A couple of weeks ago, I had cause to comment about the recent goings-ons with the Garden City Board of Trustees in regard to the sale of a village-owned parcel of land located by the Franklin Court Mews. The transaction, which was done with a private citizens’ LLC of the same name, netted its previous owners (the village), a cool $100,000. Meanwhile, those residents who were either not invited to join the LLC, not interested in fixing what wasn’t broken or both, became understandably riled. Why?
Because a six-foot, wrought iron gated fence was erected last June, thereby locking out anyone not lucky enough to have been invited to pony up a few grand for a key to what had previously been open space. Following a particularly rowdy board of trustees meeting held back on Tuesday, Feb. 10 that had everything up to and including spontaneous applause occurring any time mention was made of tearing down the barrier along with a fair amount of cat-calling, the board issued a public statement in response to the furor this issue has taken on.
It turns out the people have been heard, as it was revealed that village counsel was reaching out to the purchasers of Franklin Court property to try to find a workable solution to address the concerns of those who consider themselves disenfranchised from what they considered their own little local piece of heaven. There was also acknowledgment that greater transparency should have been exercised with this and any future proposed sale of village-owned properties. Accordingly, these procedures will be discussed at the next board meeting to be held on March 5. Hopefully, that assembly will also include a solution regarding the property that will be palatable to all.
—Dave Gil de Rubio
