second Bender meeting
On July 11, 2006, shortly before Annabi formally voted for the project, Murtagh was called by defendant Jereis to a meeting:
He met Jereis and Bender at a Starbucks on Central Avenue, and Jereis, who did most of the talking, told him Ridge Hill was going to pass and that it would look good politically for Murtagh to vote for it as well.
“I kind of figured it looked better for Sandy if two people changed their vote,” Murtagh told Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Halperin. “But to suddenly change my vote, far from being politically savvy, it would have been political suicide.”
Related content...
The Journal News, Witnesses testify of Sandy Annabi's spending: Rolex watch, diamond necklace
The summer of 2006 was a busy time for Yonkers Councilwoman Sandy Annabi.
She ended more than a year of opposition by voting in favor of the controversial Ridge Hill development. And she went on a bit of a spending spree, paying $7,100 for a Rolex watch and diamond necklace and more than $3,800 to fly business class to Jordan, witnesses testified Tuesday at the corruption trial of Annabi and Zehy Jereis.
Prosecutors contend the money came from a $20,000 bribe Annabi received to support another proposed development.
Talk of the Sound, New Rochelle City Council Approves $600,000 Borrowing to Pay for Design Work on Proposed City Yard on Beechwood Avenue
Despite numerous reservations about the wisdom of moving the Department of Public Works City Yard, the New Rochelle City Council voted 6-1 last night to approve borrowing $600,000 to finance the design phase of the proposed City Yard on Beechwood Avenue. The City will issue bonds to raise the money.
...Many New Rochelle residents have expressed skepticism over what they perceive to be self-serving studies intended to justify decisions made by city officials who want to move the yard at taxpayer expense to benefit Forest City Ratner. The Ratner family has donated over $10,000 to Mayor Noam Bramson.
Posted by eric at February 22, 2012 1:05 PM