Showing posts with label Save the Putnam Trail Campaign. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Save the Putnam Trail Campaign. Show all posts

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Are NYC Parks Employee Spending Work Time Lobbying Bike Groups!


  This came in from a reliable source.

 
Below is an email sent from Van Cortlandt Park Administrator Margot Perron to independent Bicycle Organizations and other NYC Parks employees asking them to lobby at a Community Board meeting for a proposed Parks project which will pave the Putnam Nature Trail and remove 400 trees.
Margot Perron sent this email during work hours and it is a clear conflict of interest that a Parks employee is lobbying with outside organizations to promote the Parks Dept.’s political agenda.

Margot Perron who is the Administrator of Van Cortlandt Park and who also acts as the President of Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy should legally be spending their taxpayer funded work time managing the affairs of Van Cortlandt Park not lobbying for a future capital project.

Bike New York who NYC Parks is now proven to be collaborating with is an entity which based on their non-profit IRS status is specifically prohibited from lobbying yet Bike New York blatantly continues to lobby for paving the Putnam Nature Trail. Bike New York also just last week sued the City of New York for $900,000 because NYC wants Bike New York to pay for NYPD fees associated with Bike New York’s 5 Boro Bike Tour. Bike New York wants taxpayers to pay for $900,000 in fees for its own private event!

NYC Parks and Bike New York continue to collude, take part in prohibited lobbying and are using taxpayer dollars to do so!

Demand an investigation by NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.  This is clearly a conflict of interest and a case of illegal lobbying. Contact Bill de Blasio’s Chief of Staff, Dominick Williams at   dwilliams@pubadvocate.nyc.gov
Save taxpayer money, Save the environment, Save the Putnam Trail!

Save the Putnam Trail Campaign
www.savetheputnamtrail.com

Below is the email sent by Van Cortlandt Parks Administrator Margot Perron to Bike New York and other Parks employees asking them to lobby at a community board meeting for Parks proposed paving of the Putnam Nature Trail in Van Cortlandt Park. If the community supported Park’s project there would be no need for the Parks Dept. to lobby! Why can’t the Park’s Dept. simply do what the community wants and keep the Putnam Trail natural? There is a great new story here if you would like to dig a little deeper!

From: Perron, Margot [mailto:Margot...@parks.nyc.gov]
Sent: Monday, April 08, 2013 1:04 PM
To:
biketh...@gmail.com; Rich Conroy; da...@gellman.name; Sherida Paulsen; Mattera, John
Cc: Cassino, Anthony P.; Nina Spencer
Subject: Connect/Save the Putnam Trail
My staff found flyers on the Putnam Trail this weekend encouraging folks to attend the CB7 full board meeting tomorrow night to complain about the “highway” that Parks is putting in. It’d be nice to have the other side of the argument also represented. Come if you can and arrive at least a half hour early to sign up or call CB8 during the day to sign up to speak.  The April 9th     CB8 Board Meeting is at 7:30 PM at Ft. Independence Comm. Ctr. 3350 Bailey Avenue (between West 233rd & 234th Streets)  (parking is difficult). The CB8 office phone is 718-884-3959.
Please let anyone you think is interested in this issue to please attend.
Thank you for your support.
Margot
Margot Perron
Administrator/President
Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy
1 Bronx River Parkway
Bronx, NY 10462
 
 
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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Save the Putnam Trail Song


  The Save the Putnam Trail campaign, based in the Bronx, now has an anthem written for them by the amazingly talented musician/songwriter Patryk Larney and posted on YouTube.  The original lyrics go like this:

Hail, Hail The Putnam Trail!
Don't cover up what's left of the old railroad.
Let her people carry through.
Save the pavement for Madison Avenue.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk9yXbBxne4&feature=youtu.be

The musician, Patryk Larney, originally hails from New Jersey and is widely appreciated for his lyrical content and congenial storytelling in the tradition of James Taylor, Paul Simon, and Tom Petty.
His discography includes soul-infused rock with his band Naked Underneath and with his younger brother in The Larney Brothers.  "Fifty Miles from Hope," 2004; "Larney Brothers," 2009; "Hello to Farewell," 2010. 
 
Save the Putnam Trail Campaign
www.savetheputnamtrail.com