Give the Village of Garden City Board of Trustees credit for trying to settle the ongoing Franklin Court property situation by repurchasing the open green space that, in hindsight, was wrongly sold to a private group of citizens called the Franklin Court Mews LLC. But in having village council Peter Bee and representatives of the LLC be the only parties in this negotiation and not involving anyone from the Garden City Residents for Accountable Government (GCRFAC) (made up of disenfranchised neighbors living in and around Franklin Court), there is once again a vocal majority who have no say with what’s going on in their neighborhood.
Currently, no one from the GCRFAC can weigh in on any clauses in the agreement that may negatively affect non-LLC members. Some of the largest sticking points are the fact that the fence MUST remain in place until after Dec. 31 (the board refuses to say whether it will come down or not in the interest of having a public discussion on this. An interesting side note is that while the initial erection of the fence violated zoning laws, once the village retains ownership, that code violation goes away because legally, the board cannot be charged with said violation). And also, the LLC seems to have the upper hand in calling the shots on certain aspects of this transaction (the fact it will be getting roughly $50,000 back over the original purchase price without having to account what expenses this might be applicable to and that the village needs the LLC’s permission to erect recreational equipment). With the LLC operating like a mini shadow government while remaining anonymous, somehow this seems to run counter to the idea of open government.
—Dave Gil de Rubio
