Pol questions Creedmoor land deal

Suspicion surrounding a real estate deal involving state owned property in Queens has prompted State Senator Tony Avella to begin drafting new legislation that will hit the floor of the state senate early next year.
A local nonprofit, the Indian Community and Cultural Center based in Floral Park, purchased about 4.5 acres of state land from the Dormitory Authority of the State of the New York in July 2008 for close to $1.8 million, according to documents from the authority.
Avella said the nonprofit was allowed to acquire land on the now vacant Creedmoor Psychiatric Center without a review from the state attorney general or comptroller because the Dormitory Authority was given total control over the review.
“This [legislation] would provide two levels of oversight to whatever the legislature does,” he said.
State owned property can only be sold to other state entities. The nonprofit group needed local lawmakers to pass special legislation to approve the land sale, said a spokesperson from the Dormitory Authority.
Assemblymember Barbara Clark and then State Senator Frank Padavan helped the nonprofit acquire the land by pushing through the legislation.
But now the Indian Community and Cultural Center wants to acquire additional land to build two apartment complexes on the site in lieu of its original plan to build a community center, Avella said.
The nonprofit approached Avella to draft legislation to allow for the land sale. He also received calls from Councilmember Mark Weprin, his brother and U.S. Congressional candidate David Weprin, and Assemblymember Barbara Clark to sponsor the legislation.
“I use the word ‘threatening’ to describe how she [Clark] was to me in regards to this,” he said.
That’s when the senator became suspicious and decided not to sponsor the bill.
“I was surprised by the level of pressure by other elected officials,” he said.
He said Clark reached out to Senator Malcolm Smith to sponsor the bill instead.
The assemblymember and the nonprofit declined to comment after multiple attempts by The Courier to reach them. The Weprins could not be reached for comment by press time.
Avella said he contacted the attorney general’s office about the matter after pressure began to mount, and received notification that the State Inspector General’s office is conducting an investigation.
A spokesperson from the attorney general’s office said they could not comment on whether an investigation or review was taking place.
“There are certainly unethical things that occurred,” Avella said.