YONKERS, NY: Hevesi to do probe on Yonkers IDA And Schools

Hevesi to do probe on Yonkers IDA & Schools.

The New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi will do an audit of a loan given from the IDA to Yonkers Baseball Development, Inc. for $670,000. Hevesi had said he would investigate along with schools as well. But Hevesi wants to break probe in two in terms of IDA & Schools. Some IDA loans had been questioned.

DA Pirro had already cleared IDA of any wrongdoing. But Debra Cohen had brought up about Al Pirro’s possible involvement with Yonkers Baseball, Inc. This also leaves open the possibility of Hevesi of looking at the IDA loans given out. This is a significant move by Comptroller Hevesi.

City officials said that Hevesi would exonerate the IDA like DA Pirro & Inspector General Zisman did likewise. Did Jeanine Pirro have a conflict of interest, in investigating the matter if Al had an involvement with Yonkers Baseball, Inc. Mayor Amicone’s said they would full cooperate with the Comptroller’s Audit. Mayor Amicone’s spokesperson predicted nothing would be found & would get the same result as Pirro’s inquiry. The Yonkers Insider will keep you informed of the Audit’s findings.

The History in this Case.

Those probes came after The Journal News reported critics' questions about whether there was a relationship between a $669,455 payment from the Board of Education to the IDA about the same time the IDA loaned $670,000 to Yonkers Baseball Development Inc. in 2002.

The IDA, in response to the newspaper's article, provided memos, invoices, checks and other documents backing its contention that the school district was repaying a legitimate debt — the IDA floated money to help pay for cost overruns as it renovated a former factory building to the new Board of Education headquarters and library. Moreover, the IDA had enough money to cover the loan to Yonkers Baseball independent of the school district's payment.

Critics of city government, however, have since raised new questions about the transaction.

Debra Cohen, an attorney representing a store fighting the ballpark project, wrote to Zisman before he issued his report asking him to look into whether IDA's are authorized by law to make loans. State law authorizing IDA's does not specifically address the issue, which Cohen said indicated the agencies were not permitted to make such transactions.

The IDA has loaned money to other local development corporations. They include n-Valley Technology Inc., set up in 2003 to foster redevelopment of an old carpet mill on Nepperhan Avenue into a new high-tech office building, and Yonkers Alexander Street Redevelopment Inc., set up in 2002 to foster redevelopment of old industrial properties along the waterfront into new housing and retail.